When Windows first came out Bill Gates suspected that TV had soon seen it's hayday. After all, why would you watch TV with it's commercials when you will inevitably be able to watch everything on your computer. Early scifi were already talking about how the computer was also going to replace the telephone with video calling.
In truth the industry wants to keep all of it's bread and butter alive and well. When they produced the tablet and the smart phone they knew that these devices would compliment a computer quite well. When it feels like everything a computer has it outsourced to something else they'll find new and exciting uses for it. Right now consoles can't handle MMOs nearly as well as computers. I'm sure inevitably they'll get the formula right (like they did with FPSes). But once that happens computer game developers will find new and exciting ways to use the keyboard/mouse controls.
Ya I can't wait to trade in my computer w/ 65 inch screen and HD to play on a 3inch cell phone or the mega sized 10 incher. Sounds like a party. Hell I can play under the covers. Make me a tent and start gamin. Maybe if I wear some 2x reading glasses I can see the characters on the screen. We can shut down the theatres now, we all got 3inch screens!
^ Is this where I feel old cause I will want a keyboard and a mouse instead of using my future grandkids 7th generation Xbox kinetic "virtual keyboard"? Is that the future? Touching air? Sounds like eating rice cakes... kinda unsatisfying.
If we should believe the so called "experts" (who oftenly are connected to either consoles or smartphone companies) the PC and PC gaming died 100 times now. Its like all those doomsday sayers, the world ended millions of times now yet we still are standing here and so is the pc.
Infact recently more and more gamedevs say the PC gaming is more alive then ever. Consoles controlled the market the last 6 years yes, but the fact remains that we live in a time of graphich wh@res, and the PC is 10 generations ahead of the consoles when it comes to graphics (not if you have a suck ass pc but any pc gamer has a pretty ass rig). I normally wouldn't say go to another game site but eurogamer has a nice 2 part video about pc gaming and how the PC is better as the console. Don't wanna go to that website im pretty sure you can find that movie on youtube aswel
Anyway as PC gamer im tired of all the console kids shouting PC gaming is dead. How much the console pwns. And that we pc gamers are nothing but game pirates destroying the game market (cause appearantly every pc gamer only download their games illigale in their eyes). While the second hand console games market has become a bigger plague for game publishers they said. And on top of that a belgium game magazine did researgh about the different researghes who sayd PC is by far the most pirated system out there. Turned out the pc is only slighty more pirated then the xbox and the researghers never counted games sold trough digital shops like steam and didn't count games you order online and still get the dvd. They only counted games sold from the shefs....while the last few years online sales dominate the shop sales (thanks to as stated here that PC games get a minor location in a store).
PC's will always excist. PC gaming will always excist. Console gamers and mobile phone manifactuers might not like it, but all games and apps are made on PC's. You can shout PC's wont excist anymore in a few years but that would mean no more games and software will be made anymore aswel, thats not logical.
Also as long as some genres still only work for the PC, the PC shall stay strong. Sure it has its fall backs when a new generation of consoles is made, but the pc always crawls back. Infact when the new generation of consoles is released they are still not better then a good pc rig, they are at best just as good...for a month or two before the next videocard gets released and puts the console behind again.
To Avalon, tablets , phones and iPads will NEVER be as powerful as a pc, NEVER! Your iPad , tablet can never be upgraded, and constantly there are upgrades for pcs comming out like crazy. there is no way one of those devices can out power and out preform a computer which cost about roughly 5000-10000 bucks, and a video card with a value of 500 to as high as 2800-3000. pcs are here to stay , if anything the tablet and iPads are fads and will either die ( because they are useless ) or the companies that produce them release a new one every 6-9 months just to keep up with the latest tech that pcs have.
One thing I have learned from life is never say never. I remember a conversation back in 1991 with a friend in the video production business who said real time 3d would NEVER happen. I think most people will be amazed at what phones will do in 3 years.
This is a topic that has been argued over here many a time.
Though I would rather prefer PC gaming remain supreme the sad thing I think MMOs are the next genre to die in PC gaming.
Like the FPS before it as soon and voice chat in made to be the fabric of everygame and we get a new wave of consoles with even more processing and video power then 5 Ps3s we will see more and more developers making MMOs specifically for consoles.
Do I like this? NO
Do I think people that think otherwise are being delusional and holding on out of sheer love for the gaming rigs? You bet.
Wouldn't be to worried about that. The reason no MMO's arrived on xbox for example is that MS doesn't allow for other parties to change things while a MMO needs to be changed all the time. MS wants to keep controle over that, there for AoC and champions online never got to release on the xbox. Sure Final Fantasy 13 came out on it, but that was the only one. Same on the PS3, its not the power of the machine that can't handle MMO's, its the control they wanna have.
Beside i myself am a RPer in MMO's. I don't see myself RPing with voice chat. And in general not everyone likes to use their voice in a game, be it a shooter, racer or MMO game. They have to accept people aswel who prefer to type in a MMO.
They've being saying that PC's are dead for years now and yet they still sell in the shops. They first said the consoles would kill them, it never happened. Now there's the treat from mobile devices, but I can't see it happening, because PC's are now going mobile in tablet forms.
To be honest these humble little machines are the backbone of the internet and our modern life. They do just about everything from your shopping to controlling nuclear reactors. If anything is likely to be killed off in the next decade or two, then most likely going to be the consoles. Because, some smart phones are now equal or better then most on the market.
Ahh, it's late! But I read the article and I really enjoyed it. Quite a few times I found myself laughing. Great job to the author.
But about the topic, the trend is to maximize profits so obviously console is the way to go, from an industry standpoint. But I'm not convinced you would not be making some sacrifices that would otherwise not be necessary on pc. So as a consumer, I'm not too hyped up on the idea.
Playing an mmo on my 3d 55 inch led tv would rock though! But in terms of socializing, it would suck. I really dislike ts, ventrillo and all those voice programs because it ruins immersion. I'd much rather just type with little chat bubbles. The exception ofcourse would be a game like APB Reloaded where you really need to speak to coordinate strategy amongst team members.
I suppose they could add mouse and keyboard support to consoles. That would be something...
I've heard it all before. The same nay say end of the computer been going on the last two decades. The PC’s here to stay for awhile yet until one day all game developers are streaming their games to us from a super computer and we don't need the most of the hardware our end any more, but first generation gamers will be old men in their 70's and 80's when that's the norm. Pc has Konnect too so it's not left out the montion control indie gaming scene
Streaming will never catch on unless someone invents a way to eliminate all network latency.
I know people who don't mind input lag might be a sizeable chunk of the market pie, but they follow where we, the ones who do mind, go.
You are so right about controllers. I start playing the Xbox about 3 years ago and at first i absolutly suck with a controller. I could'nt even move a character in straight line or even keep the camera where i wanted it to be. Took me a few weeks to start feeling confortable using a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard. But now i'm converted, i prefer playing games on my 360 instead of my PC.
Of course graphics are better on the computer but that's pretty much the only edge the computer has over the console. You can upgrade a computer anytime, however new console only comes up once every 4-5 years, so it's normal that game release today look way better on the PC instead of the 3 years old 360.
The day PC gaming dies (not the PC in general) I will eat my leather chair. Why do I say this? simple: MMOs will never be as good on consoles as they are on the PC, FPSs are markedly better, RPGs are generally more rich an complex and don't get me started on RTS games. The author of the article though hit the nail on the proverbial head in terms of developer ease consoles are far easily to make games for because of the standardized model consoles have.
As for the PC in general... well... as someone who uses video editting tools extensively I can say this much to any console lover/extremist : have fun creating videos on an antique machine (05-06 hardware) with a controller.
In conclusion: PCs will never die because of the following fact: even if porn ever does move to consoles (yeah... XBL and PSN mixed with some Jenna Jameson, sounds about right) PCs will still have the advantage because this:
Is harder to explain than the crotch stain to your parents/wife.
I never get lip splinters, but then I was born in Tokyo.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Authored 139 missions in VendettaOnline and 6 tracks in Distance
The simple fact is that there never has been and for all intents and purposes never will be a real competition between PCs and any of the other common platforms, and any suggestion that there is a real competion is quite frankly contrived.
The different platforms all fill seperate media segments and while there is some overlap, none of them come close to fulfilling the function of the others, indeed there is variance between how the seperate systems in the same platform type are used.
Just look at a relativly simple game like Plants vs Zombies and how its implementation differs between platforms.
I have all of the platform types, 3 different consoles (the big 3), smartphones, tablet, PCs, lap tops, and each has its own place in my houses "ecology". Even the consoles fulfill seperate roles, and their placement throughout my house reflects how they are used and by whom. Same for the PCs and laptops, just the OS's installed on them defines them as fulfilling different roles (Dev, game, productivity (work), surfing, etc).
So, I guess the main point is that there is no more risk that PCs will disappear than there is of sedans disappearing in favor of pick-up trucks.
Comments
Yeah, sumtin' like that Skippy.
Godspeed my fellow gamer
When Windows first came out Bill Gates suspected that TV had soon seen it's hayday. After all, why would you watch TV with it's commercials when you will inevitably be able to watch everything on your computer. Early scifi were already talking about how the computer was also going to replace the telephone with video calling.
In truth the industry wants to keep all of it's bread and butter alive and well. When they produced the tablet and the smart phone they knew that these devices would compliment a computer quite well. When it feels like everything a computer has it outsourced to something else they'll find new and exciting uses for it. Right now consoles can't handle MMOs nearly as well as computers. I'm sure inevitably they'll get the formula right (like they did with FPSes). But once that happens computer game developers will find new and exciting ways to use the keyboard/mouse controls.
Website: http://www.thegameguru.me / YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/users/thetroublmaker
Ya I can't wait to trade in my computer w/ 65 inch screen and HD to play on a 3inch cell phone or the mega sized 10 incher. Sounds like a party. Hell I can play under the covers. Make me a tent and start gamin. Maybe if I wear some 2x reading glasses I can see the characters on the screen. We can shut down the theatres now, we all got 3inch screens!
"Because like controllers, chopsticks f**king suck."
Nailed it.
"Think about it: Cell phones and tablets can do almost everything a PC can do in terms of internet, media, and work applications"
O_O
Nice article Coyote
my web design: www.advancedws.com.au
^ Is this where I feel old cause I will want a keyboard and a mouse instead of using my future grandkids 7th generation Xbox kinetic "virtual keyboard"? Is that the future? Touching air? Sounds like eating rice cakes... kinda unsatisfying.
If we should believe the so called "experts" (who oftenly are connected to either consoles or smartphone companies) the PC and PC gaming died 100 times now. Its like all those doomsday sayers, the world ended millions of times now yet we still are standing here and so is the pc.
Infact recently more and more gamedevs say the PC gaming is more alive then ever. Consoles controlled the market the last 6 years yes, but the fact remains that we live in a time of graphich wh@res, and the PC is 10 generations ahead of the consoles when it comes to graphics (not if you have a suck ass pc but any pc gamer has a pretty ass rig). I normally wouldn't say go to another game site but eurogamer has a nice 2 part video about pc gaming and how the PC is better as the console. Don't wanna go to that website im pretty sure you can find that movie on youtube aswel
Anyway as PC gamer im tired of all the console kids shouting PC gaming is dead. How much the console pwns. And that we pc gamers are nothing but game pirates destroying the game market (cause appearantly every pc gamer only download their games illigale in their eyes). While the second hand console games market has become a bigger plague for game publishers they said. And on top of that a belgium game magazine did researgh about the different researghes who sayd PC is by far the most pirated system out there. Turned out the pc is only slighty more pirated then the xbox and the researghers never counted games sold trough digital shops like steam and didn't count games you order online and still get the dvd. They only counted games sold from the shefs....while the last few years online sales dominate the shop sales (thanks to as stated here that PC games get a minor location in a store).
PC's will always excist. PC gaming will always excist. Console gamers and mobile phone manifactuers might not like it, but all games and apps are made on PC's. You can shout PC's wont excist anymore in a few years but that would mean no more games and software will be made anymore aswel, thats not logical.
Also as long as some genres still only work for the PC, the PC shall stay strong. Sure it has its fall backs when a new generation of consoles is made, but the pc always crawls back. Infact when the new generation of consoles is released they are still not better then a good pc rig, they are at best just as good...for a month or two before the next videocard gets released and puts the console behind again.
One thing I have learned from life is never say never. I remember a conversation back in 1991 with a friend in the video production business who said real time 3d would NEVER happen. I think most people will be amazed at what phones will do in 3 years.
Wouldn't be to worried about that. The reason no MMO's arrived on xbox for example is that MS doesn't allow for other parties to change things while a MMO needs to be changed all the time. MS wants to keep controle over that, there for AoC and champions online never got to release on the xbox. Sure Final Fantasy 13 came out on it, but that was the only one. Same on the PS3, its not the power of the machine that can't handle MMO's, its the control they wanna have.
Beside i myself am a RPer in MMO's. I don't see myself RPing with voice chat. And in general not everyone likes to use their voice in a game, be it a shooter, racer or MMO game. They have to accept people aswel who prefer to type in a MMO.
Maybe for your average Joe. PC may be a rarity.
But as said before. PC isn't going any where any time soon.
-Azure Prower
http://www.youtube.com/AzurePrower
They've being saying that PC's are dead for years now and yet they still sell in the shops. They first said the consoles would kill them, it never happened. Now there's the treat from mobile devices, but I can't see it happening, because PC's are now going mobile in tablet forms.
To be honest these humble little machines are the backbone of the internet and our modern life. They do just about everything from your shopping to controlling nuclear reactors. If anything is likely to be killed off in the next decade or two, then most likely going to be the consoles. Because, some smart phones are now equal or better then most on the market.
Wastn't the laptop supposed to have replaced the pc too?
great article ! :0) Im on your side !
Ahh, it's late! But I read the article and I really enjoyed it. Quite a few times I found myself laughing. Great job to the author.
But about the topic, the trend is to maximize profits so obviously console is the way to go, from an industry standpoint. But I'm not convinced you would not be making some sacrifices that would otherwise not be necessary on pc. So as a consumer, I'm not too hyped up on the idea.
Playing an mmo on my 3d 55 inch led tv would rock though! But in terms of socializing, it would suck. I really dislike ts, ventrillo and all those voice programs because it ruins immersion. I'd much rather just type with little chat bubbles. The exception ofcourse would be a game like APB Reloaded where you really need to speak to coordinate strategy amongst team members.
I suppose they could add mouse and keyboard support to consoles. That would be something...
Laptops are PC's, just more mobile versions.
I went to GameStop and my eyes got hit by huge "Deus Ex Human Revolution PC pre-purchase" in the eyes. So much for PC being in the corner.
PC games may well be in the corner because many are now turning to downloads for our games where as stores can happily still rip off console gamers.
Streaming will never catch on unless someone invents a way to eliminate all network latency.
I know people who don't mind input lag might be a sizeable chunk of the market pie, but they follow where we, the ones who do mind, go.
It's actually more likely that the console will die.
You are so right about controllers. I start playing the Xbox about 3 years ago and at first i absolutly suck with a controller. I could'nt even move a character in straight line or even keep the camera where i wanted it to be. Took me a few weeks to start feeling confortable using a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard. But now i'm converted, i prefer playing games on my 360 instead of my PC.
Of course graphics are better on the computer but that's pretty much the only edge the computer has over the console. You can upgrade a computer anytime, however new console only comes up once every 4-5 years, so it's normal that game release today look way better on the PC instead of the 3 years old 360.
The day PC gaming dies (not the PC in general) I will eat my leather chair. Why do I say this? simple: MMOs will never be as good on consoles as they are on the PC, FPSs are markedly better, RPGs are generally more rich an complex and don't get me started on RTS games. The author of the article though hit the nail on the proverbial head in terms of developer ease consoles are far easily to make games for because of the standardized model consoles have.
As for the PC in general... well... as someone who uses video editting tools extensively I can say this much to any console lover/extremist : have fun creating videos on an antique machine (05-06 hardware) with a controller.
In conclusion: PCs will never die because of the following fact: even if porn ever does move to consoles (yeah... XBL and PSN mixed with some Jenna Jameson, sounds about right) PCs will still have the advantage because this:
Is harder to explain than the crotch stain to your parents/wife.
I never get lip splinters, but then I was born in Tokyo.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
That you grandpa?
I may know the least here,but I am the loudest about what I do know.
The simple fact is that there never has been and for all intents and purposes never will be a real competition between PCs and any of the other common platforms, and any suggestion that there is a real competion is quite frankly contrived.
The different platforms all fill seperate media segments and while there is some overlap, none of them come close to fulfilling the function of the others, indeed there is variance between how the seperate systems in the same platform type are used.
Just look at a relativly simple game like Plants vs Zombies and how its implementation differs between platforms.
I have all of the platform types, 3 different consoles (the big 3), smartphones, tablet, PCs, lap tops, and each has its own place in my houses "ecology". Even the consoles fulfill seperate roles, and their placement throughout my house reflects how they are used and by whom. Same for the PCs and laptops, just the OS's installed on them defines them as fulfilling different roles (Dev, game, productivity (work), surfing, etc).
So, I guess the main point is that there is no more risk that PCs will disappear than there is of sedans disappearing in favor of pick-up trucks.
Regards,
-Gooney