death of pc gaming

[Ch3tan]

Will it? It has no specs for that card, simply 256mb on board gfx card. Bioshock is quite intensive.

BioShock System Requirements Released » DigitalBattle

 

[MYstIC G]

Hell Chet, look at the first comment on your link mate.

 

[Ch3tan]

.... i fail to see what the comment has to do with anything, unless you are reading something different.

 

[Raven]

Obviously PCs cost more than a console if you are going like vs like, that wont be the case in a year when xbox, ps3 etc will already be showing their age next to a PC.
My PC is as good if not better than any console on the market at chucking stuff around the screen, yes it cost double what a xbox costs but it wont do in a year. plus i get all the small indie games, real player made content for existing games and decent communities.

If you are silly enough to pay for a ready built machine then you lose out, you can build your own for 50% - 75% of the cost.

 

[Ch3tan]

Extra content is already available via xbox live, it's the same principle. Wii will have indie games as they have released the dev kit now, xbox has arcade (which are equivelent of shareware games). Not sure about the content side of the ps3, not really looked into it. Consoles get cheaper over their lifespan.

As for showing their age, pc's have to be upgraded every year to keep them cutting edge.

 

[Raven]

Well my point is consoles are only better value for money once every four years

Anyway, i guess it depends what sort of games you like to play, i could probably count less than ten in the last five years that have been console exclusives that I want to actually play and more often than not the PC counterpart of a cross platform game is superior than its console version.

I personally think this is where the Wii does well, its not trying to be a all singing all dancing wonder machine, its fun and what a console should be, something to come back from the pub to with a few mates.

 

[sanchez]

As for showing their age, pc's have to be upgraded every year to keep them cutting edge.

And what about all of the people trading in their 360's and paying another 100 quid to get a 360 elite??? What a fucking scam 100 quid for a bigger hdd and a quieter fan, are they mad? Blatantly microsoft are just gonna retrofit all the traded in ones with a new hdd and a new enclosure and sell them at full price in a month or 2. You don't have to upgrade pc's every year anyway, but its nice to have the option - a 2 year old xbox is just as non "cutting edge" as a 2 year old pc.

Oh before anyone says "but the elite comes with hdmi output!", who gives a fuck when you have to spend upwards of £100 yet again to watch hddvd's

Edit: i like Wii's, they're cool

 

[Ch3tan]

And what about all of the people trading in their 360's and paying another 100 quid to get a 360 elite??? What a fucking scam 100 quid for a bigger hdd and a quieter fan, are they mad? Blatantly microsoft are just gonna retrofit all the traded in ones with a new hdd and a new enclosure and sell them at full price in a month or 2. You don't have to upgrade pc's every year anyway, but its nice to have the option - a 2 year old xbox is just as non "cutting edge" as a 2 year old pc.

Oh before anyone says "but the elite comes with hdmi output!", who gives a fuck when you have to spend upwards of £100 yet again to watch hddvd's

Edit: i like Wii's, they're cool

Where is the microsoft trade in scheme you seem to think exists? As for re-selling used consoles as new, I think you will find that it is illegal. Also, go and check your prices before stating ridiculous prices. The elite is £30 more than premium was.

 

[sanchez]

yeah it is £30 more than a premium, but shops are doing trade-ins for regular 360's, pay £100 and upgrade to an elite. A friend of mine did it at the weekend, i laughed at him. Oh and since when do you think microsoft have given a toss about what's legal or fair to consumers or competitors?

 

[Calaen]

Oh my it seems we have another person jumping on the anti Bill Gates band wagon. Good business practice teaches us to destroy our competition yet it seems Microsoft are not allowed to do that because the are to good at it.

No business at the top of their game gives a shit about competition. Better grab some dirty knickers from the old womans, washing basket that lives around the corner and start sniffing.

 

[sanchez]

It was more of an observation than an opinion really, I don't really care how they conduct their business as I'm not in competition with them. My comment was semi relevant to ch3tan's original comment about not needing to upgrade consoles. If you want to discuss what's thought of as "good business practice" start a new thread.

 

[Calaen]

It was more of an observation than an opinion really, I don't really care how they conduct their business as I'm not in competition with them. My comment was semi relevant to ch3tan's original comment about not needing to upgrade consoles. If you want to discuss what's thought of as "good business practice" start a new thread.

You brought it all up I was merely responding to it. Business is about making money plain and simple, Micorosft do a damn good job at that.

 

[sanchez]

Yes but you completely miss the point and start flaming shit about old women's knickers now please STFU let people talk about consoles and pc's.

(in case you hadn't worked it out yet the point is that just because something is illegal doesn't mean people don't do it)

 

[Ch3tan]

Wow, stop being such a tosser, you are making unfounded statements.

Shops were offering those tradeins, not MS. The elite is not a necessary upgrade in order to play any games. PC upgrades are quite often necessary to play games.

Anyway, if I can try to make my point without stupid side issues this time, Pc gaming is dying because they are not enough quality titles released, and when they are they need a ninja PC to get the best out of them. The graphics card manufacturers are not helping things as they continually churn out faster and faster cards. Console gaming appeals to a wider audience, it is easier to get into. We are already seeing titles that have no extra content for the PC, they are made firstly for the consoles and ported to the PC as an afterthought -it used to be the other way around.

 

[Lazarus]

geez Chets - is this your bad week :O

 

[dysfunction]

Pc gaming is dying because blah blah blah...

I do think (and hope!) that you are wrong.
Console games are really crap. If the pc games do die out it will be a sad day indeed. Console games lack so much when compared to a properly produced PC game.

And they make so many sequels to "popular" games that are not really sequels but more of the same shite game with different backgrounds and different looking baddies.

Ive not seen one game "made for console" that I would really like to play...not a single one!

 

[Ch3tan]

Then you are closing your eyes and ignoring the gems available. True not every game released on the console is great, but that is because there are far more releases than on the PC. The PC gets one real gem of a game every year on average. I'd say the consoles get 2-3 per format, and many more average games that are still better than the general dross that is released for pc's otherwise.

You keep harking on about what properly produced pc games offer over console games, well what is that exactly? I have already pointed out several times that both the 360 and ps3 allow for extra content -no longer are updates to your favorite game, voicecomms, mappacks, hell even wallpapers restricted to PC users. If the PC does still offer anything over console games then those things will one by one also be available on consoles in the not to distant future.
.

 

[dysfunction]

Then you are closing your eyes and ignoring the gems available.
.

Like what??

 

[Ch3tan]

OK purely on the next gen consoles. Gears of War, Zelda, crackdown, Dead rising.

I will concede that there is nothing great yet on the ps3, but heavenly sword looks promosing. Still great ps2 games being released though, god of war 1+2, shadown of the collusus.

New devil may cry is out soon, assasins creed, army of two.

These games will all work out of the packaging, no patching, no tweaking, no upgrading.

These are just the games that I personally have bought and consider great. There are more in genres I have little intrest in.

Compare that with the PC line up recently, what truly great exclusive games have come out on the PC recently? The last one was HL2.

 

[Draylor]

"Exclusive" games?

The concept exists only because people are sheep ...

 

[dysfunction]

OK purely on the next gen consoles. Gears of War, Zelda, crackdown, Dead rising.

Crackdown and Dead rising looks like Halo which was really dull. They are not really very exciting and they don't require any real skill. You just use what you know already from previous titles

PC Games:
Company of Heroes
F.E.A.R
ARMA: Armed Assault

I have not really looked into a great many titles as I'm still playing CSS...which beats any console game ever made.


edit: oh and Crysis looks superb.

 

[Louster]

OK purely on the next gen consoles.

Virtually all those games strike me as pretty damn similar. It's almost all variations on third person action shit, which goes to show something or other. Probably mainly that your tastes happen to coincide with a genre that consoles are able to manage.

My latest game purchase was the expansion pack bundle for Galactic Civilizations 2. When consoles are able to do games like this, for example, without severe simplification, then maybe PCs will start to become obsolete for gaming.

But arguing about subjective shit like the quality of games on different platforms is pretty dumb.

 

[dysfunction]

Oh and Portal look great too!

 

[Ch3tan]

Crackdown and Dead rising looks like Halo which was really dull. They are not really very exciting and they don't require any real skill. You just use what you know already from previous titles

PC Games:
Company of Heroes
F.E.A.R
ARMA: Armed Assault

I have not really looked into a great many titles as I'm still playing CSS...which beats any console game ever made.


edit: oh and Crysis looks superb.

Got bored of coh very quickly, ArmA is never going to have mass appeal and if it is anything like Op Flash it will need a monster pc to run. Crysis is this years big pc release -like a said one a year.

Crackdown and dead rising are nothing like halo... both totally different games.

Yes Louster, I get the argument about genres, but those lines are getting blurry, consoles are getting game types that have traditionally been PC games, taken the latest c&c game, it actually works very well on the 360.

 

[Fana]

I never thought id be a console gamer a couple of years back but i took the plunge last holliday season and bought both a 360 and a DS to try the formats out and havent regreted it. Unless i play an MMO or a RTS i do my gaming on my consoles now and theres more games coming out for the consoles that i look forward to than on the PC. I find it alot more relaxing to sit in a comfy chair in front of the tv with a controler pad in my lap than sitting at my desk getting all sorts of aches from mouse/keyboard use etc. I will likely invest in a HD tv for increased console gaming enjoyment instead of building a new PC next year (current pc starting to show its age now, 3 years, despite recent ugprades of gfx and ram). Only if my current machine has a major hardware failure will i build a new one (since i wouldnt want to be without a PC).

 

[throdgrain]

This conversation is just relapsing into what people like the best

Chetan mate if you like consoles best thats fine, but it really doenst mean the death of PC gaming. Theres loads of new PC games coming out, and for the more "serious" gamer they'll always be very popular.

Christ have you seen the trailer for that Crysis game?? Its awesome (probably hyped, probably gonig to be crap, but god it looks something else )

Loads of other games coming out too, and has been said loads of pcs can play them, short of the really cheap Tescos stuff I said earlier, and on reflection I bet they can do it too, at least as fast or as ugly as a console game is.

edit its all subjective, but I think CoH is possibly my favourite game since CSS. Cant wait for the expansion !

 

[Fana]

Loads of other games coming out too, and has been said loads of pcs can play them, short of the really cheap Tescos stuff I said earlier, and on reflection I bet they can do it too, at least as fast or as ugly as a console game is.

You are talking about subjectivity but that statment is objectively wrong - "as fast or as ugly as a console game is"? Have you played a 360 flagship game on a HD tv? I wouldnt say ugly is an accurate description.

Btw, one positive effect of consoles on gaming in general that i endorse fully is that they force developers to make the most out of the hardware available and try to squeeze the last bit of performance out of it by optimizing their engines instead of just relying on the (consumer) customer to keep upgrading.

 

[dysfunction]

I'd rather have the game developer be more creative and be ground breaking than be contricted to the technology found in a console.

There is only so much you can develop given the "static" nature of a console.

Whereas PC's are being innovative in their design all the time which means a game developer has more scope for being creative and breaking new ground.

The reason there are so many games for consoles is because they are so easy to make (compared to a PC game). The engines are going to be similar or the same. Thats why you get Vice City 5 and Metal Gear Solid 20. You can't push the limits with the graphics cos you are limited to what the console can handle while there are always new developments for PC video cards.

Oh and if you were into real flight sims (which I'm not) you could never ever get anywhere near that sort of thing on a console.

 

[Chilly]

These games will all work out of the packaging, no patching, no tweaking, no upgrading.

Well that's just plain wrong. Live is always releasing updates and patches (some for content, other for bugfixes/upgrades). Console games seem less buggy because you are using a dedicated machine that doesnt really do much else apart from play token overpriced episodes of lost and friends and your mp3 back catalog.

Consoles do shine in some game genres, and PCs also have their advantages. FPA games are the obvious advantage due to the limited controls available on a console. PC games are often more customisable as well. I completed GTA:SA ages ago, but I still play it cos its fucking quality with all the cheats, different car specs, different gfx, even a multiplayer ONLINE mode ffs. None of that is possible on a console unless its part of some watered down shit MS deems good enough to sell to its army of chumps.

I enjoy opening a debugger when games are running and fucking about with memory to try and cheat, I enjoy swapping ou models and sounds, I enjoy playing games that dont exist on the consoles and will never do so.

There are games I prefer on consoles: racing, fighting and other simulation style games - GTA actually has a very nice UI on the xbox and I cant really fault it in comparison to the PC interface.

Consoles have their place in the gaming world, as do PCs - PC gaming will never die, because I will always be doing it!

 

[Louster]

Regardless of all this, I would still buy Monkey Island 2 even if it was released today exactly as it was back then.

Full price.


ON FLOPPIES.