PC Gaming is Dying

[Starik-Bob]

http://www.gamershell.com/articles/884.html

[PacNW CE]

He lays out a good argument.

The most innovative games historically have been PC games. With all the caysh in the console world, it's hard to fault developers for taking this route. Since the Xbox and xbox deux use directx, there is an opportunity for simultaneous next generation development for both PC and xbox. PS3 is it's own beast, as well as the Revolution. Only time will tell. I do believe the death of the PC was on the horizon with the last generation of consoles too.....

[Rugor]

Sadly, and speaking as one who HATES console games, I think he may have a point.

PC gaming is going to remain a niche market at best because there are so many barriers to entry. A good gaming system costs more than a console (it does more but costs more too) and with the smaller market there's less profit to be found on the games.

[AllGamer]

i've never owned a console before, and i'll never will

everything i do and play is either on PC/Laptop or Palm phone

[Bigjakkstaffa]

More over-hyped scaremongering about the future of PC gaming, just like every other fortnight.

How original.

--Jakk

[Strawbs]

Yeah! The man makes a pretty good case - But I really don't believe the likes of nVidia\ATi will allow the PC game to become a thing of the past as long as they have the next generation graphics card to sell.

Consoles are a "one every 3rd year" affair - at best - for these companies, PC cards are released every 6 month's! Does anyone here seriously think they will give that up without a fight?

It would make sense for them to create their own gaming divisions that might be responsible for porting console games over to the PC & eventually create their own games specifically to show off their products & keep gamers buying the bi-annual offerings IMO.

I believe the biggest threat to the big 2 will come from SONY with the release of their PS3 - If the graphics chip is as revolutionary as it's supposed to be! It might be plausible to re-develope it for PCI-e use.

mtc.

[DEADEYES]

The strength and weak of PC are graphics. Strength because consoles never (and forever) can compare with PC at this point. Weak because when u need higher performance, it costs u a lot, just like the man says "Human beings are cheapskates". If the manufactures lower the cost of vid-cards, maybe PCs still the best gaming machine! I agreed with his point: if they want money, just get off the PC, i hate these games being convert from consoles to PC (especially hate those words: "xxx only", "xxx exclusive"..etc), they're all weak and terrible! They (developers) always stole the best parts (ideas, games) from PC and use it for consoles, while throwing the bad parts of consoles into PC. What's the hell on Earth man? Big names of PC developers gone and die just because of these things i mentioned above, and the remains, a little remains, they went to online - a new horizon for PC (at least now consoles can't touch this horizon), a big boost money for their pocket! That's sad to said about that, poor those gamers are still loyal with offline games...Nah, i missed the good old days, missed those big names and their big games...

[RamonGTP]

Originally posted by Strawbs
Yeah! The man makes a pretty good case - But I really don't believe the likes of nVidia\ATi will allow the PC game to become a thing of the past as long as they have the next generation graphics card to sell.

That MAY be true IF high end cards made for a significant portion of ATI and nVidia's profits. Unfortunatly, that is not the case, high end gaming cards which we are accostumed to having and hearing about so often make up for a fairly small portion of their total revenue. Its the low end, mainstream cards that make them their money, as well as their mobile chipsets.

As far as that article, sad but true. Several months ago, I could walk into Fry's Electronics, and one of the very first things you run into were the PC games. Today, you walk in there, and the very first thing you see is Console games, with a few HDTV's setup for demo's to attract attention. Meanwhile, the PC games have moved to a much more lower traffic'd corner of the store. When they first made the change, I had to actually ask "where are you PC games?"

I own a PS2, gamecube, and a gaming PC. I use my PC more than the other two combined, easily. Infact, the only reason I own a PS2 is because of the GranTurismo series which I'm a diehard fan of. Had those been available on the PC, i doubt I would own a PS2 today. With next generation consoles becoming more and more powerfull, and being geared more towards multiplayer, PC gaming has an uphill battle, especially since consoles are starting to make up a lot of ground on things the PC generally dominates at, which is graphics. With HDTV becomming more and more affordable, and ever powerfull GPU's/CPU's in consoles, saying its an uphill battle might be an understatement.

[bblqj78]

PC Gaming is Dying

I really dont know why....I bought my wee boy a PS2 and got it yesterday with a pile of games (not really all that new..some a year or two old). Allthough I owned an Xbox a few years back before upgrading my PC for gaming...I have never played a PS2 before. Man...I'm disapointed. The graphics suck big time (allthough I am a bit of a graphics snob ). But really....after 5 years...why people stil keep going on about this console is beyond me The wee lad likes it allthough he is only 5 1/2 years old...but really I might sell it and get him an xbox...at least the graphics on that are a bit better.

[Andrew_Carr]

I can't really see pc gaming dying at this point. There are so many modders out there who will be left dry with a console takeover, and I believe they would take over where professional devs would leave off. I doubt we'd have amazing graphics as usual, but we'd probably have better gameplay and free games.

[AllGamer]

PC gaming will never die

that guy is smoking something

PC gaming was born way before ATARI even existed.

this tells you something already

[Strawbs]

Originally posted by AllGamer
...

PC gaming was born way before ATARI even existed.

this tells you something already

Exactly which PC games are you talking about?

Please don't say "Pong" because that was an Arcade game!

[CrazyCrusher]

Console Disadvantages
Although sealing everything into one unit does keep it simple, when some of the components inside the box become dated there's no way to solve the problem without replacing the entire console. In most cases, upgrades that could prolong the life of the system are not an option.

Consoles perform only one task really well, where PCs can be used for an extremely wide range of things. Some console manufacterers may try to make them a little more flexible, but it's unlikely they will ever support near the selection of applications that is available for PCs.

There is a distinct lack of inter-connectivity between the different console brands. Many games are available for one type of console but not others, and when it comes to online play, each is typically restricted to its own network. This means that people with Xboxes can only play against other people with Xboxes, so, for example, there is no way for console gamers to jump into a fray on one of the countless Counter-Strike servers available. The PS2 has made some progress in this area, forging the way for cross-platform gaming between PS2 and PC users, but only one or two titles support this right now.

While the PS2 network adapter supports both 56K modem and broadband connections to the Internet, broadband is required for Xbox online play. As well, Microsoft charges a yearly fee of around $70 to use the Xbox Live service.

PC Advantages
One of the biggest advantages the PC has over consoles right now is that there are a lot more games available for the PC than there are for consoles, particularly when it comes to multiplayer online games. Not only are the vast majority of MMOGs designed for the PC, but PC gamers also have the option to play MUDs, Email games, browser games, and a wide variety of titles available as free downloads.

As mentioned above, another clear advantage PCs have over consoles is that you can use them for a lot more than playing games. Furthermore, if you like to modify games or edit maps for them, a PC is essential, and you have to take a break from gaming sometime to read gaming sites.

Computer monitors look a lot better than TVs. Even with a top-notch television, console hardware is not currently designed to run games at PC resolutions.

There is a reasonable chance of extending your PC's gaming life with a component upgrade, although it can get messy and expensive.

Computer systems give gamers a variety of ways to connect to the Internet, and to each other, which aren't restricted to proprietary services or software. Different brands of computer and event different operating systems generally communicate very well with one another. This is quite different from services like Xbox Live, for example, which is the only option available to Xbox users that want to play online.

PCs are always on the cutting edge of gaming technology. With 128-bit architecture and 64 MB RAM the Xbox was pretty dreamy when it first came out. However, that pales in comparison to what a mid-range computer offers today, with 64 MB and even 128 MB video cards becoming the norm, to say nothing of motherboards that will support a Gigabyte or more of memory. Even if a console offers incredible technology upon its release, there is no way for it to compete with the rapid hardware advancements that have become a way of life in the computer industry.

Although consoles are already the best option for "some" gamers, particularly those looking for something easier and more affordable than the PC, I think it will be a while yet before the PC has any serious rivals when it comes to multiplayer online gaming. The next generation of consoles may offer more inter-connectivity, more cross-platform games, and may even have VGA monitor ports, but until then they have little chance of providing the variety or caliber of game experience currently available to PC users.

[PacNW CE]

Two things keep the PC ahead of consoles outside of graphics:

MOUSE
&
KEYBOARD


PC games won't die. We will just secure a more selective portion of the market.

[RamonGTP]

To CrazyCrusher, since we're talking about strictly gaming here, the fact that consoles only do one thing really well, which is gaming, is not a disadvantage. Infact, that is their primary advantage when gaming is concerned. Secondly, since when was the xbox 128bit? It uses a P3/Celeron hybrid CPU, 32bit. The PS2 is 128bit.

Some of the advantages listed for PC's IMO aren't necessarily advantages. For example, the fact that they support more ram. PC's NEED to support more ram becuase of the same reasons you stated, they're geared to do just about anything including gaming. Consoles don't need as much ram becuase they have a very specific purpose in life, and have what they need to fulfill that purpose. For example, and i'm again speaking on strictly gaming since thats what this is about, what do you think would be a better gaming machine, a dedicated console with 128MB of ram, or a PC with 256MB of ram? The console would most definatly be better suited for gaming, even with half the ram, the loading of the OS alone uses up a large portion of that 256meg.