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363 Comments
- Haoie, on 09/06/2008, -6/+101Ironically, the Oddworld games began life on a console, the PS1.
- ProKid, on 09/07/2008, -31/+79Consoles are a problem? They're the solution to gaming. Lets not forget that this is where gaming started. My first computer I built a few years ago had an ATi Radeon 9800 Pro, which at the time was over $400. Now I have a Playstation 3 and my latest rig has a built in GPU. Theres really no reason to spend so much money on a gaming system these days when you can spend however much on a console once and know that for a few years you'll never have to worry about your system not being able to run it. He thinks its a problem, I think its a convenience.
- ChuckDees, on 09/07/2008, -9/+47Can it run Crysis?
But no really, that is the issue.
Not everyone has a PC with the same hardware specs.
So people will either be left out.
Or have to upgrade.
A console gets rid of the guessing on hardware specs for most people. - iRoy, on 09/07/2008, -21/+57Oh ***** you Oddworld guys.
Last good game you had was Abe's Odyssey. Cheap bastards. - logicalnoise, on 09/06/2008, -7/+35Lorne was a great developer and I hope his latest oddworld creations help him become successful but honestly he got screwed over a couple things couldn't control and has been bitching about it ever since. PC gaming has too many hitchs to it to ever capture the true casual market. I custom buld my PC's and enjoy a PC game from time to time but honestly It's rarely worth the hassle. I get way more fun out of my 360. The PC will always be integral to game making but teh truth is game consoles have the market for the mainstream audience and I doubt that will change unless the next genration of game consoles are practically HTPCs with high end graphics hardware.
- scabbers, on 09/07/2008, -2/+29If you read the article to the end, he's talking about ***** micropayments.
- badenglishihave, on 09/07/2008, -2/+27Lanning on why he's excited about the PC - "... smaller games to be sold that can be delivered to anyone who's connected at much lower price points":
Steam - truspect0r, on 09/07/2008, -15/+39lol who cares what an Oddword Developer says.
- inactive, on 09/07/2008, -0/+19That's not ironic - he mentioned early on that he used to think consoles were great...
- jaythewise, on 09/07/2008, -2/+21Will games like civ4 and total war be on console? Nope, ill stick with my PC for now...
(note: civ rev is not civ4 nor anywhere close to it. A good reason why I still need my PC) - FireSlash, on 09/07/2008, -2/+21No, Crysis is the problem. Crysis runs on a painfully small fraction of hardware. Games like Crysis force PC users to look at the machine they built last week and wonder why one new game suddenly rapes it. The cost:benefit ratio is skewed too far to make gaming PCs viable when games like Crysis hit.
Developers need to get in the habit of writing their games to be scalable. Look at the Unreal Engine. Time and time again Epic has build an engine, and games for it that will run in just about any machine built in the last 5 years as long as it has a graphics card, yet still look good on the latest cutting edge beast.
Or the alternate approach, World of Warcraft, which will run on just about anything that happens to still boot. You can't tell me WoW's graphics deter people from playing it, seeing as it's more or less the most successful game ever.
The problem isn't consoles; the problem is the PC game developers who constantly feel the need to write games like Crysis which sit back and mock PC users for not owning expensive enough hardware to run it. Crysis could have been easily written to scale much better with algorithms to reduce ground clutter, offering lower res textures, and more aggressive LOD mesh systems; but Crytek was too busy drooling over the 5000 blades of waving grass they just added to care. - localzuk, on 09/07/2008, -9/+27It might be convenient for you, but it is a massive cost for developers. And as such, game prices are just going to continue to rise, and small developers are going to continue to be bought by EA or go bust.
Personally, I hate consoles. I have just never gotten into them. But then that may simply be down to the type of games I play. - MunkeyPirate, on 09/07/2008, -2/+19Here's a solution to PC gaming...
GET BETTER don't cripple your opponents. - petethepanda, on 09/07/2008, -1/+18I wouldn't exactly say Valve is flocking to consoles. They're the shining beacon of PC gaming.
- Layne, on 09/07/2008, -2/+18Try 0 years, fanboy.
http://www.mobygames.com/search/quick?game=Abe%27s ... - jsdratm, on 09/07/2008, -2/+17That is inaccurate, most PCs can last at least 2 years, it is only morons who upgrade every six months
- jsdratm, on 09/07/2008, -2/+16They were on PC too
- jsdratm, on 09/07/2008, -1/+15Yup, the first two Oddworld games are on there now
- Kanten, on 09/07/2008, -2/+15Tell that to Valve and Blizzard. People pay for QUALITY. Companies like Crytek and Epic whine that 'piracy is killing our sales' after releasing subpar products/tech demos like Crysis and UT3.
Valve and Blizzard take two very important goals in mind:
1. Put out a quality product.
2. Make said product easily accessible for a wide variety of system specs.
Consoles are just easier for luring blind buyers into shelling out money for shovelware. If more developers would shift to centralized platforms like Steam piracy would drop significantly. - robertnealan, on 09/06/2008, -5/+18You realistically only need to upgrade your PC ever 3-5 years to keep up with newer games, whereas you have to pay $250-$600 for one or more consoles. On top of that, PC games are consistently $50 or less when released, whereas many PS3 & 360 games are going for $60.
- dood, on 09/07/2008, -1/+14Surely Lorne Lanning is familiar with Xbox Live Arcade games. There are dozens of affordable titles available where the gamer can easily demo them or purchase them immediately.
- xcpleprechaun, on 09/07/2008, -4/+17In defense of consoles, you get a complete gaming machine for a few hundred bucks and it's good for several years.
- twiztidsinz, on 09/07/2008, -1/+131000~1200 for upgrades? What, do you buy your PCs at BestBuy? or do you just run a Mac?
For around $550 I was able to buy this about 4 1/2 years ago:
Intel Pentium 4 550 Prescott 3.4GHz LGA 775 (w/ Hyper-Threading), Intel 915PBL motherboard, 2048MB (512x4) DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Corsair memory, Sapphire RADEON X1600 XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16.
Tossed it in a cheap-o case (which I have since upgraded to Thermaltake's Tsunami VA3000BWA) and put in my 80GB, 250GB and 500GB harddrives. - fuzzynyanko, on 09/07/2008, -3/+15A lot of nVidia and ATI cards come with DVI connectors, and you can get DVI to HDMI adapters. Some big screens even have a VGA port
- SPJglitches, on 09/06/2008, -6/+18Dugg for outspoken developer not being Denis Dyack.
- indianajosh, on 09/07/2008, -1/+12Here we go, every time PC gaming is brought up everyone has to bash it and pretend that consoles are the same as PCs and have all the PC games.
- frazw, on 09/07/2008, -0/+11What I'd like to see is a dedicated gaming OS for PC hardware or an OS with a mode you can switch on so that it devotes all resources entirely to games. Most OS's have lots of processes running which are entirely unnecessary when playing games. They hog resources and can cause stuttering etc. The OS is the main reason that consoles achieve the same results with lesser hardware, not to mention that developers target the biggest audience.
It would be nice to be able to halt all unnecessary processes at the touch of a button and bring them all back at the touch of a button, instead of manually closing them or preventing them from starting.
The momentary demands of an individual non-gaming related process can seriously screw up your game. 90% of the time they don't interfere but that 1 second when they decide to run checks etc could be the 1 second you are killed or crash or whatever. Historically consoles have considerably slower CPUs and GPUs with a lot less memory and yet they still compete rather well with PCs of higher specs. Why? Simply optimisation done mostly in the OS.
Another point, the last time I had a console was a Megadrive and I stopped after that because they are so expensive. The initial outlay is usually less, but the games cost more. Here in the UK the general price of new console games is about £39.99 and PC games £24.99. These will vary from shop to shop but the difference is approx the same. That's £15 per game. I can buy a reasonable gaming rig for about £500-£600 now if I don't build myself (which I do and it's cheaper) and a console say £200 at release (usually more). Difference is £300 or 20x£15 so after I buy more than 20 games the PC works out cheaper, plus I have my entire back catalogue to play (plus some old consoles and the possibility of all future consoles via emulation) and it will never be abandoned unlike all of the many consoles now in gaming heaven.
Ok there is the living room aspect but a dedicated OS would solve that after all modern consoles are basically PCs running different software. - twiztidsinz, on 09/07/2008, -2/+13"(disclaimer) I have a PS3 and I just sold my PC to get a Mac. Bad move?"
Somewhere, Nelson Muntz laughed and doesn't know exactly why. - inactive, on 09/07/2008, -0/+11didn't it hurt when you pulled those numbers out of your ass?...
- frazw, on 09/07/2008, -1/+12and with Steam, they aren't even necessarily smaller games.
- vtnerd, on 09/07/2008, -1/+11Consoles are not the solution and they're not a problem either.
I have a Wii and it's good for certain things - like bowling and tennis and Mario Kart. However, it would not be good for a FPS shooter which requires a keyboard and a mouse for the best control scheme; I don't care how good you are at Halo (or any other console FPS), give me a keyboard and mouse and I will destroy you and your controller. It would also not be good for any kind of MMO game where I need to type a lot.
PC's have the latest and greatest graphics and they allow developers to push the envelope because there are no hardware constraints.
The gaming world needs both IMO and the in-fighting between console and PC is stupid. They each have their strengths and weaknesses and most true "gamers" have at least one of each. - SpeedSteamBoat, on 09/07/2008, -0/+10If you spend "$1000+" on a computer, even for games, you're an idiot.
You can easily build a $800-$500 pc that will most essentially anything you want, and if you have a system you can upgrade doing so is far cheaper than buying a console.
Not to mention that gaming system will be powerful enough to do actual, you know, work. PS3 is nice all, but it won't run Photoshop or Avid no will it?
Case and point, PCs are less expensive than you claim, and have far greater functionality that makes spending a little extra worth it. - Huzsar, on 09/07/2008, -0/+10@OfNumbers
What are you talking about? Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee was released for Playstation and PC 1997. Unless you consider about 1.5 month release difference to be 9 years? - fuzzynyanko, on 09/07/2008, -3/+12Actually, you can get a pretty decent gaming rig for $600. You can even get a budget rig for around $450
- SSUK, on 09/07/2008, -2/+11Yeah, £150 ones with Internal graphics chipsets. You try playing anything in the last 3 years on that. You'll get pixel shader errors for sure.
- dstz, on 09/07/2008, -2/+11"My first computer I built a few years ago had an ATi Radeon 9800 Pro, which at the time was over $400"
That's stupid. I'm a PC gamer, and you've got here the price of my whole freakin PC from 5 years ago that i still got (just put a 7600gt 1 1/2 year ago instead of the 9600gt that i had,) and that runs everything to that day (equivalent AMD xp 3500+ after an overclocking on stock heatsink).
I'll still change it next year and it will not nearly cost me as much as a console, maybe because I'm not stupid enough to put 400$ in a GC. - gradivus, on 09/07/2008, -3/+12Quad core, 4gig mem, radeon4850, about $400. Thats a top of the line upgrade for less than a new console. Stop pushing this sad and tired "$11billion upgrade to barely run a 10 year old game and you have to upgrade every 30 seconds" *****.
- LoveWidescreen, on 09/07/2008, -4/+13You apparently need to read up on Stardock and other game companies who've said that they prefer to focus on making games that people actually want to BUY. Stardock refuses to use copy protection as well, and they've made millions of dollars on their games because they focus on their potential customers as that -- "potential customers".
Unfortunately, you're viewing it from the same point of view as companies like EA and Ubisoft: fear the pirates first, favor the customer later. They unfortunately view their "potential customers" as "potential pirates" which I personally find offensive, as do many gamers. - inactive, on 09/07/2008, -1/+10good luck with the mac
- ExRe, on 09/07/2008, -0/+8A lot? Which cards don't come with a DVI connector? I rarely see a card without dual DVI connectors anymore.
- Fozefy, on 09/06/2008, -8/+16You missed the entire point of this article didn't you. This was talking about cost from the developers end not the consumers. So your last sentence means you didn't understand a word you read in this article. Don't voice your opinion when you don't have a clue what you are talking about. I hate people like that!
- ncnavguy, on 09/07/2008, -2/+10@ Laughingman, I think most people buy their TV's for things other than Gaming (Like television) so adding that into the cost of a gaming rig is BS. And with the advent of HDTV and cheap lcd a 22in CPU monitor can be used for a console or CPU gaming.
- unique172, on 09/07/2008, -6/+14This is retarded. While I've heard from several places that the PS3 is a bitch to code for, I've bought several games online at his magic $5 price point. Quit whining about extra work.
(disclaimer) I have a PS3 and I just sold my PC to get a Mac. Bad move? - Brandoskey, on 09/07/2008, -0/+8pc's can be hooked up to tv's and played from the couch, did you just step out of the Delorean or what?
- vtnerd, on 09/07/2008, -0/+8You forgot the expensive TV you need to take advantage of that HD output. A "small" 32 inch will still run you at least $500.
You are also an idiot when it comes to picking out components if you need to spend $1500 to build a PC. You can build a decent rig for well under $1000 and you can do even better if you already have some components from an old computer that you can reuse. - Cyber_Akuma, on 09/07/2008, -1/+9Oh great, I can see it now:
Final Fantasy 13 Basic
Final Fantasy 13 Standard
Final Fantasy 13 Pro
Final Fantasy 13 Small Business
Final Fantasy 13 Ultimate
No thanks... - ben_nushmut, on 09/07/2008, -2/+9smaller games at lower price points? hmm...
WiiWare, XBL, PSN anybody? - ButchersBoy, on 09/07/2008, -0/+7I love my PC, I love my 360, I love my Wii, and I love my DS. Hell, if I had a PS3 I'd love that too. I'm just a gaming whore, and I love the nuances of all platforms.
- inactive, on 09/07/2008, -6/+13Funny, when I'm done typing this message, I'll go back to playing TF2 on my big screen in 1080p (not rendered in 720 and upscaled like the XB360 does, no, real 1080p) and sitting on a couch in the middle of my 5.1 system.
Consoles are a limitation to gaming in hardware, software, and budget. Get with the program, people. - LaughingMan89, on 09/07/2008, -7/+14Trouble with your logic is that even if you have a PS3 (which usually means you bought a TV that's much more expensive than a low-end gaming rig, face it a good TV is much more expensive than a good monitor) you still probably need to have a pc. Now a PS3 + 1 controller will run about $450, add that to the cost of a bare-bones rig and you've got a mediocre gaming rig (which right now would be a good bit better than a console.) Or, for comparison, if you were planning on buying an otherwise decent rig with poor graphics abilities, $450 is about the cost of a GTX280 and you could easily blow all the consoles out of the water.
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