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205 Comments
- homercles337, on 04/27/2009, -0/+53As soon as developers stop doing ***** console ports to PC, gaming will pick up.
- doshindude, on 04/27/2009, -5/+50Assuming all 300 million of those owners are gamers is an overstatement.
- tman84, on 04/27/2009, -20/+57pop game in console, hold controller, play game
I'll get buried, but honestly, why bother with PC games when consoles are so simple - MeatMountain, on 04/27/2009, -3/+38PC gaming is ailing? Someone forgot to tell Blizzard and Valve.
- MrInfallible, on 04/27/2009, -4/+29Because people want to play more complex game? The games I play like the Total War Series would be horrible on a console, a controller is a poor subsitute for a mouse in most games.
- Topher06, on 04/27/2009, -5/+29Naw, developers just don't want to develop for the PC anymore, largely because the GPU support ranges from dismal performing $89 cards to ridiculous insane dual-GPU systems that cost more then $1000. How can you make a great game when you have to make it work on such extremes? Game consoles have one set of hardware spec's (or if you cross port them, only two or three), and while the individual GPU's in game consoles might not rival higher end GPU's for a PC, game developers can focus on optimizing the game for the one set of hardware rather then trying to find ways to cripple a game to run on an $89 GPU system or max it out for a $1000 GPU configuration.
It has nothing to do with the price/performance of PC's, PC's are just becoming a less desirable platform to develop for due to rampant piracy and such great variations in hardware configurations which frustrate game developers. - sockpuppets, on 04/27/2009, -3/+26Left 4 Dead II: Mexico
- unsigneddigger, on 04/27/2009, -1/+22You shouldn't get buried, you summed it up right there. You buy a console game you know it's going to run on that console. You don't have to worry about if you have the right graphic card or the latest drivers downloaded. For the majority of people that advantage outweighs the pluses you get from playing a game on the computer.
- inkswamp, on 04/27/2009, -1/+20No, but be honest. It's a helluva lot harder for the average user to pirate console games than PC games.
- oktoberfest, on 04/27/2009, -4/+23Without Blizzard and Valve, PC gaming would be dead.
- KirbyMeister, on 04/27/2009, -3/+20PC gaming isn't dying by any means. It's just that PCs have no PR guy while consoles do, so whenever someone posts something bad about a console there's ten responses while someone who posts something bad about PCs gets a round of applause.
In reality the popularity of each fluctuates as new generations of hardware and games on both sides comes out. - KublaiKhan, on 04/27/2009, -3/+20No offense, but if you're spending "a couple grand" every few years to upgrade your PC, you're doing it wrong.
- dsmx, on 04/27/2009, -0/+16Steam's DRM isn't linked to the computer it's linked to an account, the DRM which most companies seem to use is securom which is linked to your computer and when it is installed it can only be classed as malware or at worse a virus.
But the main problem with DRM and I'll write this in capitols because we still have morons like you phosphor who don't seem to get the blindingly obvious.
DRM ONLY EFFECTS THE PEOPLE WHO BUY THE GAME, PIRATES NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT.
Lets carry on in the UK if you want to buy any EA game on steam you can't I want to buy burnout paradise without securom and steam is theo nly pay version that has that option. But I can't so I went to the pirate bay and got the game. I still want to buy it because I want to play online but until EA stop being such stupid bastards I can't.
Let me clear I will never buy any game with securom on it, ever again. Securom doesn't stop piracy and it's only purpose is to stop the second hand game market, which it has at the cost of increasing piracy. - Krumm, on 04/27/2009, -1/+16Consoles are easy for people - you don't need to upgrade hardware, you don't need to update drivers...
You go to the shop, choose a game, pop it in the console and it works 100% of the time.
I know you can do that with most PC's, but use the old 'think of an average user, and then realise that half are worse' type of thing. People use their machines for tons of stuff, lots have multiple accounts from family member and are bogged down with crap.
PC gaming is frigging ace, but for lots of people it's easier to drop some cash on a console and have something that is going to work with every game you buy for it.
\Prices, availability, vista and red rings not included in this post for simplicity :) - shutaro, on 04/27/2009, -9/+23The swine flu?
- elcalrissian, on 04/27/2009, -2/+16I think today is the pinnicle of console gaming. Going forward, we will see the PC taking over.
Why?
Cheap Graphics Processors (GPUs). Crysis pushed the envelope for graphics 2 years ago, and even games released today dont need to be as graphic intensive as Crysis to be successful. GPU's were always a barrier for PC gaming, because for the last 10 years, you needed a good graphics card to run the latest releases.
As that cost per performance curve flattens (as it is now), PC gaming will be more appealing. We already dont need faster processors, so we just need to wait until they become dirt cheap. (which in the computer industry, is just a few years away). - rebotfc, on 04/27/2009, -0/+13lol console games have no piracy??
- BedPost, on 04/27/2009, -7/+20Piracy. After all, why make a PC game that can get pirated to hell and back, when you can make a console game that will have basically zero piracy?
We're killing our own favorite platform. - emjaymj, on 04/27/2009, -0/+12If everybody had a system as good as Steam, there would probably a lot less complaining. Most of the games I own are on Steam as well.
Steam's DRM has some restrictions - I can't resell my game like I can with console games - but they don't just take from you without giving back. With the restrictions come benefits, like being able to log into my account anywhere in the world and play my games, and not having to worry about damaged/lost discs.
Pretty much every other implementation of DRM so far is not so mutually beneficial. DRM makes games a pain to install, often even limiting how many times I'm allowed to install my own game! What do I get in return for this? Nothing. It's absolute greed on their part.
Show me a single DRM-protected PC game, available for more than a week or so, that hasn't been cracked. All it takes is ONE skilled person to do it and distribute it to everyone else, and so it inevitably always happens. Like somebody pointed out below, DRM is really only affecting honest, paying customers. So you can download a game for free and save yourself the headache, or you can shell out $50 for a game just to be raped by DRM. I'm not saying DRM is the reason piracy exists, but it's definitely been responsible for some of it lately.
I agree with your point that companies don't really focus on the PC much anymore because of piracy, but that's about it. Steam shouldn't be used as an example of how being unsatisfied with DRM is wrong, it should be used as an example of how DRM can be done RIGHT. Valve is making money hand over fist because they have a polished DRM system that gives back as much as it takes, and because they make incredible games. This is pretty much the opposite of almost every other company in the industry, so the uproar over DRM is warranted. If everybody were to take a page from their book, I bet the whining would die down quite a bit. - oktoberfest, on 04/27/2009, -1/+13imagine PC without World of Warcraft, Counterstrike, Team Fortress, Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo, Half Life, and upcoming games like Starcraft II, Diablo III, and the next Half-Life... seems pretty dead to me. Everyone that has a gaming PC are into one of these games and most of the time limit themselves to these games. Pretty much every other good PC game out there can be found on consoles.
- phosphor112, on 04/27/2009, -7/+19Recently, its because dev's don't want to make an exclusive PC game because of piracy. Honestly, why did people have a huge uproar with DRM? If it can be implemented so it won't break your games after a restall, then why not? Steam is doing it just fine. The only reason why people DON'T want DRM is because they want to download the game. Plain and simple. And because of that, devs keep losing money and just don't want to throw away their money on such ***** that people keep pulling.
Almost all my PC games that I own (sans Tribes 2) are on Steam, so I don't worry about anything..as long as my internet is working fine, I'm fine. People need to stop bitching, get the dicks out of their ass and being butthurt about a serious problem developers are facing. Once they fix it, THEN they will feel a lot more confident on releasing PC exclusives.
/rant - inactive, on 04/27/2009, -0/+11consoles are great. they keep the tards out of real multiplayer games.
- UltraKill, on 04/27/2009, -0/+10I think that is one of the main problems with PCs is that there are a lot of people who simply do not know how to build a cost effective system and end up like cambob spending "a couple grand every few years".
This is not to patronize cambob, most people don't have it in them to sit down for a few hours and research and price out the best parts and then assemble the pieces. Or to do the research to determine what pieces can stay put and which pieces need to be upgraded and then to make sure the new piece is compatible with the older hardware.
Those with a passion only for games and have money to burn simply go the route of buying an already assembled top of the line PC which they spend many times over for the nearly equal home built system with slightly less performance!! These people are then frustrated when after a few years they need to upgrade, believing they need to plop down another couple of grand for their system.
Price exponentially grows as you look at increasingly better performance pieces. Eventually your throwing down $100 extra for a graphic card that you only get 10fps better in!!! I believe a lot of people think they need the top of the line, and end up spending way more then they should, upsetting a good price to performance ratio.
Fortunately there are sites out there that have already picked and priced out the parts for a excellent cost effective gaming rig, and even give a how to guide on how to assemble them. I wish this was common knowledge to people new to PC gaming. - diggduggDOOM, on 04/27/2009, -0/+8The flip side of that is an almost total lack of mods (and similar community support) and restricted updates. Team Fortress 2 is a good example of this.
- sirjimithy, on 04/27/2009, -7/+15PC Gaming can be a painful experience. Not actually playing the games. That seems to be just fine. The problem is getting the games to work in the first place. There is almost always some kind of hardware / driver compatibility issue, or another piece of software interfering, or a corrupt DLL, etc etc. If this could be done more seamlessly. more people would play PC games. With a console, I know I can buy a disc, put it in and it will work.
- Landragoran, on 04/27/2009, -0/+8the RROD would like to speak to you.
- Awezing, on 04/27/2009, -2/+9I'm sorry, your comment is invalid because you just compared Blizzard and Valve to Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers.
- enantiodromia, on 04/27/2009, -2/+8it's called Steam, dude.
- Narishma, on 04/27/2009, -0/+6"The only reason why people DON'T want DRM is because they want to download the game. Plain and simple."
And wrong. People will download the game whether it has DRM or not. The only thing DRM does is inconvenience the legitimate purchaser, while allowing the pirate to have the superior version. - cybrguy, on 04/27/2009, -0/+6If anything I would say that PC gaming caught the MMOG(Massive Multiplayer Online Game) plague that console gamers have had limited access to. Best case for this is how the LAN party phenomenon slowed to a crawl or receded a few years after MMOG games became mainstream. So instead of large social PC gaming events, people stay home, and "socialize" through their MMOG.
- inactive, on 04/27/2009, -1/+7Pretty sure PC sale's problem is that every PC gamer is addicted to some Blizzard or Valve product and sees no reason to buy other games.
- MacVogt, on 04/27/2009, -0/+6What ails the pc platform? Starcraft 2 not being out.
- Spyder228, on 04/27/2009, -0/+6Have you ever really tried to play a game on a PC? If you have problems like that nowadays, you're just plain doing it wrong.
- DeathRay2K, on 04/27/2009, -1/+7There are well over 300 million PC owners, those 300 million are people who use their PCs to play games.
In 2004, there were nearly 600 million, and according to predictions then (the most recent I could find) there should be over a billion today. - Tanktunker, on 04/27/2009, -0/+6OnLive is a scam to steal investor's money.
- aimhelix, on 04/27/2009, -0/+6Because to TRULY maximize PC gaming potential, you have to know a thing or two about computer Software and Computer Hardware. Most users don't have a clue about drivers, let alone motherboard, graphics card, memory, sound card compatibilities. Then, if you really want to make the best out of the game, you have to understand modding, registry editing or whatever else there is for the game.
- BedPost, on 04/27/2009, -1/+7Steps for pirating on PC:
1. Download .torrent
2. Download .iso
3. Mount in D-tools etc.
4. Install
5. Play
A. If you want to try multiplayer, more often than not CD keygens won't work, but there's no real harm in trying.
Steps for pirating on Console:
1. Mod console (not an easy feat)
2. Download .torrent
3. Burn file to a DVD (not real cheap and harder for your average user)
4. Put in console
5. Play
A. Don't even try to get on Live. You'll get your CC# and console banned.
So, yea, its the same amount of steps, but its a helluva lot harder on a console - harder to the point that piracy is more or less nil. - enantiodromia, on 04/27/2009, -4/+9yeah, i hate the fact that PCs are upgradable, and that game devs can continue to make bigger and better games for that platform.
i much rather have a platform which essentially does not change during its entire life cycle, thus limiting the quality of games. - cambob76, on 04/27/2009, -7/+12I'm done with PC because of cost. My last upgrade was in '07. I can't justify spending a couple grand every few years just to play games on my PC when consoles only cost a few hundred and have great games too.
- JorgonDigger, on 04/27/2009, -1/+6They say that there are 300 million gamers, not 300 million PC owners in the article.
- fuzzybad, on 04/28/2009, -0/+5I used to be a PC gamer. Now I'm all about consoles, and here's why:
1) Consumer-hostile practices. I don't mind putting a game disc in a console, but PC games shouldn't need me to insert the disc just to "prove" that I bought it legally. Some of the worst offenders have even installed rootkits that disable the computer's CD writer! The primary use of my computers are for work and I won't put them at risk just to play a game.
2) Comfort. I spend my day at the office in front of a keyboard, that's the last place I want to be when I'm at home. The couch is much more comfy, and healthier for my back.
3) Better screen. The best monitor in my house is the widescreen LCD in the living room, not the 17" LCD attached to the computer. Not to mention a nicer speaker system.
That's pretty much it. I admit that keyboard & mouse controls are superior for some types of games, but that's a small price to pay considering the console advantages. - piratearggghhh, on 04/27/2009, -0/+4I can think of several reasons from a developer's point of view:
- optimizing for all the different configurations of CPU/GPUs and working out all the bugs
- of all those PC gamers, what percentage actually buy vs. pirate
- sales besides the few big titles have not yielded as high a return as consoles
- of those PC gamers, only a small percentage may have a powerful enough system, esp in this economy
Based on those things, I don't think we'll be seeing a resurgence of PC gaming vs. the console. Nowadays people are just saving money and buying netbooks as opposed to high end PCs with video cards. - Daxx22, on 04/27/2009, -4/+8I hate Mexico.
- diggduggDOOM, on 04/27/2009, -3/+7*****.
Every year since the mid-90's, I've heard that PC gaming is dead.
Blizzard and Valve may be two of the biggest names in PC gaming, but it would still be alive without them. - inactive, on 04/27/2009, -0/+4Don't forget Bethesda, but they put most of their crap on consoles too.
- MrInfallible, on 04/27/2009, -1/+5I luvs me xbob game pad.
- Stingwolf, on 04/27/2009, -1/+5You don't like consoles because the games work out of the box? I'm not beyond doing some tweaking to my system to get something running (I use Linux), but I hardly count the need to do so in the "Plus" column and the lack of said need in the "Minus" column when comparing features.
- Tanktunker, on 04/27/2009, -0/+4That's what she said.
- spiffyfitz, on 04/27/2009, -0/+4This man makes a very valid point.
I am a primarily PC gamer, and there's always that 5% of the time when you go to launch the game and something goes horribly wrong... USB mic doesn't work, all video settings reverted back to defaults, unexpected error...etc. You just don't have these simple unexpected problems with consoles. - groo68, on 04/27/2009, -0/+4and in 20 years graphics might be good enough that new gpus for gaming wont be needed to improve on existing graphics, they will look realistic and the gpus will be dirt cheap.
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