Face the candle to the wind: Gaming PCs are dead
I think it’s about time someone stated the obvious.
All of the next-gen consoles are out: the Xbox 360, Ninendo Wii and Sony PS3. Everyone’s seen what they can do, and I’m ready to make a prediction: the death-spiral of gaming PCs has begun. In fact, it’s in full stride.
Here’s the thing: consoles have grown up. They are no longer just gaming consoles — they’re full-blown entertainment hubs, and their functionality is only expanding. Generally speaking, they have massive amounts of power, online offerings, HD-DVD/Blu-ray capability (excepting the Wii), a growing array of excellent titles and — the coup de grace here — they’re a fraction of the cost of a full gaming rig. Modern consoles are kicking traditional gaming PCs’ collective ass right into anachronism-land.
To continually upgrade a bleeding-edge gaming PC costs bucketloads of money. You’ll periodically need a new CPU, which probably needs a new mainboard, which might require another type of RAM. Then you’ll need the newest video card (GPU), and, if you like to be on the bleeding edge, a PPU (physics processing unit). You might need a new soundcard. And game technology is such that, generationally-speaking, your technology will continue to be pushed as far as it can go. This cycle is more or less perpetual, with tiny little stops along the way so you can actually enjoy a game or two before getting back to worrying about what your next upgrades will be.
Compare this to a console. You get your console, you plug it in to your existing home theater setup, which most likely involves a HDTV, surround sound, and a gigantic screen. Then, you buy games and perhaps a low-cost subscription to an online service for live multiplayer gaming. And then you’re done. No upgrade costs, and the hardware is massively powerful out of the gate. Developers get to code for a known-quantity hardware and OS environment, which means standardization and stability, and that’s a very good thing.
From a game developer standpoint — a pretty key perspective, seeing how reluctant game developers are the reason PC gaming is flagging — consoles sell games. Everyone can get a console at a reasonable price and be assured that the latest games will run. There are no environment/OS/driver variables to monkey anything up. The market is no longer niche, but instead massively broad.
Known environment. Guaranteed performance. Low cost-of-entry. No installation issues. Just buy, unwrap, insert, power on, and play. Oh, and grab beer and VoIP headset to call your friends shitheads after you gib them into soup.
It’s like this now: the console is the razor. Games are the blades. Money is made on the blades, not the razor. The more razors that are out there in living rooms, the more blades that are sold. The more blades that are sold, the happier and more inclined the blade-makers are to make more blades.
Suddenly, you have a thriving market of a whole new order of magnitude. Suddenly, the market has legitimacy beyond its wildest dreams.
High-dollar boutique PC hardware — in the era of PC commoditization — can’t compete with this.
Sure, future PCs will surpass the power of the current consoles eventually (most already have passed the Wii, but that’s not the point of the Wii, so whoops, the goalposts have moved), but don’t think for a second that they’ll be cheap, unless you consider $2500 – $4000 cheap. And the Wii sidesteps the whole graphics power race with innovative gameplay, and PCs just don’t play where the Wii does — at all.
The gaming PC upgrade cycle is a rat race, an endless effort. With living room technology that’s as powerful as Xbox 360 and PS3, it makes less and less sense to hop on the gaming PC carousel, particularly from a financial standpoint. Yes, there will always be hobbyists, and yes, there will be an infrequent PC-only game (WoW, I’m looking at you), but don’t tell me for one minute that it isn’t more fun to sit on your couch and whip the hell out of four of your closest friends while staring at a 60″ HD TV than playing games tied to your PC. And no, LAN parties where everyone brings his own PC and display don’t count.
The net result of console penetration and maturity is that you can say goodbye to the greater majority of that niche gaming-rig market — not all of it, but most of it. As gamers age and want convenience over hobbyist techno-tinkering, consoles will take more of the gaming spotlight than ever before. And young gamers — the demographic typically captured by high-end gaming box builders — will be more predisposed towards consoles. Because, after all, that’s what’s in their living room, and that’s what they use for light internet access, movies, social networking, and music/song/video browsing. Consoles are the current gaming idiom.
The only people who will disagree with me are hobbyist PC gamers who enjoy building their own rigs to play the latest games (a narrow minority of users) and WoW players. And perhaps a few others who have fringe gaming interests on the PC side. That’s it.
Console gaming is getting to the point where it’s every bit as good and immersive as watching a movie or a good TV show — it’s a legitmate, mainstream form of digital entertainment for all ages.
PC gaming never offered that, at least not as broadly as consoles to today. In that sense, the consoles that you can buy right now are indeed a disruptive technology to tradtional PC-based gaming.
You watch. If you think PC gaming has already given way to console gaming, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Technorati Tags: gaming, xbox, wii, ps3, consoles, microsoft, windows, vista, sony, nintendo
Nice post Jeff. I really like your writing style.
Below is an interesting quote and link about the future of game console’s…
“Merrill Lynch’s Yoshiyuki Kinoshita predicts 30 percent of American and one third of Japanese homes will contain Nintendo’s new console in four years.”
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6166286.html
Im a die hard PC gamer but i also just bought my first console since the snes, a wii. i play more games on my wii then my aging pc
BUT!!!!!
consoles have a few genres they do well and pcs have contrasting genres they do well.
consoles dominate in sports titles, platformers, and RPG genres. they SUCK SUCK SUCK at first person shooters and Real Time Strategy games.
in contract PCs SUCK SUCK SUCK at RPGS, platformers and sports titles. but ROCK at first person shooters, real time strategy and MMORPG grenres.
i dont think PC gaming is every going to die. i remember when the NGC, PS2 and XBox came out. people were calling for the death of PCs it never happened. history is repeating. the console and the PC serve differnt purposes and are each good in their own niche
Rob — PC gaming will never die 100%, but it will be minimized tremendously in favor of consoles.
upgrade cycle sucks but play Half-Life 2 on a PC and then play it on XBOX tell me whats better…
I find your theory flawed and your arguements terribly one sided. Why don’t LAN parties count? What the fuck does a razor have to do with video games? Why can’t a PC be considered another platform for games?
Here’s my rebuttal:
1) PC’s are continually upgradeable. Costly, to be sure, *if* you’re wanting to remain on the bleeding edge. Those that are, are in the minority. Consoles are notorious for their upgrades. Sega CD? How about that Gamecube HD, huh?
2) Games on PCs are upgradeable. Patches can keep a game’s lifespan going far past the point at which a console can remain a feasable form on entertainment.
3) Consoles NEED PCs. You think the next HALO is getting coded on a 360? I’ll consider the PC dead in gaming due to consoles when I can walk into Nintendo HQ and see games being made with the programmers using those neato new controls in jerk-off strokes.
Truth be told, there are plenty of things that consoles can do in games that PCs cannot. The same goes the other way, however. If anything, I see a slow blending of the two into one heck of an entertainment machine.
Neither the computer’s use as a game machine, or gaming consoles going anywhere. There’s plenty of fun to go around.
I would like to point out a bit of irony here:
as consoles get more powerful, and become entertainment hubs, they will overtake the place of the mainstream PC in entertainment capacities (as you theorize). but in doing this, they become the new Gaming PC, as they overtake all the applications that the Gaming PC filled.
thusly, one can conclude that Gaming PC’s will never truly die- they will just transform and mutate.
As I undertstand it, console games require less time and effort to defeat. PC games are designed for longer term playability.
Yes, I am biased.
Every console cycle someone writes this same prediction and they are wrong every time. Just cause you feel the need to justify the fact that you waited in line for three year old technology. Calling a console “disruptive technology” is like calling a Honda Civic “disruptive” to the F1 circuit. Consoles are commoditized PC’s and as such must pander to the lowest common denominator. If you want to play Madden 13000 or guitar hero sure go buy an playstation. I’ll be playing spore and total annihilation on my dual screen and learning to play a real guitar.
PC gaming will never die
With consoles that you can plug keyboards and mice into, and in the case of the PS3 can even run general purpose operating systems, I agree with this post. With one exception: there will always by some rich kids who have to have the latest PC to show off.
There seems to be one or two a major flaws in your arguments.
First, in my experiance, people who buy a console want different things than people that buy a pc(or mac). I somehow doubt that you have written this blog on a console.
Second, the console market simply couldn’t exist without a pc. It is a simple fact that all games manufaturers use pc’s to program their games, so if PC gaming dies then you would probably see the slow death of the console market as the capability of consoles would remain static.
Third, the selection of games on the pc is more varied and diverse that those available on any console.
At the end of the day its still a case of personal choise. I’ve heard similar arguments from people in this country that have bought a mac. Its the ‘my system is better than yours’ arguement all over again. If you want a system to primarily for entertainmant then a console is a sensible option. If you want a system that gives you more options and diversity then a pc is the way to go.
At least I could sigh in relief…I can wait up to at least a year to get myself the Xbox 360 without having to agonise over forking so much dough for obso specs.
I will most certainly buy a next-gen console when available in my country (I mean the PS3, sorry, don’t have that much money to get them all) and I will most certainly keep upgrading the PC (not to the edge, but to the “decent frame-rate” category). PC’s tend to be more versatile and so the next big innovative gaming philosophy could very well come from them. Consoles tend to be more static. All their next-gen hardware will be outdated in 4 or 5 years.
Good post Jeff, I agree with you, the age of the console has begun. The latest consoles deliver an incredible gaming experience to rival and even surpass gaming pcs. Let’s watch this space.
Sorry, but this is one of the inane-est, misinformed and biased opinions I’ve ever read-basically it is a collection of pro-console myths that have been plaguing the internet for quite some time.
“The gaming PC upgrade cycle is a rat race, an endless effort.”
The only reason why PC’s need upgrades every few years is because, unlike with consoles, the developers aren’t really afraid to utilize new functionality. They could easily go the other way, and optimize their new games for specs that were commonplace at, say, the current OS’s launch.
As for myself, the “rat race” isn’t a curse, it is a blessing. I don’t want to spend 5 years waiting for the new consoles that are able to replicate DX10-type graphics.
“Sure, future PCs will surpass the power of the current consoles eventually (most already have passed the Wii, but that’s not the point of the Wii, so whoops, the goalposts have moved), but don’t think for a second that they’ll be cheap, unless you consider $2500 – $4000 cheap.”
$2500-$4000?! Where the hell did those prices come from?
The only thing that could cost $4000 would be some kind of a quad-SLI monster rig. You can get a SLI/Crossfire rig for $2500. A *very* good gaming rig costs about $1600. If you are buying an average gaming rig, $1300 is enough. Finally, if you are actually just upgrading your PC, it costs even less.
Next, speaking about performance. “PCs surpassing the power of the current consoles” *already* happenned. An ancient Radeon X1900 slightly outperforms the X360’s Xenos at everything except motion blur and rendering at 2xAA.
A single 8800 GTX has about two and a half times more power than it, and about three times the power of PS3’s RSX.
High resolution graphics are, again, better on the PC even now with the advertised “1080p” support on the consoles: because both the X360 and the PS3 do not render most content at that resolution: they upscale. So there is nearly nil difference in the amount of details between resolutions unlike on the PC.
“but don’t tell me for one minute that it isn’t more fun to sit on your couch and whip the hell out of four of your closest friends while staring at a 60″ HD TV than playing games tied to your PC. And no, LAN parties where everyone brings his own PC and display don’t count.”
I have my gaming rig connected to my living room TV, so that I can play games either via the X360 controller, or my wireless Kb/M-for comfortable operation of which, I have slightly modified my couch.
And, LAN parties DO count.
Also, to dispel the “PC gaming is expensive” myth, try reading this:
http://game-drone.blogspot.com/2007/02/pc-gaming-expensive.html
When ANY console has the variety of games that rank so highly across many sources you may be close:
http://www.metacritic.com/games/pc/scores/
But until then? No..
Lloyd: my article was with respect to*gaming* exclusively, not overall utility. I don’t deny that computers have VASTLY more utility than consoles, and they always will.
But we’re talking about gaming here, the gaming market, and how each handles that task only.
While the games that are developed for consoles are indeed made on PC running SDKs and dev studios, you’re again not talking gaming-for-gaming’s-sake but instead software development. Totally different task, and therefore totally different tool.
For the time being, I think you might be right — there may be more games for PC than the consoles. But when you add up all the games across leading consoles, you have more than what is available for the PC, and you can buy ALL THREE consoles for less than a high-end gaming system.
This isn’t the same as Mac vs. PC — in that case, both machines do the same thing, and the argument is over which does it *better*. For gaming, we’re arguing over cost of entry, ease of use, consistent performance, and user experience. But two vastly different approaches to the job.
For gaming — THE task of gaming — consoles are already eating the PC’s lunch *IN TERMS OF THE MAINSTREAM MARKET*. Is all of PC gaming dying? No, and I said that in my post.
Is most of it dead or dying or transitioning to the console? Yes.
There’s a lot of people harping on about expense and technical stuff.
But what about the majority of game players who don’t know the difference between nVidia or ATI and just want to be able to play games every time their friends come round?
Odds on they are going to choose a console.
I find FPS games are best enjoyed with a mouse and keyboard, not a gamepad.
maybe that’s just me.
Mark: those scores span a 10 year period, and most of those years were part of the PC’s gaming heyday. So it makes sense to see that.
In another 7-9 years, you’ll see the exact same thing for consoles, because that’s where the gaming sweet spot is now.
To the post above:
Let’s take the X360 as an example: According to 2006 releases lists on http://www.gamerankings.com/ [gamerankings.com]: The X360 has 41 titles with ratings higher than 75%. Out of these about 7 are XBox Live Arcade titles and/or PC ports from a year ago. Now, the PC has 53 titles with ratings higher than 75% And that’s considering that Gamerankings do not keep track of the many various indie PC games released. Plus, according to the general consensus, 2006 wasn’t really a good year for PC gaming-and 2007 is expected to be much better.
senbonsakura: there I totally agree with you. I was raised on Q3: Arena, and the keyboard + mouse will always rule FPSs as far as I’m concerned.
Dot — but you’ll see better and better games be released for consoles. So before long console numbers will eclipse PC game numbers.
“So before long console numbers will eclipse PC game numbers.”
At the very least, it won’t happen to the X360 games.
Know why?
Because the PC gaming crowd is still a source of income, yes, a small one, but still. And Microsoft is working towards creating interoperability between XBoxes and the PC. Most new games that do come to the XBox will come to the PC as well. The PC on the other hand, always has and will have exclusive RTS, MMORPG and FPS games. The PC will also always remain a dominant platform for indie games, because no developers like the hard standards set down by MS for the XBox Live games. Digital distribution on the PC is simply easier and more convenient for the developers.
Finally, selling console hardware is not a very profitable business. Say, MS draws their money to fund the XBox initiatives and such only from their software sales. If Vista continues to sell at the current low rates, they’ll put more and more marketing muscle behind PC gaming, just to bring back the software sales they so desperately need. And Vista generates a LOT more income on a per sale basis than the XBox ever does.
Jeff – I’ve had every console bar the 3DO. Each has done something well – none has done it all well, none ever will. And the timespan for those is 10years+ too.
Kickass gaming PC? My box will run just about anything and it cost me £500 which is only £20 more than a PS3.
I’m a recently converted PC gamer, it was the Xbox that did it for me, and now I’ve got a 360. For all my traditional PC-like activities (basically browsing the ‘net), I’ve now got a Mac Mini.
Anyway, all I was going to say was this: Consoles have definitely “grown up” since the days of the SNES and Genesis, and even the Playstation and Sega Saturn. They’re something that a lot of adults would be happy to have in their living room as a source of entertainment and distraction, especially the kind of adults who don’t want to keep up to date with all the latest PC technology. And it’s adults who have all the spending power.
When it comes down to it, this is basically just another thing that people will arch their backs about and start hissing at each other, in the age-old battle for perceived “superiority” over everyone else, much like Mac Vs. PC or even console vs. console. Personally, I’m enjoying my 360 very much, and as long as theres a steady stream of enjoyable games, I couldn’t care less if they came out on the PC a year ago, or don’t look as good as they do on another system. That’s not what games, or indeed fun, is all about.
Anyway, an excellent, well-written article, another reason why I’ve really been enjoying your blog just lately. Keep up the good work!
And I personally thought the “razors and blades” analogy was a good one. It’s all about selling the console at a loss (as with razors) and then making all the profit on the games (as with blades).
It’s also used to refer to the printer / cartridge industry a lot, too.
Geekboy: thanks a lot for your comments. The mail I’ve been getting hasn’t been so nice.
Glad at least *someone* got the razor/blade analogy. And yes, you’re right in saying that the same idea applies to printers/ink.
Mark — but you’re a guy who will build his own rig and deal with whatever issues crop up. So you’re even *further* removed from the mainstream, plug-and-play console gaming market.
Good for you (and I used to do all of that too), but most people won’t, and the industry would die overnight if that’s what people had to do to enjoy good games.
Has anyone had PC gaming experience on VISTA? Will you have bad DRM experiences with games as well?
Also, what is this new XP ‘upgrade’ in the form of Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool actually do for my computer? It just pop up on my custom PC today [I built it]. Why doesn’t my new Mac Pro Tower [3 GHz] need to use it?
These kinds of “predictions” have been made every single time a new generation of consoles is launched – and every time PC gaming has survived very comfortably and only grown further…
This article is an interesting read, but clearly suffers from a lack of research. I’ll post again later so you can see what I mean by that.
That’s a very well-written article; and I agree with your analogy as well. It’s true that consoles have captured a large portion of the market as far as games are concerned. But to condemn the PC to obscurity as a gaming platform is a bit over the top.
You guys have already covered the major points, so my humble 2 cents: as regards plug-and-play, Microsoft is taking steps towards a more PnP approach with Games for Windows. If they deliver, developers will be able to implement PnP as easily on the PC as on the consoles.
Jeff – I had it built. I’m hardware clueless.
PS3 / Xbox 360.
Initial cost + the ‘bleed’em dry peripherals’+the online subs… you’ll need a lot of games to bring that per-games cost down.
I don’t want an all-singing all-dancing entertainment hub. I want to do more than 1 thing at once.
Add into the above the lack of backward-compatibility because it’s even more about screwing the customer and it makes it even more expensive.
And let’s not forget something – ‘gameplay’
Many of the ps3/xb360 games will feature online play partly to get more cash and partly because coders haven’t a clue now about gameplay and AI. Why code when you can hook people up? Sounds good until you realise that many people can’t / won’t subscribe so why buy the game that gets 60% single player?
And I’ve not even mentioned blu-ray.
“Will you have bad DRM experiences with games as well?”
Vista DRM does not affect games in any way.
“Why doesn’t my new Mac Pro Tower [3 GHz] need to use it?”
Because it is sooo proprietary, it’s impossible to pirate?
Dot, these were actual questions. Since you seem to know, what is this brand new WGA update? It is already on my PC. Why does MS persecute me, a legitimate license owner? Should I let it upgrade?
Also, I agree with the Mac pirating statement [if it was meant as sarcasm] as there are many copies of the Mac OS on P2P networks. Why doesn’t Apple use such measures to curb this piracy? Doesn’t it cost me money too? Thanks. Oops, it’s off topic.
“Why does MS persecute me, a legitimate license owner?”
Because Microsoft is stupid and doesn’t care about the customer?
“Should I let it upgrade?”
Frankly speaking, if you are using XP, no. If you are using Vista, yes.
“Also, I agree with the Mac pirating statement [if it was meant as sarcasm] as there are many copies of the Mac OS on P2P networks.”
Err…it was more or less serious. Since Apple gets profits both on hardware and software, and both are very closely tied, Apple doesn’t face the level of piracy MS does.
Thanks Dot. I actually prefer gaming on my PC, but have minimal experience with console gaming. The games seem to cost more on a Mac, and are released later. That’s why I built my own PC, to have the hardware that suited my needs best. My Mac does everything else, except signing my reports at home, and reviewing images [MRI, CT, PET, US,etc...]. I do little gaming now because of my kids, but they have the portable Leapster [LMAX] which can act as a console. Other similar devices are V SMILE and more. These sections on stores are expanding every day. But the mainstream console section [xbox, wii PS] are pretty big in most stores.
Sheerang: I’m not condemning the PC *to* a gaming platform, I’m saying that it’s days as *the main* gaming platform are coming to an end.
For everything else, PCs (and Macs, whatever) rule supreme.
Bill: by all accounts, Vista’s DRM won’t affect games. In fact, games should run better under Vista than XP, although I still think this is a game-by-game scenario.
WGA is a validation tool MS uses to ensure your copy of Windows is valid. When you say it’s not happening on your Mac Pro tower, what do you mean? Are you running Vista via Boot Camp or virtualized (Parallels)?
All: read the fine print of my article again — I don’t say PC gaming is *literally* dead, as in zero, as in no more, but instead it’s being supplanted very quickly by the appeal, simplicity, and low-cost aspects of consoles.
Yes, there will always be PC gaming. Always. But will it be the main outlet for gaming? No.
Bill — Apple hasn’t resorted to intrusive anti-piracy measures yet because the piracy problem with Apple’s OSX, so far, hasn’t cost it nearly what it’s been costing Microsoft. Microsoft faces a serious problem with piracy, which is a result of the sheer number of Windows-only machines out there. When you think about it in a worldwide context, it’s pretty obvious that people will try to screw the monolith whenever possible. If Apple enjoyed MS’ marketshare, it would be wrestling with the same thing.
I agree with you Jeff, consoles are better but every year we say PC Dead! Then at E3 some devs make games like Crysis and Spore and PC gaming isn’t dead anymore. IT won’t ever die but releases will decrease as time goes on, but with Live Anywhere coming to Pcs (360s and PCs linked) look for them to stay around a bit longer.
dpcough: Crysis and Spore look AMAZING, but they’ll eventually make it to consoles.
And remember this: one or two hot games will always be around for the PC. But increasingly, they’ll be cross-ported to the console(s), so that problem will solve itself after some time.
And (last thing) you’re now seeing games be exclusively released for consoles, like Gears of War. Want to play it on your PC? Too bad (at least for now).
Both platforms will exist for a long time, but one will marginalize the other. That’s my whole point.
“Crysis and Spore look AMAZING, but they’ll eventually make it to consoles.”
Crysis on consoles won’t be anywhere close to Crysis on PC, judging on how Far Cry made the transition. It lost ALL of its freeform gameplay-related charm and most of its good looks.
And, speaking of Spore, while yes, it’ll be on consoles eventually, who cares? Spore is being made so that it can be ran on most PCs regardless of configuration. Spore is like the next Sims. And note how horribly did make Sims the transition to the consoles.
“Want to play it on your PC? Too bad (at least for now).”
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/14/mark-rein-gears-of-war-eventually-on-pc/
As newer and newer consoles are released, they are becoming more like computers, not vice-versa.
Then there are the specific genres. If you want to play good sports games and RPGs, you typically buys a console. If you like first person shooters and real time strategy games, you buy a computer.
I do belive that the computer is getting out dated graphics, when you look at a game like gears of wars… I do belive that the console games are to small you dont get the same freedom in playing a console game like gears of war, where its almost like a gameboy, you can only go one way! But I hope that the PC will make a great comeback and it will do with Crysis
I don’t see how you can accurately play Half-Life 2 without a mouse using a game pad with some buttons…but then i never played on a console.
Still just the idea that you have more control over the game using a full keyboard and a sensitive mouse gives PCs a lot of power.
I’ll example this: how many MMOs are there that can be played on a console? Better: how many strategy games can be played on a console?
The thing is, consoles are built for people to have fun alone or with a friend on a simple game of jump-and-collector any point-and-shoot game. But I don’t think you’ll ever have WOW, Lineage, Starcraft, Diablo or any other on a console!
Naaaah. I build a decent gaming rig every 5 years or so on about a $500 budget. I can run Call of Duty 2, Halo, Half Life 2 all on maxed out settings with no hiccups whatsoever. The problem with computers is that people don’t know how to set them up. Kill startup processes, reformat every 6 months or so and your PC will keep running like the day you bought/built it.
-Arem
http://www.seaofire.com
Spore was already announced for DS and other consoles they stated it make it to, same thing for Crysis.
“Spore was already announced for DS and other consoles they stated it make it to, same thing for Crysis.”
Crysis on the consoles and on PC are going to be two *entirely* different games-just go read my previous post.
Same with Spore.
Spore for the DS will be an entirely different game as well-or do you honestly believe the DS could handle anything resembling the full version?
Anything that cant play world of warcraft isnt worth owning… unless it’s a wii
and by world of warcraft i really ment warcraft 1 – th greatest RTS ever
I really think you’ve hit on something here.
On the other hand, console manufacturers have been sounding the PC gaming death-knell for almost a decade now. I think their predictions are finally coming to fruition.
there are tones of PC MMOGs but mostly dominated by Korea, Japan and China. If you can read Korean, Japanese and Chinese you’ll be playing countless games online, not to mention there are hundreds of FREE MMOGs available. Just look at successful titles like WoW, Guildwars, and Ragnarok Online. They got millions of subscribers all over the world.
Sure it can get expensive when you upgrade your PC but, gaming is not only what people use it for. Everyone will have to upgrade sooner or later. Thanks to PC I no longer have to buy games. Hurah!
Console games have their good qualities. The video effects are very good and smooth. Setup is easy. A friend has one. All we do on his console is play sports games. They’re good for an evening of play, but I can imagine getting bored with them if that’s all I had.
PC games are more complex and in some cases that makes them more interesting. Where you’d have to do some weird maneuver on a console game controller to use a special weapon (think Mortal Kombat), you can press one key on a keyboard on a PC. In this case I think the keyboard is more intuitive than the console controller.
If the games require simple controls, they work well on the consoles. Games that require more complex interaction are better on the PC. The difference is the controller interface. If consoles accomodated this, then WoW would do fine on a console and probably kill PC gaming altogether.
I agree that PCs are becoming the realm of RPGs since they’re better equipped to handle the necessary controls, but the consoles are gaining in the action gaming market.
Please do look at the FPS difference of games in Vista and XP.
For PRESENT GAMES, where DX 10 is not a deciding factor, the switch from XP to Vista will be a hard choice by many games.
Please do refer to: http://momes.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/the-windows-vista-craze-to-switch-or-not-to-switch/
As for whether the PC market is dead….No it is not dead; the number of PC gamers SURPASSES the number of players of each individual console. That’s evidence enough ladies and gentlemen.
momes — Again, I never claimed PC gaming is DEAD, GONE, OVER. What I did say is that PC gaming is dying in favor of consoles, and that trend will only continue until the point where high-dollar PCs don’t make much sense when consoles are cheaper, easier, more comfortable and social.
Give me a keyboard + mouse for my Xbox 360 and there will be ZERO appeal for FPSs on a PC anymore.
And regarding Vista, you are correct: unless DX10 is being used, games generally run slower. My earlier point was that Vista’s DRM — something that’s often confused with gaming performance — isn’t an issue.
I’m not sure whether or not I agree with you on this. I happen to be an avid gamer, however I play all of my games on my PC (which is actually a mac). I agree with the points you have made, but I think that RTSs and MMORPGs will keep the PC going strong. I also think RPGs are best played on a PC.
“Give me a keyboard + mouse for my Xbox 360 and there will be ZERO appeal for FPSs on a PC anymore.”
Umm…with the exception that they’ll look much much prettier on any high-end PC?
And then, there is the issue of modding, free non-proprietary multiplayer, digital distribution, actual gameplay pace-console FPS games still will be balanced for the controller-and such?
“What I did say is that PC gaming is dying in favor of consoles, and that trend will only continue until the point where high-dollar PCs don’t make much sense when consoles are cheaper, easier, more comfortable and social.”
Ok, just one more question: why don’t the hardware manufacturers complain about the lack of sales? And why are they still supporting the PC as a platform with all the new GPU releases?
And don’t forget to mention that besides being “cheaper, easier, more comfortable and social”, consoles are also proprietary, non-customizable, have more expensive games, and that they become outdated the moment they are released?
Consoles are never designed to deliver the “best possible gaming experience”-but rather to be as cost-efficient as possible. That is why the PC will always remain popular among actual hardcore gamers.
And all of that is not going to ever change.
Also, to note: besides the hardcore crowd, the amount of casual gamers on the PC is far greater than on any console too, just to note.
Dot — sorry, but games look far prettier on a 60″ HDTV than a PC. Period. Not even debatable.
You do know that you can play computer games on a widescreen HDTV, right?
I do it all the time.
“Give me a keyboard + mouse for my Xbox 360 and there will be ZERO appeal for FPSs on a PC anymore.”
Nonsense. Even if they allow you to use a keyboard and mouse for console shooters, they’re still just that: console shooters. You won’t see any complex or fast-paced games that actually utilize the power of a keyboard and mouse, such as Unreal Tournament (heavily toned down on all consoles), Savage and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Essentially you’d be missing out on the greatest of FPS games, the most challenging and enjoyable ones… because console game developers focus games towards gamepad control – which simply doesn’t support fast-paced FPS play.
“And regarding Vista, you are correct: unless DX10 is being used, games generally run slower. My earlier point was that Vista’s DRM — something that’s often confused with gaming performance — isn’t an issue.”
Not a very surprising thing, considering the fact that the very same thing was true for Windows XP compared to 98SE. The Windows Vista graphics card drivers from both ATi and NVidia are still very much under construction and you could well see a fair bit of performance improvement over the coming months as they release new versions.
I simply cannot see the majority of PC gamers move on to console gaming until console game developers start pumping out quality titles that actually attract the PC gaming crowd. So far, I see no such thing happening. The great, complex & challenging PC games of old are still nowhere to be seen on consoles – and that doesn’t look to change anytime soon. To be frank: PC gaming hasn’t been in better shape in more than 6 years time – there are more exceedingly promising games lined up for a PC release now, than there have been in many, many, many years…
As for PC gaming now suddenly not being the mainstay platform anymore… ehh, where have you been the past decade? PC gaming hasn’t been the mainstay gaming platform for AGES. That’s absolutely nothing new.
Cool!