@Gargus said:
Eh the amount of PC users who actually use a big bad ass kickass rig are pretty small. The amount of games to come out each year that actually take advantage of rigs like that is even smaller.
Hell my PC isn't anything fancy because starting about 8 years ago I realized my annual upgrades weren't actually doing anything and that hardware outpaces 98% of games by a huge leap. That's why my game pc with core 15 2500, 8gb of ram, gtx 670 can run 98% of games out right at max settings without a single problem. And it will continue to do so for another 2 years.
And the benefits of the pc vs console version are marginal. Yeah the graphics might look a decent amount better but the game is still the exact same game whether you play it on a pc or a console, the game isn't somehow magically transformed into a better and different game. Dishonored is still a great game for the exact same reasons on a pc as it is on a pc. Only benefit is mods on a pc but I don't care about that because I buy skyrim to play skyrim, not to ride around dressed as a hotdog riding a zombie donkey and shoot flowers out of my ass. I can watch a youtube video of that and get the same effect.
A PC is good for playing exclusive pc games. But the majority of pc exclusives are cheap mmo games or little indie titles that are a dime a dozen and with a lot of indie developers jumping to consoles the amount of good pc exclusive indie games will shrink. Meanwhile any store you go into has a tiny pc section that is 90% sims3 expansions and world of wacraft. Yeah yeah I know "but pc has quadrillions of users playing games every nano second! Look at this unofficial chart!" well all of those quadrillions of users are 85% facebook games, website java based tower defense games, runescape, minecraft and solitaire, or games where you use a fly swatter to smash flies, or play zynga games. The vast majority of PCs huge gigantic audience is middle aged women on a computer at work playing Farmville, or some guy wasting time in his cubicle at work.
PC gaming as a whole really is a fraud in how its hardcore users represent it.
I agree with you on this: there are indeed millions of people playing PC games. A majority of them do indeed play their rinky-dink Flash games and Farmville. Anyone who attempts to cite those numbers for PC superiority is a fool, because everyone can use a computer and the number of computer users in comparison to computer gamers is highly skewed. A dog could learn how to use a computer if it had thumbs.
But have you, or anyone else focused on the limited PC game selections at stores, ever really thought about why stores has such a small PC selection? It's because the primary distribution of games for PC has shifted from a physical medium to a digital one. Look at Steam, Origin, D2D, etc... why bother going to the store when you can purchase the game with a few clicks of a button (and sometimes for cheaper than a physical copy)? Even console games are slowly shifting towards digital distribution. More and more new and upcoming console games are or will be available for digital download directly onto the console as well as in physical format. We're living in a paradigm shift from physical to digital, not just in gaming but in other areas of life. Give it time (as in several years to a decade or so), and I bet that the only thing anyone will be able to find on console gaming shelves are new and used copies of sports games, shovelware, and the occasional lost, hidden gem from yesteryears.
A lot of indie developers are indeed also making the move to consoles. But guess where most of these guys experienced (and continue to experience) success? On PC. The PC has been around for a very long time and has seen its fair share of AAA and indie developers alike throughout the years. As long as there is a creative force within a community of PC gamers (which is practically always), I highly doubt that the number of indie titles are going to decline on PC. The quality, however, is another question and subjective to user tastes.
You mentioned mods, which is another strong point the PC has over consoles. But you "don't care" about them. I don't fault people for wanting to play games vanilla, but you're seriously underestimating just how wonderful modding can be. There's more to mods than "hotdog suits" and "zombie donkeys". Many games on PC have solid modding communities that can take a game and absolutely transform it into something else through enhanced graphics, audio, and gameplay. While some may not overhaul graphics, other mods can provide a very new and unique experience.
Look at
Deus Ex
and what the modding community gave rise to:
The Nameless Mod
. It's not possible to play
TNM
on the PS2 version of
Deus Ex.
Look at
TES: Oblivion
and what the modding community gave rise to:
Nehrim.
It's not possible to play
Nehrim
on a 360 or PS3.
On the same note, the guys that did
Nehrim
are also working on another total conversion mod for
Skyrim
. But guess what? When it comes out, it can't be played on a 360 or PS3 either!
Look at
STALKER
, look at the
Half-Life
series, look at
Mount & Blade
, and countless other PC games that can be modded to one's desire.
You just can't do this kind of **** on consoles.
Modding aside, the only thing that really distinguishes any one system from another (aside from differing hardware here and there) are the system's functions and exclusives (which, like indie games, are subject to personal tastes). So, you get whatever system floats your boat. The bottom line is, even with average gaming hardware by today's standards and mods aside, PC gaming is just as viable as console gaming and should not be ruled out as "fraudulent". Don't let the lackluster PC games section at your local Best Buy fool you into thinking otherwise.
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