PC gaming got a future or are consoles the future? Debate.

Well today I was inspired to make this topic after looking in a few game stores. I was disapointed with the lack of PC games on sale along with a new release (Grand Prix Manager) that I was after not being in several stores and some not even selling games on PC.

I went on to buy Dawn of War II and after a quick play, I found myself disapointed. The game is not bad, nor poorly optimized on PC. However, I felt disapointed as I was going in expecting Dawn of War 1 type gameplay on skirmish mode, however there is little in base building. I can see the argument for that however, but this is one of the features I felt made these games key to PC in their complexaties, this game could run on consoles now due to some asset stripping in gameplay areas (not to say that its bad, as it does make the game more tactical, you cant just spam out the same units and win, nor can you rush as your units will get shreded by the base deffences).

Consoles seem to be making a big leap forward technology wise to be on par with PC gaming in most graphics areas in the last year or two it could be argued. Some games like Empire Total War I admit would not run on a console due to sheer data the game crunches.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this?

Do you feel PC gaming still has a future or is consoles taking over for the "hardcore" gaming experience?

Discuss.

well, to first properly understand the changing importance of consoles and pc gaming, one first needs to examine the exact role each plays in the gaming community. i think it was sid meiers who gave the most eloquent differentiation between the 2 in an interview. he said that console gaming is what u play when u come back home from the pub, and need to kill a quick few minutes whereas pc gaming is what u play instead of going to the pub in the first place. the most crucial thing for me is that this analogy does not hold true anymore, and that is where we start seeing the hardcore gaming line blur between the 2 platforms. 

from the customer's perspective, there is no doubt that both the quantity and quality of the triple a titles have gone up on the consoles. in fact, other than the input devices to b used, there is very little to choose from for some of these cross platform titles. 5 yrs back, games like call of duty would have had its home only on a pc, but now, is that the case anymore? and even more importantly, in making the shift, have these games compromised on their quality? the answer's probably not.

however, before anyone starts thinking i m a pure console fanatic, let's examine the other side of the coin. a couple of points stand out immediately: the controls advantage on the pc for rts and fps titles, and so on. computers r beasts that evolve almost constantly. whereas consoles represent a snapshot of technological peak at a point in time, once that time is past, the pc inevitably overtakes it. the current console life-cycle, for me, still has more than half its life ahead of it, but it has already been trumpeted by the pc in terms of pure horsepower. and this happened well before his yr. so there really is no doubt that if a person were to choose a platform, that any given point in time, represents the best current generation of gaming has to offer (in terms of hardware, i.e.), there really is no substitute for the pc.

all this, of course, are arguments in what may be. the sad reality, however, is that the future of gaming is not decided by gamers, but the economics of the gaming industry. as any industry enters expansion in serch of higher revenues, it will need to divert away from the original core audience, and need to develop products that cater to a much wider audience. a very obvious reminder of this reality is the nintendo wii. u'll find very few self-respecting hardcore gamers claiming it to b their platform of choice, and yet, here it is, the runaway winner in the current generation. my expectation is that in search of constantly expanding the market, and bringing in new segments, u'll find in the not so distant future that the gaming industry is dominated by the non-hardcore market (assuming i divide the market along those lines). in fact, if anything, that trend is already showing, and is only going to get worse. bottom line? hardcore segment will genuinely become what the name implies, just one of the number of segments. and not one of the bigger ones either.

trust me, i m one of those sucky corporate people who make decisions like this to make an extra dollar (although not in gaming, but another industry), i would know.

For PC to play the highest specification of game you will have to cost $2000 or likely

 With that money you can buy PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii with a lot of your favorite console game

But we can't say that PC can't be use to play PS3 or XBOX 360 game, like HALO or Gears of War

The important thing is both are different , PC are more suitable for detective and FPS game. console are for RPG and action

 Both are changing PC need new VGA or processor each year and PS3 become PS4 or XBOX 360 become XBOX 720

But, because PC have more"things" that console doesn't maybe it will last longer before the era of simulator and super-tech world when we can live in any planet we want

Even though i love console game so much

Thats true. I do feel consoles are starting to get some of the better PC games like Crysis, Far Cry, Call of Duty and others. I mean the keyboard and mouse is arguably the better control option, I just like the gamepad more now.Garfield360UK

Keyboard and Mouse is far more accurate for the fps fan than a hoypad ever can be, though I fail at trying to get the hang of it. 

I did a quick google search the other day and companies offer people the ability to build their own gaming computer for upwards of £3000. For this you will no doubt get a machine that will not need updating in VERY long time, and the latest 2 gig graphics cards - these babies are what makes the difference for me between pc and console - pc is always going to have superior architecture if you are willing to pay for it.

PC gaming will never go away - it is what drives the market, despite what many console gamers would have you believe. Lets face it, Nintendo, Microsoft (Gaming Corp) and Sony (Gaming Corp) could go down the swanny at any point with one of their ventures because they lose so much money on each console just to get a decent fan base.In addition to this - games companies take a big risk putting games out there that mayu not sell - hell, this can close some companies - so when the target audience is not as large as PC say, I think you can agree with me that it is the console game that is perhaps more at risk long term.

There may be 25 million xbox360's out there but there are a damn sight more pc's. There will always be pc's. One company does not singularly manufacture the pc and does not therefore have to consume the cost. If I've got the money I can have a pc built to my exact spec - therefore the pc gamer market is probably much bigger globally than the console market.

Finally, I believe it is within the pc genre that games piracy will finally be defeated - through direct downloads from steam say and the necessity to be online to download further content. Any fool can flash a hard drvie and sell pirated console disks for a fiver and this can only hurt the smaller console market. 

So while I'm predominantly a console gamer, if things change in the future I would not be concerned if I were to become a pc gamer full time as I see ther being a future there.

Got to agree with the mouse & keyboard being the the best for FPS. With the key bindings & having versatility to change layout there is no touching the old PC for that. My honest opinion for consul gaming has been for 3rd person action games as GTA, Halo ect. Also driving games like Forza 2, PGR, Dirt, Grid. I can go on & on.

The thing that makes a PC a specialised tool is that you have the quick fix & interchangeable parts. you don't have to pay the earth for some high speed monster that will do everything. If you look around & think what you want to play & options you have in regards to graphic & performance you can get there for a fraction of the price these days & have fun doing it.

When I bought my PC, Many moons back. It was the first of the core 2 duo I think. 2.19 GHz with 4200+ Processor - AMD 64x2.

Since then over time. I have installed ram up to 4GB Graphics card now is a HD 4770 & a PSU 550 Watt. didnt take a lot of money & doing it at home was fun.

The consul games have their favs that people will play. But I hope that PC has a bright future ahead.

Got to agree with the mouse & keyboard being the the best for FPS. With the key bindings & having versatility to change layout there is no touching the old PC for that. My honest opinion for consul gaming has been for 3rd person action games as GTA, Halo ect. Also driving games like Forza 2, PGR, Dirt, Grid. I can go on & on.

The thing that makes a PC a specialised tool is that you have the quick fix & interchangeable parts. you don't have to pay the earth for some high speed monster that will do everything. If you look around & think what you want to play & options you have in regards to graphic & performance you can get there for a fraction of the price these days & have fun doing it.

When I bought my PC, Many moons back. It was the first of the core 2 duo I think. 2.19 GHz with 4200+ Processor - AMD 64x2.

Since then over time. I have installed ram up to 4GB Graphics card now is a HD 4770 & a PSU 550 Watt. didnt take a lot of money & doing it at home was fun.

 

The consul games have their favs that people will play. But I hope that PC has a bright future ahead.

WolfBain666

Both sides are even.

Strange thing i ws reading today in a mag while i was in the Dr's & it was to with intergrated PC housing. When I mean Housing I dont meah the box. I mean you HOME. This was something that can take the PV of today & send it that big step up from the consul battle. The show home that was in Berkshire somewhere was fuly intergrated from curtain to cup warmers for coffee.

I think we are going to see a big change on the horizon for the PC & the gaming with this can only get better.

Keep your eyes open People. I think they are starting the change,   :)

Wolf

I have to go with PC.

I am thinking I will stick with consoles, PCs are good dont get me wrong but the hardware upgrades, lack of friends who are pc gamers and titles that are PC only put me off.
Garfield360UK

[QUOTE="Garfield360UK"]I am thinking I will stick with consoles, PCs are good dont get me wrong but the hardware upgrades, lack of friends who are pc gamers and titles that are PC only put me off.
pai-may

It doesnt bother me that PC only games come out. Where have I said this recently? I dont think PCs need to be like consoles, they need to get more exclusive content and push the boundaries like PC gaming used to with Far Cry, Crysis etc. Where is the major Direct X 11 game that will sell Windows 7? That is the point I am making, Microsoft and others are not pushing this front enough.

Please dont believe I am a PC hater, as I like PC gaming as well as consoles, but it has negtives like the consoles do. If my friends were PC gamers I would likely do it more as I play a lot online with them so thats why I stop PC gaming like I used to. Heck Football Manager is one of my most played games (well Championship Manager 4 to be more exact) but I never got into Crysis as my PC just can not handle it to the level I want to play it at. If I could run it on high graphics in 1440 by 900 then I would happily do so but my PC wont handle that and the plug and play ability on a console compared to the PC is better for me personally.

Pc has plenty of killer exclusives, they are generally just different to the sort you expect on PC:

Three off the top of my head released this or last year, (without me scanning GS for a tonne more:

Warhammer Online

Dawn of War 2

Empire Total War.

And that's just from the sort of genres we talk about on DBG, there are probably a hell of a lot out there if you look, especially around the DBG; strategy and rts games are the favoured sons of the pc.

PC gaming has a great future, and the developers should stop doing lazy port jobs like this one

With the excellent compatibility options of the xbox360 gamepad, I am sure more and more console gamers will incline towards the PC. And I fully agree that gamepads are far superior for racing games and some 3rd person action games. I have picked up numerous games that I'd usually not buy for the PC in recent times; just because I have that precious gamepad. PCs are capable of running any console title; i.e. Street Fighter IV, Mass Effect, Devil May Cry 4, Resident Evil 5 (yeah, most are capcom titles) ...and they often look better on the PC, too.

Consoles come and go, PCs stay!

I think consoles will be all thats left for the big games in the furure, its just easier to control and avoid piracy.Faller88

DMR. Yeah, the plug and play 360 controller for pc is actually more comfortable than the 360 controller as it not only does not have a massive batter stuck on the back of it but it is at least 1.5-2lbs lighter because of it, which makes a difference over a couple of hours.

My other half bought a cheap jp for her laptop but it sucks so she has relented and ordered a 360 pc controller. They rock.

Well Spore was mass-pirated for a different reason; EA put in SecuROM DRM in the game which was not mentioned in the box or software license agreement. This enraged the community and resulted in higher than usual piracy. You can read about it here

I believe Blue Ray was a smart decision by Sony. Lot of people buy the PS3 just for watching movies. I know a friend who bought a PS3 1 year ago and yet she didn't buy a single game, but bought a number of BR Disks. THe market for blue ray is expanding, and prices are bound to fall. In the not so distant future, blue ray copers will get cheaper and the blanks ones, too, and back to square one for Sony.

On-topic, Dragon Age: Origins is another example of how PC gaming is here to stay. Despite of heavy competition from xbox360 and PS3, it came out as the best version of the game. 

Well to be fair consoles get patches, I agree that the PC has user made ones but consoles also get game fixes online (and if it goes to you need to be online to get them then you do really for PC games unless you get PC gamer or something to get them but then you are buying a magazine for a patch then).

I do feel that the Securom thing was just an excuse by many to pirate the game, I have Red Alert 3 which uses the same technology and it works, the people who pirate them will use any excuse to make it look reasonable.

Nah, the bonus to patching most pc games is that you don't have to have home internet to do so, you just need a usb stick with enough space and a local library/ cafe with internet access and you are away. The patches for Total WAr to produce Napoleonic armies may be the sort of thing that is a little on the large side though.

What is Securicom? 

I agree with the idea that PC gaming used to be the mark of a hardcore gamer, but that isn't the case anymore - personally i CHOOSE to console game over PC gaming because i am on a computer all day at work, and it's not exactly relaxing for me to sit in front of one when i get home. I'm also a Mac user, so i have a bit of a bias against the PC in general LOL.

I'm NOT a hater (though i'll joke about it to push a button or two - lol) but i think it's possible to be serious about gaming no matter what platform you choose. PC gaming will probably always have a future, but it looks like consoles are going to continue to play a serious role as well. All you have to do is go into an EB Games and look around - the 360 wall is the biggest, followed by the PS3, then PS2, then DS, then stuffed into a remote corner is PC games. Granted i know this reflects the majority but it does tell you something...