Meh.
Piracy isn't killing PC gaming. Pure nonstop crap games is killing PC gaming.
I can go to this site, or any other site, and the chances of me seeing a game I'm remotely interstested in is very low.
Diablo III is the only title coming anytime soon I give a crap about and there's a good chance that even Blizzard will screw that up if it doesn't have the same type of randomized content as D1 and D2. Ie, if it has static dungeons it will just be another crappy Diablo clone.
I've been playing PC games since there were PCs.
IMO, the problem is that games now are overproduced and they try to shove all games into either the RTS model or the FPS model OR worse, they try to make PC games like console games.
True PC game players buy games and want PC games, not crappy console game style games for the PC. Console kiddies and other cheesebags who aren't serious about gaming steal or pirate games.
Look at something like Fallout 3 - it isn't really Fallout, it's FPS, it's a console/FPS version of a former classic. It's not what real PC gamers want, it's garbage, over produced, cost a ton to make, took forever to make, and ultimately isn't really Fallout. Fallout is a perfect example of a "classic" PC game and what real PC gamers want - but instead we get a mutilated bastard stepchild of post apocalyptic oblivion shoved down our throats. Maybe it's a decent game, but it's not really a PC game and it's not worth buying (or pirating IMO, I happen to pay for my software but wouldn't even try the fallout3 abomination).
Look at Dragon Age. It might end up being a good game, but right now it looks like crap to me. It looks like NWN2. It looks like a console game. It does NOT look anything like a "classic" RPG like BG or IWD - which is what I, as a real PC gamer, really want. I want a classic PC RPG with a new story, slightly better graphics (maybe 3d with the ability to rotate camera - or not), updated or fabricated ruleset, etc.
Shadowrun...another mutilation of a formerly great title.
Why does every awesome game from the past have to be bastardized into FPS dookie if it's remade or ignored completely (X-COM, JA for ex)? People loved the game as it was when it previously existed, obviously, so why ruin it and make it something else?
It used to be that I could walk into a PC game selling store and just browse and find several titles I wanted to try. Now I scour the internet for games I might like and can rarely find anything. Now I'm ultra selective about even trying PC games because most of the time the gameplay just isn't there - games today are more about glitzy graphics, bugs, incomplete features, and are just crap compared to the games of old that focused on gameplay (due to lack of ability to overdo graphics and glitz).
It wouldn't bother me if the overall PC gaming market was smaller, and people actually paid for games instead of stealing them like scumbags, and the audience was real PC gamers instead of console players, and companies spent less money on overproduction and focused more on solid gameplay, and if PC games returned to the styles of old that are no longer or infrequently represented.
After all these years you'd think AI would've come along strongly, gameplay too (and in many ways it has), but instead mostly we just get more ridiculous eye candy and shader effects to support the video card industry's endless cycle of video card upgrades.
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