mizeriq

ehlaren

Again. I think it's actually shameful to blame the hardware than the software.

Gamers simply don't have the cash to be shelling out a crap load of cash every 6 months to keep their PC from becoming obsolete. That's why consoles work. The sooner the PC game devs realize that, the sooner they can start optimizing their code to run on slower machines.

And let's not even get started with the whole "acceptable graphics" deal. The Wii is doing just fine.

DeLoRtEd1

excaleranth

Here's what I would like to see:

1. Published specification for common platform (ex. PC Gaming 2008). Components must meet or exceed specification to get branding. Backwards compatible with previous specs.

2. The OS is also a component. I think it would be cute if someone released a "gaming OS". Bonus: make it virtualizeable.

But in the real world, this is tricky. Anyone remember the MPC/MPC2 branding from the 90's? And don't get me started on Intel branding (VIIV and all). Near universal support and communication would be needed.

We would also need someone with ginormous balls to create a gaming OS. Something Windows based seems natural, but Microsoft would never attempt to erode 360 market share.

Oh well, it's nice to dream now and then. Keep chugging away, Jack of All Trades PC!

dbc

@ManjiKengo:
I agree. Everything from promised specs on the box and little slips inside the box that say "oh, we don't do that yet" to incompatibility issues to benchmark cheats to the most gnarly and hard to work with drivers in all of consumer hardware (and the ONLY driver install I've hit so far that needs the .NET framework just to install!) They could drop something with 90% of the graphical quality and 3x the framerate of nVidia's best but I'm just done with them too.

I will say though that unlike Creative Labs, they've never made a card that's killed three friends' PCs with savage hardware faults.

fuchikoma

ManjiKengo

arstal

Oh noes! That's like complaining that cheapo Hyundais aren't good enough for racing.

If not everyone wants to game on their PCs, then what's the problem with selling PCs that aren't good at gaming?

lunarworks

The only games that are 'dying' are the utterly stagnant genre of shooters that try to place themselves more and more out of reach of the average wallet.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

orangedude

orangedude

SaxxonPike

*end rant*

SaxxonPike

SaxxonPike

Karlott

There is simply no trusted gaming PC manufacturer that is reliable, makes things easy for beginners and is as widely known as the console company's. Sure, you could say Alienware and Falcon North. But would you ever see a competitively priced gaming PC at your local retail stores?

Xiel

Mezodon

I think instead of blaming the lack of PC sales due to the lack of install base that can run the goddamn games, they should slow the fuck down and make games have options to be able to run on computers that are older.

Blizzard are pros when it comes to this. World of Warcraft, the number one PC game, runs easily on common-tech computers today.

The need for better hardware is stupid. The onus falls upon the game devs to make games that optimize gameplay.

DeLoRtEd1

-DSG

WillW

Gouki4u's avatar has a severe case of Jekyll and Hyde

and an even larger growing PC ownership population. Get rid of the integrated graphics and you have hundreds of millions of gaming machines, beyond casual gaming.

dozerking

TheIrishNinja

TOCATL

There's a lot of research and preparation involved in PC gaming. To get the best machine out there, hell, you've got to build it yourself. PC gaming loses casual, semi-casual, and even a lot of hardcore gamers 'cuz of this. It's just way too easy to drive down the street and buy a 360 instead. It's not as powerful, no... may not do as much crap, either. But they know they can just open the box, plug it in, and start playing right away, no worries about installing this or that program, or hardware conflicts, or etc.

... And just so ya'll know, I built my PC. And I play a lot of PC games. This is why I have no problem speaking out about this issues involved with PC gaming. Sometimes I just want to stick in a disc and play, rather than prepare for every new game that comes out by upgrading my PC to catch up to that specific game's standards. Jesus, it's friggin' annoying.

Poojipoo

Also I know you can build your own PC, but like dozerking said, the general public doesn't know anything about basic PC hardware.

I personally I might know enough to build my own, but I have never actually tried. There's actually a store that sells PC hardware and they can actually build it for you. You pick the PC casing and decide what HDD, CPU, GPU, Modem, etc. that you want. I just never gotten around to see how much it would costs me. Also im sure its cheaper if you did it yourself, but that I don't think I can do. I wouldn't know where all the wires plug into. Unless maybe I opened up one of my older PC's.

T3kNi9e

YOU CAN BUY AN 8800GT FOR AROUND $200 DOLLARS THAT WILL LAST FOR A LONG LONG TIME, AND RUN CRYSIS BEAUTIFULLY. NO NEED FOR 400 or 500 DOLLAR VIDEO CARDS. NOT SURE WHERE PEOPLE ARE GETTING THIS BS FROM....

GPU's are getting cheaper and cheaper, same with Processors like the Q6600. Problem is, the general public doesn't know a thing about basic PC hardware. Hopefully the PCGA will educate people like yourself and many others on this very page.

dozerking

TOCATL

You're wrong. Straight up. PC Gaming has always been niche compared to console gaming, which is more mainstream. PC Gaming is actually growing, especially looking at the recent study the PCGA released back in February for the year 2007.

Also, as much as I like my Console and Portable gaming, nothing beats a custom built machine and mouse and keyboard for many genres. Until that happens on the console side, which it won't due to it's nature, millions of gamers will prefer the PC as their primary gaming platform.

Also, just because Console Gaming is growing immensely doesn't mean PC Gaming isn't, just not as much, and certainly shouldn't reflect poorly on PC Gaming at all. Remember, PC Gaming will always and has always been niche compared to Console gaming.

The only reason all this "PC is dying" BS is coming up is partly in thanks to the overly NPD, console centric, infatuated gaming media glorifies any sort of negative story about the PC Gaming platform. Combine that with a ton of non-PC Gamers, and BINGO! Ignorance ensues about a platform no one seems to understand, but acts as if they are all experts...

dozerking

This is an unfortunate trend that is also creeping into consoles."

a sad and frightening truth.

TheIrishNinja

Someone says the PS3 runs on a 7800 which costs $400 for 40gigs and blu-ray. A cheap blu-ray player can run out like $300 average? Lets just say $200 for the hell of it. That means everything else in the PS3 including HDD, CPU and GPU along with wireless and shit costs $200 by itself. So why the hell did my laptop with a normal DVD-player, 60gig, dual core AMD processor, and crappy GPU cost me $500 + tax.

The GPU and CPU on the PS3 are waaaay better, so why so much more expensive? Is the OS that expensive?

I know Sony sold PS3 at a loss, but last I heard its cheaper to make now and they no longer sell it at a loss. My PS3 is basically my laptop except I can't install software on it and I can't download software and use it on my PS3. My PS3 does everything my laptop can do except download my torrents and for $200 cheaper.

T3kNi9e

We've been playing Gears of War online co-op for the last few days fine just not at 1280x1024 resolution with everything turned up to high. The frame rate is fine even if it isn't 40fps (its not 10 either). This need to play everything at the highest resolution and with everything turned up is what has killed the industry. No one can keep up and why should they given the fact that many games scale down just fine and look very good on a good sized LCD monitor (no 19 or 20" LCD needed).

When I built my system it cost me about $400 and I didn't upgrade it for years until I spent $150 on a new videocard. That last another 2 years until I spent $200 on a new CPU and videocard. I'm good for now and I MAY upgrade my computer next year but even then it will probably cost me a total of $200 to $250 to get what I need to be good for another 2 years. $750 over the course of 4 years isn't bad at all considering all of the other stuff I use my PC for.

jp182

RaepGoblin

T3kNi9e

TOCATL

ban_hammer

"Spaz ate the Dopefish!"

:P

ShaggE

You're kidding. You're telling me that DRM on a PC is worse than a console, where EVERYTHING is DRM'd? DRM isn't the problem here.

- they copy the *entire* game to the hard drive and then insist the physical disk is required for play.

This is a problem. Fortunately, it seems like fewer games are require this these days. That, and lately I've been buying everything off Steam. Even though steam does have its own DRM, they provide enough conveniences (multiple installs, easy patching) that its worth it.

- they rely on retail sales (POST-launch) to "finish" the game (via patches).

This is an unfortunate trend that is also creeping into consoles.

- they **completely** ignore the notebook market - a market which (last time I checked) was much larger than the niche hardware markets that they target their games for.

I agree.

shadydentist

Less Fenix, more Jazz.

pylon_trooper

It seems PC developers have made a habit of requiring consumers to upgrade to remedy the developer's own laziness. GOW2 runs on only 32MBs of memory and a 300MHz processor. Yet, I'm sure if Epic designed their own Minesweeper game it would require 512MB of memory and a at least a 2GHz processor.

I guess what I'm saying is that, why doesn't Epic stop demanding customers have expensive high-end systems to play Epic's great looking games and instead start finding ways to make their games look great on affordable low-end systems? It will be harder. It take lots of time and effort. However, Blizzard did such with WoW, and look at the success.

Lixie

That's very true.

Quilt

That last one is the biggest problem. It's now more common to see people using notebooks than traditional gaming rig. They need to start treating the notebook market as the rule and not the exception.

iisdev

One year later, the next BIG PC game comes along. Well heck, I can only play it on low settings. I suppose I need to upgrade again. Plunk down, say, $300.

I can simply buy a new console in both instances. Except with consoles, I don't have to buy a new one every year (Red Ring of Death not withstanding?) It's every five years.

After reading that interview, I don't see this changing. He argued that in the past PC gamers could play any game, even if the experience were crummy, they could STILL play the game. What kind of argument is that? Why would I want to play a game that runs clunky at all?

I remember being so excited for Total Annihilation back in the day. I could barely play it though and eventually stopped, because what's the point?

Quilt

munkah

@T3kNi9e:
I don't want PC's having RROD now.

Covert_Knight

mwclarkson

Jomi294

Granted it uses a integrated nvidia geforce 6100 its still a 3 year old+ game.

MS should manufacture their own PC's instead of just making software. One thats more standard, like consoles. They use set hardware that is as good as their current console (360) and when developers make games for 360/PS3/PC they use MS's standards.

But this is extremely wishful thinking, also im not sure if I would want M$ to be the one with so much of an advantage

T3kNi9e

Sinnbox

Sinnbox

sloner

Mr.DuckSauce

ArmiMaan

symphony_of_the_night

francoamerica

omnibot2000XL

mwclarkson

TOCATL

Exactly! More crap I hate, when games require different technical things like Pixel Shaders that your graphic card does not have and therefore you are fucked.

T3kNi9e

T3kNi9e

i recently bought my brother the Orange Box for his 360, and we spent the weekend playing it...and by no means is it poor quality, but i just didn't like it as much as i do when i play on my PC, it just *feels* different to me
(on that same note: some games *really* only feel right on a console)

also, the ability to make/distribute/download mods for PC games gives them more value i think, but i suppose that's only if you actually take advantage of that opportunity

mAaron

Dauragon C. Mikado

Mire

Fuckers.

mariospants

Dauragon C. Mikado

try to mitigate the reality that it is a complete ripoff in comparison to today's console offerings.

sarcasm_eludes_you

symphony_of_the_night

TOCATL

sendmail

In other news, my launch 360 continues to run flawlessly and gets the bulk of my gaming attention.

I'm a console gamer, and I'm proud to say that.

DARTH_TIGRIS

Heyyou27

TOCATL

The fact of the matter is that while not only has console gaming caught up in a technological standpoint, but technology is upgrading too quickly to keep on giving the PC gaming community a reason not to jump ship to gaming.

Also, the console gaming industry has become a multi-billion dollar phenomena over the past 10 years. There is simply more money and opportunity.

I think what we can count on in the not-so-distant-future is further integration of first party supported home brew via PC to Console programs, via XBLA, and I'm sure after Littlebigplanet comes out for the PS3, some sort of new version of their Net Yarouze user dev kits.

ashtar

TOCATL

ROFL.

No, he goes home at night dreaming of the day he'd get on the field, and when he gets his chance....he blows it hard.

ManjiKengo

Moonshadow101

I used to be an ati fanboy too.

ManjiKengo

TOCATL

ShirtGuyDom

Mike918

Darthvinder