Listen to Erathoniel ranting on and on in good ol' conservative Christian fashion.
And How To Save It
Published on April 14, 2008 By erathoniel In PC Gaming

Many people say that PC gaming is dying, and I agree with them entirely. From a commercial sense. The independent gaming community for PC is better than ever. The reason that PC gaming is dying is because of system requirements. You do not need to run a FPS at 90 frames per second with bloom, soft shadows, real-time lighting, next-generation physics, and advanced reflection to make it look good. See Tremulous. 700 MHz, low requirements in graphics, and various other nice stats. It looks nicer than Guitar Hero 3 in my opinion, which requires 2.4 GHz (2400 MHz) and fairly expensive graphics cards. You end up with a cartoony, ugly end-result that can be emulated with the same degree of satisfaction on really low-end obsolete machines (124 kb, and not demo scene ultra-compact, either), with the same gameplay. Audiosurf runs way more stuff than Guitar Hero, and runs on a 1.81 GHz GeForce 6150 Go laptop. Seriously, there is no need for the ultra-high requirements, since the real hardcore gaming community will play anything fun, regardless of graphics. I've played games with 3 poly models, and enjoyed them more than Guitar Hero 3 (Xbox 360). There is no need for your 200,000x 200,000 pixel textures or 80,000 poly models. It really doesn't matter. 


Comments (Page 28)
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on Jun 09, 2008
Ah, has anyone heard if there is going to be a sony playstation 4? What is coming after the xbox 360? I know that there will always be pc's, but I haven't heard what the next console format will be.
on Jun 09, 2008
I think we should all buy Blizzard games to help support the pc gaming industry. If we buy blizzard games than more money will be spent on creating new games like world of starcraft or warcraft 12. Blizzard games are great who doesn't agree. *NOTE* I am not a Blizzard employee  
on Jun 09, 2008
I think we should all buy Blizzard games to help support the pc gaming industry. If we buy blizzard games than more money will be spent on creating new games like world of starcraft or warcraft 12. Blizzard games are great who doesn't agree. *NOTE* I am not a Blizzard employee  


I hope you're being sarcastic..
on Jun 10, 2008
Ditto.

Seriously over-rated developing house. Polish isn't everything, and they haven't got anything else.
on Jun 10, 2008

I think we should all buy Blizzard games to help support the pc gaming industry. If we buy blizzard games than more money will be spent on creating new games like world of starcraft or warcraft 12. Blizzard games are great who doesn't agree. *NOTE* I am not a Blizzard employee

Open source. It owns. Try Glest.

on Jun 11, 2008
I think we should all buy Blizzard games to help support the pc gaming industry. If we buy blizzard games than more money will be spent on creating new games like world of starcraft or warcraft 12. Blizzard games are great who doesn't agree. *NOTE* I am not a Blizzard employee


Wow bored me to death even if you danced for me wearing a pink thong I'd still play something else. Okay, now show us your "not a blizzard..." proof   
on Jun 11, 2008
I'd love someone to explain to me why there is this fuss all the time over *friggin* consoles V PCs ??

Honestly, genuinely, who cares? If it works for you - PC or Console - great, away you go and have fun. Either one doesnt run your favorite game? Well, frankly, *life's a bitch then you die*.

Never mind WW3 almost breaking out - we always seem to skip that and go to a guaranteed Armageddon WW4. Even the *ultimate* male virility symbol, The Car, doesnt get this heated

Its Nuts ......

Regards
Zy
on Jun 11, 2008
I think it's because certain developing houses have started releasing their games on consoles first, or only. Irrational fear of impending doom when minor details in an environment are changing. It's not exactly reserved to the PC gamer crowd, we're all going to die because the oceans might rise a whopping two meters in the next century.
on Jun 11, 2008

Nope, I live far inland, I'm fine with seas rising... wait, what?

on Jun 12, 2008
Nope, I live far inland, I'm fine with seas rising... wait, what?


They say life is a series of opportunities - the way things are going the astute business person would open up a chain of swimming lesson franchises

Regards
Zy
on Jun 12, 2008

Never thought of that yet. Anyone want a swimming lesson? Don't worry, I know CPR.

on Jun 12, 2008
PC gaming is dying because more idiots are getting into gaming.

PC sales haven't changed, but the market for consoles has GROWN making it look like PCs are weaker.

The end result is great PC games, and the standards for gaming the PC set are destroyed to dumb-down games for any retard who plays Halo.
on Jun 15, 2008
Falkir
I am afraid there was no lapse of memory, as it's known that all cutting-edge/new hardware also comes with high-demand, limited-supply, high-manufacturing costs, and early-adopter premiums. As time goes on, the price of any new hardware drops in cost due to increased manufacturing efficiency and so on (more so with consoles). The only current-generation console still sold at a loss is the Sony Playstation 3, but we already observing significant drops in manufacturing costs (original $840.00~, now less then $400.00~) making it roughly cut-even or sold at profit depending on model. The XBOX 360 has been sold with a profit for over a year now, and lastly the Wii has been making profit since it's retail launch.

In addition, the so-called "bells and whistles" also would have blown-up the price of a PC equipped with similar hardware, and in some cases the similar hardware would cost even more to manufacture and to buy for the consumer at retail. You also need to realize that hardware companies (goes for PCs and Consoles) tend to make a great deal or most of their profit from related peripheral sells, licensing fees, developer systems, applied/derivative use in other devices, research and business applications, and so on.

By far, the consumer would still have a FAR more appealing price-point with consoles, where as to get similar functionality and features that consoles offer to consumers you would still be spending FAR more to get it on a PC build.


This is all well and nice, but completely unconvincing. Once a console can do all the things a PC can, it ceases to be a console and becomes a PC. End of. What you're describing isn't consoles winning over PCs, it's the monopolization* of the PC hardware market by two or three companies.


Mad Cat
*Yes, I realize a "monopoly" is technically ONE company and described "two or three", but I couldn't find a better word at the moment...
on Jun 15, 2008
"Yes, I realize a "monopoly" is technically ONE company and described "two or three", but I couldn't find a better word at the moment..."
Oligopoly (a few) or Duopoly (2).
Although in the UK a monopoly is defined as having >40% market share IIRC so you can still legitimately call something a monopoly even if it isn't the only company in the market if based on such criteria (although technically it wouldn't be a 'true' monopoly)
on Jun 15, 2008
Games on PC I find are broader in scope with larger, more dynamic gaming environments. They are generally more conducive to a rich fantasy life and appeal to obsessive natures. Turn-based strategy, RTS, and any MMOG are good examples as has been mentioned. Someone made a point about the mouse interface, which versatility is a big plus for the PC. Some PC games are moddable, and generally have a very long shelf life for technical adult gamers and curious tinkerers. Many PC games have a rich adult-themed story or catchy motif, a fact to which any Blizzard game will testify, as said before. PC gamers are more often intersested in scope, and a rich game world that behaves as more than the sum of its parts. These people are inventive, mature gamers fascinated by exploring and controlling a system at work more than anything else, and gravitate to the flexibility PCs offer as a game platform.

That being said, the vast majority of gamers are kids at heart with free time and money, and zero tolerance for for having either wasted in spite of the fact. People are generally not technical, generally not concerned with HOW something works, and certainly not fascinated by complexity. They are interested in a good lightshow, a story they can picture themselves as a part of, and a fast learning curve without hardware fuss.

Without regard to my personal hatred for consoles, they do fit the bill for playing a game, enjoying a game, and worrying about nothing except next payday. I know I spent a month of my life on GTA, Atari throwbacks, and the Gran Turismo series each. Like comic book fans, hardcore gamers live in a different world than most of the working world by virtue of all the fantasy in which they indulge. There's a built-in tolerance to make believe so to speak. So much so that gaming enthusiasts are usually not fully satisfied with anything that most others would find relentlessly addictive.

Which addiction, in the end, is the bottom line. I go to a restaurant because the food is ultra-refined and richer than that I prepare myself, I don't have to work to enjoy it, I think nothing of my cares while I consume it, and I forget about it when I'm done. The men with the money know that sensation trumps sense the way a tyrant knows force shits on the back of reason. We are buying and consuming a designer drug solely for the sensation it gives us. I cannot imagine a game being impactful in any philosophical or literary sense beyond a passing poetic value. Plays did it, then cheap novels filled in, then radio amplified it, then movies squared it, and well-scripted video games will take over where cinema leaves off in a generation. If crack was half the trouble a PC game can be, it wouldn't be the scourge it is. Unless your crack is having something to obsess over, in which case I pop the hood of any ailing car and let the four letters roll.
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