GTA4 is coming to PC

PC gaming is dying guys

Dying... yeah, sure. Whatever.

First of all, yeah, there's the real-life-stores statistics. They completely ignore online sales and online MMO's. You can't buy Arnor in the stores at all, as far as I know, so according to those statistics this game has sold ZERO copies. Those statistics are really only interesting if you are planning on opening up such a store.

Second of all, you don't have to have massive sales to be a success, you just have to make more money than it cost to make a game. Doesn't matter what the next guy did. Opera is still around even though pop sells more.

Third of all, consoles are bringing folks on board big time. As stated, they are easier to use than PCs. However, if you want to play a game at 2048x1536 with all the fancy trimmings and the ability to save anywhere, better invest in a PC.

And don't forget the art, either. Game developers have to feed themselves so money is very important, but if they just wanted money they can get better pay for less hours in other parts of the industry. It's about the art, too. Thanks to our better graphics, stronger CPUs, faster/bigger hard drives, and larger memory banks - PC's make for a lot nicer canvas to work with.

Now if only the fool video driver situation wasn't such an insane mess.

PC gaming is also being hurt by piracy/hacker assholes.

Yeah, I think that's been established many times in this article's comments, before.

For being about something that is supposedly dying, this post is sure getting a lot of responses...

PC gaming is not dying. I still play.

I have been a gamer since the 80's and ever since consoles went 3D back in 96 with the N64 I have been hearing that console gaming is dying. Well guys, it's still here, alive and well.

System requirements have increased but hardware prices have plummeted. It would cost twice as much money only 3 yrs ago to build a top of the line gaming rig than it does today. The majority of PC gamers don't even need the latest hardware. As long as you have a mainstream/performance mainstream card you are good to go for most games. There is graphics settings of course.

Last, I think PC games are different enough from consoles that it gives this market something unique to seperate it and I can't see it dying out any time soon.

I disagree completely with entire notion of the OP comment. I for one think console gaming is going to wither long before PC games do to be frank. DLC, subscription packages for franchises & digital distribution as well as modifiability and a sense of community will be the saving graces for PC games. Moreover laptops will deliver the death blow, if not already to consoles due to their inherent nature.

Unless laptops that can actually run games get *really* cheap sometime soon, I doubt it. They won't be replacing handhelds either, unless they start making pocket-sized laptops (that you can actually do normal computer tasks on, and afford).



Pretty much all of that aside from modding is already started or growing with the current-gen consoles.

Yeah, my expensive laptop (quad digits) from a year or two ago (1 3/4?) can't run much any new game.

Like Kryo said, almost everything listed is on console. The "communities" are rarely worth getting into, the only one I've ever enjoyed is Tremulous's community, and I haven't played that in a while.

There are at least three main reasons why many developers move towards consoles and away from PC games, and those are the inherent problems the PC scene needs to see resolved before it can regrow.

1) Piracy. It's no joke. If you've seen figures on how much sales are lost to piracy you know what I am talking about. It's totally ridiculous in some instances. Subscriptions, like in MMO's is one way and this is already beginning to change. But economically the PC market today is still very risky and not really worth the effort to many studios.

2) Pickiness of PC customers. Console audiences are way bigger, and are way more content with interesting gameplay innovations than the vocal minority of PC gamers who are very conservative. Some companies, like Valve and Blizzard have the knowledge and resources to keep making pretty much the same game over and over again with better tech, but most other developers don't. For them to make an interesting product it needs to reach an audience that accepts new approaches. The console market is way better in this regard. The potential customer base is much bigger and easier to reach.

My guess is that the PC market will continue to cater for niche games (which it does well, especially with modding and communities) but there is a critical point under which it is no longer profitable. Further fueled by many PC customers wanting to have very high tech games to show off hardware with this becomes a very complicated, and unprofitable, equation. Maybe we'll see this specific PC segment totally implode on itself and see a more indie kind of culture grow.

3) Hardware concerns. As mentioned in previous posts. It's difficult, and expensive, to make a game when you can't be sure what kind of hardware or OS configurations people have. Consoles are dead easy in that regard. If it runs on the dev kit at a decent framerate your good to go. This is getting better on the PC, with general standards being more common, but more is needed. It's still a hassle. And then there is the effect of the market segment, i.e. potential customers, shrinking the more advanced a product you make (in terms of tech).

I do hope the PC market manages to recuperate. I enjoy console games personally when I want a quick fix of good gameplay, but PC games have something different to bring that the consoles scarcely can match. Communities, modding, a different depth of gameplay (at least in strategy games) etc. It's two different kinds of gaming in many regards, and I want both. If I can't have my strategy fix I'll be very grumpy.

Maybe this is what the PC market will be in the future, indie games, MMO's and strategy games, and the PC titles that are better on console are left to consoles. 'Cause I can't really see any reason why I'd want to play Halo, GTA or KOTOR on a PC. With Sins or Total War it's a different story. And perhaps it's easier to retain a paying customer base with these kinds of titles as the players tend to stick with the games for longer periods of time. Subscription based revenues, micro transactions, ingame advertising etc. There are many ways to circumvent the loss of revenue that piracy means but it's going to take some forward thinking and new approaches.

Anyway, my two cents.

This really depends on the game. KoTOR had fairly simplified controls, but try imagining something like NWN2 on a console.

The main issue between consoles and PCs, and the issue that is really the root of most arguments of "console vs PC" is the control scheme. The PC, with a keyboard and mouse, is capable of providing a more streamlined gaming experience with more complex control schemes. The console is limited to your gamepad with, by comparison, an extremely limited number of buttons. This is why most console RPGs tend to be more platformy, while (at least in the older days) PC RPGs tend to be more complex. Of course now-adays with cross releases the line is blending.

Take Mass Effect. It's a very well written game, but the character screen and the inventory is a huge mess, and the absolute worst aspect of the game. It was clearly designed for easier navigation with a console, with your "inventory" essentially being a giant list to scroll down in, compared with most PC RPG systems that are in some manner slot-based and much easier to navigate around.

And to be honest, I'm starting to greatly miss the older style games. I find most crosses between PC and console to be overly simple. This of course doesn't include FPS games, since those are all point and shoot anyway.

KOTOR does have mod support. I dunno how well it works, but it does have it. Just had to say that.

If any control scheme is streamlined--it's a good console layout. Even for shooters. That's what consoles does best as I see it; fast paced action games. And the limitation of buttons means designers needs to decide what is actually important and what is just fluff.



My sentiments exactly. That's what I hope for. Action games and shooters on consoles, and leave the PC to do what consoles cannot, i.e. deep inventories in MMO's and RPG's, and massive unit manipulation and camera controls in good strategy games. Maybe KOTOR was a bad example of me to bring up, it being an RPG, but I guess since it was made for console first it worked pretty well.

It also comes down to the gaming situation. For me, shooting at peeps is best done in the couch with a pad and candy. Deeper games are for sitting by the PC, concentrating, with coffee and loads of cigarettes. But that's just me.

Umm, I have both KOTOR's on my PC, and loved them both. I watched a friend play it on his xbox and it was awkward.


As far as 1st person shooters, PC blows console out of the water. Case in point, I was playing Halo 3 the other night while chugging beers and I'm sorry but the controls are so lame. Any game that has to have some type of autoaim/aim assist because the stupid nobby analog whatevers are a crappy way to attempt precision movements isn't worth my money. Give me WASD with a mouse any day of the week and I'll obliterate any mouthy controller user.


The nature of PC gaming might be in flux, but it sure as hell ain't dying.