The death of PC games is near - Revisited

Great Debates
1

Last year Gozu started a thread claiming the death of pc gaming was near, citing the upcoming release of next generation consoles like Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. I disagreed (politely).

I’m not going to rehash what I said then, but the heart of my argument (IIRC) was that the next gen consoles would not be more powerful than pcs, or have more features, and that the gaming experience (couch people vs chair people) allows for both platforms to coexist in the market place.

Last week NVIDIA released the Geforce 8800 pc graphic card, and AnandTech (an authoritative source on computer hardware) had the following writeup:

So I was right. Or maybe not? Is pc gaming coming to an end? Discuss.

2

Nobody ever knows anything about the PC games when I go to the shops in the mall. Just last week I asked when Gothic 3 was coming out, and both clerks gave me puzzled expressions, said “Gothic 3? Huh?” and then hauled out a gigantic binder from under the counter to find the release date.

I have never gotten this reaction when asking about console games. The walls are completely covered in console games, floor to ceiling, and the PC games section is made of two small racks.

It’s definitely my impression that PC shooters are going downhill. The newer shooters are all generic futuristic games featuring a musclebound man with spiked hair and a hot chick in skintight body armor on the cover, or generic World War II games. And even the PC shooters that are widely lauded as being great are, in my opinion, mediocre.

F.E.A.R., for instance, all took place in boring office buildings and generic underground tunnels. (Never F.E.A.R., though, because the expansion pack “Extraction Point” takes place in a warehouse. Oooohh, that’s sooo much more exciting! :rolleyes:) Far Cry was fun until you had to fight stupid mutants and go through underground industrial tunnels, steam pipes, sewers, and other boring standby cliches of the shooter world. The newest shooter to make a big splash on the scene, Prey, takes place on an alien spaceship where everything looks the same and you can tell that the level designers just made shit up and didn’t give a thought as to the realistic function of all the tubes, switches, machines, tentacles, and other gewgaws all over the place.

I’m much more impressed with realistic environments done well than by alien spaceships with futuristic shit everywhere that is all just made-up by the designers. It’s so much easier to do the latter than it is to have, say, a simple log cabin in the woods that actually looks real.

The overall point of what I’m saying here is that PC FPS games are running out of new ideas. Fortunately, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. might shake things up a little, with its unique outdoor environments, day and night cycles, realistic weather, and sophisticated AI, but that’s only one game, and it keeps getting delayed while the consoles take over the action game scene in terms of innovation and variety.

3

The death of PC games is not nigh. They are, however, certainly not the main delivery vehicle of videogame fun anymore. Some EB Games branches around here don’t even have PC games on the wall displays anymore.

4

Yeah if the last generation of consoles, such as the PS2, which were a genuine technological leap over the PC hardware available at the time didn’t manage it. Then I can’t see how these consoles (which are significantly behind the latest PC graphics hardware, as the OP pointed out) will.

5

Exactly. My point is that the decline of PC games is due to the lack of innovative ideas, not the hardware. Even with the better graphics (which you need a top of the line, custom-built gaming machine to enjoy) the PC games can’t compete with the console games in terms of fun.

6

The cool thing about PC games is that they can create huge multiplayer bases that last for years. I know of four games that easily have 100,000+ people on at any given time.

  1. Counter-Strike 1.6 (came out late 1999, went through some big changes with 1.6 and steam – second biggest e-sports game, never gets old)
  2. StarCraft + BW (came out 1998, biggest e-sports game)
  3. Diablo 2 + LoD
  4. WoW

I could think of many smaller, denser communities that have lasted similar periods with, say, 50K people on any given time.

As for the future with new games, I’m not sure actually. The above are pretty entrenched. I’ll get back to you after I play Half Life 2: Episode 2 and Pain Killer (admit tingly an older one, but its SP looks nice).

Another one to watch out for is Hellgate: London, which looks very promising if you like the Diablo series and first person shooters (made by former Blizz employees).

Oh yeah, and Spore…it’s not my cup of tea, but it looks extremely original and if you like playing god type games it looks like the perfect game.

7

I think there will always be a niche for PC based games, and that niche is any game that needs a rather elaborate GUI.

I remember playing Sim City on the PC, and Sim City on the Super Nintendo. They were comprable. But there is no way in blazing heck you’re going to get, say, Civ4, or Europa Universalis, or AoE3 on a console.

FPS Shooters, racing games, sports games… yes.

Sim games, strategy and RTS will, IMHO, remain best on PC.

I think, if nothing else, we’re seeing an evolution taking place, almost a sort of speciation, if you will.

8

Depends on what kind of games you like. The MMORG is alive and well. EQ, EQ2, CoX, WoW all have large numbers of players. New games are on the horizon, including one that looks good, but is still under an NDA in beta. I prefer PC games–my fingers aren’t really nimble enough for some of the console stuff. I enjoy things like the Close Combat series, Age of Empires, and other wargames that seem to play better on a PC.

9

Fair enough. I guess the PC action games are what are declining. It’s true that the online multiplayer games are alive and well.

10

I actually prefer PC shooters, if only for the better aiming it allows.

But I do agree PC shooters are probably going to go the way of the dodo. The only exception to that i’d make is online FPSs like Counter Strike and the Battlefield series… I don’t, as of yet, think the online console gaming market is big enough to take that over entirely. That may change depending on how easy it is to connect online with the PS3 and Wii (especially the Wii - free wireless service? Nice).

11

Console aiming definitely sucks compared to PC.

Aiming with your thumb versus aiming with your whole hand and wrist? Doesn’t take Dr. House to figure this one out.

12

Yeah, but there are several console games that are extremely popular. Halo/2 and HL/2 come to mind, as well as Super Smash Brothers and Super Smash Brothers Melee, which were released 8 and 5 years ago, respectively. In the senior lounge at my high school, there is an XBOX set up for Halo, two N64s for SSB, and two GC for SSBM. Console games can build up quite a fanbase as well.

13

To expand on my previosu answer, I think something should be borne in mind:

PC games can’t die, because everyone has a computer.

It seems to be the case now that console gaming is becoming more popular; but as long as people have computers on their desks, they’re going to want games to play on them.

14

Try finding an RTS or simulation game on a console. Games like Civilization IV basically don’t work without a mouse and keyboard.

I think what we’ll see is more of a genre shift - certain games will remain largely PC only, while others (more action-oriented ones) may shift to console-only development.

15

I think this is the key.

Consoles are better for high twitch factor games.

PCs are better for more immersive, slower paced games.

Death of PC gaming? Hell no!

As mentioned MMORPGs are really only playable on a PC. The Civilization series has been mentioned and a few other games as well.

If you want depth PC gaming is the shizznit and is not dead.

If you want run and gun high twitch factor games then go for a console (I literally cannot play some new console games the twitch factor is so high…I cannot imagine how jacked up kids have to be to play some of these they are so fast…scares me a little [visions of drooling, thousand yard stare zombies jacked up on Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs and a liter of Jolt cola come to mind]).

16

This is the most important point in this topic. As long as the platform is used, there will be games for it. Even dinky lower end dot-matrix cell phones have games for them, and they are crap compared to even the antique Game Boy, let alone the modern PSPs and GBAs. The PC is the biggest platform in existence, and will not hurt for games in the forseeable future.

17

I agree with the consensus here: PC games might become more specialized, as genres that are amenable to console gaming will continue to shift that way, but PC gaming will always be big because of the ubiquity of the platform, and the fact that the Hardware end of the UI makes it able to support gametypes that don’t really work on consoles. Honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way (as a life-long console gamer who also loves PC’s)

18

Oops, hit reply too soon.

Furthermore, I’ll say that FPS games will continue to rise on consoles, but remain strong on PC’s precisely because of the control differences. Many people have specific preferences about using a mouse+keyboard or a fancy-pants joystick vs. using console controllers. Me? I honestly prefer the feel of the Xbox’s S-Type controllers for FPS action.

Also, please see the the thread I’m starting over in Cafe Society about the merits of either control-type if you find the discussion interesting

19

Digital distribution is really starting to take off for PC games with sites like direct2drive, Steam and countless smaller outlets. Even if it becomes unprofitable to put boxes on shelves there’ll be avenues for releasing new games. Even now niche games are being delivered exclusively online (Defcon for a recent example people might’ve heard of). If anything this’ll make the market broader as you don’t have to sell hundreds of thousands to justify a release, even if multi-million sellers like The Sims or Diablo are more rare.

20

It begs the question, how can PC games suffer from lack of innovative ideas, while console games can’t? Particularly since many action games, AFAIK, are multi-platform?

It seems to me that action games have turned more towards openendedness and tactical feats, and that games like Dom 3 or F.E.A.R. represents the old way of doing things.