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PC gaming as its own worst enemy
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It's because everyone knows that RE4 is going to be shit. And Rayman was probably really close to the end of the year.
Honestly, I'll never understand the OMG PC GAMING IS DYING!!!!! posts around here. If you don't like PC games, don't buy fecking PC Games, it's as simple as that. There's an amazingly large market for gamers out there whether it's traditional console, wii, cell phone games, or the PC. All of them have a glut of amazing titles coming to them, and I don't think anyone is going to be disappointed that doesn't want to be.
My current system is nearing 3 years old, and while I did opt to check the system requirements for SupCom, it worked for me just fine. I haven't had a single instance of a game that was unplayable yet. I will soon, but for a platform thats regarded as having substantial growth in system requirements, 3 years is a pretty nice lifespan. And the only hardware I ever needed to swap was a $10 fan that broke, my CPU and video card are the same.
Unless, of course, you're on dial-up, then my sympathies.
if console games became mod-able. I would have pretty much zero problem with the death of PC gaming...but then again, it wouldn't really be dying would it? just shifting venues
If the console world could get off its action/FPS fetish and start making a wider variety of games that appeal to those of us that want a deeper gaming experience. Again, I would have no problem with consoles being the definitive source of gaming. Bring back our beloved Space sims, our turn based games and non-fantasy RPGs and I will gladly sell my soul to the console gods.
Callum - Sniper (Lethality), Brax - Commando (Healing), Xintoch - Assassin (Tank)
Concerning the MMO discussion - I believe some of WoW's success comes also from the fact that it doesn't require the latest and greatest to run well.
Personally I am tired of the ratrace in order to run the latest games. Often, turning down details will result in an image quality which is worse than the medium setting of the previous entry of the same series.
I know its difficult to optimize for a platform which has that many variables and spots many different HW combinations. But to me it seems to me that the majority developers aren't even trying anymore. "Runs like ass on your system? - Well wait until the new batch of graphic cards/ processors is out - this will fix it." Personally I believe we shouldn't need Quad Core Processors and 4 GB of RAM in order to run games on a decent resolution (ok I am exaggerating)
On a positive side: I like that lots of adventures and other genres are coming back for the PC platform. 2006 was a good year for the adventure genre in general.
For all the other companies touting of "PC style functionality!" in their console it's the Wii which has the oppurtunity to get a whole lot of awesome PC games on there.
As for whether that would be bad for the PC gaming industry, I'm not sure. Companies would either ditch the PC entirely or take more awesome risks because they were selling to a larger userbase and could afford to.
Okami is Zelda with a new coat of paint. Pretty much every game out there is another game with a new coat of paint.
I hate to sound like a shill for SupCom but the game, like TA, is way ahead of its time.
There's vastly more PCs out there capable of running wii spec games than there are Wiis or even xbox360s and PS3s combined. And the wii is notoriously bad in the one area that the PC really does dominate in. Try playing a few RTS or MMOs on 640x480 and then come back and say the same thing with a straight face.
If you were stupid enough to think that Oblivion would have the requisite drivers available by the time it was released then you greatly miscalculate the evils of The PC Gaming Soap-Opera Conspiracy Consortium™*
Or you don't read RPGCodex™.
On the topic of Conspiracy/RPGCodex™:Apparently "Fallout" is to obvious for a Fallout fan to use as a password....
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PC gaming isn't really that expensive in terms of hardware.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums.
I don't. Not EVERY shooter is the same. But... then again, look at Halo 2.
Actually, the absence of licenses is more than offset by the compatibility debug costs, if you want your product to be at the level of what you see in stores. PCs are considerably more complex and less stable than consoles for an equivalent result. It's the price to pay for an ever-evolving platform.
Furthermore, before the arrival of online game distribution, the PC market was in the hands of a few big publishers. Sure, small companies can take risks, but they have to rely on online distribution or sell their souls to the big companies. That's what shaped the PC offering into a bunch of technologically advanced "I can be Quake/C&C/WoW too" titles on one hand and small casual flash-like games on the other.