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PC gaming as its own worst enemy
Nova_C
I have the needThe need for speedRegistered User regular
I have the needThe need for speedRegistered User regular
I remember a thread recently that talked about the depression in pc gaming, but I couldn't find it. What I remember was that console gaming was being blamed for the reduction in the linked article, but I'm not so sure this is true.
In my own case, having a single Nintendo 64, then adding a Playstation, the Gameboy Color, then PS2, then Gamecube didn't affect the rate at which I purchased PC games in the least. I would buy at least one every month, usually two or three.
But ever since I started playing World of Warcraft, I've purchased two PC games in the past two years, not including WoW or Burning Crusade.
I think that the rise of the MMO is making the PC market shrink. People are buying fewer games because one game can last them two years before having to purchase an expansion. They also (usually) have to pay a fee to continue playing that game.
Whereas consoles are still very much like PC gaming used to be with the games that only last 10-60 hours playtime, so it's easier to sell more games.
What do you guys think? Am I an anomaly, or typical? Is the MMO making the PC market more intensely competitive and cutthroat by reducing the number of games that people play, or is it ushering in a new golden age by making games that people play for long periods of time and play with many people instead of a few days after purchase, putting it away for months and months?
In my own case, having a single Nintendo 64, then adding a Playstation, the Gameboy Color, then PS2, then Gamecube didn't affect the rate at which I purchased PC games in the least. I would buy at least one every month, usually two or three.
But ever since I started playing World of Warcraft, I've purchased two PC games in the past two years, not including WoW or Burning Crusade.
I think that the rise of the MMO is making the PC market shrink. People are buying fewer games because one game can last them two years before having to purchase an expansion. They also (usually) have to pay a fee to continue playing that game.
Whereas consoles are still very much like PC gaming used to be with the games that only last 10-60 hours playtime, so it's easier to sell more games.
What do you guys think? Am I an anomaly, or typical? Is the MMO making the PC market more intensely competitive and cutthroat by reducing the number of games that people play, or is it ushering in a new golden age by making games that people play for long periods of time and play with many people instead of a few days after purchase, putting it away for months and months?
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http://www.gamespot.com/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=24525221
Case closed!
In fact the Wii is the only thing since WoW launched that has consistantly pulled my friends outta Azeroth.
EDIT: I guess Battlefield 2142 actually got a healthy amount of play from me and a couple WoW buddies... but it didn't last all that long.
When I bring home a PC game, there's always that nervous feeling right after installation but before I start the game where I'm not sure if it will work. Do I have the right drivers? Can I play at decent settings? Are all my components compatible with the game? Also, no couch.
I mean how many times do developers expect me to purchase a WWII FPS?
I used to be a heavy PC gamer.
All 3 Warcrafts, and Starcraft
Alice
Command and Conquer Tiberium Dawn, thru Red Alert 2.
UT
Battlefield 1942 and Vietnam (mostly played with DC mod)
Rise of Nations
Evil Genius
I could go on, but really, name me one solid title that has been release on the PC, that isn't an MMO, in the past 6 months?
I am looking forward to Command and Conquer Tiberium Wars, but other than that, I just don't see enough PC games coming out that attempt to break the mold of the World War II shooter, or the Fantasy setting MMO.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
i see a whole lot more crap-ware being put out on store shelves for pc than i remember. just no-name generic racing games and puzzles. with the exception of that uk phoenix games company, i dont see a lot of crap-tastic console-based production companies.
I've never, ever felt unease installing a pc game. But then I've always had a decent computer. I have been let down by a game that didn't run properly on my rig, but it is nowhere near common enough for me to feel uneasy everytime I install something. The last game I can think of was AOE3 because it refused to install on Windows 2000 simply because of how they coded the installer. Had to go online and find out that W2000 users had to do a network install just to play the game, retarded.
There isn't any license required to make a game for a PC. Because of that, smaller companies can take chances easier. Infact, this is one of the reasons PC gaming will never completely die. Even if every big developer went to consoles, it would leave an opening for smaller developers to take risks on the PC platform that they couldn't afford anywhere else. PC gaming is full of people taking risks or modders becoming real developers.
This did not apply to strategy gamers last year. We got Company of Heroes, GalCiv2, Civ4 stuff, Medieval 2, a Warhammer expansion, a Battle of Middle Earth, and even more stuff I can't remember.
It's more that some genres are in a slump or moving more to consoles, like action titles. Single player PC RPGs have pretty much only been supported by Oblivion and Bioware for a few years now outside of indie stuff.
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Another think I thought of as I was reading the replies is, I'm looking forward to Spore and Quake Wars. But I need a new computer to run them as my desktop died and minimum settings on WoW is the upper limit of what my laptop can do. So I'm looking at a $1500 price tag on a lot of those games. Perhaps another problem with PC gaming is the pace at which people need to replace their machines? It took about 2 - 3 years before my desktop stopped being able to run new games and it was near top end when I purchased it. Consoles have a much smaller investment and a larger window of use.
Exactly. Although it looks like the consoles are trying in this area (Microsoft in particular), currently the PC is the #1 area for indie developers. No need to worry about getting your game or company approved by Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft, just grab some development tools and go for the gold!
I think it's interesting that my two favorite games of the year so far - Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank & Alien Shooter: Vengeance - were both developed by teams that only had around a dozen people or so total. Viva la independent developer!
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
COD3?
Edit: and while I'm on that... the last 6 months? Off the top of my head, NWN2, Medieval 2, and even though people are going to bitch to high hell, BF2142.
seriously?
Boy, I bet that pissed off alot of people. I'm not a huge fan of the series, but damn
I think Shenmue was an adventure game, and it was wonderful on the Dreamcast.
And I played it on the PC, but was the XBOX port of Syberia decent?
PC games might not sell as much as a console game might and there might not be as much money in PC games as in consoles, but it really isn't going anywhere. And as far as I can tell, there's not a decline in sight.
There are plenty of PC games coming out that I'd like to get. Heck, there are plenty of PC games already out that I'd like to get but haven't gotten around to and I already have 118 PC games from the past couple years just sitting on my desk alone.
To say there's nothing good that's come out recently is a patent lie or you're just not looking hard enough. There's a lot more that comes out for the PC that's of interest to me than come out for consoles, as my rather meager collection of console games can attest.
The DS has gotten a fair amount of good adventure games.
Alright, you caught me. I hadn't payed much attention to PC titles in the recent year, so I just assumed.
i shouldn't have specified WWII shooter, as in my opinion the FPS genre as a whole pretty much sucks balls in my opinion.
Every FPS is exactly the same.
Game start, Get handgun, and automatic, do some levels, find some grenades, do more levels, zomg the staple rocket launcher.
Seriously, usually when I hear about hype for FPSs, its based around what kind of vehicular combat is involved.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
You seem to be good at making assumptions. Wrong ones.
I stick by my FPS arguement.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
Real Time Strategy: Click on your guys, then click on their guys, repeat until their guys are dead.
Adventure: Find stuff you can use on other stuff, occasionally solve a simple puzzle.
RPG: Kill things to you level up. Repeat. Watch plot-moving video.
See what I did there? Now try again.
I'm glad you'll stick to your guns, but name any FPS, and I'm sure one could come up with plenty of FPS that aren't exactly the same. It's not a genre that's pulled off exactly the same way every time. Really, stop making assumptions based off of extremely limited experience.
Yeah, Half-life 2, Doom 3, F.E.A.R., Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Gears of War, and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines are all so similar...
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
Is that your only argument? One example that doesn't fit?
It is when you use the archer.
Son of a-
Yeah, I guess I'm an anomaly. :P Dammit, now I HAVE to get that new computer because that list looks freaking awesome (A couple of those strategy titles and a few of those RPGs look awesome).
Mechanically? Yes, it is. The only difference is the focus on melee combat.
No, thats just the only reply I had seen to reply to.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
I'm not here to try to convince anybody, I was just contributing possible reasons to suppot the Original post.
I personally feel that games like Sonic, Mario, and Kirby, offer more variation accros platformers, than I do UT3, F.E.A.R, and Battlefield offer variation among FPSs, and so on.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
Hell no, you have committed a faux-pas and we're going to jump all over it till you either quit or move to SE++ :P
Hmm. I'm not a big fan of the FPS, but I think Clive Barker's Undying is a fantastic use of the genre. As was No One Lives Forever 2, two games that aren't anything like each other.
Yes massah, please, teach me da ways of da tru gamar
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
Apparently that's wrong.