Are consoles killing PC Gaming

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Switch said:
I know two negatives with console gaming:

Lack of Piracy

Lack of K/b & Mouse Support

I wouldnt term Lack of Piracy as a negative or at least from the POV of a game developer :P

IMO Lack of Piracy is the most important reason for developers to prefer consoles. This is not just becasue lower piracy means better sales, but also becasue of higher prices. Lack of Piracy automatically means they can charge 4 to 8 times the cost they charge for the same game on the PC. A game like Hitman costs 250/- on the PC and 1800/- on the XBOX 360. It simply means that they make more money on the console and more so especially if the developer is confident that they have a good game and keep it exclusive to the console(s).

The second thing is making the game multi-platform. Multi-platform games mean that the developer is going to get some revenue from every platfrom thus increasing their overall earnings.

All other reasons (technical or otherwise like fixed hardware in consoles, development tools etc) that are not directly linked to the business are just trival criteria when it comes to commercial game development. The business part is more important.

This does not mean that PC gaming is taking the backseat. PC is still the best platform for games due to multiple reasons. Consoles are for casual gamers, gamers who do not have a tech background or for the hardcore gamers who do not wish to miss out on any good game what ever platform it is on. I have both PS3 and XBOX 360 Elite, but most of the time, I find that if a game is available on multiple platforms, the PC version would be the best to play unless the game is a crappy console port in the first place.
 
PC gaming was dying in 1995 when the PSX came, then in 2000 with the PS2, then in 2006 with the X360, now in 2008 and on and on...

Sure is taking a while.
 
The only reason I still stick with PC gaming is that I have a Computer in my room but not a HDTV or even a SDTV. No doubt, console gaming is the wiser thing to do, but sitting in the drawing room and gaming while everyone in the house sees me and says-" why dont you do something, when will you grow up?" is not my idea of fun. I would rather peacefully game on my year old 8500GT which plays all games in low medium resolution but is still fun.

But if you have your own personal TV please buy a console and upgrade both PC and console only once in 5-7 years. Why would anyone want to spend more on these toys( I think that's what games are, when you think about it, sad but true ). Don't forget Console now a days are more than mere gaming devices.

I wouldn't touch Windows if I had a console. And my current Computer would last so so long.
 
vij said:
Just one point. A HDTV can in many ways not be considered an additional cost to consoles.

May be not directly but it is an important aspect when it comes to delivering high resolution gaming.If you have a console capable of outputting high resolutions then why restrict it to an SDTV? It's like having an 8800GT & gaming @800x600 resolutions when you can game at much above that.;)

Basic point being the earlier consoles like PS2 & the original Xbox were good to game on regular CRT's but now the next generation consoles need a good LCD HDTV to be enjoyed properly.You could game on a monitor too to cut down the cost factor to a certain extent but then again the bigger the screen the better the experience.And bigger screen again comes for a huge price.

Coming back to the original topic,I feel the focus has shifted a great deal onto console gaming with the advent of the next generation era.Games coming to consoles first & PC gamers just lying back & watching delayed ports.This is ridiculous.I mean why prolong the PC version releases.Assassin's Creed had taken a truck load of time to release on the PC since it's launch on the console.My guess is that modern day consoles have started matching PC in terms of graphical capabilities.Earlier this wasn't the case.We knew that Doom III looked prettier & experienced much better on the PC than on the Xbox.But now the competition is much stiffer.Gears of War putting most of the PC games to shame,graphically that is,when it was released.It was ground breaking.Something which I had never expected on consoles.So the times are slowly changing & those graphic hungry maniacs can have a piece of their high end gaming with consoles too.

Piracy,again,like everyone mentioned is really taking a toll on the PC gaming scenario.With copies being leaked month in advance & cracked copies coming out the very next day of release is a big downside.If Xbox 360's hardware failure rate was not so high then it's piracy rate would have been much high.I have seen a lot of my friends shifting to buying original games for the Xbox 360 which was not a case when they had their PS2.PC gaming looses huge revenues due to the rampant piracy.So I guess many developers are sceptical about their releases.
 
Oh not again PC vs Consoles.

Cost:--those who think PC gaming is costlier dan consoles..dont look at the bigger picture. I put it dis way

a)Higher cost of software $10-$15/game (1000 bucks or more in India)

b)need for a good Tv..costlier dan a good/gr8/awesome PC monitor.

($700 or more extra for a display wid same resolution and image reproduction quality---the size hardly matters as u sit 1 feet from a 22" panel and 7 feet away from a 40"/60" panel)

c)Need to pay for online services (8$ per month)

d)prohibitive price of accesories wid less to choose from

($100 for a 120gb HDD for 360 vs $40 for the same one on PC)
e)limited use..jus games and videos.

(PC can also b used to buch of other stuff..and have a huge number of application from entertainment to coding to whtever u want)

VS

>>periodic upgrades on PC.

Dats jus the cost perspective which is the main argument for ppl choosing a PC over a console..

Even now if are clever enough u can build a PC which will play games at higher res and better image quality dan any of the consoles

Although i must agree dat i myself own a console ..dats coz PC aint getting many of the titles now a days of have to wait fora long period of time to get dem..and its all because of piracy.
 
wid jus console ports coming on PC now a dats even the period upgrade stuff goes out of the window..

so if u calculate properly PC gaming comes to be half a cheap as owning a console...wid jus the downside of having less number of games.
 
PC gaming isn't dying or anything, it has just been relegated to Stepchild status. The parents won't give it much love, but occasionally a kindly uncle (Valve, etc) will give it a gift to raise its spirits. :)

The primary and probably only reason is because of piracy, which makes me wonder, if the atari "stealth chip" will change anything... (assuming it works like they say it should :P )
 
its not the consoled killing Pc...its the piracy....big game companies r afraid of this.....so they r now shifted to consoles....if u compare this yr with last yr....its 1:10 ratio of games rlsed this yr....its very bad to hear this..now more graphic cards are getting rlsed rather than games.........hope PC will regain its lost crown soon.....
 
@Ethan

My point is that people generally buy HDTV to watch TV, and it can in many ways not be considered an additional cost to consoles...

You have a HDTV, just add in a console....
 
Neotheone said:
Getting back to the topic of discussion, it is obvious that PC is lagging behind consoles for now, the fact remains that new generation consoles still have low penetration compared to the PC in the developing world, where a large section of the population just won't shell out upwards of 15K on a gaming device.

You are absolutely right. The 37% duty is hurting the console sales. Infact its just now that the sales of Ps2 is picking up here. Just came across a website which stated that Microsoft Xbox is closing down operations in several cities due to lack of sales.
 
soggy316 said:
PC gaming isn't dying or anything, it has just been relegated to Stepchild status. The parents won't give it much love, but occasionally a kindly uncle (Valve, etc) will give it a gift to raise its spirits. :)
More like a bastardchild. PC gaming unlike consoles never had a corporate parent to begin with.
Now if nVidia and Intel started paying oodles of money to game developers for exclusivity deals, I reckon the scenario would be much different.
 
LOL

Let me crosspost from an old thread....

Superczar said:
From my POV, PC gaming has been pointless for ages now

I had fallen in the scenario B hell for a brief period approx 2 years ago....

came out of it in a month, and have stuck to scenario A ever since

Scenario A:

A nice Saturday evening, a console (any console, even a PS2), throw in a decent game, a crate of beer, a couple of beanbags and a bunch of friends....

7:00 PM- get the beer, fire the console :beer:

8:00 PM: dude, who is ordering the pizza

8:30 PM: gobble gobble gobble....hey, keep the gunk away from the console...and don't spill the beer on the remote

12:30 AM...Dude, I am hungry again...can someone drive down to that all nigher paratha shop and get some parathas

2:00 AM...gobbl gobble gobble again

4:00 AM: F%$&...we are outta beer and I am hungry again

Scenario B:

7:00 PM on A nice saturday evening, a high end PC with a Sixteen core CPU and a 19000XTX and 64 Gig of ram and the latest game title and 2 PC gaming fanatics

8:00 PM: Sweet, games installed, time to frag

8:15 PM: Oh wait, doesn't the framerate feel a bit laggy...let me go install fraps and keep an eye on the frame rates

8:30 PM: Oh c%ap, FRAPS tells me my framerate stutters to 20fps during heavy rendering..let me google for this issue

9:00: Hmm, seems like the beta forceware 210.1 rivers on guru 3d fix this problem..lemme dowload that

10:00 PM: ah, beta drivers installed, now where is that 3d mark benchmark

10:30 PM: Oh now, I get only 15000 3dmark points on my uber GPU while Tommmy/Dicky/Harrys' rig on that elite forum gets 19000 points despite a lower config... now where is that registry tweaking guide.. let's google for that

11:00 PM: Hmm, modified HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_GPU_BLAHBLAHBLAH to x, all set and done... lets fire 3dmark again

11:30: Cool, now I get 19100 points...wait till I post in on the forums and see Tommy turning green

12:00: ah, my uber cool 19100 points Posted..now where is that game we were trying to play

12:30 PM: Oh no, now the screen keeps crashing/game keeps core-dumping

Let's switch back to the original drivers and try OC this b^tch

1:30 AM: Awesome, I managed a 15% Overclock....and a 19250 3d mark score....awesome, just awesome!!!

let's post this on the forums again

2:00 AM...Hahaha, now that poor Tommy will be completely swallowed by the green monster... :dead: time to fire up the game again

2:30: Yeeshhh...what are those artifacts on the screen...maybe I need to reduce the OC before I fry out my GPU :akuma:

3:00 AM: ugh...WTH...After the OC reduction, I get just 18500 points on 3dmark..... :evil:

must tweak the registry..... :fatigue:

must change the driver again.... :fatigue:

must run those benchmarks again.... :fatigue:

maybe I should order that water cooling kit... :calich:

maybe I should do a clean windows install.....YESSSS, that should work!!

6:00 AM..WIndows reinstall done...Yawn..must sleep...will try the game again tonight..... :stop:

And the cycle continues..........
 
vij said:
@Ethan
My point is that people generally buy HDTV to watch TV, and it can in many ways not be considered an additional cost to consoles...
You have a HDTV, just add in a console....
Actually I have seen the reverse happen.If you got the console then get the HDTV.I rarely find people now-a-days getting a HDTV for casual TV session unless they are very rich or really want to be future proof.But I get your point.;)
 
Scenario C:
A nice Saturday evening, a current gen console , throw in a decent game, a crate of beer, a couple of beanbags and a bunch of friends....
beer.gif


7:00 PM- get the beer, fire the console ...eh...what's those red rings i'm seeing?lemme search the internet..aah a wet towel(hehe) will do the trick

8:00 PM-threw in the towel ...ah well ..perfect time to watch saas bahu serials..:bleh:
 
mpranav said:
Scenario C:
A nice Saturday evening, a current gen console , throw in a decent game, a crate of beer, a couple of beanbags and a bunch of friends....
beer.gif


7:00 PM- get the beer, fire the console ...eh...what's those red rings i'm seeing?lemme search the internet..aah a wet towel(hehe) will do the trick

8:00 PM-threw in the towel ...ah well ..perfect time to watch saas bahu serials..:bleh:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :hap2:
 
All these 'PC gaming dying' threads come up due to the NPD sales report in US.

World is not restricted only to US. In European nations, PC Games are doing very good business, NPD takes in account only the retail not the online and other forms of sales.

Goto gameboomers.com and see the number of adventure games released/coming to PC in this year. Are those developers doing charity work, if there is no business on PC.

And most adventure games gets released in Europe and only few find a way to US shores.

Sure PC Games are not selling as much as consoles do. Becuase sales reports considers all console sales together.

So its PS3+Xbox+Wii pitted against PC.

But still we see so many great titles coming to PC in near future

Sure, in developing countries, there is rampant piracy and PCgames don't sell that much, infact even console games don't sell that much, Its mostly due to exorbitant rates of hardware prices people invest and they end will little money for software.

A graphic card costing 300$ in US end up costing about more than 20K in India. But its not a justification for piracy

Mutliplatform titles makes more sense for a game development company, they get more revenue from single game and users can buy the game on any platform they wish to play.

If PC gets good ports like AC and Mass Effect, then I am happy

As far delayed PC ports, game companies do that banking on many enthusiastic gamers who are impatient, so they buy the console game and after 3-6 months, buy the better PC version again - so thats double money.

Another reason is MS/Sony making exclusivity contract.

PCGaming will take a back seat, only if consoles comes up with PC like graphics/customizing and fluid resident KB+M combination in future.

Lastly as long there are companies like Intel,Nvidia,AMD/ATI and other high end hardware manufactures, PC Gaming will stay
 
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