Save the PC gaming platform

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vinaycm

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As we all know the PC as a gaming platform is currently taking the backseat. Developers are more inclined to consoles as the prefered platform & so do the users. In terms of sales also PC games are not doing well.

Reasons are quite obvious:

1) High upgrade costs that most people would like to stay away from. The primary one being the graphics card, with a new series launched every few months with a lot more performance & features than the predicessors. A few gamers really have the budget to upgrade & keep up with the requirements. In the other hand a console is a much future proof option.

2) In the developers point of view, Its more ecomomical to develop a game for a specific console than for the PC platform. This is becasue the PC games have to perform good in a wide range of systems with different configurations.

3) The PC is a more sophisticated platform than the dumb consoles where all you need is to put the game cd & play. But since most of the gamers are non techies they dont really know how to get the max out of the systems.

4) Even for a high end machine the performance of games neednt essentialy be the as high. This can be attributed to developers who prefer some specific hardware over others & the bad driver that give problems with some games.

5) The main buying decision for a pc is the price (atleast here in India). The buying procedure for most is goto a nearby computer store & say you want a PC & tell the vendor the price. Then he'll immediatly give a config that fits nice in the budget & give him max profits. I've seen many people buying high end processors with the most basic motherboards with some crap display & complain that i've spent this much on my new system & most new games dont work correctly.

6) The PC has a lot of techinical specs & aspects that a ordinary user cant understand. For most poeple having more is the only thing they understand is the greater the numbers, the better. A small example, I've seen people optiong for the 512MB DDR2 version of the 8600GT over the 256MB DDR3 version which is better performing, but to a common user the 512MB lures him more than the DDR3 tag.

7) The winodws OS on which almost all games are based on is not really meant for gaming. It's still uncapable of tapping the full potential of the latest hardware.

8) A whole lot of maintence tasks like keeping the system virus & malware free, updating drivers & patching games seems to be a tittle to tidious atleast to some.

9) A good gaming PC costs a lot than a console. Also a console wont be needing any hardware upgrades in the future but a pc do.

10) Buying a console is realy simple, but for a pc its a lot difficult. A lot of brands for each item, cross compatability problems etc..

( To have a better picture of the problem, see this: Dell XPS phase-out symptomatic of declining PC gaming sector (updated) . Do some googling to find more links)

So is there any way to revive our beloved platform? Well there may be. Please post in you suggestions regarding how to overcome these problems.

Here's my opinions:

1) While selling a PC, some form of a benchmark score of its gaming performance (like 3Dmark) should also be given with the specs so that even non-techies can have an idea of the performance level it offers. This is relavent as the gaming performance dosent mean spending a lot, for example a high end quad with a budget mobo with inbuilt graphics may give lower score than a system with a budget dual core with a midrange graphics card.

2) Something like a gaming OS might seem infeasible but may prove to be a worthy option if implemented properly.

Post in your valuable suggestions & opinions over here..
 
Although your reasons are very well summed up and I agree on almost all of them, what is the point of the suggestions and opinions? It won't be doing any good at all. I don't think we can change much about the issue. And for me, I am already on the console side. :P

I think consoles suck for FPS games, but for everything else, they rock.
 
IMO these are the reasons:
1) high cost of rig ownership (i've already spent 62,000/- on building my new rig :@ and im still using my 3yr old kb+mouse...got the point)
2) new hardware releases every 6 months (as soon as new hardware hit the market previous leaders becomes obsolete.)
3) ATI vs NVdia war (i think this will last till doom day)
4) games need to be compatible with all the hardwares and drivers. another pain in the a$$ for developers :@
 
Hmmm... Reasoning seems good indeed.. :)

Anyhow I swear the next gfx purchase will be my last one until a game really struggles to play at low-med resolutions in my comp; :|

Messa outta the rat race..

Moreover I'll invest in a PS3 soon enough; MGS 4 FTW!!!
 
The question was not for just you but anyone who considers investing in a pc to play fps games.

Combining the reasons by vinaycm and such third party devices for consoles and more shooter games for consoles (apart from other genres) any one will ask himself or herself this question:
"Should I really spend on upgrading?"
 
prabs said:
The question was not for just you but anyone who considers investing in a pc to play fps games.

Combining the reasons by vinaycm and such third party devices for consoles and more shooter games for consoles (apart from other genres) any one will ask himself or herself this question:
"Should I really spend on upgrading?"
Click to expand...

And that was just my opinion; :)
 
But one thing most ppl over here would agree with me: The PC is a more flexible & technologically advanced platform..
 
PC gaming is been saved:- :P

1)since this generation of consoles came out all the games that come out on PC are console ports and the quality of ports have also been improved drastically as both the consoles using Nvidia and ATI parts..which actually helps porting easily (unlike porting from emotion engine used in PS2).

2) Coz of porting the game requirements have remained stagnant for the past 18-20 months.

Eg : 8800GTX released all those time back still can play all games except one at 1900x1200 with bit of AA and AF. (gud enough for 90% of hardcore gamers)

No previous generation card was able to hold the high end market for so long...(the max was 7900GTX which was able to play every game maxed out at 1600x1200 till dec 2006 after it was launched in march 06)

And the thing is there is still no game coming in the near future which would need a more powerful card...with one more exception (WARHEAD)

The one and only thing needed to save PC gaming now is stop piracy

3)Basically what I am trying to say is that becoz of popularity of consoles all games are made for console and the fact that current generation PC hardware is so more powerful that we need not upgrade untill the next generation console comes out in abt 2-3 yrs time.

I know most of u will think i am lame and some will blame lack of competition between ATI and Nvidia .. But thats my opinion.
 
I would be happy to invest in PC as well as in console best of both world (will be too hard on my pocket, but i'll have to manage it :) )

Right now, am managing with my PC :D

P.S. Once i start earning, i would say good bye to game piracy :clap:
 
Saiyan said:
P.S. Once i start earning, i would say good bye to game piracy :clap:
Click to expand...

So u're currently u're involved in it aint??? :O

Damn that too a Mod; :lol:
 
PC is the best platform that can be used for gaming. Every genre is best implemented on a PC. Best graphics and sound, flexibility, multiple input forms like the keyboard/mouse for FPS and RTS games, game pad for hack & slash, platformer's, steering wheel for racing games, joysticks for flight simulation etc.

A gaming PC is definitely costly, but to get the best, you have to pay the cost. Its as simple at that. In the end you get what you payed for.

Consoles are just rigid black boxes that are useful to extend the reach of gaming to the casual or non-techie audience. They are not as capable as PC's for gaming or any other task, but they are an acceptable replacement when you cannot afford the best or you do not want the best because your requirements are limited. A person who whats the best will probably get all the platforms available.

Game developers are developing games for consoles simply because it makes business sense as they can earn more on console games, its not because they are better suited for game development from the technical perspective.

Still, In the end, a gamer should be concerned about the games than about the platform. I have a gaming PC, PS3 40GB and XBOX 360 Elite and I get the get the best of all platforms.
 
Surviving on PC platform is art, UR purchases should be wiser. 1 should know which component plays how much role and try to get balanced PC.

New GPUs will be out soon, hardly any games struglles on current high end except Crysis. and no games in next 12months will stress GPUs like Crysis, FarCry 2 ??

There is hardly any differance between unoptimized and badly codded, accept it Crysis is badly coded game.
 
SidhuPunjab said:
Surviving on PC platform is art, UR purchases should be wiser. 1 should know which component plays how much role and try to get balanced PC.

New GPUs will be out soon, hardly any games struglles on current high end except Crysis. and no games in next 12months will stress GPUs like Crysis, FarCry 2 ??

There is hardly any differance between unoptimized and badly codded, accept it Crysis is badly coded game.
Click to expand...

Crysis in not a badlly coded game..
Its jus does so much more in terms of graphics,physics ,AI etc that it needs better hardware.

jus to give u as example : jus making u cloaked has so many more challenges for the AI
1)how to identify the cloaked solder in a moving vehicle

2) identifying cloaked soldier when he is carry=ing some thing

3)identifying him when he moves through the vegetation.

4) remembering last known position and cutting of exit routes / flanking

above are jus a few example..there would be 100s of challenges in enemy AI alone while implementing cloak and still maintain the level of interactivity.
jus of the above 4 challenges to be solved would req additional 100 lines of code.
Crysis is a technological masterpiece and i am trully astonished they were able to achieve it.

BTW farcry 2 wont be that demanding ..jus as demamding as other console ported games are.
 
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