PC gaming

[Piemaster]

Prompted by the Black Ops thread and having been in Game recently and looking at the fairly spartan shelves of new release PC games is it fading out as a gaming platform?
There are lots of games in the store but didn't strike me as being much new stuff, lots of older budget releases (even Theme Hospital sitting on a shelf - how old is that?). By comparison there is a huge amount of console stuff of every format.
I occasionally visit miniclip and have a play on puzzle type games but generally go for the 2 for £20 type offers in Game/Gamestation for the XBOX, lots of good older titles available and bargains in the £/gameplay ratio to be had.

 

[beanzontoast]

The only 2 games I still play on PC are quite old ones - Silent Hunter II (WW2 submarine simulation) and European Air War (yes, you guessed it - WW2 flying simulation). I tried CoD and MoH on pc and they weren't bad. I haven't been tempted by any pc games recently at all.

 

[ian turner]

Lack of originality and imagination these days.

 

[2Loose]

Dying? Nope. Heard of World of Warcraft? Starcraft 2?

PC gamers do tend to focus on a wider variety of games that perhaps do not suit consoles though. Bricks and mortar shops selling PC games are focusing on consoles and puchasing PC games tends to be from the 'tinternet or even supermarket more and more, rather than somewhere like Game for some reason though. Perhaps because the choise is so much greater.


Look out for Diablo3 soon, another PC first, console *might* follow game.

 

[Piemaster]

Forgot about WoW, but it has been a couple of years since I last played it. Closed the account as my son got bored of it which I could understand as I found it went from being addictive to being repetitive.
Perhaps 'dying' wasn't the right word but pc games do seem to becoming more of a niche thing now and I can't see some translating well onto a console. I've always liked the Mechwarrior games but the huge amount of controls needed to pilot a 'mech would work well on a console controller.

 

[ian turner]

There's been a lot of consolidation in the PC games industry into super corps who concentrate on core profit areas. Likewise the cost of making games has gone through the roof pushing out the smaller players.
The examples given above are three sequels so basically refinements of the original idea aimed at those who seek familiarity. Then an online rpg, the new cash cow which has an extended life of expansion packs and a tendency to claim that "it's the players that make the game" as an excuse for the lack of depth in the games themselves.
The Mechwarrior games weren't up there in the big selllers at the end of the year and even the duck dodgers space pilot of the universe games weren't big enough for the current big players (Eve online has hauled that group in with a positively lacklustre piloting experience)

 

[Norm]

Dying? Nope. Heard of World of Warcraft? Starcraft 2?

PC gamers do tend to focus on a wider variety of games that perhaps do not suit consoles though. Bricks and mortar shops selling PC games are focusing on consoles and puchasing PC games tends to be from the 'tinternet or even supermarket more and more, rather than somewhere like Game for some reason though. Perhaps because the choise is so much greater.

I think it's this, because you can download PC games, whereas most consoles need you to have the physical media.

**Norm wanders back to Azeroth**

 

[Downward]

Although WOW can be played on any high street laptop whereas the Black ops type games always need a decent spec PC.
Plus £100 for WOW to play online plus what £15 everytime they bring out a new game gets expensive.

 

[beanzontoast]

Although WOW can be played on any high street laptop whereas the Black ops type games always need a decent spec PC.
Plus £100 for WOW to play online plus what £15 everytime they bring out a new game gets expensive.

This is the thing with pc games. The spec that would run games last year may not be enough by the following year. Plus there's so much variation between pc's - especially graphics cards - that to ensure a game will run has always struck me as a work of art on the part of the designer and a leap of faith on the part of the purcharser.

A lot easier to get the same game for your console 'knowing' it will run.

 

[Norm]

A lot easier to get the same game for your console 'knowing' it will run.

This is the single factor which has kept me from PC gaming. You can still buy PS/PSOne games knowing that they will work on a PlayStation console without any component upgrade or software download.

Warcraft, however, because they are preparing everything for the Cataclysm, has been unavailable for more than three separate days over the past 6 weeks because of downloads up to 4.5GB. With the PC and the laptop both needing the patch, we had nearly 20GB in a month, which would probably be close to the download limit on a lot of contracts, and that's before we even fired the game up.

 

[Downward]

I see Graphics Cards for £300 + and think why ? You could get a PS3 and 360 for that. Are the graphics that much better ? Bear in mind most consoles are played on 32" + screens though while PC Monitors are 20" ish.

Played my PS3 on a 20" tv and it's razor sharp.

 

[andyhunter]

I see Graphics Cards for £300 + and think why ? You could get a PS3 and 360 for that. Are the graphics that much better ? Bear in mind most consoles are played on 32" + screens though while PC Monitors are 20" ish.

Played my PS3 on a 20" tv and it's razor sharp.

a ps3 is still way out of date technology terms than a computer, the graphics card in my laptop puts the ps3 to shame. i find computer games far better than ps3 and xbox as you can get a far better realistic image and stutter free fast gamming . best played on the biggest tv or projector available.

 

[Piemaster]

xbox + projector on HDMI gives a good enough picture for me.
Just how important are looks though? I wouldn't deny a new release on a high spec pc is a thing of beauty, but surely the enjoyment of the game is more important.
Playing with/against other people is always more fun (some very good and very sneaky people on BO).
Can't be denied that the Wii has almost retro graphics but I will never get tired of beating Mrs.Pm on table tennis.