PC Gaming Doom & Gloom Thread

[40sTheme]

PC gaming has dropped out in the past year or so, but there are far too many awesome PC games coming out for me to want to buy a console. Especially since I can't use my KBM on consoles (unless you use that crappy 360 adapter, which is worthless). We tried that KBM adapter at my friend's house, and it is a big input-lagfest.

 

[Ramma2]

Originally posted by: 40sTheme

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth

Originally posted by: CKent

Originally posted by: Ramma2
However nothing seems to beat being able to pick up a wireless controller, sit on the best piece of furniture in the house and play games on a 42" plasma with 5.1 surround sound.

You can do this on a PC quite easily. Seems like consoles thrive on FUD more than anything else.

sure, keep telling yourself that. I need to get that xbox 360 elite already so i can play some dead rising, gears of war, rainbow six and that guitar hero 2

Sure, keep telling yourself that. I'll keep my PC so I can play some Spore, Crysis, and Alan Wake.
If you are so inclined to believe that consoles don't survive on FUD a good portion of the time, you are wrong. They say consoles are "next-generation" when they bring up things PCs have done for years. Also, on the other side, the "next-gen" consoles don't do things that PCs have done for years (image quality enhancements being one of them. If the 360 has this supposed eDRAM built solely for AA and AF, show me something that uses AA and AF). I know that consoles are a good gaming platform for a lot of people, but until they offer PC gamers something better than what they've already experienced, they have to survive on people who believe a lot of the stuff they say. It just really makes me angry when console developers shower all this "awesome graphics" and "super multicore performance" on people. If your console is soooooo powerful, how come my Pentium D 820/2GB DDR2 800/7950GT runs better than the Oblivion on your console AND looks twice as good? Consoles thrive on people who will believe anything is awesome if you make it seem awesome. Kinda reminds me of video card manufacturers being like "ZOMG 512MB VRAM!!! BUY THIS!!!" but too bad we have it on a 128-bit bus so the bandwidth is limited! Thanks for your money!
EDIT:Edited because it wasn't Dethfrumbelo that said that.

It is the next generation of consoles, not like the next generation 2100 AD technology.

 

[Beev]

As long as godly games like Half Life 2 come out every few years then I will always be a PC gamer. Although I'm more of a general all around gamer. I always get all of the consoles and the big hits that come out for them.

Oh and RTS's are always better on PC's, along with FPS's.

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: apoppin


next year ... there will be *no comparison* and the console makers will be thinking about their nextGen ... a very expensive next gen if this one is any indication

This is a good point. I think that this console generaton was special because it was the first that could run in HD; indeed, at 1920x1080, PS3 and X-Box 360 games run at a resolution higher than what most people play PC games at. This is a first...for decades consoles ran at ridiculously low resolutions compared to PC games. This meant that PC games would always look leaps and bounds better than console games, even when a console generation was brand new.

That made it very hard for a PC enthusiast to switch over to consoles. It meant basically going to 640x480 on a blurry interlaced TV screen. For people gaming at 1024x768 or 1280x1024, this was very hard to stomach. It also made PC enthusiasts feel that the steep price of a high end gaming PC was justified. But for the first time, consoles can compete. Console games can give PCs a run for their money. Compare Morrowing on PC with Morrowind on X-Box. No comparison!

Now compare Oblivion on 360 or PS3 and Oblivion on a mid-high end PC. Console games look very similar to their PC counterparts, for the fraction of the cost of a PC that was capable of running such games.

I think this is why now many PC gamers are considering consoles for the first time. But the gap is widening again, slowly but surely. In about two years, PC games will look orders of magnitude better than console games. Crysis will probably be the first game to 'restore' the balance, and PC enthusiasts will feel that their $2000 PCs are justified again.

Personally...I like both. I have a gaming PC and will probably build a better one soon. But I also like consoles. My brother owns a 360, and I like it a lot. We also own about 60 games from the last console generation, many of which I played extensively. And I'm a big time Nintendo fanboy, so that means I have to have a Nintendo console around if I am to play their exclusives.

To each its own. There's stuff for everyone out there...but I also suspect this kind of threads will vanish once Crysis, HL2: Ep 2 and Spore are released. Q3 looks very, very promising for PC gaming.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

that's how most games seem to be coming out these days, regardless of the platform (minus the wii).. the emphasis has largely been on graphics rather than gameplay.

edited for spelling

That is entirely false. The problem is that nothing "seems" fresh, however on average gameplay these days is in a whole different category compared to games 10 years ago.

I've been playing some old Genesis and SNES games, and over 90% of them are outright horrible compared to today's games. They held my attention for only a few minutes at times.

"Classic" games are mildly entertaining, but once your standards go up, its hard to move backwards. And I'm not talking about graphics.

Its the same reason that I can't stand most classic movies. Their production value is low, and visuals are retarded even if they were top notch at their time.

i've played "Rock and Roll Racing" god knows how many times.. it's STILL fun. Super Metroid, Mario and Mario3, starfox (i grew up with SNES, not genesis).. all of them are still tons of fun when i play them.

 

[Feneant2]

I might be there except for one thing, Everquest 2 (or WoW for nearly everyone else here).

I have been playing since release and enjoy it a lot so until MMORPG's are available on consoles in the same form as pc, I will always require a pc.

Other than that, most of my gaming is done on consoles, but I do wish consoles had more strategy and RPG games on them. There are what, like 10 of each of those types released on pc for each of them released on consoles.

 

[mad0maxx]

To me all the great games that came out for the PC are on their consoles as well. Though any game looks better on a computer due to the shear fact that you have better hardware to use but the ease of use the console has it hands down.

I have not been following the upcoming computer games very much at all anymore because computer games in my opinion are forcing you to stay on the bleeding edge just to get the game to play on medium graphic's settings which is pure crap! I do not have the money nor the time to invest just to make sure that a damn game will work perfectly for me. I say time because if your computer is not top of the line at the time and you wanted to play a relatively new game at decent graphics settings you may try to spend some time tring to tweak your settings just to get that few FPS out of your system. Usually you spend your time upgrading the graphics drivers, sound drivers and sometimes your BIO's does not take much time but still a pain in the ass when you have to do it. On the other hand consoles update themselves from my experience when there is an update to be had automatically and with no action from me (X-Box 360). No need to tweak any settings on the consoles because it is displayed the same for everyone.

Now looking at games they all seem to be following the same generic path that all games in the past have been and nothing new has been presented to us in my opinion. The games of today that I call quality are far and few in between and I remember a time where when a new game came out it was so fun to play and alot of them were worth buying. Especially in the MMO market... you got so many MMO's out there now but they are all basically the same crap over and over and they almost all tend to lead into the raid content unless you go for some of the free MMO's such as "Fly For Fun" which is actually really good but very repetative but very fun with friends since it is completely free.

All in all I feel as if computer gaming is not were it was in the past and I do not think it will ever get back to that point ever again with the rise of next gen consoles, price difference, ease of use and lastly the availablity of each game on the consoles vs pc.

These are my opinion and I would love to hear what you all think about the whole situation of computer gaming. I looked for a thread of this nature in the search function but did not find one...

CLIFFS
Consoles are more fun to game on than PC's
Various reasons why in my opinion
New games all feel the same

 

[Ramma2]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth

Originally posted by: CKent

Originally posted by: Ramma2
However nothing seems to beat being able to pick up a wireless controller, sit on the best piece of furniture in the house and play games on a 42" plasma with 5.1 surround sound.

You can do this on a PC quite easily. Seems like consoles thrive on FUD more than anything else.

sure, keep telling yourself that. I need to get that xbox 360 elite already so i can play some dead rising, gears of war, rainbow six and that guitar hero 2

Great. Sell your PC, buy the 360, everyone wins... you're happy and we're happy since we won't have to read your posts anymore.

Didn't realize you were being forced to read his posts. Have you no free will?

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
Graphically at least, PC hardware has already passed the 360 and PS3. In another year the gap will be very wide. If Crysis ever gets ported to the consoles, it won't look nearly as good as it will on a high-end PC.

Most console games are ported to the PC anyway, so who cares.

Oh well, I'd rather play it on my 360 and save the 1,000 + dollars that I would need to play it on a PC.

Graphics do little for me. I'm not gonna go WOW LOOK AT THAT TEXTURE ON THE GROUND! when I'm being shot at.

that's how most games seem to be coming out these days, regardless of the platform (minus the wii).. the emphasis has largely been on graphics rather than gameplay.

edited for spelling

 

[Fenixgoon]

i've lost most interest in games altogether... everything is just a rehash nowadays - there's only so much you can do to change the FPS, RTS, RPG, sports game, etc. im hoping ETQW and Hellgate London will offer solid, long-term gaming.. but otherwise, I'm basically out (I keep playing the same OLD games over and over because of their replay value)

 

[Furyline]

Only issue I have with PC gaming right now is that there aren't that many very good games that come out each year. I don't think console games are any more inherently fun or innovative than PC games, if consoles did not exist and all those games were on PC I think they would be just as enjoyable. I have no issues with hardware advancements, my PC is close to 3 years old now, I can still play new games with few problems, just not at their highest settings.
PC gaming now seems to be just for FPS and Strategy (and MMOs but I don't enjoy those). But really, that's what most of the great PC games have been. I still think it is the best, most fun platform for those games. But apparently there is not as much money in that as there is in consoles, where you can just sell the same game 4 years in a row with minor additions. Of course there are also some fun and innovative games on consoles, and I've played consoles almost my whole life.
I will continue to game on PC as long as good PC games are made. Unfortunately there are less and less each year it seems, but I am not losing interest in it.

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
I pretty much agree with Bateluer, although I would like to state a few things... like that we will probably start to see more PC games require console like controllers to play as they will probably not bother to do a proper PC UI and controls port.

Eventually we will have no RPGs, only "Action RPGs" that will essentially be third person shooters with stats.

I also predict a video game crash in about 5 years, despite current sales. The trend seems to be to make games shorter (and thus cut cost), release unfinished products (patch it later! This will become more common since it is getting easier to patch console games), reduction of immersion (games seem to be getting shallower), adware placed in games, increase in price of video games, etc. I do not know how much longer people will put up with it.

I agree about the crash but I think it's coming much sooner than that, and it will actually be a good thing. I think the big titles will continue to do well - I don't think Crytek has anything to worry about. But the vast flood of crap that has saturated the market needs to be thinned badly. It'd be nice to see some of the more infamous publishers bite the dust, but unfortunately they're the ones that usually end up surviving.

One advantage of PC gaming are mods/unofficial patches. Where would I be without mods... giving the users a chance to improve the quality of a game or add new content has become critical. Consoles don't have that option (yet), and if/when they do get it, they'll basically be PCs at that point and will probably cost just as much.

Oh, and sorry for double post, but I agree Dethfrumbelo. The low end independent developers that have been making games need to be cut from the market. Also, big developers need to stop buying out companies like these and make excellent games (cough EA). EA used to be so great... the only game I have wanted from them is C&C3 lately, and half my collection used to be EA games haha. People just need to step up the quality. Piracy wouldn't exist if nearly every release wasn't a "meh" release.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Thraxen
See, you only prove my point further. Most people are not interested in buying surround sound for their PCs. They don't give a sh!t about that. They don't want to take their PCs in for upgrades. Many people are luckly to get them set up correctly in the first place, much less being asked to unhook everything, haul it in for an upgrade, and then hook it all back up. Also, I never stated you couldn't hook up PCs to standard TVs... not sure where you are going with that. The point I was trying to make it most people wouldn't have the first clue how nor would they even want to. What so hard to grasp about that? Seriously. People's PC generally aren't even near their primary entertainment centers. And before you go off talk about how there are ways around that too... I know! But people aren't interested in crap like that either. To think they are is to flat out miss the point of consoles!

And, damn, I really got you with the techno-nerd comment. Haha... you just can't let it go. I'm a techno-nerd! But you have to try and think like your average person that doesn't give a crap about these things to understand this debate and why consoles thrive. But you can't seem to do that as you have proven once again.

Sheesh, I pointed out the specific part where my post went over your head and you're still misreading it.

 

[Molondo]

I think im losing intrest in gaming all together. But i still preffer the PC over a console. I tried getting into Xbox when it came out. Its not the same feeling for me.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I pretty much agree with Bateluer, although I would like to state a few things... like that we will probably start to see more PC games require console like controllers to play as they will probably not bother to do a proper PC UI and controls port.

Eventually we will have no RPGs, only "Action RPGs" that will essentially be third person shooters with stats.

I also predict a video game crash in about 5 years, despite current sales. The trend seems to be to make games shorter (and thus cut cost), release unfinished products (patch it later! This will become more common since it is getting easier to patch console games), reduction of immersion (games seem to be getting shallower), adware placed in games, increase in price of video games, etc. I do not know how much longer people will put up with it.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
i've lost most interest in games altogether... everything is just a rehash nowadays - there's only so much you can do to change the FPS, RTS, RPG, sports game, etc. im hoping ETQW and Hellgate London will offer solid, long-term gaming.. but otherwise, I'm basically out (I keep playing the same OLD games over and over because of their replay value)

STALKER is refreshingly new

 

[adagar121987]

I like FPS, RTS, and MMO's!
And they're all on PC.

You know what else is better on PC?
BBQ & WTF!

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: Feneant2
I might be there except for one thing, Everquest 2 (or WoW for nearly everyone else here).

I have been playing since release and enjoy it a lot so until MMORPG's are available on consoles in the same form as pc, I will always require a pc.

Other than that, most of my gaming is done on consoles, but I do wish consoles had more strategy and RPG games on them. There are what, like 10 of each of those types released on pc for each of them released on consoles.

You play everquest? how is it?

 

[Mogget]

I admit that PC gaming is going through some rough waters at the moment, and has been for some time. I think the immediate future will be decided by the 'new wave' of dx10 games ? Crysis and the like. If they succeed in revitalising PC gaming, then it'll be business as usual. Downtimes don't have to signify oblivion . Personally, as someone said before, so long as developers such as Valve keep delivering I will retain confidence.

For me though, the whole console versus PC thing is meaningless. Yes, consoles are much closer to PCs hardware-wise than they used to be, but people miss the point: you are still sitting in front of a TV with a controller in your hand. For me, even playing with the latest console technology, there is a big difference between gaming on a console and gaming on a PC.

Now I'm not here to make judgements ? while I personally think PC gaming has more depth and quality (etc.), it is entirely down to personal preference.

What I object to is the common assertion that one's gaming experience will be the same on both platforms. It never has been. It still isn't.

Which experience is better is of course open to debate, but always bear in mind that gaming with a TV+Console+Controller ? gaming with an LCD+PC+Keyboard/mouse.

 

[VashHT]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
Your loss. Try and find advanced and involving games like Medieval, Flight Simulator, Silent Hunter, 1702 AD, Civilization on a console.

Guess what, you can't. Consoles must dumb things down to a level on which any fuckwit can play the game. Maybe you're one of those fuckwits, I for one choose the only game system out there that pushes the limits, the PC.

See this is what happens when you post on a PC forum, the PC elitists will come out and bash consoles for no good reason. While I like most of the games you mentioned, there are some very challenging games for consoles that aren't dumbed down from anything. Basically you're just making that BS up for whatever stupid reason you have. A lot of the tactics games for consoles have a lot of depth to them, but people like you prolly wouldn't care to even try one. I tried Langrisser for SNES a few years back when I was kinda randomly trying games on an emulator. I was surprised at how good a strategy game it was for a console game, and SNES at that. Sure its a totally different turn based startegy from say the HOMM series, but that's why I like being able to play both right now.

 

[Bateluer]

Different genres work better with specific control schemes. RPG, RTS, and FPSs all play better with the KB/Mouse combo, for example. Flight sims play better with a joystick, racing games play better with a controller, although a steering wheel is more preferable. Fighting games, such as Tekken and Dead or Alive, function better with a console controller.

I'm a KB/Mouse guy, a lot of genres are unplayable on control controllers, or have their control system so dumbed down it might as well be unplayable.

 

[apoppin]

here is a great example of coding for multicore ... only runs on intel rigs


http://www.intelcapabilitiesforum.net/ISF_demo?s=a

pretty impressive graphics considering it doesn't matter if you have an 8800GTX or a 6600GT
-it depends on the number of cores ...

EDIT: nope ... can't enable mouse support for RE-4 with any mod or patch and their forums are ... not helpful.

DAMN CrapCom! :|

so .. as much as i hate "new" [learning all over again] ... i will play RE4 with a controller ... it looks a hell of a lot better after the patches ... really pretty decent [compared to "garbage" before ... what a difference a little textures and shadowing will make!

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Over-react much? I think you are reading way too much into it.

 

[fierydemise]

I think it makes a lot of sense and could be an advantage, unifying Windows and Xbox (which is the eventual goal) should help curb the rising cost of game production and hopefully lead to fewer developers skipping PCs and just publishing for consoles. Also I think you are misinterpreting Games for Windows, it doesn't say the Xbox controller must be the primary control option it just says it must be a control option, the keyboard and mouse are not going to disappear all of a sudden.

 

[MBrown]

With PC gaming now becoming very cheap with the Q6600 quad core CPU expected to hit $266 later this year, and DDR2 ram being cheap and even GPU are relatively cheap ($380 for a 8800gts) PC gaming looks like its going to be on the rise since it seems the consoles have had their shine for a little bit. And plus we have these new games coming out that will be taking advantage of quad core technology such as Alan Wake, Crysis, UT3, Half Life 2 E2, Bioshock. Supreme Commander is quad core as well. I know all of these aren't PC exclusives but I would much rather play them on a PC. I am, and I am sure most of you are very excited about what is coming up, but there is one little problem, actually a HUGE problem IMO. I was watching the Alan Wake tech demo on the quad core CPU and the person that was actually playing the demo was using a xbox 360 controller on a PC. And then I was reading the requirements for a game to be certified as a "Games for Windows" game, and one of them is to be able to fully support the use of the xbox 360 controller...WHAT?!?!?! The reason I build my gaming PC is so I can use my keyboard and mouse, the ultimate gaming pad, and now I am seeing that future PC games are being made to be played using a CONSOLE controller!? If this is the case what is the point of even making a PC game then? You might as well go out and buy a $400 Xbox 360. PC gaming might not be any different than console gaming in the future.

So my question is this. Do you think future PC games are going to be complete crap because they are most likely going to be designed with the 360 controller has the main gaming pad, and the keyboard and mouse as just a secondary option? Or do you think the game developers will understand that us PC gamers still want to use our Keyboard and mouse and design a well made PC game? Or am I just over reacting?

Cliffs:
1. PC gaming looks like it is going to rise up again.
2. But it might suck because we might have to use a 360 controller to play our PC games.
3. Read the second paragraph.