PC Gaming's Future Evolution

Dr. Eggman writes "1up.com is reporting on the GDC panel from last week entitled PC Gaming in an Age of Connected Consoles. Unlike the usual doom and gloom about the 'death' of PC games, this panel suggested that the death is of PC games as we know them - PC gaming will evolve. They believe the future of gaming on the PC lies in strengths like persistent-world environments; not just as MMOs but anything that has elements of a persistent nature such as Battlefield 2142. They go on to describe the PC's greatest edge over consoles: user created content and the supportive game communities built around it. The article also cited the panel's views on the weaknesses inherent in consoles' closed networks and content control."

Of course PC gaming will continue to be huge.

[Seumas]

First of all, you're not going to play a good RTS, RPG, MMORPG, FPS or strategy game on a console. How are you going to play Civilization IV on a console? Who wants to play an FPS with a crappy controller and "auto-aiming"? PC is the only game in town for a massive swath of genres. Not to mention, better graphics, performance and a more intimate connection to your peripherals. Sitting with my very agile mouse and keyboard in front of my 30" LCD is far more enjoyable than sitting on the couch with a poorly designed controller in front of my 65" Sony SXRD.

I have a PS2, PS3, XBOX, XBOX 360 and a Wii sitting in the other room as part of my home entertainment center. And they're connected to my 65" widescreen with an $18,000 audio system (B&W 8xx series)... but I can't remember the last time I played any of them. I think I played the Wii the first week I got it a few months ago. Same with the PS3. I haven't played the 360 since September. I haven't even sat in front of the television itself since the beginning of December.

However, I've bought about $600 worth of games for my PC during that time and played many hours on it. I'm sure I'll get around to playing the consoles some more, but for the most part . . . they aren't as convenient or fun. Not to mention, multiplayer is ridiculously cumbersome to setup. For one thing, you usually can't join online games unless you have voice capabilities. People will just kick you out of the room/game. But to get voice capabilities (as far as I have found so far) on the 360, you need a headset. Now, why would I want to go stick a crappy $100 headset on my skull just so I can talk to a bunch of twelve year olds and not get kicked out of an online game, when I have almost $20k worth of home audio jacked out of my 360?!

The kind of people who whine about PC gaming being near-death are the people who think that you should be able to buy a PC and still play the top of the line games on it five years down the line. They get frustrated that it can't be done and then start running around saying the sky is falling.

As long as there are PCs, PC gaming will be HUGE.