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."

One word

[Joe The Dragon]

MODS!

Re:

[Joe The Dragon]

= paying more for the same things you get on a pc for free

BF2142?

[Hoi Polloi]

"anything that has elements of a persistent nature such as Battlefield 2142"

Hell, you can still find lots of folks playing BF1942/DC online.

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[Sqweegee]

1942 didn't have the "persistent" features 2142 has. 2142 has a ranking system and item unlocks based on points acquired in game. EA maintains the database of your ranks/stats/unlocks so you need to log in to them when you start an online session, and no one really plays offline. Your account is tied to the game's SN, so if you want to play online it's much more difficult to pirate the game in a traditional sense.

Heh... Riiight...

[Svartalf]

Tell that to the GameShark people... :-)

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[zippthorne]

Um.. they come with the game. It's called "autoaim" or somesuch. It lets you hit targets by aiming in their vicinity, and it's the only way console FPS are playable without a mouse.

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[svendsen]

And? Who cares if there is auto aim or not? I've never understood this elitist point of view.

I've played almost every PC FPS since wolfenstein 3d came out. IMHO 95% are either crap or just the same game with a higher number. The magic controls of KB + mouse didn't make those games any better, I've seen many FPS games screw up the controls.

I've played tons of FPS on consoles and some games did the control right, some did it wrong. When a game did the controls right, but the game itself sucks, then

Shabot.

[zippthorne]

It's not an elitist point of view. It's just that it's an entirely different game. It's not really a FPS, because you're not in control of the actual shooting. It's also not FPS because it's typically from a third-person POV. It's about control. You simply cannot execute a disk-jump jet-away, quickly half-turn midair, cycle to magnum, and shoot the rocket launcher out of the hand of an opposing player while he's trying get a lock on you in a console game. At least not in any way you can feel like YOU

No, but I've seen Godmode settings...

[Svartalf]

And you only need to buy CodeBreaker or GameShark to do it. They sell this stuff in the stores, even...

PC Gaming will not disappear

[Sciros]

Besides "persistent game worlds" and community support for games that's unmatched by consoles, PC games have another massive advantage: you can do other stuff at the same time!

I can listen to my Winamp playlist, have AIM/MSN/ICQ chat windows open, be FTP-ing files to my website, and tracking just how bad Mavs are owning Lakers on NBA.com WHILE I'M PLAYING GUILD WARS (and Oblivion in another window :-P). And that's when I'm not also messing with item designs in Photoshop while I'm at it.

When I can do all of that on a console, it will mean that my console is basically a PC. And so technically PC gaming will never die. Some people need something that lets them multitask.

When I want to 100% relax, I play some FF or Zelda or Ninja Gaiden or whatever. Something that is just plain awesome on a big hi-def TV with surround that I can enjoy on a comfy couch rather than hunched over a desk screwing up my posture. But if I want to play something AND do other stuff while I'm at it, PC is the only way to go.

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[WinterSolstice]

Photoshop and Oblivion at the same time? Dude, you must have a LOT of RAM :)

I respect that (oh, but as per your sig...) you asshat.

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[Sciros]

Yeah I do have a lot of RAM. It spoils me, haha. My next machine will definitely be 4 Gigs (because I'll probably move to Vista by then .. I'm thinking folks will have workarounds for all the DRM rubbish eventually). How dare you call me an asshat, you prick! :-P

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[the dark hero]

Agreed. Even with the expanding capabilities of consoles the PC has nigh limitless possibilities. PC Gaming IMO is getting better while the consoles are now being bogged down with crappy games. All in all PC gaming isn't dying, consoles are just gaining tremendous popularity. Everyone wins!

You know your game is boring when . . .

[Rowan_u]

I'm sorry, but if you really need to do all that other stuff while playing a game, perhaps you need to find a more interesting game. I find WOW players to be especially guilty of this, sitting at LAN parties alt-tabing between WOW and whatever we're playing.

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[Sciros]

Or maybe I should find less-interesting Photoshop projects. Perhaps the friends I talk to over MSN should be more boring. How about I stop updating my websites? :-P

Not every game should take up 100% of your attention, nor should you let any game do that if you don't want it to.

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 d

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

to paraphrase

you spend lots of money on electronics.

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[Ford Prefect]

Since when is $18k for an audio system is "mid-range"?

I think I spent a grand total of $18 for my gaming audio system.

Earphones do count, don't they? ;-)

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[Das Modell]

The first hindrance is that a lot of console games are nothing more than ports of PC games. I'm seeing commercials for FEAR on the XBOX 360 as if it's a new game. It was out for the PC a year and a half ago!

Also works the other way around . Many Xbox 360 games end up on the PC, and many games are designed for both platforms for a simultaneous release. And both platforms have their exclusives.

The third hindrance - and the most significant - is that console controllers are complete crap. Terribly inaccurate a

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[T.E.D.]

Not to mention, better graphics, performance and a more intimate connection to your peripherals

er...you do realize that you shouldn't take the term "joystick" literally?

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[necro2607]

"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?!"

Buddy, you're telling me you have a $20k home theatre setup (and a 65" widescreen display), but you bought the Xbox 360 "Core" (aka "Crippled") system so you could save a few bucks? Give me

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[CronoCloud]

For my sake I don't know how you PC guys tolerate sucky UI and WASD movement in your games. Keyboard control in action games is so 1983.

I find analog sticks are quite fine as long as you aren't a ham-fisted PC gamer.

I also say this every time this topic comes up:

The PS2 and PS3 have USB ports for a reason.

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[nuzak]

> How are you going to play Civilization IV on a console?

Really easy if you start with a control scheme that makes sense on a console, using menus instead of pointers wherever possible. Radial menus work really well with console controllers. There really aren't that many individual unit commands in civ, and some like "upgrade" make more sense as separate menus rather than individual commands.

The control scheme for The Sims turned out to be better on the PS2 than on the PC, though I could have used a "c

Controller setup...

[Nicolay77]

I do agree with you, and I have to add something else:

In consoles, controler setup is the most crappy thing ever. You have like 4 fixed setups and you have to chose one of them.

I got used to shift gears in car sims and racers with the R1 y R2 keys in a PS2 like gamepad in the PC. I can use the gamepad any way I like in the PC. Then going to a console and getting just 4 crappy setups that have no logic or ergonomics in them is very very frustrating.

And that can happen in the exactly same game, in both cases

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[Das Modell]

First of all, you're not going to play a good RTS, RPG, MMORPG, FPS or strategy game on a console.

There have been RPGs for consoles, while JRPGs almost never end up on the PC. While RTS games are an anomaly for consoles, Command & Conquer 3 is coming to the Xbox 360 (there's really no reason why RTS games can't be played with the X360 controller). First and third person shooters, very succesful ones, have been made for consoles for ages. I don't know about you, but I want to play Gears of War, Rainbow S

Go back to the old advantages.

[CastrTroy]

I think they should go back to the things that always made PC games better than console games. That is, allow the players to make their own content, host their own servers, and have more freedom to do what they want within the game. I don't really get why someone would want to pay $12.98 a month to play some game against a bunch of people they don't know. I'd rather just have one of my friends host the server. No idiots on the servers. Also, I loved creating my own content for games like Descent. Make modifying the game easy, and people will modify it. I found Descent 3 almost impossible to create new levels for, and so I created none, but the original descent was dead easy, so I created tons of levels.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[svendsen]

"Yet never has a console turn based rpg ever come close to some of the PC greats like fallout." Considering how long its been since Fallout 1 and 2 came out, or X-Com, Breach, etc. the turn based genre has suffered for a long time on the PC box. Heck you could do great adventure games on the console too (kings quest, space quest, monkey island, etc) I think the reason is (see below) "The only conclusion I can come up with is that the audience just has tastes similar to mine." I think its just lazy game

Re:

[CronoCloud]

Back in the PS1 era companies ported RTS's to the PS1. Command & Conquer, Warcraft, Warzone 2100. They even have PSone mouse support. They play fine, they just didn't sell. That's the reason there aren't many RTS's, not that the consoles can't handle them.

The Fallout series, while critically acclaimed didn't sell very well either, which is why there haven't been sequels.

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[ShadowsHawk]

Fallout3
http://pc.ign.com/objects/568/568806.html [ign.com]

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[CronoCloud]

Take a look at the dates on those articles. Latest real news is 2005! I think the odds are atacked against there being another Fallout game.

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[ShadowsHawk]

I'm still holding out for Bethesda to come through. Call me moon eyed, but Fallout (1&2) will always get me wishing for more.

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[Das Modell]

The PC's greatest strength for gaming is that PC gamers like better games. Even the best console games usually seem mediocre at best compared to a good PC rpg or rts.

Witness a fanboy in action. The fanboy must convince himself that the PC is absolutely superior, so he must compare all games in existence with PC RPGs and RTS', for reasons that only he knows. Fortunately, people who do not live inside a fanboy bubble understand that Red Alert can't be compared with Metroid Prime or Jade Empire.

PC gaming will

Different, not dead.

[Kelbear]

There will be less PC games than Console games.

There's a larger market for the consoles since there are lower barriers to entry technically and at times, fiscally(this barrier can vary heavily. Development has the caveat of being able to expect all clients to be fairly uniform in spec. At least in comparison to PCs.

There will always be the PC enthusiasts who want incredible games to utilize their high-end PCs. But not every game company can craft and compete with these games. And if they fail to succeed /bi

console games vs pc games

[tont0r]

I see a sharp decline in PC gaming and I feel it has nothing to do with Piracy. Back in the day, it was a given that PC games would always be better graphically than console games. But for the first time, people can get some great looking games on consoles. Then they can pop that into their 50+ inch HDTVs and things will look great.

But I think one of the main reasons is that people want to play games. There is no doubt about that. But what they do not want to do is drop $2000 on a PC only for it to be out d

DirectX 10

[MikeTheMan]

As I see it, right now the biggest threat to PC games is DirectX 10. If developers want to use the new features of DirectX 10, then they completely exclude the whole segment of the market that doesn't have Vista yet (or never will). So instead, they develop for the next-gen consoles that have all the new features and no worry of excluding half the platform's user base. The sad thing is, Microsoft wins either way.

PC's also become consoles.

[Chatsubo]

As easy as it is to say, consoles these days are fast becoming PC alike, just as easy can I say that my PC is becoming more like a console.

Most of the new graphics cards can plug straight into a TV, and I do it on a regular basis. I've had the family in the lounge with a PC plugged into the TV playing Trackmania, tetris, etc. We also frequently watch movies this way. Just like a console.

Moreover, how many mini/nano/whatever-ITX projects are out there for computers that act as home entertainment systems?

More

But Piracy?

[katalyst]

The developers and publishers might have a slight disposition towards PC Games because they are a lot easier to copy, crack and share. Not that console games aren't impossible. Also - don't developers get plenty of support from Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo - each console is trying to woo developers to make the next Halo. What i'm trying to say is that the industry might not be listening to us - the consumers....