Is PC Gaming dead?

[Trippy]

Also, isn't Vista supposed to be compatable with 360 titles out of the box? I thought i read that somewhere....

No.

[geldonyetich]

Would be awesome, but yeah, Microsoft isn't about to shoot themselves in the foot like that.

[Tebonas]

It just happened that yesterday I was at my favourite electronics store and having this discussion in mind I browsed the PC+Console sections. The console sections were stocked with subpar games, the actual number of good games per console barely exceeded the number of good PC games (for somebody like me that neither likes sport games nor action games lacking a story). Of course there is shovelware on the PC shelves as well, its still easier to create a PC game than to create a console game after all.

I realized something else. The percentage of European developed PC games is much much higher than it was in "the good old days". Might be that US developers really concentrate more on consoles and our folk pick up the slack. I don't know how many of these games make it over the pond in a timely fashion, might distort the PC:console ratio some more.

[Righ]

Edit: As for the other comments, and instead of just being snarky, I'm pretty sure Oblivion and Prey on the 360 will outsell the PC versions 10:1. At least Oblivion did.

Because decent RPGs on consoles are as rare as rocking horse shit. At some point, somebody will make subscription model games for consoles that are halfway worth playing, and console games sales will go into free fall too. Right now, consoles have good sales not because the are "better" gaming devices, but because folks can better afford consoles than gaming PCs, the hardware has a longer refresh cycle, each game has about two whole days worth of play and cannot be copied using console alone, parents don't need to check to see if kids are chatting to child molesters on them, and they don't bust into flames as often as Dells.

[Rasix]

Edit: As for the other comments, and instead of just being snarky, I'm pretty sure Oblivion and Prey on the 360 will outsell the PC versions 10:1. At least Oblivion did.

Because decent RPGs on consoles are as rare as rocking horse shit.

Don't you own a PS2?

[eldaec]

I realized something else. The percentage of European developed PC games is much much higher than it was in "the good old days". Might be that US developers really concentrate more on consoles and our folk pick up the slack. I don't know how many of these games make it over the pond in a timely fashion, might distort the PC:console ratio some more.

I think that has more to do with having fewer large corporate games houses to suck in all the talent than anything else.

Without the EA equivalents, Europe just isn't capable of producing the same quantity of shovelware, and as discussed above, happily that tends to targetted on consoles these days.

[Lionhunter]

I realized something else. The percentage of European developed PC games is much much higher than it was in "the good old days". Might be that US developers really concentrate more on consoles and our folk pick up the slack. I don't know how many of these games make it over the pond in a timely fashion, might distort the PC:console ratio some more.

I think that has more to do with having fewer large corporate games houses to suck in all the talent than anything else.

Without the EA equivalents, Europe just isn't capable of producing the same quantity of shovelware, and as discussed above, happily that tends to targetted on consoles these days.

Well,in Europe,the situation is reversed:PC Gaming is way more popular than console gaming,because of piracy.Atleast,this applies in Eastern Europe.

[Daeven]

and they don't bust into flames as often as Dells.

Now wait. I though that was a feature.

"Jimmy! Stop cybering that Night Elf or Jehova will make your computer EXPLODE!"

Or something along those lines.

[Cyrrex]

People continue to dismiss screen resolution, but it really is a big deal

A lot of people don't notice this. I own an HDTV and I play my Xbox on it, but its still not nearly the quality I get from my PC. And it really makes the difference for a lot of games. Battlefront 2 multiplayer on the Xbox compared to Battlefront 2 multiplayer on computers... on the Xbox I couldn't even tell who was on my team/what weapon a bot was using to save my life, all because of resolution. Part of it is because of the split screen, but even linking two Xboxs its nearly impossible to tell what something is at far range.

There is a rather simple explanation for this - your vanilla Xbox is not capable of sending a signal in the same high resolution as your HDTV is displaying.  The higher resolution display of your HDTV may even amplify the poorer graphical capabilities of your Xbox (in other words, it makes bad look worse)...this is even more of a tendency if your HDTV is also an LCD...not a rule, but plasma tends to upscale better.

It is a whole nother matter if you have a 360 on an HDTV.  I suppose a high-end enthusiast PC setup could match it, but my rather mainstream PC sure doesn't (2.8 P4, 1.5gb RAM, vanilla 6800 card).   I'll admit that my love for my TV possibly makes me subconsciously rate the graphics higher than they deserve.   Regardless, if you have an HDTV to display it in all its glory, the leap from vanilla Xbox to the 360 is enormous.

[Jain Zar]

Edit: As for the other comments, and instead of just being snarky, I'm pretty sure Oblivion and Prey on the 360 will outsell the PC versions 10:1. At least Oblivion did.

Because decent RPGs on consoles are as rare as rocking horse shit.

Don't you own a PS2?

He said DECENT RPGs.  Not lolicon linear anime shitfests.

[schild]

Edit: As for the other comments, and instead of just being snarky, I'm pretty sure Oblivion and Prey on the 360 will outsell the PC versions 10:1. At least Oblivion did.

Because decent RPGs on consoles are as rare as rocking horse shit.

Don't you own a PS2?

He said DECENT RPGs. Not lolicon linear anime shitfests.

I'm trying to come up with a linear lolicon anime shitfest and I can't. Unless of course you have no sense of humor whatsoever. The best RPG I've played this year comes out in....oh. Well, I guess we'll find out soon.

[edlavallee]

The best RPG I've played this year comes out in....oh. Well, I guess we'll find out soon.

You're such a tease.

[stray]

Hell, even that crap EQ single player rpg on the PS2 isn't that bad. Better than regular EQ at least.

See, consoles are better.

[edit]

Ok, I'll just admit it. It's actually a good game. Not just better than regular EQ. The only horrible thing about it is that it's in the EQ universe. Otherwise, it's just as good as Baldur's Gate: DA (there's another non-anime console rpg better than the shite you PC folks can come up with).

[Tebonas]

I expect turn based combat and multiple playabe characters in the party from something I call a decent RPG. Which doesn't mean Baldurs Gate:DA is a bad game, I liked to play it together with my Brother-In-Law on his PS2. Nice mindless Action game.

[stray]

The EQ game was both online and co-op ready. Wasn't turn based though. It was made by the same people who made BG:DA. The same type of action RPG, but bigger and in the EQ world.

As for turn based combat, there's more of that on the PS2 than on the PC (in fact, I can't even think of any recent PC rpg that is turn based). This is where the anime argument has some merit though. The only turn based rpg on the PS2 that I can think of that isn't Japanese is Gladius. Which we've already mentioned, I think. And it isn't even a true RPG really. Just a tactical combat game with a basic story, levels, and items. It's great though.

[Sky]

(there's another non-anime console rpg better than the shite you PC folks can come up with)

Err...huh? I know it's a matter of taste and all...but seriously? BG2? Planescape? Bloodlines? Gothic(s)? Arx Fatalis? Arcanum? Divine Divinity? Gold Box D&D? Ultima? The pc has tons of great rpgs.

I, too, felt BGDA was more like Gauntlet than BG. Though turn-based is rare in rpgs, they do tend to be good with 'pause and give orders', which in my book is as good or better in some places. I'm always micromanaging in Freedom Force, and pausing is often cool as something blows up or a big power goes off and you get a nice rotatable freezeframe of it.

[stray]

The pc has tons of great rpgs.

Had. Man, you're going all the way back to Gold Box and Ultima! Heh.

Besides Bloodlines, none of those were recent, which is all I (and I assume, this entire thread) was talking about (sorry if I wasn't clear though). Of course, there's been great rpg's on the PC throughout the years.

[edit] Oops. My bad. I suppose Divine Divinity is fairly new-ish. Never played it though, because I couldn't expect anything good from a title like that.

Gothic 2 is fairly recent as well, but I didn't stick with it (I'll be nice. I've heard you singing it's praises before ;)).

[schild]

Divine Divinity was a fairly shitty Diablo clone. Beyond Divinity had Star Force.

[Sky]

Just when I'd thought I'd heard the dumbest thing schild ever said, out comes another one.

Diablo is a hack & slash dungeon crawl. Divine Divinity is an rpg. Quests, game world, etc. It was far superior to Diablo in my opinion.

Nobody mentioned Beyond Divinity.

[Fabricated]

Hello? Oblivion and Morrowind?

[Sky]

Hi!

Not exclusives, but both were better on the PC, especially Morrowind.

[stray]

Dear Lord, not Morrowind.

Can't speak for Oblivion. Never played it. Don't want to play it. Know why?

Morrowind.

[Righ]

BG:DA wasn't even a game - it was a diversion, and a bloody short one at that. I think there was around a dozen hours of scripted "gaming" in it.

[stray]

Cerebral it was not. But it didn't put me in a coma at least. I could dodge, jump, and directionally target things. Just those minor features alone made it more of a game than most other rpg's. Other console hack and slashers inspired by BG:DA have introduced blocking and other tactical options, so substitute it for one of them if you wish.

[Tebonas]

I think you play rpgs for different reasons than me. I don't give a shit about player skill in RPGs. If I want that I play a First Person Sneaker or Shooter. I don't dodge in my roleplaying games, my characters do.

[stray]

I could very well say that if I really wanted RPG's like that, I'd play PnP RPG's. At least then they'd be taking full advantage of their medium. Not having simple tactical options like player controlled dodge though, in a real time medium fully capable of providing it, is disappointing to the say the least.

In short: I like CRPG's that try their best to be video games. Else the "C" in CRPG carries very little meaning outside of presentation. At the very least, if they fail at providing "video game" combat, then they'll have to compensate in other areas in a big way --- Which they rarely ever do.

[Tebonas]

And if you would say that you were right. problem with PnP RPGs, the older you get and the more RL everybody has its harder to keep commited to a regular group. Once every two weeks when we are lucky. More like once a month most of the time.

And what you say is fine when you only play one character. Try real time combat with 4 or even 6 characters. As I said, both has its allure at different times. But thats an either/or decicion. You can't have a whole party all by yourself and make them fight real time at the same moment (pausing isn't real time in that regard. I suspect we are talking instant reaction skillbased combat here). I played the heck out of Oblivion, but its a different playing experience than ToEE. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy both.

[schild]

Just when I'd thought I'd heard the dumbest thing schild ever said, out comes another one.

Diablo is a hack & slash dungeon crawl. Divine Divinity is an rpg. Quests, game world, etc. It was far superior to Diablo in my opinion.

Nobody mentioned Beyond Divinity.

Your opinion seems a little borken.

[Sky]

Because your opinion is the right one, eh? 

[Strazos]

In BG DA2, you could unlock Drizzt and Artemis Entreri.

I wonder if you can cheat to unlock Entreri. I'll try eventually.