Is PC gaming doomed? Apolyton 2008 edition

[Asher]

Here's a question. Let's take a "niche" PC game like Civilization.

The PC market is very healthy, right? Which platform is the next Civilization game coming out on?

[Wiglaf]

Originally posted by Asher


So you play The Sims in addition to the American Idol game?

WHEN YOU PLAYED TELEPHONE IN SCHOOL AS A CHILD, I BET THE MESSAGE WAS TRANSFORMED FROM SOMETHING THAT MADE SENSE INTO SOMETHING THAT WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, SOME SORT OF MISH MASH OF SEXUAL INNUENDO AND LIES AND MISINFORMATION MEANT TO MISLEAD YOUR TEACHER SO YOU COULD RUN HOME BEFORE DAD LOCKED YOU UP TO FINISH YOUR PROGRAMMING AND TELL THE FAMILY HOW COOL YOU ARE GO MAPLE LEAFS.

I have mentioned three times now that an ex girl friend played the game I think on two occasions total. I have played it once only because I thought it would get me laid but no dice.

[Asher]

I never played telephone as a child. We played it all the time in university though GO SOCIAL SCIENCES.

[FrostyBoy]

Sorry, I got to defend myself a bit here. Bloody Asher is at it again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford No Rutherford? No quick ending to the War.

Asher, I bought an XBox360 for a few reasons, 1. to play GTA4, 2. to give my gf more "family orientated games" to play and 3. to see how consoles have improved since the 80's. To me, during the mid to late 90's, the console was just a gimmick, the PC owned the industry and in fact evolved from the great consoles of the 80's early 90's. To have evolved BACK into a console, questioned me, and after using the XBox360, I am quite impressed with the amount of attention Microsoft put into it and very impressed at the quality of the games, seems all games for the XBox360 are at the very least... decent. The worst game I played, was an arcade game, which was a remake of a classic Amiga game Llama Wars (good quick fun), but the remake sucked ass in comparison - but it was still decent, I would still give it a 3 out of 5. But I am comparing it to all other XBox360 games, if there were a lot of ****ty games for the XBox, I would give that Llama remake a 1/5 easily. And that is the virus that PC's have. PC's have a huge quantity of awful games, but it also has the greatest quantity of the worlds best games, not only that, but it can play many of the old console games as well!

At the end of the day, the PC is a awesome machine for work, education, entertainment and fun. The XBox is barely even in the same league as a PC.

To me, the XBox is merely a device where Microsoft can control the industry to benefit itself.

Imagine a world, where there are no consoles, and in this world you can plug your PC into the TV and use wireless controllers just as easy as you can with your XBox. Then one day, a large company called Macrosoft releases a new machine called ZBox. What are you going to think? You're probably going to think that it is a dumbed down PC and you're wondering why the hell Macrosoft released this pretty piece of ****? When your PC can do all that it can do and far far more?

But in this world, PC's aren't getting that kind of attention from Microsoft; Microsoft have put a lot energy into their XBox, because if they don't, they will not have control over the industry, they will not have the strength they do now, to milk extra money from gamers.

When I said comparing XBox360 game sales to PC sales is like comparing dumbasses to educated people, I am simply saying that, in this world, there are always, ALWAYS, more uneducated people, who follow mainstream media than there are people who bother to educate themselves about what it is they are buying/doing. Why is this so? Because MOST people (who 'coincidently' have bought consoles to play games) don't care about games as much as you or I do, they don't know there are forums online where you can discuss games, and they wouldn't give a **** either. They just want some quick fun. and that's fine, but the way Microsoft has done it (and it's mostly thanks to ****ing Sony with their PS (Piece of ****)) is killing off gaming for us PC users.


But as the dust is now settling, dedicated PC players are starting to grow a kind of culture - one that is able to identify ****ty games from great games, one that will only put money where it is deserved, one that will dedicate time and energy to games that earned it (unofficial websites, modifications, forums).

So again, in the end, PC gaming is not dead and is certainly not dying, it has simply matured and altered, evolved to adapt to the changes consoles have brought around. Evidently, the number of PC gamers has dropped, but those gamers are dedicated gamers, they are people who read reviews, look at every screenshot, question the developers, scold the publishers, improve the game through hard modifying. They are the car mechanics of Ferrari's. Make a simple mistake on a PC game? Fail. I say another 5 years, and the PC culture will have fine-tuned itself into a culture where only AAA games are allowed (or at the very least, proved to succeed, and succeed greatly).

[Asher]

Originally posted by FrostyBoy
Sorry, I got to defend myself a bit here. Bloody Asher is at it again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford No Rutherford? No quick ending to the War.

1) You overstate his importance
2) He was smarter than your average kiwi, which is precisely why he moved away from New Zealand.

I didn't read the rest of your post because you've already been thoroughly schooled in the past on the console/PC debate. Console game sales are skyrocketing, PC game sales are falling. A smart man can draw a conclusion here.

[FrostyBoy]

- sigh -

[DrSpike]

Nil point for avoiding the arguments.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
Here's a question. Let's take a "niche" PC game like Civilization.

The PC market is very healthy, right? Which platform is the next Civilization game coming out on?

The port of Mass Effect to the PC doesnt threaten the 360. A version of Rock Band for the Wii doesnt threaten RBs position on the HD consoles. Im not sure Civ:Rev threatens the PC.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher

Problem is all of the metrics only track retail sales. Which are dropping significantly year over year.

Unless you can show me definitive numbers showing the digital downloads being of significant numbers to offset massive drops in revenue, you're full of ****.



In what kind of deranged mind does "all possibly known definitive indicators show decline in PC sales" equate to "almost certainly haven't declined", anyway?

Asher makes the Nvidia VP scream

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9407&Itemid=2

"Have there been any new developments since the PCGA has been announced?

Yes! Lots. We now have three sub-committees kicked off. One is for data research: to collect and share real numbers on PC gaming. If I read one more article quoting NPD as saying the sky is falling for PC gaming I am going to scream! "

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


The port of Mass Effect to the PC doesnt threaten the 360. A version of Rock Band for the Wii doesnt threaten RBs position on the HD consoles. Im not sure Civ:Rev threatens the PC.

Uhhhh

You just compared ports to an exclusive?

Unless Civ:Rev is coming on the PC?

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


Asher makes the Nvidia VP scream

Do you really want me to explain to you why it is in Nvidia's interest to insist PC gaming isn't dying?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher


Uhhhh

You just compared ports to an exclusive?

Unless Civ:Rev is coming on the PC?

why would civ:rev come to the PC? IIUC its a dumbed down version of Civ4. Theyre making a console "exclusive" instead of a port, for the same reason Wii tends to get "exclusives" instead of ports, IIUC.

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


why would civ:rev come to the PC? IIUC its a dumbed down version of Civ4.

No, it's not a version of Civ4.

I'm just enjoying the fact that you never know anything in these threads. Is this all just one long running joke for you or something?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher


Do you really want me to explain to you why it is in Nvidia's interest to insist PC gaming isn't dying?

That is certainly there interest. If the data they are working on in the PCGA on doesnt make their case, it will be very embarassing. I look forward to seeing it.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher

No, it's not a version of Civ4.

I'm just enjoying the fact that you never know anything in these threads. Is this all just one long running joke for you or something?

Apparently theres some disagreement.

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=176348