Is PC gaming doomed? Apolyton 2008 edition

[lord of the mark]

from Gamasutra

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20410

The top 5 PC games in North America

PC
North America: 1. Spore (EA Games), 2. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (EA Games), 3. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2K Games), 4. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning -- Collector's Edition (EA Games), 5. Crysis: Warhead (EA Games).

When was the last time a top 5 PC games for NAm or the US wasnt dominated by WoW and the Sims?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher


See, people called me a troll when I made the comment about Spore and consoles and "dumbed down".

**** you guys, I'm right yet again.

Thanks conmcb25. Also, get a better username.

I confess, I probably shoulda call con a troll too, but I you got to him before I did, most of my computer time related to gaming is dedicated to Civ4 right now, plus I dont know anything about MMO's, so I will defer to spikey on the complexity of WoW.

[MJW]

Originally posted by Asher
It's so mind-numbingly stupid that I don't even think I need to say it's a BS article. Everyone but El_Cid and Frosty knows it, too.

I also like how it assumes Xbox 360s are sold at a loss still. Poorly researched, obviously.

What about LotM?

[El_Cid]

I said it was an 'interesting' article - thats all. For me yeah it made me think that in tougher economic times(as we are in now for the forseable future) and with a big change at the top of MS, well who knows what will happen? Is it concievable that MS+Sony might get together and say, well lets call a truce in our arms race, until economic conditions look better?

Add in a lot of the 'talk' from various areas of AAA production where many people are talking about the losses made in gameing due to the sheer costs of production of titles, and well we will have to wait and see. Oh and also the wii has shown you don't need HD photo-realistic capable consoles to sell units. I'm sure all the accountants at MS and Sony have taken a good look at this.

The article itself? well yeah a bunch of 'Ashers' vs 'El_cids' on soap boxes, a bit like here on poly. good/bad? just hot air I guess

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by MJW


What about LotM?

I saw that article, and it seemed to me extremely unlikely that SONY and MS wouldn't make another console. Clearly both, in different ways, think of their losses as investments and expect to much better financially the next gen. And of course theres still the "battle for the living room" - even if dominating the game console market isnt the best strat to winning that battle (i dont know, myself) clearly MS and SONY dodnt accept that.

I do think the losses matter, even to MS, and may effect their future strategies. MS has already responded by apparently accelerating their move to casuals.

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark



I do think the losses matter, even to MS, and may effect their future strategies. MS has already responded by apparently accelerating their move to casuals.

MS didn't start the push to Casuals after they already were turning a profit, which makes this comment exceptionally well-informed as usual.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Asher

MS didn't start the push to Casuals after they already were turning a profit, which makes this comment exceptionally well-informed as usual.

I think you mean 'until after', which totally changes the meaning of your post. Poorly written as usual.

[lord of the mark]

nm

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher

MS didn't start the push to Casuals after they already were turning a profit, which makes this comment exceptionally well-informed as usual.

They didn't announce it till after. Do you have dates for when they started development? Aside from which, the fact that they were finally making a positive net on each machine shipped hardly means they weren't concerned with the overall profitability situation.

But anyway, I fully admit to not know much about consoles. Could we get back to discussing PC gaming please?

El Cid, Spikey, what do you think of the unusual PC game top 5?

[DrSpike]

I think it's not that unusual. A sequel to Crysis was always going to sell pretty well, and MMOs often jump into the top places on release. Colonisation has both the Col and Civ names to make it sell well, at least in the short term. Spore is selling well because no one listened to me.

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


They didn't announce it till after. Do you have dates for when they started development?

Development on WHAT?



**** off with this stupidity. Enough is enough.

The Xbox 360 was very clearly launched aimed towards hardcores. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't know the market, period.

[Asher]

Originally posted by DrSpike


I think you mean 'until after', which totally changes the meaning of your post. Poorly written as usual.

Yes, that's what I meant. I was rushing out the door because I was doing a favour for a friend -- a concept which may well be foreign to you but I'll go out on this limb here. I spent the entire day stuck in my car in lineups, either at the US border or at the Canadian border or stuck in construction delays.

I'm not in the best mood today. You have been warned.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel


ps3 graphics are going to look pretty dated in 2015.

By that point they'll be Retro.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher

Development on WHAT?



**** off with this stupidity. Enough is enough.

The Xbox 360 was very clearly launched aimed towards hardcores. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't know the market, period.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2008/sep/11/gamesinterviews.microsoft

Nintendo got back into the market by reaching the demographics – the children and the women – that Microsoft had been unable to reach, because Xbox culture is still very much male-orientated… Why is that?

Well, it all goes back to the original premise of what Microsoft felt that at that time they needed to do be successful – to even get into the conversation. And so to launch the Xbox it needed to be very clear that this was not going to be PC games ported over – Flight Sim, Age of Empires, things like that. They needed to win the hearts and minds of the hardcore gamers, and there's no better way to do that than with blood, guts and bullets. That was the idea – it was hardcore.

And remember the ad in the UK – Champagne – which again was only shown once before it was banned, which was the baby being born, being catapulted through the air and ending up as the old guy in the grave… that set the tone. The theory was, rightly or wrongly, that if you win the hardcore gamer, then you can grow from the core – you can never go the other way. You hold your core but then you bring in the masses. But we were so good at what we did the first time around that it was difficult, then, to evolve.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
I think it's not that unusual. A sequel to Crysis was always going to sell pretty well, and MMOs often jump into the top places on release. Colonisation has both the Col and Civ names to make it sell well, at least in the short term. Spore is selling well because no one listened to me.

I'm not saying that any one of them was that big a surprise, its just that the confluence of them seems to weigh against the PC is Dead meme.