Is PC gaming doomed? Apolyton 2008 edition

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by El_Cid
Strangely enough a visit this weekend to some of my local bricks and mortar games stores, showed that although shelf space for PC gaming isnt what it was 10 years ago, there were a load of games out I never even knew about. Lots of fantasy rpg type things(wish i had taken a pen to write some of the titles down), lots of new space stuff etc.
Sword of the Stars Collectors edition looked interesting for about £19, I thought, but i'll need to read up on it. Also I was pleased to see Sins of a Solar Empire - I will have to pick both these up next week

Anyway it was quite a surprise to find so much new stuff on the shelves. So is this just a case of PC gaming getting filled up with poor 'knock-outs' of better games? Or is the media so focused on marketing console games that all the PC releases struggle to get the press?

I think its both. There are lots of decent PC games that go under the radar, not so much cause of the media, I think, but cause its a smaller, less mainstream market, cause its less heavily advertised (in part cause the console games are pushed by BOTH the publishers and the platform owners, while PC so far is just the publishers) etc. But there also a lot of shovelware. Then again my impression is theres plenty of that for the consoles too, even if its still easier to do that stuff for the PC. And the market is different for shovelware - for the talk of casual games for the consoles, esp the Wii, the fact theres a PC in every home still helps when youre selling, say, the latest Nancy Drew mystery game.

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


If you followed the PC gaming industry, esp the strategy side, you'd know that EU and CK are not turn based.

Have a truely lovely day

EU and CK are not popular games, as far as I can tell only perpetual virgins or "born-again virgins" (read: old married guys) play it.

[lord of the mark]

New IP, Unknown studio, good job

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20892

This by the way, is why it was so important to win the cold war.

Have a nice day

[lord of the mark]

Top 5 PC games week ending Oct 30


North America: 1. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 2. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA Games), 3. Fallout 3 Collector's Edition (Bethesda), 4. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (Her Interactive), 5. Spore (EA Games).

well 4 games really, as two are Fallout. So, a conventional RPG, an RTS, a Sim/god game, and an adventure (I assume) aimed at girls.

Not The Sims, not WOW.

[Asher]

Having played the Witcher, I can tell you it is a terrible bug-ridden game that did not deserve 1 million in sales. I wouldn't be surprised if 99% of those sales were in Europe where the collective population is so stupid they still live in Europe.

[conmcb25]

No

[El_Cid]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20916

About the new version of MoM.

It's looking for a 2010 release! But i got so many great PC games to play between now and then that I can happily wait for this.

[snoopy369]

I didn't have much trouble with Witcher ... and it was a very interesting game, did a really good job of doing things a bit differently, but subtly enough I'm not even sure I could enumerate what was different - it wasn't so different as to be jarring. Just ... interesting. And beautiful scenery.

[DrSpike]

They just released an updated version which apparently fixes a lot of the issues with the original game. It looks quite good and I'll probably pick it up when I upgrade over Christmas.

Too many games to play though.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
They just released an updated version which apparently fixes a lot of the issues with the original game. It looks quite good and I'll probably pick it up when I upgrade over Christmas.

Too many games to play though.

it looks like MOM2 - er Element, is coming also, but not till 2010.

BTW, I must say Civ4 has slated for the time being my desire to get a video card.

[DrSpike]

Does it run ok in the late ages when there are lots of units?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Does it run ok in the late ages when there are lots of units?

It ran fine on my last game, medium settings, standard map, went all the way to 2010 (lost an AC race on Prince level)

I have upped to high settings for my current game, though I really can't see the difference. haven't gotten to the late game yet, nor have i gotten to the late game on a larger map.

Note I only have a 17 inch monitor, so the resolution is only 1280 by 1024.

[DrSpike]

Then your setup can't be that bad.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Then your setup can't be that bad.

I tell 'ya, IG has come a long way. I did have problems on high settings on Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, but that was more of a tech demoish kind of game than Civ4.

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Asher
Having played the Witcher, I can tell you it is a terrible bug-ridden game that did not deserve 1 million in sales. I wouldn't be surprised if 99% of those sales were in Europe where the collective population is so stupid they still live in Europe.

Probably. iirc the game developers are Czech or Polish, eastern European anyway, so I reckon they sold pretty well out there.