Console machines holding up game development :(

[reallyxxxxxxloud]

I like to game PC and am sic of game designers aiming at console sales only because of the money to be made there. I understand that they are a business and to make a huge game programming wise isn't necessarily good business. But come on Crysis was released in 2007 FFS and there really hasn't been any further games pushing beyond what PCs can do at this point.

(no offence to consoles but you suck compared to what a PC can do, its only natural ).

Even still games like L4D etc have chopped feet in parts etc just to get the console to accommodate the game lol

What gets me is PC sales isn't even a small part of there sales so what gives designers!!!!

[stealthee]

Supply and demand. Demand is lower on the PC crowd so why put out the effort?

[IPD]

actually, designers have fed into that, stealthee. not offering anything of "must have" value for pc's has turned into self-fulfilling prophecy for pc game sales. so it's both developers and users which share the blame.

my prediction:

prepare for graphic stagnation in gaming. the same rhetoric used to decry the wii's graphical capabilities will come back to haunt the xbox/playstation fans. console gaming will force innovation to grind to a halt. heck, it's already started. what happens next is that pc sales for the enthusiast sector drop off precipitiously. granted, the cost of pc's has dropped sharply in recent years, but it still hasn't helped to keep the enthusiast sector growing. this has been both as a result of increases in console sales and an unwillingness by developers to make pc-primary games. why shell out $500 for a graphics card when all it will do is "slightly pretty up" an xbox game?

it will come back to haunt each and every one of you "console messaiahs". no enthusiast sector = no one to initially purchase bleeding-edge tech. this means that trickle-down tech will grind to the pace of frozen molasses. two things will result. first, it will drastically slow down the improvements in the graphic side of gaming--as producers now only have to churn out what's "good enough"--not what will actually push the envelope. second, the cost of your beloved consoles will skyrocket. with no pc gamers to buffer you from the high initial cost of good technology, consoles will be forced to bear the cost of the enthusiast sector. if you thought $600 was an expensive console, you haven't seen anything yet.

and don't even get me started on 1080p. i fucking despise that resolution with a goddamn passion. it's one more area where TV's and consoles have f'd up pc sales. 4-6 years ago, i could buy a laptop with a 1920x1200 resolution; today, you're stuck with 1920x1080. why? because people have been duped into believing that 1080p was an improvement in resolutoin, when in fact, it was a reduction in it--mostly thanks to an unimaginative aspect ratio. and what gets worse? the whole BS idea that 16:9 would eliminate letterboxing is total hogwash, thanks to even WIDER resolutions that movies are now shot in.

the "naysayers" who claim with a bloodthirsty passion that wuxga+ resolutions are impractical and "hurt the eyes" are the same moronic idiots who are happily thumbing around on their beloved iphone4's; A DEVICE WITH >2X THE DPI OF ANY LAPTOP CURRENTLY ON THE MARKET. seriously.

i really do believe that intelligence, sanity and reason are dead to the USA.

[reallyxxxxxxloud]

Many of us know that our PC's are often times 5-10 times faster than even the PS3. It's actual graphics solution is based off of the Nvidia 7800 series GPU. Take (2) GTX280's and you could easily be 10 X faster on any current game on the market compared to the PS3.

Recent articles involving the makers of Crysis, Titan's Quest, and now even John Carmack and ID software express they are switching their focus to consoles primarily because PC games just aren’t selling any more. THE makers of Grand Theft Auto 4 and Mass Effect were within a hairs thickness of not releasing their games for PC this time around until the PC Enthusiasts spoke up. Console sales and gaming is wiping the floor with PC's and all the evidence supports this.

BS what you and many others are getting confused about is simply that the PC game retail presence is no longer what it used to be. The tech savvy gaming crowd are often PC gamers. Tech savvy individuals are also more likely to do their purchasing online and possibly over steam or Impulse. Steam and Impulse do not publish their sales numbers.

Valve has actually stated in no uncertain terms that PC gaming is not doing badly, in fact they are seeing sales that beat any individual console handily. It is just that a lot of executives are paying more attention to third party numbers like NPD and such and not to the sales numbers they get internally.

PC gaming is doing great. Just some game companies are run by idiots. That is no real surprise.

PC games are losing their retail presence but their online presence is a true force to be reckoned with.

But... the fact that Microsoft is still developing PC based OS's based around the Windows platform, and the reality that companies such as Blizzard ( immensely, immensely buoyant from all of their WOW profit ), Valve and Activision are making increasing profits annually just proves this.

To boot online distribution sites are getting more hits than ever and are raking in large profit margins. Steam is making a killing by offering deals on older software on a large scale due to the mass audience interesting in momentarily reliving older classics for cheap. This is an entirely different, if not better market as it just couldn't be achieved in store and on a tangible level. Also keep in mind overheads from these online ventures are substantially decreased due to the whole transaction happening via cyberspace. No shipping, printing,packing or packaging costs - no middle man vendors and shippers. A great marketplace if you ask me - which inevitably makes things cheaper for you and me the PC gaming consumer.

Piracy is a huge problem - but if you also took that as a item/sold played...well...

[IPD]

it's much easier to pirate console games than pc games, imho. maybe if developers were more concerned with pushing the envelope, rather than cashing in...they could sell more games. it's pretty hard to justify $60 a game when it's simply rahashed shit from last year.

[KeithMac]

From my point of view, just being able to turn on the Xbox360 and play F1 2010 and the like on my Samsung LED TV in 1080p is great, no fucking around with upgrading video cards or updates to Windows etc. My computer is for the internet/ tuning the car and my Xbox is for gaming.

I see where you`re all coming from but quite a lot of people don`t enjoy building a PC from scratch every year just to play the latest games.. Consoles have a good 7 year run with nothing more to pay for than games after the intial outlay.

[Jeremy C]

From my point of view, just being able to turn on the Xbox360 and play F1 2010 and the like on my Samsung LED TV in 1080p is great, no fucking around with upgrading video cards or updates to Windows etc. My computer is for the internet/ tuning the car and my Xbox is for gaming.

I see where you`re all coming from but quite a lot of people don`t enjoy building a PC from scratch every year just to play the latest games.. Consoles have a good 7 year run with nothing more to pay for than games after the intial outlay.

And that mindset right there is what is making it to where I'm playing shitty console ports on my system. My computer isn't high end by any means any longer, but because of the stagnation of graphics improvements I haven't had need to make any drastic changes to my machine. My little 24" monitor has a higher resolution that your big LED TV. I intend to replace my monitor with a 30" that has 2560X1600 resolution as soon as I can afford it. The physical size of the monitor isn't important - it's the resolution and 1920X1080 is too small for me. I enjoy sitting down in front of my pc and playing F1 2010 with eye candy you could never get on your Xbox360 because I have DX11 capable software/hardware.

(not picking on you, per say - just pointing out that your mindset is why this thread exists) Thankfully there are a handful of games and publishers that know that the pc world for gaming is still there. STALKER, Metro 2033, any MMO, and the countless indie developer games that are exclusive to the PC realm. As more console ports get ignored by the PC gamers in favor of games that better use their hardware, I think you'll see a shift back to offering more for the PC than a PS3 re-hash.

[DocWalt]

My PC is over three years old. I've changed two things: added a second hard drive, and replaced/upgraded a faulty graphics card. The old setup before those changes ran Crysis maxed out at a steady 25-30 FPS, minimum. Console games are holding up PC games.

[KeithMac]

And that mindset right there is what is making it to where I'm playing shitty console ports on my system. My computer isn't high end by any means any longer, but because of the stagnation of graphics improvements I haven't had need to make any drastic changes to my machine. My little 24" monitor has a higher resolution that your big LED TV. I intend to replace my monitor with a 30" that has 2560X1600 resolution as soon as I can afford it. The physical size of the monitor isn't important - it's the resolution and 1920X1080 is too small for me. I enjoy sitting down in front of my pc and playing F1 2010 with eye candy you could never get on your Xbox360 because I have DX11 capable software/hardware.

(not picking on you, per say - just pointing out that your mindset is why this thread exists) Thankfully there are a handful of games and publishers that know that the pc world for gaming is still there. STALKER, Metro 2033, any MMO, and the countless indie developer games that are exclusive to the PC realm. As more console ports get ignored by the PC gamers in favor of games that better use their hardware, I think you'll see a shift back to offering more for the PC than a PS3 re-hash.

That`s fair enough, I have my mates round sometimes and we`ll do time attack etc with a few beers in the living room. My TV isn`t massive by any means, 37" but you can see it clearly from any part of the room. Huddling round a computer has no attraction to me personally and I wouldn`t play games at all if that were my only option.

[IPD]

That`s fair enough, I have my mates round sometimes and we`ll do time attack etc with a few beers in the living room. My TV isn`t massive by any means, 37" but you can see it clearly from any part of the room. Huddling round a computer has no attraction to me personally and I wouldn`t play games at all if that were my only option.

spoken like someone who has never been to a LAN party. EVER.