74 replies to this topic 3 votes

[Muhammad Farrukh]

By that time, next-gen consoles will be the new hot thing on the market and will be selling like hot cakes, and PC gamers and NVIDIA would be sitting in our houses thinking.

2017!!!

[dead.cell]

I could see this happening for several reasons. PC gaming isn't as expensive as it used to be. Hardware prices are lower and developers are making more free-to-play games. Console hardware, on the other hand, is expensive on launch and successful games like Call of Duty or even Halo rarely drop in price (from the $60 launch price).

Also, modding is making a comeback with games like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and even Far Cry 3 (as evidenced by a recent "hack" to hide the game's UI). Another thing is that developers are finally treating the PC platform with respect. More and more games are dropping support for DX9 and Windows XP. They're also adding features like changeable FOV, high-res textures, and DX11-specific features (like tessellation and DX11 AA).

And one thing I just remembered is the recent crowd-funding phenomenon. It has shown that gamers are willing to pay for games that publishers refuse fund. I'm talking about previously ignored genres like space sims (e.g. Star Citizen), old-school RPGs (e.g. Project Eternity, Wasteland 2) and point-and-click adventure games (e.g. Double Fine Adventure).


With third-person games, it's a matter of preference but I'm sure most people would prefer to use a controller for racing games. Everything else would be better with a mouse and keyboard.

Hardware prices are lower? They're roughly the same from what I can tell. 6 years ago, I spent $130 for a graphics card. Before that card, I had spent maybe $90. All that's changed is the advancement of technology really. The prices aren't exactly lower. All of my PCs over the years have done quite well with $450 put into each machine, and they function as full blown computers, not as just a game console or gameconsole+half-baked-pc. Some might consider this pricey compared to a console, but there are obvious reasons for that. And spending $300 on cheap desktop tower probably isn't going to yield the best results. Never really has, from what I've seen...

Modding isn't exactly making a comeback, as that'd imply it died down somehow. It's always been popular, depending on the game and what the developers did to provide them tools for modification or even simply reducing restrictions to game modification. What we're seeing now though is the full embrace as Valve's Steam Workshop comes into play. I'm hoping Rockstar can strike a deal with them too, as I'm sure they could do wonders with GTAV and pushing profits/sales to a greater level.

But yeah, it's really a good time to be a PC gamer right now. I've always been rather curious though, as how a company like Microsoft renown for being THE software company for PCs... fails so hard at getting their games on the PC or even a good distribution system for that matter... (Sorry if anyone's a fan of Games for Windows Live...) I mean, I'm not complaining, I can totally live without Microsoft's involvement, but it always had me curious.

[LaP]

The current gen of consoles are realy underpowered. All it takes to get slightly better gfx on PC is a mid range PC. My pc is 3 yo and you can probably find one of the same power used for under 400$ easily. Yet i can get far better gfx quality on it than a current gen console. Right now when a game is avalaible on PC and console it's a given i'm buying the PC version. I can output my PC to my TV and play with a 360 controller anyway.

[GP007]

I think all this chart shows us is 2 things, current gen consoles are old, when it takes a cheaper midrange card to play the PC ports of the console games and have it look better then that plays into it. The 2nd thing is that we're seeing the casuals playing more on their new shinny mobile devices which tend to count as a PC. I think once we get the new consoles in late 2013 or so, with the updated graphics and new abilities to do more outside of gaming that the chart will once gain swing the other way.

As good as the PC is when it comes to performance and overall graphics quality it still tends to be a pain to just enjoy a game with little or no issue. I'd take the ability to just pop-in a disc and start playing a new game right away without much hassle and know that it'll run well without having to tweak settings etc over, in some cases, crazy long install times and often buggy releases that need at least a pair of patches before the game can run fine. Not everyone has the same setup so some don't have the issues as others do but we've all at least once ran into a PC game that's just a mess to try and play. Not to mention when you start talking drivers and the issues those can have.

[Jose_49]

The 2nd thing is that we're seeing the casuals playing more on their new shinny mobile devices which tend to count as a PC.

^this x 1 million.

I was going to post about that. Glad that someone shares my same point of view.

Since we are talking about Nvidia, we are also counting the Tegra processors which are mobile, and tablets are getting considered as PCs nowadays.... At least with the come of Windows 8 and RT, which can be counted as PC OSes, PC "gaming" (<-emphasizing on Casual gameplay) will do surpass Console by 2015, if not sooner.

[Pupik]

With digital services like Steam that don't release their sale numbers, I believe that the numbers already were surpassed.

[Asik]

I don't think taking sales from the year preceding the launch of the next-gen consoles and assuming the current downward trend will continue makes any sense. Console sales should pick up the pace as new hardware is released next year. That said, it's nice to see that PC sales have become much more competitive since 2008.

[aviator189]

Sorry, but as much as I or anyone else want this to come true, it's not happening.
The consoles are at the end of their generation and so, naturally, the sales are slowing down.
Once the 720 and ps4 hit the market, sales will pick up like crazy again.

[Athernar]

As good as the PC is when it comes to performance and overall graphics quality it still tends to be a pain to just enjoy a game with little or no issue. I'd take the ability to just pop-in a disc and start playing a new game right away without much hassle and know that it'll run well without having to tweak settings etc over, in some cases, crazy long install times and often buggy releases that need at least a pair of patches before the game can run fine. Not everyone has the same setup so some don't have the issues as others do but we've all at least once ran into a PC game that's just a mess to try and play. Not to mention when you start talking drivers and the issues those can have.

These complaints about PC gaming are so outdated, seriously. The days of "having to get patches" died when services like Steam took off and automated patching and content-delivery. And let's not act like console releases don't often have release-day patching and numerous bugs either.

It's like how Mac users say that Windows BSODs all the time, when the last version of Windows they used was 95.

[Jose_49]

These complaints about PC gaming are so outdated, seriously. The days of "having to get patches" died when services like Steam took off and automated patching and content-delivery. And let's not act like console releases don't often have release-day patching and numerous bugs either.

It's like how Mac users say that Windows BSODs all the time, when the last version of Windows they used was 95.

You see, in defense of Athernar, even nowadays Xbox 360 games come with issues. Take for example Star Wars The Force Unleashed, which had a disastrous beginning, which needed to be patched.

[theyarecomingforyou]

As good as the PC is when it comes to performance and overall graphics quality it still tends to be a pain to just enjoy a game with little or no issue.

Yeah, because installing new graphics drivers before you play a new game is just so much effort. Most PC games auto-detect the correction resolution and graphics settings, meaning all you have to do is play the game. Steam means you don't need to worry about installers or patches, plus you can take screenshots of games with the press of a button and upload them online to share with your friends. And with PC gaming you don't have to mess about with DVDs or Blu-rays, which have terrible load times and can easily become unusable if they get too scratched.

Current gen consoles are the visual equivalent of VHS, whereas PC gaming is Blu-ray - sure you need a more expensive player and the remote is more complicated due to the extra buttons but the experience is so much better than it's worth it.

[@Leo]

ZOMG guys, don't forget about PC piracy oh noez them pesky PC pirates. And they always demand good games whilst console gamers just churn cash like spoiled little dumbo kiddies. Shame on PC gaemrz!

[Randomevent]

I love PC gaming and while there are some really innovative console exclusives, the poor performance, gamepad limitations and poor graphical fidelity mean that I'd prefer to skip them than have a consoles that I'd barely ever use.

Yeah, I sold my 360 off recently.

I do expect to get a new console from MS or Sony whenever those show up though.

[GP007]

Yeah, because installing new graphics drivers before you play a new game is just so much effort. Most PC games auto-detect the correction resolution and graphics settings, meaning all you have to do is play the game. Steam means you don't need to worry about installers or patches, plus you can take screenshots of games with the press of a button and upload them online to share with your friends. And with PC gaming you don't have to mess about with DVDs or Blu-rays, which have terrible load times and can easily become unusable if they get too scratched.

Current gen consoles are the visual equivalent of VHS, whereas PC gaming is Blu-ray - sure you need a more expensive player and the remote is more complicated due to the extra buttons but the experience is so much better than it's worth it.

Why should I have to bother with my drivers at all is the point, yet we still have newer driver releases that manage to be worse forcing you to roll back. And just because you have something like steam auto updating your games doesn't mean they're better off now than .before. Also even if Xbox games get updates as well the number released is hardly the same. The auto detection for the graphics settings is also weak. I've often had to go in and change it manually because they are set to low even for my hd5770.

[Arceles]

Why should I have to bother with my drivers at all is the point, yet we still have newer driver releases that manage to be worse forcing you to roll back. And just because you have something like steam auto updating your games doesn't mean they're better off now than .before. Also even if Xbox games get updates as well the number released is hardly the same. The auto detection for the graphics settings is also weak. I've often had to go in and change it manually because they are set to low even for my hd5770.

No seriously, your experience may be a tad bad in drivers, but in my case I just simply have no problems with it, I only had one driver with problems disabling my hdmi audio but other than that, problems related to drivers are almost non existent for me... AND I really gain a lot playing games on my "humble" laptop than on current consoles nowadays (sure, newer generations will arrive... but as I mentioned before, they are not serious, as serious as they were on the previous generation to this)