Yusuf M. Veteran Posted April 11, 2011 Veteran Share Posted April 11, 2011 It's happened to everyone at one point or another. You're playing your favorite FPS and minding your own business when your character finally succumbs to that pesky stream of bullets that's been bouncing off his face for the past two minutes. ?Aw man,? you say aloud while a big, ominous Game Over screen stares you down. ?Well, at least I can jump right back in and...? But you can't. Suddenly, you're 30 minutes away from where you kicked the bucket ? your previous progress rotting at the bottom of some virtual wastebasket. ?Well, at least I can vary up my tactics and see the game from a different angle this time.? Nope. So many invisible walls that you may as well be a mime. ?Well, at least I can--? Nuh-uh. Can't do that either. So you pause to take a breather, but they immediately start suffocating you. Games For Windows logos. Everywhere. And then you wake up drenched in a cold sweat, safe in your own bed and free of the nightmare's cruel clutches. ?It was just a dream, ? you mumble before dozing off again. Or was it? PC gaming is far from dying, but not for a lack of effort on consoles' parts. While consoles have doubtless aided in bringing videogames to the masses, they've also slowly but surely molded gaming in their own image. The end result? Well, stories like the one above, for starters. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Jump past the break for consoles' most egregious crimes against our hobby. Delayed/Glitchy Ports It's happened to everyone at one point or another. You're playing your favorite FPS and minding your own business when your character finally succumbs to that pesky stream of bullets that's been bouncing off his face for the past two minutes. ?Aw man,? you say aloud while a big, ominous Game Over screen stares you down. ?Well, at least I can jump right back in and...? But you can't. Suddenly, you're 30 minutes away from where you kicked the bucket ? your previous progress rotting at the bottom of some virtual wastebasket. ?Well, at least I can vary up my tactics and see the game from a different angle this time.? Nope. So many invisible walls that you may as well be a mime. ?Well, at least I can--? Nuh-uh. Can't do that either. So you pause to take a breather, but they immediately start suffocating you. Games For Windows logos. Everywhere. And then you wake up drenched in a cold sweat, safe in your own bed and free of the nightmare's cruel clutches. ?It was just a dream, ? you mumble before dozing off again. Or was it? PC gaming is far from dying, but not for a lack of effort on consoles' parts. While consoles have doubtless aided in bringing videogames to the masses, they've also slowly but surely molded gaming in their own image. The end result? Well, stories like the one above, for starters. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Jump past the break for consoles' most egregious crimes against our hobby. Delayed/Glitchy Ports Let us begin our tour with Unfortunate Console Consequences 101: the bad port. It can take many forms, and even in this day and age of developers working tirelessly for platform equality, it's all-too-common. From Resident Evil 4 to Grand Theft Auto IV to a large number of games without fours in their titles, fun-killing, sometimes game-halting bugs have plagued many major PC releases. Frankly, it's inexcusable. Let's not, however, forget the other side of the coin: the inexplicably delayed port. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series, for instance, has been doing it for years ? with speculative whispers chalking it up to piracy avoidance. But here's the thing: it only encourages piracy. If you treat people like second-class citizens, don't be surprised when they start doing whatever's necessary to get ahead. Read more... Source: Maximum PC I love consoles but I also love PC gaming. Sadly, most of what's said in the article is true. Developers are turning a blind eye to the platform that made them successful in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomoko Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 I do hate console ports. More and more games coming out on the PC are crippled versions because they're designed to run on consoles. Mafia II's low resolution textures spring to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cropcircles Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Designed on the computer for consoles not PC games. Thats a bit odd isn't it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Teej Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Designed on the computer for consoles not PC games. Thats a bit odd isn't it. No... not at all... if it was more convenient developing and testing a game on a console developers would do that instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerino Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 lets see.... Drop $300 for a PS3 and $65 for Crysis 2? Build up a system that will range $1200 and pray it runs at medium settings with decent framerates.... just an example Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted April 12, 2011 Member Share Posted April 12, 2011 I would rather play on a console any day. PC gaming is not nearly as fun, to me anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satukoro Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 lets see.... Drop $300 for a PS3 and $65 for Crysis 2? Build up a system that will range $1200 and pray it runs at medium settings with decent framerates.... just an example Except that a system home built for $800-$1000 will be able to run it maxed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashing Pumpkin Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 12 ways in which the car is hurting horse and carriage travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermot Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 But the point is, you can run it full on the ps3 for $365? or buy a secondhand copy of both, and still get top end graphics that you must pay for. I have a decent PC with two 1GB radeons , 6 core cpu, 8gb ram, graphics cards running on crossfire, and even then the graphics are just pipping barely over the ps3 with just small differences in frame rates mostly. I work on many things at the PC, working on projects to site development to application development, I don't want to live at the pc so i take comfort in knowing i can go sit on the couch and boot up the console, have fun gaming and talk on voice to friends and foes, I can take a console easily to a friends place, We can easily swap games without going through the serial drama, I can find games for consoles easily outside, yes in the real world before someone mentions steam. This is the reason i prefer Consoles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted April 12, 2011 Author Veteran Share Posted April 12, 2011 12 ways in which the car is hurting horse and carriage travel. Can you explain your analogy? :/ A car is a clearly superior means of transportation than a horse-drawn carriage. A console, however, is clearly inferior to PC gaming in terms of technology. Consoles use hardware that was outdated before they were even released. Even today, most games have to be rendered below 1280x720 in order to achieve frame rates of 30 or 60 (in some cases). This often results in console ports with blurry textures and limited view distances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nub Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 12 ways in which the car is hurting horse and carriage travel. lol, no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeta_immersion Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 lets see.... Drop $300 for a PS3 and $65 for Crysis 2? Build up a system that will range $1200 and pray it runs at medium settings with decent framerates.... just an example I am sorry, but you seem to be limiting yourself to A system which is used to take up space and give you mediocre yet closed options to media that 1200 gives you so much more than a thing to play games, please do not confuse them also, I would rather see the consoles die before I give up PC gaming .... I cannot downgrade myself to a few pixels on a tv when I can have a glorious 3 x24 inch sub 600$ monitors in its glory running on a video card that costs as much as a PS3 being able to watch and play porn/games and a movie without any headaches .. Moreover, for the love of a horny monkey, console gaming is a joke, a money grabber becaue 1. buy the console ($400) then obviously you have to invest (if not already done so) in a TV .... ($1000) and LOL (i hate that acronym) you have a whooping 1400 system used for what?! games?! and movies?! really? are you that insane?! .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azusa Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 way #13 Talented coders are spending too much time looking for ways to hack consoles to do what any mid range PC can do and less time making new games like portal, Team fortress, and Counter strike.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashing Pumpkin Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Well it's not a perfect analogy by any means no and I don't care to argue about the technicalities, I merely mean to express that there is no point in protesting what is clearly, for reasons outlined by others here, progress. I mean cars are in many ways worse than horse and cart right, pollution, traffic accidents etc. yet they are more popular due to the practicalities. I'm pretty sure that when the car was first invented there were many who thought it was far inferior to the horse and cart. Again, not a perfect analogy but it wasn't meant to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis W. Veteran Posted April 12, 2011 Veteran Share Posted April 12, 2011 12 ways in which the car is hurting horse and carriage travel. And this is the kind of attitude that the article eloquently points out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashing Pumpkin Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Yup like I said I prefer the practicalities of console gaming and couldn't care less about PC gaming. I suppose it would be ideal yes if we could convert everyone to PC gaming which clearly has a number of benefits, but it is not practical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted April 12, 2011 Author Veteran Share Posted April 12, 2011 Well it's not a perfect analogy by any means no and I don't care to argue about the technicalities, I merely mean to express that there is no point in protesting what is clearly, for reasons outlined by others here, progress. I mean cars are in many ways worse than horse and cart right, pollution, traffic accidents etc. yet they are more popular due to the practicalities. I'm pretty sure that when the car was first invented there were many who thought it was far inferior to the horse and cart. Again, not a perfect analogy but it wasn't meant to be. No point in protesting? Are you kidding me? PC gamers have suffered enough as it is. We won't tolerate the incompetence of developers because they prefer consoles over PCs. I'm so glad that developers like Blizzard, Valve, and even BioWare are still making good PC games. It's such a shame that more and more PC games are shipped without basic features like auto-saves and key remapping. It's even worse when games don't have dedicated servers or demos. As for progress... well, that's something that developers/publishers have forgotten a long time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athernar Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Consoles will die eventually. As the lines between devices become increasingly blurred, the PC will extend it's reach to fully encompass the home and make console irrelevant. A decade ago we would go outside bearing a portable media player, a camera and phone; come back to the present day and all three devices are now essentially one single device. And to be quite honest with you, the majority of (if not all) developers that churn out cruddy ports are likely churning out cruddy games, was anything of value really lost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duality Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 No point in protesting? Are you kidding me? PC gamers have suffered enough as it is. We won't tolerate the incompetence of developers because they prefer consoles over PCs. I'm so glad that developers like Blizzard, Valve, and even BioWare are still making good PC games. It's such a shame that more and more PC games are shipped without basic features like auto-saves and key remapping. It's even worse when games don't have dedicated servers or demos. As for progress... well, that's something that developers/publishers have forgotten a long time ago. Amen, brother. So many people are content with what developers are churning out and dismiss the PC gamers as the whining, baying crowds of yesteryear. But, console gamers - don't you realise? You can have better games too. Start holding developers accountable for the products they produce. If you accept sub-5-hour campaigns and soul-less MP modes, you aren't just killing PC gaming, you are killing gaming as a whole. PC gaming has always, until recently, forced progress in the industry, due to it's very outspoken and demanding fanbase. Console gaming, you can argue, has held it back due to the easy monetization opportunities, outdated hardware, and more importantly a willingness from the console gaming public to simply go out and purchase the latest "Call of medal of Halo Duty: Reach" game regardless of real quality. That said, I am just a bitter, traditionalist PC gamer who never moved on with the times ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject Delta Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I definitely agree with the point about auto save, I hate the fact that manual saving has been removed from so many games these days. However I will continue to game on the PC, because the PC offers a couple of distinct advantages for me: -Generally higher quality visuals -Games on the whole tend to be more customisable, and PC gamers are not generally ripped off as much as console gamers for DLC -Console games are almost always more expensive than their PC counterparts -Better input (for shooters, my primary games, keyboard and mouse provides a far better control option than a console pad) -More control over the hardware I wish to use -For the most part, consoles are still overly reliant on disks, and I prefer to store all my games on my HDD and not look for disks when I want to play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjoswald Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Honestly, I would rather pay $365 for the console and game one time than spending that every few months every year just to keep a PC up-to-date. I think that's why game developers are starting to realize; the consoles have a fairly long lifespan and only a couple different platforms to write for. Things change with the PC so much that it's just not worth the investment to try and stay current. Plus, gamers these days can't afford to throw away $500 a pop for this and that. Plus, with consoles, you can bring it over to a friend's house and get going within minutes. Who the hell wants to carry around bulky PC equipment from house-to-house, deal with the cluttery mess of wires, routers, and god knows what else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject Delta Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Honestly, I would rather pay $365 for the console and game one time than spending that every few months every year just to keep a PC up-to-date. I think that's why game developers are starting to realize; the consoles have a fairly long lifespan and only a couple different platforms to write for. Things change with the PC so much that it's just not worth the investment to try and stay current. Plus, gamers these days can't afford to throw away $500 a pop for this and that. Plus, with consoles, you can bring it over to a friend's house and get going within minutes. Who the hell wants to carry around bulky PC equipment from house-to-house, deal with the cluttery mess of wires, routers, and god knows what else? You don't need stupidly expensive hardware to run games at high quality. I only have a Q6600 and an ATI5770 and it will run almost any game full on at 1920x1080 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashing Pumpkin Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Weeeeell coolbeans perhaps I'm wrong, I was being more than a little argumentative for the hell of it before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Udedenkz Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Part of the issue is nothing is meant to run on Intel GPUs and most computers come with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vice Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 The biggest gripe I have with console ports is how they drag down the PC experience to meet the lowest common dominator (The console). And I am speaking specifically about graphical details, physics implementations, AI and even level size/density. On a PC we should never be looking at load screens. Just look at World of Warcraft (You can practically walk most places without seeing a single load screen) or Minecraft an infinitely huge map of stuff that streams in and out of memory live with no load screens. This is where PC gaming would be if it wasn't for consoles that rely on optical media, 256MB of graphics memory and 512MB of system memory. Games shipping with low resolution textures like Crysis 2 etc. I think a lot of these things will improve when the next generation of consoles are released as they will raise the minimum hardware spec. In-fact I bet the next consoles have 2GB of system memory and 1GB of Graphics memory. In PC gaming terms that doesn't seem like a lot but when you consider what they've done with only 256/512MB of working memory so far on the 360/PS3, 2GB for the system and 1GB for the graphics would be an olympic leap in capability. So for a strange reason I do welcome the next generation of console if only to kill the current generation and raise the bar so to speak. I'm a PC gamer through and through I love how much more detailed everything is. I was given a copy of Grand Turismo 5 for my PS3 and I was really excited to play it. I fired it up got in a race and I was confused. After all the years they spent developing the game, after all the hype, after all the 'leaked' screenshots and PR.. the cars looked ridiculous so many jagged edges you could count them from the sofa. The game had no anti-analising at all, it wasn't in a full HD resolution and it just did not look good. I was left disappointed not just because the game looked poor but because its a PS3 exclusive and there was no PC version for me to get where I could kick it up to 32X AA. The new Consoles cant come soon enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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