English | 中文 | Русский | Français
2,602 Posts served
8,350 Conversations started
Navigation
Posts By Category
- Academic
- Art, Music, & Animation
- Bit Stories
- Cool Software
- Customer Support
- Events
- Financial Services Industry
- Gaming
- Intel SW Partner Program
- Intel® Atom™ Developer Program
- Intel® Software Network 2.0
- Manageability
- Media
- Mobility
- Open Source
- Parallel Programming
- Social Media & Virtual Worlds
- Software Engineering
- Threading Building Blocks
- Virtualization
- Visual Computing
- What If Software
- XML Software
Popular Posts
Blog Roll
- Association for Computing Machinery TechNews (ACM)
- Go Parallel! (Dr. Dobbs)
- HPCwire (Tabor Communications, Inc.)
- insideHPC (John West)
- Joe Duffy's Weblog (Microsoft)
- Microsoft Parallel Programming Development Center (Microsoft Germany)
- MultiCoreInfo.com
- scalability.org (Scalable Informatics)
- Software Dev Blog (Intel Germany)
- Soft Talk Blog (Intel United Kingdom)
- The Moth (Microsoft)
3 Key Misconceptions in the PC vs. Console debate
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (10 posts) on January 7, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I'd like to address what I believe are some key misconceptions in the PC vs. Console debate.
Since about 2000 I've been tracking PC and Console Hardware and Software sales. I first started doing this to project Minimum System Configurations for PC titles when I worked at Microsoft Game Studios. I never thought I'd still be looking at these various reports going on ~9+ years now while working at Intel. However; I enjoy tracking these data sets and it's likely more important now than it ever was.
While I won't be going into any level of granularity from the reports I look at. Suffice it to say that I track most of the usual suspects: NPD (PC Data), DFC, Mercury, Gartner, Jon Peddie Reports, IDC, Futuremark, Valve's Steam Data, VGChartz, etc to name but a few.
Misconception #1 - PC Gaming is dead. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Misconception #2 - Console game sales are beating the PC game sales. Again.. not really true.
Misconception #3 - Console gaming is more profitable than PC gaming. False again.
Here's why I believe what I do.
Firstly - PC Gaming continues to thrive. Quite frankly... almost in spite of itself. I say this because there truly isn't any (1) company that owns the PC gaming platform. However; due to the large Total Available Market (TAM) for the PC - Games companies continue to create games to address the various PC Gaming markets and Geographies. However; there is no (1) company that has really invested and dumped the billions of dollars necessary into the PC Gaming ecosystem as a platform to make it better. Imagine what the PC gaming ecosystem would be like if just a few key things like ease of use and piracy were addressed!
Secondly - One of the biggest, and what I'd even go so far as saying unfair, ways that the PC vs. Console debate is characterized is that it's exactly that... PC vs. Console. Say what? So when did all the Console gaming companies gang up on the PC? Obviously they haven't. The better way to characterize the issue is that it's PC vs. PS2 vs. PS3 vs. GameCube vs Wii vs 360 etc. The fact is - is that they all compete for mindshare and dollars against each other. They even have to worry about cannibalizing their own markets part of the time. For example: some analysts like to beat up on the PS3, one could argue that the PS3's biggest competitor last year and the year before wasn't so much the 360 or Wii, but the success of their own PS2. So yes if I add up all the Console game sales and compare that against the PC then of course those volumes would crush it. However; when you split all the platform unit sales out to compare them side by side, then the PC definitely continues to hold its own quite nicely.
Third and lastly - PC gaming has had to evolve to also stay profitable. The most obvious examples being the MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) and DLC (Downloadable Content) games. Game Developers and Publishers taking advantage of the PC platforms strengths are actually doing quite well. The real irony here is that Consoles in order to get those same advantages are starting to look more and more like PC's with each generation. So one has to ask themselves what platform is really winning over the long term? Truly... what does a Console look like by the year 2020? I'll leave that up for you all to decide.
Categories: Gaming
Comments (42)
January 8, 2009 12:47 AM PST
 lala |
@UX-admin: What about RTS gems like the Total War series? There is way more than just FPS on PC. And what does one need to computational power of a PS3 for, if the actual software runs on the server in the basement? |
| January 8, 2009 1:19 AM PST
UX-admin |
What about them? RTS games are all, down to the last one, a variation of "Dune II: the battle for Arrakis" on Commodore Amiga. A game which happens to have been released in 1992, if my memory serves me correctly. The only difference is that the graphics and the "units" are different - but it's the same stuff in a new package! As far as Total War(R) is concerned, same thing: once you played one, you played them all. It's the same thing with incremental improvements. Real innovative. It's a disgrace! And the thing that irks me the most: WAR, WAR, WAR! Violence, violence, violence! Where's the story? Where's the plot? Whereto has originality gone? For example, "BattleTech: the Crescent Hawk's Inception" was a great game - it didn't have fancy graphics, but it had a great, novel-like story. Same with the "Eye of the Beholder", "Pirates!", "Ports of Call", or Final Fantasy VII and VIII, or, if you prefer violence at all costs, "Hitman". Those games were innovators - they were original and required one to use his brains! As for the PS3, the multiple CPUs are a boon for parallel make and compilation/linking/backend optimizers. If doing pure web development is your thing, it can be useful to prototype PHP webapps - rapid development, you know - before deploying on the server in the basement. httpd (Apache) is a multiprocess server, so is PostgreSQL DB, so the multicore nature of the Cell processor is perfect for these rapid develop-test-fix-develop cycles. |
| January 8, 2009 1:29 AM PST
UX-admin |
Oh, and just so we're clear - one can't easily integrate a PC bucket into the living room; the best one can come up with is a laptop, in which case - say hello to sweating from the heat generated by the thing in your lap. And working in the dining room is also no fun, especially when the back pain starts kicking in. Where would you put a full sized PC bucket, next to the TV? Super. This is where consoles excel: they were made to be part of the living room, to integrate into the premise. From the unit's chasis to the controllers, the ergonomics can't be beat compared to the PC. Sure one can buy ergonomical controllers, but you still have the problem of the PC chasis placement. And shuttle housing doesn't provide any relief if you live in a country where hardware choices for such small form factors are very poor (if it's not mainstream, you can't get it, because nobody has it in their database). |
| January 8, 2009 2:02 AM PST
lala |
The TW series is very different from dune2...and as you said yourself, games like hitman and pirates! were innovators. I've played hitman on my PC just yesterday. And Gran Turismo? There are plenty of good racing games for PC. Multiple cores help of course if the machine actually does the work, but there the bottleneck according to my experience is rather the hard disk and ram, not the processor. Besides, i for once prefer a laptop on my lap over having to develop on a TV screen. |
| January 8, 2009 9:33 AM PST
Matt Ployhar (Intel)
|
To the question about where's the plot in games? I partially agree with you. However; just like a movie.... sometimes I don't necessarily want a plot. I use games as means to decompress. I liked Quake 2 simply because it was mindless mayhem. Whereas in a game like Half Life 2....there was, at least IMHO, a semi-interesting story line. I'm not sure anyone can make the argument that Console game plots are better than PC though as most AAA games are multi-platform anyway. (Prince of Persia, GTA, Bioshock, etc, etc...) In those circumstances it sort of boils down to 1) do you want to sit on your couch or den chair, & 2) what's your input device of choice? As for there being better games in 1988 |
| January 8, 2009 11:03 AM PST
UX-admin |
Just like Larry Ellison, I need "alternative stress" to "decompress", meaning, I need to focus on something else to take my mind away from the problems I solve during the day. So that something needs to be *mentally intensive*, even more intensive than the daily work which I do. Plus, I would hate myself if I just vegetated like a plant on the couch. I wasn't born to vegetate. I was born to think and lead. I'm not a plant, so mindless violence doesn't help any. To reach that higher plane of awareness, our nature needs to evolve. And it will not evolve through violence and conflict, which has been the staple of humans for tens of thousands of years (and brought no progress). That goes for virtual violence as well. To get back to console versus the PC, consider this: a contemporary console like the PS3 can easily become a PC, but a PC cannot become a console. |
| January 8, 2009 11:11 AM PST
UX-admin |
And BTW, it is unclear from your initial essay as to whether you ever engaged in a game as emotionally intense and complex as for instance Final Fantasy VIII (it was released on the PC as well). I'd just like to know, if the PC gaming better, hows come that there are very few games where the plot actually makes logical sense? Hows come that there are very few games (the aforementioned "the Witcher" being a very rare exception) where the characters have intelectually and emotionally engaging depth? Remeber, you started off the initial essay by basically stating that console games are NOT better than PC games, yet all these attributes that make a great game are missing from contemporary PC games: - originality - logical, intriguing plot, leading one on an adventure - innovation (pushing more polygons and better shading is not innovation, we've seen it all before) - well developed characters - something that's not mindless violence (violence is OK, so long as it has a purpose and logical sense) - something that has at least 100 hours of gameplay! I mean, monsters coming thorugh Lucifer's portals - on Phobos!?! That was the original "Doom" plot, and that recipe has basically stayed the same for 20 (TWENTY!) years! That's just an insult to one's intelect. |
| January 8, 2009 11:23 AM PST
Matt Ployhar (Intel)
|
Grr...my responses got cut off half way through. The choice of games became limited around Y2K with the advent of the last generation of Consoles. Choice became limited because the larger Console Mfg's spent $100 millions sewing up content in an effort to make them exclusive. PC gaming did get short shrifted in some regards. I contend that there really isn't an issue of one platform's games being better than another because in most cases AAA games are released on multiple platforms. Albeit later on some than others. Some genre of games lend themselves better to certain input devices & Living room play vs the Den. A Console's guts are very similar, in some cases identical, to that of a PC. You're far out of the norm if you're 'cracking' the box on a Console to get it to do some of the things you're talking about. |
| January 8, 2009 11:39 AM PST
Matt Ployhar (Intel)
|
In 1998 I was playing Baldur's gate. Which sucked me in for days on end. Good story, plot, gameplay etc. In general I agree that most games don't have plots. However; I think that's in large part due to the fact that the Games Industry is still fundamentally maturing & has a loooonng way to go. If you're looking for good story telling in games... and that is your #1 criteria... I think you'll largely be disappointed. There are a lot of nice gems out there. However from my observations most game developers base their games on an idea.. rather than a story. When the game is released, and IF it becomes successful, then they all too often try to backfill the game with a story later on. BTW... I played FF VII or VIII on the PC. It was ok. I think I would have liked it better on the Console. To your point about a Console becoming a PC but not vice versa. That's largely in part to things like Proprietary Disk Drives, Security chips, etc. Eventually... if my PC has say 16 or > Cores with 16/32 threads or >. I have to wonder if I can't just get a sandbox/scratchspace for a few of those idle cores that could emulate any Console I want? At the end of the day... I go back to my original point about Consoles looking more & more like PC's with each generation. |
| January 8, 2009 1:50 PM PST
UX-admin |
I don't know what you mean by "cracking the box" to get the console to behave like the PC. Yellow Dog Linux is SONY supported version of Linux for the PS3. The PS3 was designed with running alternative operating systems, because there is a menu to install and boot them. The internal drive is a run-o-the-mill SATA drive, and since the hardware has USB slots, it's trivial to hook up an external USB drive and configure md for mirroring / and swap. Absolutely no cracking is necessary to do this, and you can even buy support. Now, what I'd really like to see running on this hardware is Solaris. Solaris has a PPC port, "Polaris", but it's been neglected since the Solaris 2.5.1 days. However, if I were able to fire up Solaris 10 on that hardware, I would have the benefits of Sun cluster and the Sun grid engine, and I could build cheap yet powerful clusters of PS3s. You want "out of the norm", well then, how's that? |
| January 8, 2009 4:19 PM PST
Max |
common, console is way more easy to handle: it starts faster, have better gamepad (not for all FPS but for many) and does not require antivirus software , OS validation before firmware update etc etc etc etc None of the PC games are the subject for well know in console gamedev - TRC (Technical Requirements Checklist) where many good point are described - like if game load something for more then X seconds on the screen should not be with still picture etc etc - ha ha here is the usability that PC market forgot about. Just surf for some example of such document over the internet. Kinds of the games on consoles and PC is different where console games are more like addicted to have a story and only seldom PC ones have the same approach. Market numbers as for console games are 3x higher then PC. Microsoft became really active on the console market - just for fun ? Starting to play on the market where no good knowledge yet and seriously! Sorry to day but all three misconception above are true. I do believe what I say. |
| January 8, 2009 7:31 PM PST
dreamhunk |
Crysis and crysis warhead a pc game has put all fps shooter console shooters to shame EA and EA's share holders notice pc gaming and mmo's and under stand why pc gaming is important The ression push back sony and micr soft consoles and has made the wii king The best game on the is the world of goo a pc game. Runescape a pc game is more popluar than Hollywood,britney spears and jisscia abla MMO's are shing brighter than any console. actviion blizzard has become the must important company in gaming in a time of ression wow a pc game is holding the company up high The hotest games are web based kids pc games in a time of ression Indie pc gaming devs and mod game devs are finaly starting to be noticed. People are starting to under stand that pc gaming is world wide and govermente and big business are starting to notice. some people may say that 2008 is not the year of pc gaming. But the thing is 2008 is the year of pc gaming. I bet 2009 will be too. here is why Console game companies are going bankuprt and it be the pc gaming mods and indie game devs time to shine. PC MMO's will be become more important to big software companies in times of resssion Pc mulitplayer and online pc games will shime in a time of resssion |
| January 8, 2009 7:36 PM PST
dreamhunk |
sorry had fix things up Crysis and crysis warhead a pc game has put all fps shooter console shooters to shame EA and EA's share holders notice pc gaming and mmo's and under stand why pc gaming is important The ression push back sony and micro soft consoles and has made the wii king The best game on the wii is the world of goo a pc game. Runescape a pc game is more popluar than Hollywood,britney spears and jisscia abla MMO's are shing brighter in profit than any console game. actviion blizzard has become the must important company in gaming in a time of ression wow a pc game is holding the company up high The hotest games are web based kids pc games in a time of ression Indie pc gaming devs and mod game devs are finaly starting to be noticed. People are starting to under stand that pc gaming is world wide and govermente and big business are starting to notice. some people may say that 2008 is not the year of pc gaming. But the thing is 2008 is the year of pc gaming. I bet 2009 will be too. here is why Console game companies are going bankuprt and it be the pc gaming mods and indie game devs time to shine. PC MMO's will be become more important to big software companies in times of ression Pc mulitplayer and online pc games will shime in a time of resssio |
| January 8, 2009 8:35 PM PST
Michael |
...unless realtime 3D graphics nowdays makes a game... It can break it. Anyway plot isn't anything either first and foremost its about game play. If plot is all there is to it - go watch a movie. More along that line some games are simply build for competition; where every thing is stuck in one theme so it doesn't distract. Sorry but some views here are just biased. Moreover I've seen plent of console games who had poor story-lines too. A ps3 running linux the sony way doesn't have hardware acceleration as far a graphics goes, so much for it being a powerful workstation. ...from the comfort of my living room!... because using a keyboard on you couch is so ergonomic. ...And shuttle housing doesn't provide any relief if you live in a country where hardware choices for such small form factors are very poor.... I can't think of a country where that would be the case. Esp considering you need to dub it with avail of the ps3 to make it a fair argument. - besides does anyone actually think a ps3 is that beautifull? I rather take my pc which blends in perfectly with my sound system - if I was even bothered with that - the whole thing is cultural anyway, that and there is furniture with like, euhm, doors... ...common, console is way more easy to handle: it starts faster,.... Does it really? I can't say I have paid attention to the ps3 to that respect but my xbox and wii certainly don't start faster. ....have better gamepad (not for all FPS but for many)... Games are and should be adapted to work well with their input controllers. Hell FPS on consoles have big hitboxes adjusted walk/gamespeed, limited auto aim and different hitboxes isn't a thing you seen on the console iether shooting in the foot is as deathly as shooting the chest. Hmm is realism the same as eyecandy? - not that this is a wrong thing at all, claiming that fps on consoles are comparable to the ones on pc is just wrong. ...and does not require antivirus software... Haven't seen a sandboxed pc needing one iether. ...OS validation before firmware update etc etc etc etc... Not sure what you mean by this as consoles typically try to validate/check/verify themselves on startup. And I certainly see more firmware updates on my xbox then I do on any of my pc's. ...like if game load something for more then X seconds on the screen should not be with still picture etc... Yes this is a problem with pc games but then again I've seen plenty of console games suffering from this too. Market numbers as for console games are 3x higher then PC. not sure where you get your numbers from, all I can say is that all the numbers I have seen are so incomplete it isn't even funny. PC games are subscription based beeing ignored (No monney is made in MMO and the likes I gues?) Games being bought and downloaded online (Steam) being ignored Casual games being ignored completely Consoles being sold below cost price. etc etc. Is the PC gaming in decline, well maybe if it was only for the overal (problably) misguided sentiment. |
| January 9, 2009 1:40 AM PST
Max |
ignoring the numbers we start operate on the feelings and this is personal, subjective. Disscussion in this way would have no outcome. When we talk about PC we (I dont know why) starting to talk primary about MMO ( WOW with its 91-93 score out of 100 ). There are other good examples for PC market - I can help here - Sims. By March 22, 2002, The Sims had sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling PC game in history;[3] the game has shipped 16 million copies worldwide as of February 7, 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims Looks great but let us compare. XBox 360 Halo 3 - (8.1 million) ps2 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (12 million) came on ps2 at October 26, 2004 on PC - only at June 7, 2005 Wii Wii Sports (30.87 million) Top 20 console games of all time The 20 best-selling console games, not originally bundled. 1. Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green (Game Boy – 20.08 million approximately: 10.23 million in Japan,[55] 9.85 million in US)[19] 2. Nintendogs (DS – 20.03 million, all 5 versions combined)[89] 3. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES – 18 million)[52] 4. Wii Play (Wii – 16.15 million)[89] About PC Lineage 2 (14 million customers)[211] World of Warcraft (11.5 million subscribers)[214] ( Is this this interesting that Asia market overtaked US/EMEA with its WoW - did you know it before ? ;) ) source is simple and allow you to change numbers if you dont agree with or see missing info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games Fun about release dates: Grand Theft Auto IV Consoles - 29 April 2008 PC - 2 December 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV Does it show sign of the importants? Also scores for the games - have some time and overview it. I can give a couple of the good sites to start from: http://www.gamespot.com, http://www.ign.com and http://www.gamerankings.com Try to concentrate on the higher score like 10 out of 10 and find how many titles you will find for your favourite side. On the gamespot I found at least two released games by now - MSG4 and GTAIV where for PC GTA IV surpriselly ranked as 9.0 and not 10 score ! Crysis ranked as 9.5 :) (just imaging now what expirience score 10 brings ) During this disscussion I saw some luck of the real expirience with either side, please,please have your mind open for such disscussions. |
| January 10, 2009 10:51 PM PST
Matt Ployhar (Intel)
|
These are great comments and feedback. Couple points 1) The PC can boot up as fast as any Console... just depends on what OS you're booting into right? If you choose Linux/etc... then of course your boot times will be faster. In a Windows OS... there are a lot of 'services' that eat up system resources. In this regard.. Consoles get it right. 2) If you look at actual game unit sales... all I'm saying is that the PC holds its own. Remember... I said that PC gaming continues to grow... more "in spite of itself" than anything. IF PC game titles had fractions of the $$$ spent that Consoles spend on Retail programs (Shelf space isn't free), & Marketing... they would have higher unit sales. As for profitability.. that's part of the story. PC titles are just as or more lucrative. Also.. I'm not sending a $7+ dollar royalty to the Console Mgfr - Sony/Micrososft, etc. Don't forget that while some Console games might outsell their PC counterparts by 2, 3, 4 to 1.. some of the reasons behind that are because the PC counterpart ships 6-12+ months later if at all. Not to mention... that some games are simply kept exclusive for that platform. The Console Mfgs spend $10's of millions of dollars to keep it that way. They have to recoup that money which generally impacts you the consumer. I'm oversimplifying things of course for the sake of brevity. I'll go into a a lot of these issues more in depth in later posts. |
| January 14, 2009 6:11 AM PST
Shane Mhlanga |
Seriously? Lets be honest here, console games trump pc in every way. Atleast if you consider cost. You could buy a PS3 or XBOX 360 with hd graphics and 3.2 cell processors realtivly cheaply to buying the same sought of chip for PC. Not only that running costs are cheaper fot console and really, when your going over to your friends house you don't wanna take your Computer to go play games!!!! It'd be nice to take the disc but then thats piracy!!! I love pc, well, I love mac but please let's not argue bout specs... One more thing, stop arguing like geeks, your the damn minority. You have to consider the actual people who buy consoles just to play Fifa & madden or GTA4 or gran Turismo |
| January 16, 2009 7:57 AM PST
dreamhunk |
A $200 pc is way more powerful than a console there is a few things that bug about pc vs consoles debate. The whole thing on drm and pircay. pc gamers get drm and limited number of useage with your game. However it’s legal to share and rent console games. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/01/15/game-to-start.....-service/1 nintendo lost 1 billion to pircay alone not counting xbox360 and ps3 pircay. Console games pirated so fast even befor the game goes out to market it gets pirated http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/17901/Pirated-Copy-of-Gears-of.....-Internet/ http://news.softpedia.com/news/Almost-1-Billion-Dollars-Lost.....8918.shtml game devs don’t talk about how there is people who make a living off console games. http://kotaku.com/5127249/elspa-celebrates-first-anti+piracy-raid-of-2009 In fact console pircay may even be bigger than consoles lets talk porduction costs for them console alot console game companies are going bankuprt because hig production costs on consoles |
| January 16, 2009 8:46 AM PST
dreamhunk |
pc vs consoles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-j69RnEBAc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GPI9xDmRjk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y2nJmKzOVY |
| April 27, 2009 3:50 AM PDT
zxc |
Simply put it Consoles are for 2nd class gamers and the PC for first class gamers. The reason why consoles might sell more is because 2nd class gamer's have a nack for buying crap and 1st class gamers always want the best and are more picky! But still i must say, i hate consoles, because the PC's always end up with ported code meaning the game doesn't run as fast as it would if it was coded primary for the PC. Just need to look at GTA4! many are saying it's running a windows emulator! Need a QUAD code to run it! If it was primary created for the PC i'm sure a single core would of been fine! |
| April 27, 2009 1:03 PM PDT
Matt Ployhar (Intel)
|
To Dreamhunk's 1st Jan 16th Post: - Piracy is just plain bad - period. Regardless of what platform. Consoles at the moment seem to be getting hit with a double whammy. Piracy is on the rise - & then with secondary sales - the Game ISVs (Dev/Pubs) are getting creamed. I'm not sure what the solution is but I do have some thoughts. I think we're going to have to go to a model that's more subscription based. Sort of the MMO or cell phone model - bleed the content, or service out over time. (In essence altering the value chain). To Dream's 2nd Jan 16th Post: - I watched the Youtube video's & found them a bit wanting. The 'real' truth, as I see it, is that we're fast approaching a platform that will couple something like Classmate PC + a Larrabee graphics card in it for between $300-500. (Nvidia's Ion platform is almost there). Where will that leave the console? The current crop of Netbooks coupled with Windows 7 (e.g. Asus/Acer/etc) are amazing little sub $400 laptops! That puts a platform, that's affordable, into practically everyone's hands on a world-wide basis. I'll likely expand on this in a new blog. To ZXC's April 27th post: - Honestly; I don't hate Consoles. Hate's a strong word. IMO - Console's are dumbed down PC's that are the perfect fit for the living room. I enjoy playing games like Tomb Raider or PoP, with a gamepad, in that environment. The sad thing here though is that you can have this experience on the PC - hooked up to your PC (BTW - it's quieter) & have the same experience; BUT.. that obviously is not a scenario that the Console Mfg's want people doing. It runs counter to their business plan/strategy. Hence the dumbing down of PC games that been migrated to the Console. - The next crop of Console's will likely be 'proprietary' PC boxes. I just don't see how they exist otherwise - given the forecasts and ASP (average selling price) of Desktop/Laptops over the next 2-6 years. - Give me another game that performed like Quake 2!!!! IMO - every 1st person shooter game that's come out since has been slowed down (dummied down) to play on the Console. (Pretty sad). I want a game that's truly skill based - with NO aiming algorithm/Assistance going on where I can do my rocket jumps & tweak gravity settings & the like. Games like that were sooooo much fun. They pushed systems to the max! They pushed gamer 'skill' to the max. They also pushed game ISV's imaginations to the limits. One can hope that we start seeing games like that again in the near future. |
| May 13, 2009 9:39 PM PDT
dreamhunk |
I have two really good links here I hope you read them both http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/39622/Microsoft-Explain-PC-Game-Release-Delays http://www.vg247.com/2009/05/11/accept-youre-a-thief-is-your.....s-wardell/ |
| May 13, 2009 10:44 PM PDT
dreamhunk |
I have one more here http://pc.ign.com/articles/982/982434p1.html |
| May 13, 2009 11:38 PM PDT
dreamhunk |
Game devs need to move all their games online look at guild wars or battle.net. If games are online it's much easyer to protect your soft ware. You can have people check acounts. If another site opens up with your game you could have it shut down. Where they can protect their stuff. I heared about the bad news with Intel. I hope that Intel doesn't give up on the pc Industry. Personaly I beleave pc Industry should have been fine in this ression and it's because of consoles. I strongly beleave pc gaming is the back bone of the Pc industry. It's cool that you take to the time out to read my posts. By the way I think Intel needs to have more software game devs. We theression happeing they could buy up a game studio going bankurpt and make pc games. Flashgames is another way to protect software. I beleave must of the pirates come from countries too poor to aford the games. By the way with project offset sell the software with the hardware. |
| May 13, 2009 11:46 PM PDT
dreamhunk |
Intel should get another cool IP too with graphics this good like this http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4557935.ece Maybe work with lucas arts and make a starwars game or get the underworld Ip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YdORBR51W0 off topic but i had to give some ideas :P |
| May 16, 2009 5:21 PM PDT
dreamhunk |
it's micro soft that is hurting pc gaming they want it dead http://games.ign.com/articles/983/983080p3.html http://pc.ign.com/articles/982/982434p1.html hope you check out the oher links |
| May 16, 2009 6:55 PM PDT
dreamhunk |
It's pretty much micro soft damging pc gaming http://www.n4g.com/pc/News-329306.aspx hust read alll the links I gave you |
| May 26, 2009 8:44 PM PDT
BK | Consoles hardware is heavily subsidised by software sales , if Piracy in Consoles keeps increasing it will collapse. |
| May 29, 2009 9:53 PM PDT
arvind kumar | I bye the computer with Core 2 Quad 2.33Ghz, on DG35 intel Motherboard and 4GB RAM of Zion and 500GB HDD Seagate but when i play games like GTA 4 the screen was shaking i also try with xfs n-vidia 9400GT graphics card but still the problems remain have any suggession pls. |
| June 1, 2009 1:59 PM PDT
Matt Ployhar |
Dreamhunk - Read the links. All of them are pretty good. Thanks for flagging those. Give me more fodder to talk about soon. I'm 'behind' on my blogging at the moment. Additionally; I agree with you on most of those points. However; there's really only so much that's appropriate for me to comment on. ; ) |
| June 1, 2009 2:05 PM PDT
Matt Ployhar (Intel)
|
Arvind - Your comment is a little off base for this discussion topic; but i'll try to address. There shouldn't be any 'jittering' or 'stuttering'. If it's only happening with that (1) particular game - that's more likely a function of the game needing to be patched/updated; or possibly even some weird funkiness between the Game ISV & the video driver. If the issue is happening with all of your games: 1) Ensure you have all the latest WHQL certifed video driver updates from the MFG of the card. Ensure you have the latest BIOS. (These have become a lot easier to update). Also; please check your cables, & the pin ins/outs; make sure they're in good shape, not bent/broken etc. Also; make sure your monitor-display is setup correctly. Just like a TV display - things can go awry. Hopefully between one of those things you'll be able to diagnose what's going on. Good Luck! Matt |
| June 11, 2009 5:40 PM PDT
Tom |
Misconception #1 - PC Gaming is dead. Nothing could be further from the truth. - I would say PC Gaming as a whole isn't dead, but high-end PC Gaming is probably on it's last legs. Many of the big PC titles either also have Console versions now or are moving to have versions on Consoles (Unreal, Crysis, Quake, etc.). 10 years ago, consoles wouldn't have been considered. Times are changing. You no longer need a $600 graphics card just to play these games, you can go out and get a $300 console instead. Misconception #2 - Console game sales are beating the PC game sales. Again.. not really true. - Well, it's difficult to beat WoW's numbers, gotta give them credit for that. Misconception #3 - Console gaming is more profitable than PC gaming. False again. - Well, this probably depends on what market you're aiming for and where your costs are. For a small indie developer, it'll be cheaper to develop a PC version and be easier to distribute the game. For a major publisher with a AAA title, they'll probably need to include the Console market in order to recoup costs. In fact, this is precisely the reason the Crysis developers state as their motivation to create a console version (http://kotaku.com/5286834/why-crysis-2-is-console-bound). |
| June 12, 2009 3:23 AM PDT
dreamhunk |
Must media from the gaming industry are door nobs and hate pc gaming. They say alot of stuff with out having hard facts. First off we will look at pc gaming use age compared to consoles http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/world-of-warcra.....ing-trend/ I would rather have pc than a console in a recession. You can’t look for a job using a console. I can do alot more stuff with my pc than a console. Pc gaming has mods,mmo’s,dlc,free games and explasions to make games last a long time. Not only that pc games are cheaper in a recession. Now let’s look at all the cuting edge game coming to the pc. theif 4 Deus Ex 3 crysis 2 DOOM 3 Project offset operation flash point stalkerclear skies 2 http://pc.ign.com/articles/982/982148p1.html Now lets take a look at pc gaming’s line for games. lets start with games for windows. http://pc.ign.com/index/release.html lets take a look at other games coming to the pc, it just some of it too not even all of it. http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2009/ by the way pc gaming made 68 billion in a recession http://www.gamespot.com/news/6210424.html By the way pc gaming has alot more hardware than consoles. Not only that consoles game devs and console hardware companies such as sony and microsoft is losing billions of dallers. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/05/e3-predictions/ now lets take a good look at some of pc gaming ’s hardware line shall we. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OHcMWEzPnk http://www.brighthub.com/video-games/pc/articles/35553.aspx http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXx3vMy_AQ http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/nvidia-launches-3d-gami.....-uk-598349 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNr3yGcI_V8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVz2rSO5qIU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27wHFwO5Ebo&feature=related yea you will never ever see this kind of hardware consoles I woud also like to say alot of console game devs are going bankuprt. why you would ask high production costs on consoles. Not only do you have pircay on consoles, you have rented games and the used game market, like gamestop http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Games/Pages-2/Publishe.....-side.html |
| June 12, 2009 3:31 AM PDT
dreamhunk |
@ Tom your wrong you really want to know whats happening to consoles. Consoles are game devs and hardware companies are either losing a ton of money or going bankuprt with high production costs. There is rented games,pirated games andused game market eating away at consoles. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/05/e3-predictions/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/video-game-makers-seeing-red/ http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Games/Pages-2/Publishe.....-side.html pc gaming is doing fine it has had well over 68 billion, online gaming is huge. sorry I don't think my last posted worked it had a ton info and links had to cut it down |
| June 12, 2009 3:48 AM PDT
dreamhunk |
highedn pc gaming is doing fine by the way. Highend pc gaming has just slowed down. here is some names of high end pc games coming to the pc. theif 4 Deus Ex 3 crysis 2 DOOM 3 Project offset operation flash point stalkerclear skies 2 http://pc.ign.com/articles/982/982148p1.html here is a list of pc games coming to the pc http://pc.ign.com/index/release.html http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2009/ http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/ I would rather have pc than a console in a recession. You can’t look for a job using a console. I can do alot more stuff with my pc than a console. Pc gaming has mods,mmo’s,dlc,free games and explasions to make games last a long time. Not only that pc games are cheaper in a recession. |
| June 12, 2009 9:36 AM PDT
dreamhunk |
I would like to add some more about micorsoft. It's microsoft's game devs who started trash talking pc gaming with out hard facts. Both lionhead and epic games is the game devs that trash talk pc gaming they are the ones that started it. here is a link and checkout the comments. http://kotaku.com/5058402/molyneux-says-pc-gaming-market-in-tatters by the way you could slow pircay on the pc by making blueray standard on the pc. |
| June 12, 2009 3:58 PM PDT
dreamhunk |
I have one more link talk about high prodction costs on consoles that is killing game devs and puting sony and microsoft in the whole http://www.cnbc.com/id/31331241 |
| June 20, 2009 12:17 PM PDT
Al hudson |
Hi! I love PC gaming... but quite frankly needs a lot of support (and money of course) from Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Blizzard, Valve and the PC Gaming alliance to restore it and make it profitable to game studios. does have potential? ups.. look at Blizzard and the Sims series or Second Life... but needs imagination and compromise to explode. |
| August 1, 2009 7:42 PM PDT
Matt Ployhar (Intel)
| I'll be picking this topic up again in a month or so that will likely be a little more provoking. So stay tuned. : ) |
| August 14, 2009 10:41 PM PDT
Jacob |
PC is definatly not dead. The graphics and processing power of the PC alone should make it a clear choice. The reason that consoles have to good RTS's is not only because of the controls, but also that they cannot handle the mass battles of games like the Total War series. A console you have to buy a complete new one every generation and have to decide between all the exclusives. For PC, you only have to spend 50 bucks here and there and it can keep running games on a much better graphical scale than consoles do. Plus MAG is the only game that there is for consoles (when it comes out) that can match BF2 for PC in both player and map size. On another note, a 32" T.V. with a resolution of whatever by 728 and a 60 Hz refresh rate versus a 24" monitor with a resolution of 1920 by 1200 and a refresh rate at or above 75 Hz. |
Trackbacks (1)
- Car Insurance Information Blog
September 12, 2009 2:54 AM PDT
Leave a comment 
To obtain technical support, please go to Software Support.
UX-admin
Uh huh, is that why there's currently not a single decent game out there? The gaming magazines are full of reviews from braindead first person shooters, which are currently flooding the market - and they are all the same - dead zombies and huge guns with men in heavy metal armor abound.
And that's "PC gaming"? We had better games in 1988, unless realtime 3D graphics nowdays makes a game, which I say it doesn't, because if a game is mindless violence crap, no amount of fancy graphics will save it!
The last really original game since years was "the Witcher", and - surprise! surprise! - it didn't come from the usual suspects, but from a young startup company in Poland.
Meanwhile, when I see all these violent FPS games with NO STORY AND NO DEPTH AND NO INTRIGUE in gaming magazines, I'm really happy that I have my PlayStation 2, and enjoy Gran Turismo 4 and FF X (and XII, when I finish FF X).
And as far as "PC vs. the console" argument, churn on this:
I can buy a PS3 which has SIX PROCESSORS ON ONE CHIP, install Linux, and when I'm done playing games, boot up a WORKSTATION, and do some development work via SSH on my servers in the basement, from the comfort of my living room!
And not only that, I can easily do development locally on the PS3 - after all PostgreSQL and PHP will run on 256MB of RAM just fine, and I could even configure mirroring to an external USB drive.
So I ask you to think, which is better: a PC, or a console that is capable of effortlessly dubbing as a really powerful workstation, and is also optimized to be a living room media center?
Which is more versatile? In my experience, the "console" wins hands down, no questions asked.