Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Definitely.

14 (12.8%)

Only for this current generation.

5 (4.6%)

I think the console is on it's way out but the PC is not on it's way back in.

2 (1.8%)

It's a possibility.

12 (11%)

Undecided.

2 (1.8%)

Probably not.

12 (11%)

I think the PC is on it's way back in but the console isn't on it's way out.

42 (38.5%)

Definitely not.

6 (5.5%)

Other.

3 (2.8%)

Don't care. / View poll.

11 (10.1%)

Total Members Voted: 109

[RF]

Yes, the recent generation of consoles is already starting (starting? probably already there) to get old even with the mainstream audience, but I'm wondering if the PC games industry is already on it's rise back to power.

With the failure of the XBLA system (seriously, read any number of articles of indie devs saying, "This is really shit, we barely sell any games, Microsoft doesn't support us but expects us to work our arses off") and the lack of anything really similar on PS3, it seems that a lot of potential X360 indie developers are moving their way back to PC. This is encouraged by the fact that every single developer that releases on XBLA and PC finds that sales are up about 100 fold on PC rather than XBLA.

To me, this is wonderful. It's breathing more and more life into PC gaming (which is supported by indie companies and big ones like Paradox) as consoles begin their decline. I just think that it's indicative of a trend of moving towards PC games (look at how major companies have started moving back to PC after releasing that PC gamers make a sizeable chunk of their revenue, or even still trying to placate PC gamers with bullshit like "PCs are our major console, really! Please buy our crappy ports!") and that the end of this current generation is near.

Whether or not this will translate towards decreased sales for the next generation of consoles (as more and more people I know have been getting gaming PCs because console games are hilariously overexpensive and not all that great), I don't know, but I'm thinking yes.

What do you all think? Is the decline of the console on it's way, or is it already here?

[Angel Of Death]

The console is not declining, but the PC may be rising.

[Bdthemag]

The console is declining in the indie area, but its always going to be a place where the big companies can make alot of money off their games. On the consoles we'll be seeing less creative titles from new developers, and on the PC the opposite.

[Viken]

I feel that there's more than enough room for all set of systems.  As gamers find new and better ways to create cross-platform gaming experiences, you'll see more and more games spread across various systems, not just on a single console or the PC; or even mobile gaming via apps.  So here's to hopin'! 

[PsyberianHusky]

I feel that there's more than enough room for all set of systems.  As gamers find new and better ways to create cross-platform gaming experiences, you'll see more and more games spread across various systems, not just on a single console or the PC; or even mobile gaming via apps.  So here's to hopin'! 

This and the role of the console has been transforming into more of a home entertainment center, they offer things like blue-ray and you can rent movies on em or something? We realy can't tell what is going to happen with consoles cause we don't know much about the next gen yet.

I think with the massive success of steam in tandem with how cheap storage space is, the next generation may appear alot like an entertainment focused computer, geared to marketing small installment plan goods.

But this is all purely speculation, but I would not be surprised if consoles began to carry Free to play games geared for micropayments.

[Enzo]

I think there's still a healthy market for both.

I mainly game on my PC, but I also own a PS3 and Wii (both bought, admittedly, incredibly cheap during my lucrative employment at a pawn shop). In the case of the Wii, it's an example of how console games can do things PC gaming will probably never be practically capable of. Regarding the PS3, it's just easier, for one thing, and designing a game for static hardware can often yield more polished results than designing a game that fits a vast range of PC configurations. Some of my favourite PS3 games - the Bioshock games, Burnout Paradise, Batman AA - I can't imagine them playing any better on my rig than on the console. Certain games, obviously, are suited for a PC. I couldn't imagine playing a turn-based strategy game on a console. Both PC and console have their merits, I think, and based on sales I really don't see console gaming dying anytime soon. So I voted "probably not".

[Viken]

There was a report done by one of the gaming magazines that suggested that consoles will become more and more like PCs, anyway, and in the end may actually re-merge with the PC industry. 

[RF]

There was a report done by one of the gaming magazines that suggested that consoles will become more and more like PCs, anyway, and in the end may actually re-merge with the PC industry.

They currently are in a lot of ways, but they'll never re-merge.

Consoles are an attempt at removing piracy from the game's industry, don't believe that it's about anything except that, really.

[Soulwynd]

The PC has never declined, it is just suffering from a major case of consolitis, thanks to these diseased console developers that should be shot instead of supported by retarded kids and their slave-labor parents. At least it seems a few developers are trying to avoid consolitis and I hope this small trend increases.

Consoles aren't an attempt to remove any piracy. Consoles have piracy twice as badly as PCs. Consoles are very cheap computing devices with, because of exactly that, very specific purposes. They're essentially crappy computers designed to be used for entertainment with games and with the latest generation, midia. Once upon a time, the PS3 had the price/benefit advantage for parallel processing, but that was at the expenses of Sony, since the consoles were actually sold under-priced.

Consoles are exactly that, cheap entertainment centers. That's why they sell, that's why they are made. Nothing to do with piracy.

[Shadowlord]

Yes, the recent generation of consoles is already starting (starting? probably already there) to get old even with the mainstream audience, but I'm wondering if the PC games industry is already on it's rise back to power.

I don't buy indie games on consoles. It doesn't seem a particularly good place for them (Since MS wouldn't let Valve release free updates for TF2, I don't expect free updates for indie games either on consoles, so...). That said, for mainstream games, I find that for more and more new games I'm turning to the 360 instead of the PC simply because of copy protection, punkbuster (in BF3 for instance), and DirectX 10/11 requirements. With 360 games you don't have to deal with "oh it's going to leave some shit running in the background all the time and it may eventually sabotage my dvd drives," or with expensive windows upgrades that break existing programs, or with having punkbuster on your computer, breaking things.

Is that strange and/or ironic? I'm buying things for consoles because there's less intrusive copy protection on games made for them.

About what I said about dvd drives: I don't trust them because all the CD and DVD drives that I have or have had in the past 5 years or so will not open if there is no CD or DVD in the drive, for instance, and I've talked to several people who have had the same problem. I even replaced a drive that it happened to with a new drive of a completely different model and company, and it began happening to that one too within a few months (the only solution, if it becomes empty, is to use a paperclip in the emergency eject hole, or to press the eject button about a hundred times until it miraculously works by sheer blind luck). Then I installed that new drive in a new computer and it still happens to it. (It isn't a windows problem either - happens on the BIOS screen, in linux, etc). So I've basically decided not to allow things like securom, starforce, etc, on my computer. Steam is just about the only copy protection I allow, or basic cd checks that don't install drivers or anything, and even those I'm wary of because I still don't know what must have apparently screwed up the drive's eject mechanism so that it only works properly if there's a disc in the drive (if it was a glitch in the computer, or the installed OS, then moving it into a new computer and installing a fresh copy of XP would have eliminated the problem, but it did not).

[lordcooper]

Not this shit again.

Why doesn't everyone just play what they wanna play and leave it at that?

[Flying Carcass]

The one advantage consoles will always have over the PC is that every game, even those launched many years after the console's initial launch, will run on the console; whereas with the PC developers tend to add new shaders and crap which may render the PC one purchased a year or two ago incompatible (unless you fork out the cash for a part that may make it work... woe be unto he who owns a laptop!)... but hey, check out the game's new ultra realistic specs of dirt!!! (What!? Your PC can't handle the dirt!? Well, you can lower the settings... but that will make the game look like a N64 game because we didn't bother with older shaders or textures!)

If developers want folks to purchase more games on the PC vs the console, they need to stop treating their games like tech demos (instead focus on compatibility!) and (like a previous poster mentioned) curtail intrusive copy-protection.

[RF]

Not this shit again.

Why doesn't everyone just play what they wanna play and leave it at that?

Because consoles have ultimately stolen away most of the game developers from PC?

[Yoink]

I'm definitely agreeing with Lordcooper here. Regarding the topic, Flying Carcass pretty much has it right.

[Frumple]

The one advantage consoles will always have over the PC is that every game, even those launched many years after the console's initial launch, will run on the console[...]

Isn't this becoming increasingly false? I was under the impression stuff like the PS3 had to have firmware updates to run newer games, so a console bought early in its release cycle has (is is beginning to have) a fairly disturbing chance of not being able to run a fair amount of the console's game library. This is especially worrying when you consider that support for firmware updates from the actual company, especially for older consoles, will pretty much inevitably cease.

Of course, the other side of this story is that on most consoles, stuff like backwards compatibility is completely at the mercy of the folks making the console. Similarly, if you have a PS3 it's incredibly difficult (if it's possible at all -- I imagine it's possible in a technical sense, for mad techno-wizards) to play a Xbox 360 game in it, whereas for a computer, backwards compatibility and cross OS functionality is, if still not exactly a smooth process, considerably more likely to exist in a workable and not terribly complicated format. Even if such doesn't exist, the skillset needed to make it exist is considerably smaller -- just coding proficiency, instead of that and some degree of electrical engineering skill. Screwing up code also tends to have far fewer repercussions than screwing up hardware, from what I understand

Anyway, yeah, consoles are rapidly becoming what amounts to specialized PCs -- it was really evident in stuff like th'PS3 before they stripped linux functionality out of it. Mind you, that's all consoles every really have been, but it's becoming more obvious these days.