Mudface said:
A niche? With tens of millions of participants playing a massively diverse range of games, from multi-plat blockbusters to browser-based MMO's and everything in between? The stereotype of PC gaming- the 1337 geek in his bedroom with a £2000 rig and a container of liquid nitrogen to keep his massively overclocked parts cool- would be a niche. The reality is anything but. As for the original question- as many others have said, the day the consoles were released was the day they were behind in terms of graphics. |
Yes, and the tens of millions of people playing MMOs and browser based Java games are what are killing PC gaming. When Crysis came out, the Sims 2, all its expansions, and WoW were still outselling EVERYTHING that came out for PC. If that's the kind of BS that's going to sell on the PC, that's the kind of BS that PC developers are going to make. Otherwise, they're going to go multi plat and dumb down the PC graphics like they have been doing more and more for the last few years.
So maybe I should rephrase that--HARD CORE PC gaming is a niche. And that's the part of it I liked most. It is fun to tinker around with your PC add mods, do a hardware upgrade every couple of years to give yourself a power boost. But it's also expensive and impractical. And if developers are going to give me more or less the experience on the PC as what they give me on the consoles, then I'm going to go the more practical route.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate all the people who keep the PC gaming thing going. They are invaluable to the industry, and I have a lot of respect for PC gaming. I used to be one of the hard core people who defended PC gaming to the hilt. Hell, I used to switch out motherboards at the drop of a hat if I thought I could get an edge. But if all the PC is going to be is a casual/RTS/MMO machine, it's just not for me anymore.
