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Soundwave on 27 November 2012
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wfz said:
Soleron said:
wfz said:
...

I'm not going to comment on your thoughts on the cost of building a PC that's more powerful than the PS4/720 because I had a hard time taking your words seriously without laughing. Sorry. =) I think you're either expecting way too much out of the hardware of those systems, or you simply don't understand prices for computer hardware.

He's talking about the dev cost of making it look even better than it would on a PS4/720 for the PC version.  With such a small market, the extra art isn't worth it. The same applies to physics, AI, etc. The PC version won't be better than the console version even though the PC has more theoretical power.

If it's really an issue about dev costs, then why do these imrpovements in the PC versions exist today?

PC versions tend to display better visuals, run smoother, and are capable of running more on screen than their console counterparts. I suspect that to continue in the future as it always has been in the past. For instance, the additional power allows the PC to run MMOs that consoles would be unable to, and allows PC versions of games to be vastly superior to their console counterparts when developers try (Battlefield 3 and Skyrim, for example).

It's not a world of a difference, but neither will the difference be between the Wii U and the PS4/720.

Also, there are other things to consider, such as control inputs and overall customizational abilities offered through the PC platform.

 

Anyways, I won't argue the point further. I just find it funny when the "HD console fans" brag about how awesome their platforms are and then turn a blind eye to the even more advanced PC market.

(Edited a bit to make things clearer)


One big reason PC versions look better is because there's an easy way to boost performance -- raise the resolution. PC games can run in 1080p, which results in a better image quality.

That's hard to get to again though because PC resolution has sort of hit a brick wall at 1080P. A 4K monitor costs as much as a car. So if you want to pay $20,000 for a monitor -- go right ahead, lol.

I think in virtually any reasonable context, any type of game that can be made under a budget of $100 million dollars will run on the PS4/720 for the next 3-4 years IMO. Just a hunch though. I think developers are going to have to really push themselves to max out the PS4 or 720, it's just reaching a level of maturity for graphics and performance, where sure you can probably go higher, but at some point the cost/return ratio of doing so just becomes unfeasible.

I kinda look at it this way

N64/PSOne = Toddler stage for 3D graphics

PS2/GCN/XBox = Adolescent stage for 3D graphics

360/PS3 = Teenager/Young adult stage for 3D graphics

PS4/720 = Adult phase/20 something

I think processing power with PS4/720 will hit a certain "maturity" point. Sure you could go beyond that, but where are you going? Avatar level graphics? Great. Where's the $200 million dollars needed to invest in that kind of project going to come from?

PS4/720 is where I think the processing power of a console reaches such a point that it can handle just about any type of artistic or gameplay (AI, enemies on screen, etc.) demand that a developer can come up with to a reasonable degree.

In general I think the desktop PC is dying anyway. Don't get me wrong, I have a pretty decent PC rig for video editing and I do some gaming on it, I have a GTX 570 and an i7 Pentium quad-core with a ton of RAM, so it smokes any console on the market right now.