The question is does 4xAA really matter? Yes the image looks a bit smoother but I doubt that some missing aliasing will remain in your head because it resulted in awesome graphics. The appeal of AA is that high-end graphic cards can use it with minimal effort by the developer so absolutely high-end graphic- card owner have something .

(This sentence is less true the lower the resolution. For really low resolutions AA is great)

 

Besides PC gaming rules. But not because of graphics but because of more intelligent games (RTS, Strategy, Sims) and a superior input device (mouse rules). I switched to the console world because playing on TV is much more fun than sitting at the desk and many great games are now on consoles. I mean Half-Life2 on consoles? This alone has given the console game quality a good boost. 

BenKenobi88 said: Million said: SleepWaking said: Million said: largedarryl said: But why would Crytek want to develop inferior games. Many people on this site have said developers don't want to take a step backwards to develop graphically inferior games :) I think you already know , developers like a business go for where the money is.   And you say inferior like the average PC is 3X-4X more powerfull than a PS3/360 when gaming PC's isn't much more than a niche market in most parts of the world. You clearly don't know how big pc gaming still is. I have may not know exactly how big it is but I know. A. it's not nearly as big as the console market. B. Offline PC games are in decline because of priacy C.Online games (subscription based F2P) are experiencing massive growth ( WoW , FLYFF , LORT , Runescape ) Exclusive PC games just don't make sense right now , next year it'll be lauphable , in '10 you'd probably get sacked for suggesting it.   @ Your debating skills are superior to your reading skills , i'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing but if you read my post I said. " The average PC isn't 3X- 4X more powerfull than a PS3/360" I could care less how many more times a gaming pc is more powerfull than the PS3/360 , firstly asside from the MMORPG's it won't get the software support the PS3/360 and even in future I see home consoles overtaking PC's in the MMORPG market , once Sony and MS capitalise on the opportunity. Not nearly as big as the console market? Are you suggesting that PC games don't sell as much as Wii, 360, and PS3 games combined? Because that's a stupid comparison. PC games are selling as much as Wii games, as much as 360 games, or as much as PS3 games. Nobody says the PS3 is dying because it's not selling as much as 360, Wii, and the PC combined...why then is it ok to use that argument against PC?

 I'm guessing your refering to some isolated cases where PC games ( probably the Sims , Age of empires ) have sold more than the console versions.

 I'd like to see some information supporting your claim.

If you compare how much PC games where selling before and how much they are selling now you can measure growth , right now the PC market is experiencing negative growth , therfore it is in decline.

 

Steam is grabbing new developers every month.

Rockstar, Take Two, Ubisoft, Epic, Valve, Capcom, id, Sega, THQ, Eidos Interactive, Activision, etc, more to join all the time.

These sales aren't added to the NPD or any other numbers, and notice that's it's CRYTEK complaining, or Microsoft, it's always non-Steam companies complaining about piracy and low sales. Not Infinity Ward and Activision with COD4 on the top of Steam sales for a few weeks.

Million said: ssj12 said: Kyros said: And you do know that in about 6 months when more games are coming out the average gaming pc will most likely be 3x-4x more powerful. LOL I would guess that the average gaming PC is still less powerful than PS3/360. I bought a new PC every 3-4 years and the PS3 is out 1.5. Besides the PS3 and 360 have a couple of advantages. - Developers can use them to the max. The do not need to respect lower powered systems (you cannot do everything with settings) - Devs can use low level APIS that give a huge boost in the longterm. Every abstraction layer over the 10 million different CPUS, graphic cards etc. has its own problems. - For the PS3 if used correctly the Cell is amazing. Because of this only PC games that do not care about performance or low-powered systems like Crysis truly look better on PC. For the rest its at best the possibility of a higher resolution or some better Anti-Aliasing. (will change of course when the difference widens) wow, you do know that if you want 4xAA you need a decent GPU right?Even the Sims 3 will need a stronger GPU then whats currently available on the base trash market (ie HP, DELL, Toshiba computers). As for any comments on PC gaming being a niche market. LMFAO at you. PC gaming is in decline whether you'd like to admit it or not , if it isn't a Niche market now I'm predicting it won't be long before it is.

 15+ million active steam accounts, 10 million WoW users, 25 million other MMO players, and the millions of other players that still play WC3, Diablo 2, starcraft, and all the FPSs say hello. There might be some overlap but I am going to go out on a limb here and say the PC gaming overall dwarfs the PS2's userbase.

A few things:

1) Their game wouldn't be pirated so much if they had A) put it on Steam and B) not made a game with insane system reqs. No one wants to pay for a game that they can barely play, but they do want to see how well they can run it.

2) PC gaming is hardly a niche market. Steam alone as more than 15 million active accounts. Xbox Live in its lifetime has only had 10 million users even connect to the internet. Maybe 1/3 of those actually pay for gold accounts and play online. And Steam is just one online PC gaming service. That's not even counting X-Fire, Battlenet, Gametap, and more than 20 million active MMORPG accounts. PC is the place for core gamers, and is definitely the place for competitive online gaming. That hasn't changed at all this generation. It's just switched to digital distribution.

3) Crysis blows. Seriously, at its best parts it was mediocre. At its worst parts it was downright bad.

Million said: BenKenobi88 said: Million said: SleepWaking said: Million said: largedarryl said: But why would Crytek want to develop inferior games. Many people on this site have said developers don't want to take a step backwards to develop graphically inferior games :) I think you already know , developers like a business go for where the money is.   And you say inferior like the average PC is 3X-4X more powerfull than a PS3/360 when gaming PC's isn't much more than a niche market in most parts of the world. You clearly don't know how big pc gaming still is. I have may not know exactly how big it is but I know. A. it's not nearly as big as the console market. B. Offline PC games are in decline because of priacy C.Online games (subscription based F2P) are experiencing massive growth ( WoW , FLYFF , LORT , Runescape ) Exclusive PC games just don't make sense right now , next year it'll be lauphable , in '10 you'd probably get sacked for suggesting it.   @ Your debating skills are superior to your reading skills , i'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing but if you read my post I said. " The average PC isn't 3X- 4X more powerfull than a PS3/360" I could care less how many more times a gaming pc is more powerfull than the PS3/360 , firstly asside from the MMORPG's it won't get the software support the PS3/360 and even in future I see home consoles overtaking PC's in the MMORPG market , once Sony and MS capitalise on the opportunity. Not nearly as big as the console market? Are you suggesting that PC games don't sell as much as Wii, 360, and PS3 games combined? Because that's a stupid comparison. PC games are selling as much as Wii games, as much as 360 games, or as much as PS3 games. Nobody says the PS3 is dying because it's not selling as much as 360, Wii, and the PC combined...why then is it ok to use that argument against PC? I'm guessing your refering to some isolated cases where PC games ( probably the Sims , Age of empires ) have sold more than the console versions. I'd like to see some information supporting your claim. If you compare how much PC games where selling before and how much they are selling now you can measure growth , right now the PC market is experiencing negative growth , therfore it is in decline.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50939

NPD reported there were about 268 million games sold in 2007. About 36 million were PC games. 154 million were consoles. Let's just divide that number into fourths for the PS2, Wii, PS3, and 360. That's 38.5 million per console. Probably a little bit more if you take away some from the less popular PS2. 45 million maybe.

Let's NOT talk straight cash, because while that is important, you're ignoring the fact that console games are overpriced, and that PC games start cheaper and get cheaper faster, and that more of the money goes directly to the developers.

Is 36 million PC games compared to perhaps 45 million Wii games, or 360 or PS3 games, that bad? This is just retail, this is completely ignoring the HUGELY successful digital distribution market. Seems fine to me.

I think the lot of you are simple misinformed because the PC industry is switching to digital distribution without the consoles, and sales aren't being tracked for that.

Also, you completely dodged my question.  Let me bolden that for you so you can respond.

Are you suggesting that PC games don't sell as much as Wii, 360, and PS3 games combined?

Because that's a stupid comparison. PC games are selling as much as Wii games, as much as 360 games, or as much as PS3 games.

Nobody says the PS3 is dying because it's not selling as much as 360, Wii, and the PC combined...why then is it ok to use that argument against PC? 

naznatips said: A few things: 1) Their game wouldn't be pirated so much if they had A) put it on Steam and B) not made a game with insane system reqs. No one wants to pay for a game that they can barely play, but they do want to see how well they can run it. 2) PC gaming is hardly a niche market. Steam alone as more than 15 million active accounts. Xbox Live in its lifetime has only had 10 million users even connect to the internet. Maybe 1/3 of those actually pay for gold accounts and play online. And Steam is just one online PC gaming service. That's not even counting X-Fire, Battlenet, Gametap, and more than 20 million active MMORPG accounts. PC is the place for core gamers, and is definitely the place for competitive online gaming. That hasn't changed at all this generation. It's just switched to digital distribution. 3) Crysis blows. Seriously, at its best parts it was mediocre. At its worst parts it was downright bad.

 2. I beat you to that answer =P even my answer didn't cover every source of gaming online. All the poker programs, flash game players, al the indie titles that have pretty darn good userbases (see the MMO Last Chaos and the TPS Gunz: The Duelz). 

 3. The mod support for the game is enough to drive sales. You should know PC games aren't just about the actual game, its what can be modified in the game. Or what people can change the game into. 

SleepWaking said: Million said: largedarryl said: But why would Crytek want to develop inferior games. Many people on this site have said developers don't want to take a step backwards to develop graphically inferior games :) I think you already know , developers like a business go for where the money is.   And you say inferior like the average PC is 3X-4X more powerfull than a PS3/360 when gaming PC's isn't much more than a niche market in most parts of the world.  You clearly don't know how big pc gaming still is.

Most games sell less than OKAMI, its not as big as it used to be.

leo-j said: SleepWaking said: Million said: largedarryl said: But why would Crytek want to develop inferior games. Many people on this site have said developers don't want to take a step backwards to develop graphically inferior games :) I think you already know , developers like a business go for where the money is.   And you say inferior like the average PC is 3X-4X more powerfull than a PS3/360 when gaming PC's isn't much more than a niche market in most parts of the world. You clearly don't know how big pc gaming still is. Most games sell less than OKAMI, its not as big as it used to be.

You have no clue what you are talking about, and I'm not in a very forgiving mood.  I'm very willing to ban people for bullshit information right now, so I strongly suggest you provide some sort of not totally BS source or get the hell out of this thread as fast as you can.

BenKenobi88 said: Million said: BenKenobi88 said: Million said: SleepWaking said: Million said: largedarryl said: But why would Crytek want to develop inferior games. Many people on this site have said developers don't want to take a step backwards to develop graphically inferior games :) I think you already know , developers like a business go for where the money is.   And you say inferior like the average PC is 3X-4X more powerfull than a PS3/360 when gaming PC's isn't much more than a niche market in most parts of the world. You clearly don't know how big pc gaming still is. I have may not know exactly how big it is but I know. A. it's not nearly as big as the console market. B. Offline PC games are in decline because of priacy C.Online games (subscription based F2P) are experiencing massive growth ( WoW , FLYFF , LORT , Runescape ) Exclusive PC games just don't make sense right now , next year it'll be lauphable , in '10 you'd probably get sacked for suggesting it.   @ Your debating skills are superior to your reading skills , i'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing but if you read my post I said. " The average PC isn't 3X- 4X more powerfull than a PS3/360" I could care less how many more times a gaming pc is more powerfull than the PS3/360 , firstly asside from the MMORPG's it won't get the software support the PS3/360 and even in future I see home consoles overtaking PC's in the MMORPG market , once Sony and MS capitalise on the opportunity. Not nearly as big as the console market? Are you suggesting that PC games don't sell as much as Wii, 360, and PS3 games combined? Because that's a stupid comparison. PC games are selling as much as Wii games, as much as 360 games, or as much as PS3 games. Nobody says the PS3 is dying because it's not selling as much as 360, Wii, and the PC combined...why then is it ok to use that argument against PC? I'm guessing your refering to some isolated cases where PC games ( probably the Sims , Age of empires ) have sold more than the console versions. I'd like to see some information supporting your claim. If you compare how much PC games where selling before and how much they are selling now you can measure growth , right now the PC market is experiencing negative growth , therfore it is in decline.   http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50939 NPD reported there were about 268 million games sold in 2007. About 36 million were PC games. 154 million were consoles. Let's just divide that number into fourths for the PS2, Wii, PS3, and 360. That's 38.5 million per console. Probably a little bit more if you take away some from the less popular PS2. 45 million maybe. Let's NOT talk straight cash, because while that is important, you're ignoring the fact that console games are overpriced, and that PC games start cheaper and get cheaper faster, and that more of the money goes directly to the developers. Is 36 million PC games compared to perhaps 45 million Wii games, or 360 or PS3 games, that bad? This is just retail, this is completely ignoring the HUGELY successful digital distribution market. Seems fine to me. I think the lot of you are simple misinformed because the PC industry is switching to digital distribution without the consoles, and sales aren't being tracked for that. Also, you completely dodged my question. Let me bolden that for you so you can respond. Are you suggesting that PC games don't sell as much as Wii, 360, and PS3 games combined? Because that's a stupid comparison. PC games are selling as much as Wii games, as much as 360 games, or as much as PS3 games. Nobody says the PS3 is dying because it's not selling as much as 360, Wii, and the PC combined...why then is it ok to use that argument against PC?

 

K you win :(

 I'll just leave with my "pc is declining" argument" and walk away crying biterly.