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Is the new wave of consoles going to take PC gaming down a notch?

N

Noriaki

Lifer
Is the new wave of consoles going to take PC gaming down a notch?

Please, do not start a flame war on PC vs Console, or Console vs Console.

That's not what I'm intending to start here, and if that is what comes of this threads, I ask a friendly mod to lock it, we have plenty of those and don't need another.

Note: When I say Console I am reffering to the Playstation2, XBox and GameCube all together. Which ever you like better or 2 or all 3. I am considering these 3 to be equals, we have plenty of threads on which of the 3 is the best, the search feature will give you many if you want that.

Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, let me just give my thoughts on this...


Here is what I am thinking....it seems that consoles are quickly gaining ground on the domain of gaming.

Consider for the balance of this that you have like I do a PC that can very adequately perform all your non-Gaming needs.

Decent CPU, Video Card and Sound card, a CDRW, a DVD, a decent sized Hard disk, etc etc. More than meets your needs for DVD playback, CD burning, mp3age, Surfing, Email, Word Processing, Chattin', etc etc etc.

The only thing you can't do really well is play all the highlight games...

Well there are two options to fix this...upgrade your PC, or buy a console..


Firstly, I find that the new gen consoles seem to be getting far more compelling titles than the PC space is...
Games like Devil May Cry, GT3, Silent Hill 2, Grand Theft Auto 2, MGS2, on the playstation, XBox has Halo and DOA3 at the moment, many more coming out. GameCube also has some nice titles lined up, and more on tap. I won't list all the titles, these are just a few examples, we all know what they are.

I consider the previous arguments against consoles over PCs...
Multiplayer action
[*]online: well all 3 big players are working on Broadband units, so say in a year from now all 3 will have that (I'm looking at the decline of PC gaming in the future, not trying to say that consoles are superior this instant).
[*]Also LAN parties should be quite possible with the Broadband units, and it's probably even easier to get together with a bunch of consoles and a few TVs than it is to get all the computer and related gear around. Most people I know have more TVs in their house than monitors.
[*]And of course, the classic MP stronghold of the Console, get a buddy or two over, get a few six packs, and you can share one console for multiplayer action if you can't get a few together.

There are many other arguments against consoles...but it looks like there will be Keybaords and Mouse unit available for those of us who like Mouse aiming in FPS games. The new consoles are HDTV or even DSub15 monitor ready to battle the low res TV argument. They have hard drives now so you can quick save your game and save lots of them without needing to swap memory cards all the time.

Granted, this requires a look forward, not all of it's valid at this moment, but over time...consider it...
It seems that the console makers have been listening, and that they are addressing all the complaints we've had that make a PC a superior gaming platform to the Consoles.

It will also elminate unfair advantages to the guy with the better system, and make it more difficult to have cheats and hacks since the units won't be general purpose machines.
Putting more emphasis on playing the games, and on skill than who can hack the most toys into their game.

What do you think in a year, or maybe 2, when all the consoles have all these items, will we still be playing games on our PCs?

And one final key point....
Price.
The cost of upgrading to the newest Video Card will buy you one of these consoles, and the cost to upgrade your CPU will buy you a second one....
So it's cost effective to.

And really it all comes down to the games for me...the games coming out on the next generation consoles just seem so much more compelling to me than PCs....I was discussing this with a friend of mine (and fellow forum member) last night, and he is considering downsizing one of his PCs to something that will suit his non-gaming needs, and using the spare cash to buy a console and a bunch of games...


So I ask you (with stress on the idea that this is looking probably 18 months down the road), what will a PC still offer over a console when they get their HDTV interfaces, Broadband units, and Keybaords and Mice?

And again, please don't say that a PC is far more utilitarian than just a console, I know that....but you can buy a PC with a Duron and a Matrox G450 and get a PS2 or an XBox for the price of a PC with a high end CPU and a GeF3 Ti500....So assume you have all the utility of the PC, just minus the gaming aspect. You have your Surfer box, your Burner, etc etc.

Finally assume that PS2/XBox/GCN comes with the Keyboard and Mouse, and Broadband adapter.

So what is left that your PC offers over the Console?
 


<< So what is left that your PC offers over the Console? >>



the ability to upgrade and modify. who wants to have the same system as everyone else? 😉

-khtm-
 


<<

<< So what is left that your PC offers over the Console? >>



the ability to upgrade and modify. who wants to have the same system as everyone else? 😉

-khtm- >>

But if we all stay at the same console for 18-24 months, it gives the developers time to actually learn how to use that hardware. Look at some of the later games for the PS1...the games were amazing for that hardware becuase they learned how to squeeze every drop out of it.

Then when a new console comes out you can buy it and about 40 games with all the money you've saved from not buying a new nVidia card for more than a whole console every 6 months.
 
Gaming wise, PC's offer nothing more than greater raw processing power. Otherwise, PCs have a slew of other things that they can do.

If you spend $200 on a Radeon 8500LE, you can play any game on the shelf, right now. That includes the "highlight" games.
 
PC gaming is still the best in strategy and 1st person shooting. It wun be much influences from console gaming.One thing that really piss me off about the pc gaming is the update and setting. I hate playing CS and Tribes 2 with at least 3 online updates b4 I can get it start. Cheats ruin the LAN party. PC may be competitive to console if there's more great title coming like those GTA3 ,GT3, Halo and MGS2.
 
Bump for a cool thread. I don't have much to add as far as technical discussion goes (Noriaki, you kinda covered it all!) but I'll add this.

For the "older gamer" such as myself (33 years old...I'm really just a big kid 😛) who considers himself more educated and worldly than Johnny Nextdoorkid, the PC will remain the gaming platform of choice. No specific reasoning...more like a gut feeling. Now, for most younger folks, whose parents will be buying them the gaming console of their choice, along with $400 worth of games, well, for them it's just a new toy. One they'll tire of quickly.

I don't see the PS2/Cube/X-thing having the same "ooooooh-ahhhhhhhh" factor that the original Playstation/Nintendo did years ago. I just don't.
 
I think it may help, GTA3 and Halo better be fully polished since they get nation wide playtesting on consoles before we get the PC version
 
give the console industry a few more years.. the next set that comes out WILL be the standard for gaming... but it will basicly just be a packaged pc... or maybe just a pc
 
You can't play Age of Empire II on any console 😉 I just bought the X-Box recently, and I'm happy with it, it's still doesn't offer the kind of games that make a PC great. Falcon 4.0, Civ III, Age of Empire II, and Longbow 2 are some of my favorite games, you can't play them on any console. You can also say that with the console. Sport and fighting games are better suited on a console where you can play with your buddies side by side.
 


<< give the console industry a few more years.. the next set that comes out WILL be the standard for gaming... but it will basicly just be a packaged pc... or maybe just a pc >>



I agree with this.

As the consoles become more and more PC like, I think they will start becoming phased out. I think there is a point where a console vs a PC will be stupid. Basically, a console to this point has been a modified computer optimized for price and performance. But, even today, you can see how they are becoming even. Everyone yells the XBOX is just a PC, but the same can be said for at least the PS2 since Linux is being distributed now for that platform.

There is a point where consoles are just a PC packages and optimized differently. However, technology is advancing so fast right now, that PCs can pretty much handle whatever console is out there. Before, when NES (for example) came out, you'd be hard pressed to find a computer that could match it game for game. Especially since the controller provide an easy interaction. However, now you are getting the PC to a point where joysticks come in all flavors, and games come in all flavors. Ten years from now, the PC will be replacing machines in the arcade because it will be easy to network them all and do things like that. It's at that point the console is going to be phased out. Just think, 15 years from now, Nintendo is going to be selling PCs or focusing on handheld market.

I think the PC curve will intersect the console curve in the next 10 years...at that point, the console will become less and less a force against the PC.
 
PCs and consoles will never converge.

There is always a place for an embedded device that you hook up to a TV, that has big robust controllers that you can mash with your nacho-stained hands while beer-drunk, that you can play simple arcade and party games on.

There is also always a place for infinitely configurable and upgradeable high precision computers, on which you can play any one of zillions of downloadable shareware or freeware games, keyboard-necessitating strategy, RPG and FPS titles, and browser-based games.

The two are sufficiently revenue generating nonintersecting markets.
 
/me looks up from his game of RTCW and says "whatever"
/me goes back to my game of RTCW
 


<< PC gaming is still the best in strategy and 1st person shooting. It wun be much influences from console gaming.One thing that really piss me off about the pc gaming is the update and setting. I hate playing CS and Tribes 2 with at least 3 online updates b4 I can get it start. Cheats ruin the LAN party. PC may be competitive to console if there's more great title coming like those GTA3 ,GT3, Halo and MGS2. >>



I agree with Dave. When it comes to FPS and strategy games, you can't compete with the PC. And until the consoles come out with a mouse or equivalent, there's no way they'll even come close. However, when it comes to Roleplaying and regular action games, consoles are the best since they offer the easy to use joysticks and in my mind, just run smoother than PC games. What's nice about the console is that you can just stick the game in and play. No having to worry about installing and troubleshooting. But with PCs, you get ::ahem...cough cough:: "freeware" which isn't available (yet) to the newest consoles.
 
I think it depends on which "department" of PC gaming you're speaking of. Singleplayer-wise, i would say YES. Look at all the great single player games out there for the consoles: rpgs,metal gear solid... wait, i'm mistaken, ALL THE GOOD CONSOLE GAMES, since they don't have the multiplayer ability. The only disadvantage the console games have FOR NOW (i wonder how the Xbox will fare with the online gaming capability), is that they have relatively cruddy multiplayer games. Fortunately for PC gaming, we've been blessed with our broadband connections and a plethora of testosterone-pumped gamers across the world, not to exclude the great multiplayer games we've all grown to love. All the Quakes, Half life + mods, UT, online rpgs, the list is too great. All in all, i think multiplayer-wise, consoles aren't going to touch the PC community, but when it comes to great single player games, i think we're missing out.
 
I think that it may seem as if the consoles are going to be taking all the thunder out of PC gaming, but we have to remember that the PS2, XBOX and gamecube are all realitive newbies. they will have their half a year of incredible growth and fizzle out. Same thing happened when the PSX and N64 came out. It seemed as if those would be the 'new' champions. look further back and you'll see that it was the computer that pulled gaming away from consoles. (back in the atari days)
 
They say this EVERY console cycle, and guess what? People are still playing games on their PC's.
 
Yeah, seriously, its the same thing EVERY TIME.

Consoles come out, and look better than PCs. Two years down the road, they look like sh*t compared to PCs.

Think about what PCs could do when the original playstation came out, and then think about what PCs were doing when the PS1 was out for 3 years.

Theres no comparison.
 
true, but consoles are starting to be upgradeable.... etc... i wouldnt make any bets at all on what gaming at all will be in 5, 10, 15 years... just think of how much has changed in the last 10-15 years... and realize that its not exactly linear growth as of late... technology is almost growing to fast!
 
You might also add that a number of developers are making a run at the new console platforms instead of developing for the PC - it annoys me that Halo came out on the X-Box before it did for the PC, ditto for GTA3. The hope of a simplified platform meant a lot of people flooded away from the venerable PC platform. What we get are, sort of, the leftovers - an instant dilution in talent to making games for us. They'll be back though, there's already rumblings about the troubles PS2 developers are running into.

What else? I figure the physical setup you have to play games at the PC can never be matched with a console. You have a nice desk to secure a wheel or joystick or use the keyboard/mouse with your PC. Are you going to put a piece of wood across your lap to put your mouse on for a console? Where do you secure the racing wheel? PC always wins. 😉
 


<< Yeah, seriously, its the same thing EVERY TIME.

Consoles come out, and look better than PCs. Two years down the road, they look like sh*t compared to PCs.

Think about what PCs could do when the original playstation came out, and then think about what PCs were doing when the PS1 was out for 3 years.

Theres no comparison. >>

I think you missed a point I made.

If you compare the PC you had when the PS1 came out to the PS1 it's pretty meager.

You've had to upgrade that PC several times. I'm saying that instead of spending $400 on a GeForce256 DDR, then another $400 on a GF2Ultra, then another $400 on a GeForce3 Ti500 you could have "upgraded" your consoles (bought totally new units since they cost less than that).

And that's just your video card, let alone Motherboard, Hard Drive, Ram and CPU.

Consoles over 2 or 3 years of their life get better, as manufacturers learn to better use the hardware they are given.

Then you just replace the whole unit with a newer console.
 
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