What happened to the PC gaming industry?

[ElFenix]

i'd say it's crapifying but that's because we've only got a couple genre that anyone put any real work into. how many of the same old thing FPS games do we need? i want an arcade-y space combat sim, damnit

 

[Texashiker]

how many of the same old thing FPS games do we need?

That has been brought up in a several threads, the opinion seems to be that its easier for a company to rubber stamp something that has already been tried and tested, then developing something new.

When a company tries something new, its a gamble if the idea is going to succeed or be a failure. That might explain why games like Brink and Black Ops look like they have been reskinned, instead of being a new game.

Take the battlefield series and all of its clones,,,,,, how many times can something be rubber stamped before it starts to get old?

 

[gothamhunter]

That has been brought up in a several threads, the opinion seems to be that its easier for a company to rubber stamp something that has already been tried and tested, then developing something new.

When a company tries something new, its a gamble if the idea is going to succeed or be a failure. That might explain why games like Brink and Black Ops look like they have been reskinned, instead of being a new game.

Take the battlefield series and all of its clones,,,,,, how many times can something be rubber stamped before it starts to get old?

And this is why I love indie developers. I've had much more fun with most indie games lately than big-name developer games because for them it's all or nothing so they actually try. Obviously there are some exceptions (Batham, Deus Ex, etc...)

 

[Inspector Jihad]

go play with your kids and stop posting here.

 

[Texashiker]

go play with your kids and stop posting here.

I played left 4 dead 2, borderlands and quake 3 arena with them last weekend.

 

[zinfamous]

consolidation to standards. this happens in every industry. learn to make money. marketing wizards develop a formula to maximize profits within industry, cut costs and stick to generic formula to appeal the widest breadth of consumers.

it will continue to happen.

when someone shows something as creative and potentially competitive, they are bought out and new ideas are adopted and instantly diluted to fit the standardized formula.

 

[zinfamous]

Oh, I suppose someone has pointed this out...but you are showing a rather small list of great games from one decade to show how great that decade was, then another list from a lesser, but still very good decade, then using the following year, to show that only a handful of games released within that year have been good. And so compared to 20 prior years of good games, this shows some sort of decline?

:hmm:

 

[Wardawg1001]

Why can't more people make post like yours. If they did, this would have been a pretty awesome thread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wonder how much of the console deployment side has hindered PC development?

Take a multiplayer game, any game, how many can cross-platform between pc and consoles in multiplayer? Do consoles have rentable servers like PCs do?

How many console multiplayer servers can have modifications, new maps, add-ons,,,,?

Nobody is giving you solid well thought out response because you sound like a troll with an agenda to push your own already made up beliefs onto others, rather than someone who is honestly trying to stimulate intelligent discussion, and your post history suggests the same.

 

[HeXen]

Maybe some are not changing with the times. If the mass consumers are not buying into gameplay styles like Doom or Quake, then fewer will be made. COD type games sell extremely well....i think the answer is completely obvious.

 

[zokudu]

Games I enjoyed from 2010-2011:
Minecraft
Trackmania 2
Metro 2033
Plain Sight
Terraria
VVVVVV
Starcraft II

Tons of stuff on the horizon. As always pick a better genre.

 

[Texashiker]

Nobody is giving you solid well thought out response because you sound like a troll with an agenda to push your own already made up beliefs onto others, rather than someone who is honestly trying to stimulate intelligent discussion, and your post history suggests the same.

Just because I post something you disagree with does not make me a troll.

As I have asked other people in this thread, do you have anything to contribute, or are you just going to sling insults around?

Do you care to list any games that you enjoyed in either time period being discussed?

Tons of stuff on the horizon. As always pick a better genre.

I dont know if its me not changing with the trends, or no games coming out that I like.

Since the days of Quake Team fortress and Quake CTF, I have enjoyed team based games. Currently I am playing Left 4 Dead 2.

Some of the games I enjoyed:

Quake Threewave CTF
Quake Team Fortress
Team Fortress classic
TF2 - very little
Fortress Forever
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2

I do not see any new games that offer some kind of new team based play, except maybe Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

As for the battlefield games, I never did get into them.

 

[gothamhunter]

Texas, I have to ask what the point of your thread is. Is it to compare the best received games of each decade, the most hyped games of each decade, or your personal choice of games from each decade?

If it's the first, then there are many you are missing just from 2010-on. If it's the second, there are many from the first two posted decades that were very much hyped and flopped. If it's the third, then of course it's going to seem that you're pushing your own agenda, because you've selectively chosen your posted games to try and make your point.

I do not think PC gaming is on a decline; I think some genres might be oversaturated to appease to the masses, but there are still many excellent and top rated PC games recently and to-be published.

edit: all posted from my work PC, otherwise I would go ahead and state some examples.

 

[Texashiker]

Texas, I have to ask what the point of your thread is. Is it to compare the best received games of each decade, the most hyped games of each decade, or your personal choice of games from each decade?

I am trying to compare games in "general" over the past decade and a half.

If you took all of the pc games from the 1990s to maybe 5 or so years ago, and figured an average user rating, would that score be higher or lower then current games released in the past few years?

I have an idea, lets compare the games to cars. For several decades there were no real jumps in car technology. Sure we got seat belts, AC/heater, automatic transmissions,,,,, for for several decades car technology stagnated.

In the past couple of decades along came carbon fibers, fuel injection, hybrid cars are here, air bags,,,,.

Like cars in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, has PC game development stagnated? Sure there is new stuff coming out, but is it earth shaking like in the 1990s?

BF3 is released tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how well its received.

 

[videogames101]

10 years, 10 years, 2 years?

 

[gothamhunter]

I am trying to compare games in "general" over the past decade and a half.

If you took all of the pc games from the 1990s to maybe 5 or so years ago, and figured an average user rating, would that score be higher or lower then current games released in the past few years?

Ok, let's start here. Why did you include a myriad of average to below-average PC games and not all of the stellar PC games that have been recently released in your 2010's list (or in the 2000's list even)?

The number of games being released now far exceeds the number of games being released back in the 90's and early 00's, and many of those are indeed crappy "appeal to the masses" or "target audience" games that just do not do well; however, that doesn't necessarily mean that the number of well received games has gone down let alone gone stagnant; it just means that there are more crappy games.

 

[Red Hawk]

Cars aren't used for entertainment, they're used for convenience. Bad analogy. Only somewhat better would be comparing cars with the progression of PC technology itself. The earth was "shaking" in the 90s because the technology was progressing faster, allowing game graphics to improve.

PC games weren't any better back in the 90s than they are today. IMO the methods of storytelling in games has improved significantly over how stories were told in games back in the 90s.

 

[Dankk]

Here's a better list of some of the great, AAA-quality PC games that have been released from 2010-2011:

The Witcher 2
Portal 2
Deus Ex: HR
Crysis 2
Space Marine
Metro 2033
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Just Cause 2
Starcraft II
Darksiders
STALKER: Call of Pripyat
Singularity
Dead Rising 2
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Trackmania 2
Shift 2: Unleashed
Red Orchestra 2

All excellent, big-budget games (not even including all the fantastic, smaller indie titles) released in the past two years. Come at me, bro. 🙂

(Disclaimer: Some people might disagree on some games, etc, etc, but these are all games that I enjoyed and/or got positive reception)

 

[Texashiker]

that doesn't necessarily mean that the number of well received games has gone down let alone gone stagnant; it just means that there are more crappy games.

If more crappy games are getting released, that would bring down the average user rating, wouldn't it?

Lets say between 1995 and 2008, 100 games were released, and 15 were flops.

Then between 2008 - 2011 100 games were released and 25 were flops.

 

[gothamhunter]

If more crappy games are getting released, that would bring down the average user rating, wouldn't it?

Lets say between 1995 and 2008, 100 games were released, and 15 were flops.

Then between 2008 - 2011 100 games were released and 25 were flops.

Who cares about average?

No, the number of games released between 2008 - 2011 would be 115 and 25 would be flops, leaving the same number of quality released games as before.

Edit: comparing 1995-2008 and 2008-2011? Bah why even try reasoning with you. I'm done. See LessThanDan's post above to continue with your non-logic.

Edit2: Ok, I have hope for you, so I'm going to try. Give the below scenario:

1990-1999
300 games released
250 are "good games"
50 are "bad games"

2000-2009
350 games are released
230 are "good games"
120 are "bad games"

2010-2019
550 games are released
310 are "good games"
240 are "bad games"

The point is that companies are shitting out more games now than ever; however, the number of good, quality games is still about the same as before. The problem is that it doesn't seem like it because they're surrounded by all the crap that comes out.

PC gaming is still just as it was, just with more crappy games (but the same amount of good games).

 

[Kalessian]

I've been rather fed up with most of the mainstream big budget stuff for a while now. I played FPS games very competitively in the day and the way the new stuff holds your hand annoys me.

+1 for indie devs and the smaller dev studios. Portal, Borderlands and GalCiv/SoaSE are the exceptions. Today I enjoyed playing Minecraft and EVE Online with friends. I want to start playing Amnesia: Dark Descent soon.

Also looking forward to this: http://www.theonion.com/video/ultrarealistic-modern-warfare-game-features-awaiti,14382/

 

[Texashiker]

The point is that companies are shitting out more games now than ever; however, the number of good, quality games is still about the same as before. The problem is that it doesn't seem like it because they're surrounded by all the crap that comes out.

I think that sums up the thread very nicely, thank you.

 

[Sulaco]

The problem with crap like this is that you're not being objective. You're letting your nostalgia overwhelm your rational observation, and the veeeerrryyy selective memory you've shown in "example" games is proof. If those are all the games you've played, or that interest you, then I feel sorry for you as a gamer.
I'm as nostalgic as anybody. I've been playing PC games as long as anyone. And it saddens me that certain types and genres of games are gone or seem to fundamentally changed in some way.

Since 2007 (4 years), we've had:

Bioshock
Bioshock 2
Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2
Fallout 3
Empire Total War
Shogun 2 Total War
Medieval II Total War
Portal
Portal 2
Europa Universalis III
Call of Duty MW
Call of Duty World at War
Crysis
Crysis Warhead
Crysis 2
Company of Heroes
World in Conflict
Batman Arkham Asylum
Mafia 2
Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood
Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway
Supreme Commander
Galactic Civilizations 2
Deus Ex Human Revolution
Dawn of War II
Prey
Ghostbusters
Dead Space
Dead Space 2
Sins of a Solar Empire
Assasin's Creed
Assassin's Creed 2
Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific
Borderlands
Europa Universalis Rome
Risen
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Tropico 3
Tropico 4
Dirt 3
The Witcher
The Witcher 2
Half Life 2 Episode 2
Amnesia The Dark Descent
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
FEAR 2
FEAR 3
STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl
STALKER Call of Pripyat
Flight Simulator X
Minecraft
Gothic 3
A-10C Warthog
DCS Blackshark
ALL the Lego games
Dead Rising 2


...and I'm sure many others I'm forgetting, PLUS those already mentioned, PLUS those to be released in the next few weeks/months, which is nothing to overlook. ALL of these are pretty much universally acclaimed games from the past 4-5 years.

It's easy to forget there was an AWFUL lot of overhyped, unpolished CRAP back then too. Sure, we don't remember it, the same way we're not going to remember Brink in 15 years, or any other "average" game. We'll remember the Skyrim's and Bioshocks, the same way we remember the Deus Ex's and Half-Lifes then. It doesn't mean we weren't immersed in plenty of bilge back then too.

 

[Red Hawk]

^^Daikatana, anyone?

 

[PrayForDeath]

Good job listing the best games from the 90's and the worst from 2010. There was just as many bad games back then as there are now.

We are also getting a tons of high quality releases this year (from the Witcher 2 and Skyrim, to Batman:AC, BF3, and Shogun 2.) Not to mention all the indie hits like Limbo, Bastion, etc... This is such a great year for gaming.

 

[TidusZ]

90's
warcraft 2
diablo
starcraft

2000's
diablo 2
WoW
warcraft 3

2010's
starcraft 2
diablo 3
titan

I dunno i think pc gaming is fine (blizzard = pc gaming)