Why the PC won E3

[mindcycle]

PC Gamers don’t get to watch a glitzy press conference at E3. We don’t get a PR firm to pump millions into glossy stage shows, or detailed press releases. We don’t even get a mascot. But we do get incredible games, and a steady stream of hardware innovations that let the PC leapfrog the opposition. Here’s why the PC was the real victor at E3.

We had the best looking games
There’s no question about how far Crytek have come in their art design for Crysis 2. The precision and detail in their recreation of New York under attack is startling. ... We’ve seen the game running on multiple platforms now – and, yeah, it looks great on Xbox and PS3. But it looks stunning on PC.

We had the best innovations
The nice thing about PC gaming? There’s always somewhere out there looking to innovate and surpass what’s already available. At E3, that level of innovation was everywhere. If you wanted motion controls, Razer showed the press a prototype of a motion controller more accurate, and more responsive than the Wii remote and Playstation Move. If you wanted to 3D gaming, you could play all your current catalogue in 3D using Nvidia’s already in place tech.

We’re the platform that’s most likely to grow the market for games
Microsoft’s misplaced obsession with growing the market for the Xbox has taken a wrong turn. Throwing millions of dollars of capital into an $150 webcam, in the hope that all the mothers and daughters that bought a Wii will buy into the XBox dream just isn’t going to work. The cost just don’t make sense.

In that respect, the PC has already won. Practically everyone already owns a laptop, and those laptops are the primary infection route for viral, free, gaming. Free PC games were everywhere at E3 – from casual, fun-fare from guys like Playfish, and Zynga, to multi-million dollar hardcore titles like Lord of the Rings Online and Company of Heroes Online.

This is the reality of today’s gaming market: Sony and Microsoft chase Nintendo’s tail with increasingly arcane hardware. While PC developers, quietly clean up online. E3 was the same exactly the same story. But no-one ever declares the PC the winner of E3. Until now.

Read the full article here: http://www.pcgamer.com/?p=3924

 

[Maleficus]

PC Gaming hasn't been winning shit. Well I guess that's not true, we win the most people wasting money through monthly fees paying for MMO's award.

 

[Maximilian]

Come starcraft 2's release date pc gaming will win everything :thumbsup:

 

[motsm]

Dumb article IMO, nothing but unfounded optimism and spin, if you are looking at the big picture. PC gaming (and therefor all gaming) has been basically dead to me for a few years now, and I saw nothing at E3 to even nudge my thoughts in a different direction, plenty to reinforce it however.

 

[TehMac]

Shogun 2 is the only thing for me from E3. Gaming is changing. We'll see what happens.

 

[coloumb]

LOL - PC gamer boasting how the PC won at E3? That's like saying your child is the cutest and smartest kid on the planet...

"In that respect, the PC has already won. Practically everyone already owns a laptop, and those laptops are the primary infection route for viral, free, gaming. Free PC games were everywhere at E3 – from casual, fun-fare from guys like Playfish, and Zynga, to multi-million dollar hardcore titles like Lord of the Rings Online and Company of Heroes Online"

PC gaming hasn't died at all - PC gaming has trended towards social web based games, MMO's, strategy games [Civ, Settlers, etc], and multi-player games [MW2, BFBC2, etc].

Console games get the "party" type games with a smidge of HALO/Gears of War/etc - because party games on the PC just wouldn't do well...

 

[Maleficus]

LOL - PC gamer boasting how the PC won at E3? That's like saying your child is the cutest and smartest kid on the planet...

"In that respect, the PC has already won. Practically everyone already owns a laptop, and those laptops are the primary infection route for viral, free, gaming. Free PC games were everywhere at E3 – from casual, fun-fare from guys like Playfish, and Zynga, to multi-million dollar hardcore titles like Lord of the Rings Online and Company of Heroes Online"

PC gaming hasn't died at all - PC gaming has trended towards social web based games, MMO's, strategy games [Civ, Settlers, etc], and multi-player games [MW2, BFBC2, etc].

Console games get the "party" type games with a smidge of HALO/Gears of War/etc - because party games on the PC just wouldn't do well...

I would previously have agreed with you, but honestly if all this move/kinect/wii motion bullshit continues, someone just has to do the same thing to a webcam on a pc. Use HDMI to plug into a TV and bam, you are in business, you can dance central or whatever till your feet fall off.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Mindcycle haven't you heard? PC gaming is dead. To suggest otherwise on this forum is heresy.

 

[xboxist]

WTB: Red Dead Redemption on PC

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

PC gaming hasn't died at all - PC gaming has trended towards social web based games, MMO's, strategy games [Civ, Settlers, etc], and multi-player games [MW2, BFBC2, etc].

Hmmm in that case I better return some of my most recently purchased titles: Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Fallout 3, Operation Flashpoint 2, DoW2: Chaos Rising, DiRT 2 and FEAR2. Apparently they're dead. Or something.

 

[xboxist]

Hmmm in that case I better return some of my most recently purchased titles: Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Fallout 3, Operation Flashpoint 2, DoW2: Chaos Rising, DiRT 2 and FEAR2. Apparently they're dead. Or something.

What an orgy of sequels.

I have no point, just saying.

 

[MJinZ]

We had the best looking gameshttp://www.pcgamer.com/?p=3924

Our systems also cost 10x as much.

We had the best innovations

Our systems also cost 10x as much.

We’re the platform that’s most likely to grow the market for games

There are 100x as many PCs as consoles.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

What an orgy of sequels.

I have no point, just saying.

Mass Effect: Awesome
Bioshock: Awesome (allegedly)
OpFlash: Awesome
DoW: Awesome
DiRT: Pretty damn good
FEAR: Awesome

No problems with awesome sequels to awesome games, as far as I am concerned.

 

[motsm]

Hmmm in that case I better return some of my most recently purchased titles: Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Fallout 3, Operation Flashpoint 2, DoW2: Chaos Rising, DiRT 2 and FEAR2. Apparently they're dead. Or something.

The point is basically all of those games sold much, much better on consoles, and were entirely console focused games. Pretty much the only PC exclusives now are exactly what he listed, MMO's and strategy games. Why are you even posting this anyway? He said specifically PC gaming wasn't dying, and you counter (while showing nothing that disproves him) with some sarcastic remarks attempting to prove PC gaming is flourishing because we can play console ports, like that's a good thing.

 

[xboxist]

Mass Effect: Awesome
Bioshock: Awesome (allegedly)
OpFlash: Awesome
DoW: Awesome
DiRT: Pretty damn good
FEAR: Awesome

No problems with awesome sequels to awesome games, as far as I am concerned.

Like I said, I have no point. Just an observation that kinda surprised me. I can only attest to Mass Effect, Bioshock and F.E.A.R. being awesome. Great games.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

The point is basically all of those games sold much, much better on consoles, and were entirely console focused games.

And therefore are bad games. Got it. I'll stop enjoying Mass Effect 2 right now, I didn't even realize it was so terrible because I was enjoying it so much.

Why are you even posting this anyway? He said specifically PC gaming wasn't dying, and you counter (while showing nothing that disproves him) with some sarcastic remarks attempting to prove PC gaming is flourishing because we can play console ports, like that's a good thing.

I was responding to a remark claiming that PC games were trending towards certain genres. Because it's not true.

 

[motsm]

And therefore are bad games. Got it. I'll stop enjoying Mass Effect 2 right now, I didn't even realize it was so terrible because I was enjoying it so much.

Well, personally I hate console ports, absolutely despise nearly every one of them, but that has nothing to do with the point he was making and I was enforcing. So please stop with your extremely pointless sarcasm.

I was responding to a remark claiming that PC games were trending towards certain genres. Because it's not true.

How is it not true? MMO's and strategy games are pretty much the only PC games coming out anymore.

 

[Zenoth]

My only real problem with "PC gaming" isn't "PC gaming" per say, but simply how we keep getting multi-platform, or shall I simply say it, console ports with very little to almost no graphics and even audio options more focused for PC hardware. The latest games I bought that heavily suffers from that problem are Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (which oh so barely made it to the PC in the first place) and Borderlands (which I've never been able to enjoy on-line with strangers because if only one of them changes the map everyone else is forced to follow and loads that map at any time).

That, and also how most of those console ports and even sometimes PC exclusives can barely be modified or simply can't be modified at all, either because the developers don't bother giving the tools for that purpose or because the developers actually take the time to encrypt most of the files we would need to change things in to have a minimum amount of tweaks. If I look at DAO, there's a tool kit, but the same developers never gave us the possibility to modify neither the original ME nor the sequel, and to modify the sequel to some negligible extent we need third-party software that simply will never achieve anything at the level of an official tweaking/modding tool could do.

The more time goes by and the more PC gaming is becoming static and unmodifiable, with barely any options to at least ensure that some settings can be changed to accommodate the system's capabilities and resources. There are some exceptions still, but they are usually boring games anyway.

 

[quadomatic]

WTB: Red Dead Redemption on PC

Ditto

Can someone post some links to PC-specific videos of Crysis 2?

 

[motsm]

Ditto

Can someone post some links to PC-specific videos of Crysis 2?

Nothing worth seeing that I am aware of. The only confirmed PC video I saw was being played with a 360 controller on a "mid range PC" using roughly the same graphical settings as the 360 version. I don't believe Crysis 2 has been confirmed shown in public at it's maximum settings.

 

[quadomatic]

Nothing worth seeing that I am aware of. The only confirmed PC video I saw was being played with a 360 controller on a "mid range PC" using roughly the same graphical settings as the 360 version. I don't believe Crysis 2 has been confirmed shown in public at it's maximum settings.

Hmm...then why was PCGamer able to claim that it looks so much better on the PC version? I mean, there were a couple scenes from GDC that showed the PC version, and it was quite good, but nothing so earthshattering.

I'm sure it will look better on the PC, but it seems unprofessional to make the claim so forcefully without any actual evidence.

Then again, is it possible that those in the media were shown stuff that was not publicly released?

 

[motsm]

Hmm...then why was PCGamer able to claim that it looks so much better on the PC version? I mean, there were a couple scenes from GDC that showed the PC version, and it was quite good, but nothing so earthshattering.

I'm sure it will look better on the PC, but it seems unprofessional to make the claim so forcefully without any actual evidence.

Then again, is it possible that those in the media were shown stuff that was not publicly released?

Quite possible they have seen it, just like the leaked Deus Ex gameplay.

As a side note, I have been reading "The Wall" trailer is real time PC footage, but obviously not gameplay.

 

[Red Storm]

Meh, the day PC gaming "dies" is the day consoles become full fledged PCs themselves. Also gaming PCs do not cost thousands more. If I wasn't a gamer I would still have the Core 2 and 4GB of ram in my system. The only difference is the video card, so that's $200. Not to mention games are cheaper on PC, I get a better multiplayer experience, and for my single player tastes consoles will never come close (I like to mod). All platforms get several very good games every year, the only difference is that consoles also get way, way more crap games as well.

 

[Lonyo]

Our systems also cost 10x as much.


[/B]
Our systems also cost 10x as much.



There are 100x as many PCs as consoles.
[/B]

They cost 10x as much? Really? So your PC cost $2000?

The upgrades I made to my 3 year old PC cost about the same as a PS3, and I can play most games on my 24" monitor (which I bought in addition to the other parts, but as an optional upgrade from my 20" 1680x1050, mainly for more viewing space for watching TV shows and films... just like the TV you would need for a console).

I spent more on my laptop (which I use for doing uni work) than I did on making my desktop game-able.

 

[Darklife]

The truth is that PC gaming isn't going to die, it's just incredibly stagnant. We barely have any PC exclusive games apart from the MMO and RTS genres. Anything else is simply a console port. While I had great fun with ME2 and the like the fact still remains that it's designed much differently than a PC game. It's a different philosophy.

Look at what's been happening for the last two years in terms of hardware. The PC I bought two years ago is still able to max practically any game at 1680x1050, something which would have been unheard of some four years back. Only small studios such as GSC or the guys behind Metro 2033 have been pushing performance somewhat. It's simply a farce, after three years Crysis is still being used as the most hardware intensive benchmark, that didn't exactly happen with Doom 3 now did it?

Until new consoles come out, which doesn't look like it will happen any time soon there won't be a lot of push towards better graphics and such. Christ companies are coming up with ridiculous ideas like 3D Vision or Eyefinity to justify buying the latest cards.