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The pendulum swings both ways for this holy war

As a longtime computer gamer – yours truly cut his teeth hacking CONFIG.SYS for Doom on his 386, while everyone else was learning basic addition – I believe I can speak with authority that there is an annoying, unyielding cycle in the videogame world that repeats itself every few years.

It goes like this: with every new generation of videogame consoles – the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii are the latest at this time – legions of gamers, both hardcore and casual, console or PC, make apocalyptic predictions about the supposed death of PC gaming. These predictions are backed up with all manner of examples, but usually consist of sales comparisons and examples of developers supposedly “jumping ship.” A year or two after that generation is out – but a couple of years before the next – PC capabilities slowly overtake their console brethren, and the doomsayers grow silent. Before you know it, the PC proponents (many of who are “converts” from consoles) are now the ones speaking ill about the consoles’ future. It’s an eternally tiresome, and wholly silly, little war between misfit camps.

With this iteration, arguments in favor of console gaming seem to touch heavily on the latest generation’s newfound strengths in online multiplayer (pioneered by Xbox Live), as well a number of developers who recently announced a console-specific or platform-neutral focus. (The accessibility of the Wii is a strong point as well.) Minor points include the ability to access your music library while gaming, thanks to the Xbox 360’s and Playstation 3’s dashboards, and an unexpectedly populist attitude towards level editors and minor game modifications (namely, Halo 3’s Forge and its ilk).

Indeed, I will concede one point: the traditional lines between PC and console gaming are fuzzier than ever.

But I believe we’re now at a point where the pendulum makes its return: with the latest generation of graphics cards and CPUs, the PC is once again the performance king. The dismal financial numbers of PC gaming’s recent past are turning around – starting with this report – and the platform as a whole is beginning its comeback. But let’s take a look, shall we?

PC gamers honestly have little to fear about the future of their pastime: the recently formed PC Gaming Alliance, an industry collective consisting of notable companies like Microsoft, Intel, NVIDIA, Epic Games, and Capcom, recently posted numbers that claimed industry revenues to be almost $11 billion. Money that the industry lost in brick-and-mortar game sales instead appears elsewhere: almost half of that figure – $4.8 billion – came from MMORPGs, and another $2 billion from online distribution networks like Steam or Stardock Central. An additional $800 million hails from “in-game and web advertising”; clearly, this is an industry that is more than agile enough to reinvent itself in light of a shifting market.

Of course, piracy is still a problem, and PC gaming’s advantages – while slowly being chipped away – are still present. The indie scene on Xbox Live Arcade is nowhere near what it could be, thanks to Microsoft’s middle finger towards indie developers and the general level of control it maintains over both pricing and the Xbox 360 itself. On the PC, however, indie developers thrive – even in spite of piracy! In terms of freedoms, how many console games have a thriving, legit mod community? Absent of that, will they ever experience the full glory of games like Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Spore, Supreme Commander, Crysis, Sins of a Solar Empire or Alan Wake? Will they ever have a chance to play gems like Uplink: Hacker Elite, Masq, or MINERVA: Metastasis?

And let’s not forget the ten-ton-gorilla that is World of Warcraft: I’m quite sure a very large portion of that $4.8 billion comes from WoW alone. There doesn't seem to be any plans to port it to consoles, and frankly, the last Blizzard port I recall seeing was the Nintendo 64 version of Starcraft. MMOs are one of the PC's greatest strengths: what was the last hugely successful console MMORPG? Phantasy Star Online?

So rest assured, PC gamers, your hobby isn’t going anywhere. Your platform once again wears the technical crown – and while the landscape has certainly changed since the last cycle, PC gaming has enough feathers in its cap to keep going for the foreseeable future. Remember, however, that your platform has its place: the strengths it has in first person shooters, strategy games, and online connectivity, are countered by consoles’ might in ease-of-use, fighting games, and platformers.

For those who wish to continue arguing their sides, I suggest taking a step back – enjoy your hobby in all its forms. There are plenty of us who’ve watched this cycle repeat itself ad nauseam, and I can safely say that over the long term both forms of gaming are here to stay. We veterans grow weary of this holy war – so gently remind your fellow soldiers of its pointlessness, and then take ‘em to school with your Unreal Tournament version of choice.

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CONFIG.SYS
By Cullinaire on 8/26/2008 1:13:02 AM , Rating: 5
Doom? A cakewalk compared to hacking away trying to get Ultima VII and its ridiculous VoodooMM to run. Wing Commander was also no pushover. It truly is amazing PC gaming was popular back then...




RE: CONFIG.SYS
By DKWinsor on 8/26/2008 1:31:22 AM , Rating: 5
I concur, Ultima VII's memory requirements were insane. Sometimes Dad could get it to work, sometimes he couldn't. When he did get it to work, it wouldn't detect the mouse (Iolo takes you aside and tells you you are crazy to try it without a mouse, and he's right).

I loved that game so much I played it all the way through without one. It took me a long while to find out you can hold ctrl while pressing an arrow key to make the cursor go 10 pixels instead of 1. So psha to Doom being hardcore, try Ultima VII without a mouse.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By borismkv on 8/26/2008 3:08:30 AM , Rating: 4
Quarterdeck Gamerunner FTW, baby. I still have the disks burried in my keepsake box. Course, I don't actually have a floppy drive any more...or DOS...


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By MrBlastman on 8/26/2008 10:16:29 AM , Rating: 2
I think the first game I truly hacked was Thexder for my 286. I played around with the files in order to skip levels etc.

Shortly thereafter (or maybe it was before) I had the hex editor out and was hacking up Bard's Tale savegame files to up my party stats. I even hex edited LHX Attack chopper to force it to use my VGA card on my Tandy 1000 TX (a nasty side effect of on-board graphics like the Tandy had back then was software not properly checking to see if you had a second graphics adapter installed in the system). Ahh, the trusty hex editor. Oh I loved thee.

Before the hex editor I was using DOS debug. Boy that was fun.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By japlha on 8/26/2008 10:26:46 AM , Rating: 2
Thexder annoyed me to no end. I couldn't get past the first level. I think my 486 was too fast for it.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By MrBlastman on 8/26/2008 10:34:34 AM , Rating: 2
You should try Firehawk, the sequel to it. Less frustration and more killing. If you have access to an MSX system (Japanese PC), try it on there first - better graphics and audio than EGA+Soundblaster. There is a web browser version of it out there somewhere...

Thexder is one of the hardest PC sidescrollers ever made. It was to be savored because at the time it was released, there really was nothing else much like it on the PC.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By nafhan on 8/26/2008 7:49:31 AM , Rating: 2
Wing Commander... I had that running on an 8086 at 6 Mhz with 640K of RAM and a 10MB HD. I could literally count the FPS. Incredible game, though. I also played Civ I on that computer. It took about 10 minutes to generate a random world.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By PitViper007 on 8/26/2008 9:45:28 AM , Rating: 2
Let's see, my big game back then was Falcon 3.0. THAT was a bear to get running on my 386. ANY extraneous TSR's had to be killed just to get the low RAM free enough to get it to run...Ahh, the good times.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By MrBlastman on 8/26/2008 10:39:14 AM , Rating: 2
Did you ever use the Floating Point (FPU) emulator to enable the advanced flight model mode on your 386? I found it on a BBS somewhere and gave it a try - worked pretty good.

... good enough to play Falcon 3.0 over 2400 bps modem and blast my favorite Sysop outta the sky.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By borismkv on 8/26/2008 11:22:55 AM , Rating: 3
For those who *don't* know, the proper definition of the word "noob" and all variations thereof is - You don't understand what he just said.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By PitViper007 on 8/26/2008 1:46:04 PM , Rating: 2
No actually, I installed an actual 387 math co into my machine. (Well, yes in truth I did try the emulator but wasn't impressed so put in the real deal). And this was the first game that I'd played on my computer that could be played competitively over the modem. Took forever for each round to load, but once it was, man what fun.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By MrBlastman on 8/26/2008 2:16:44 PM , Rating: 2
You aren't kidding it took forever. I think one round took 5 - 10 minutes to load.

Darned orange bars going across the screen. They didn't seem like they could go across fast enough.

I never did get an 80387 co-proc, I wish I did thinking back but ah well. Falcon was the only thing that would've used it. F15 Strike Eagle III didn't :( The latest HFFM (high-fidelity flight model) for Falcon 4.0 OpenFalcon is pretty impressive though. :) Supposedly there is another one in the works from the disbanded BMS team.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By PitViper007 on 8/26/2008 2:33:21 PM , Rating: 2
Well Falcon using the 387 co processor was kind of a fringe benefit. I really needed it to run Autocad (I was a draftsman at the time) and it wouldn't run without it. But hey, I wasn't complaining that my game ran better and prettier...hehe


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By Spivonious on 8/26/2008 10:14:10 AM , Rating: 3
Why hack when you can run QEMM? :)


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By MrBlastman on 8/26/2008 10:18:51 AM , Rating: 2
Hahahah QEMM, that is something I haven't heard in a long time.

For Ultima 7 I remember trying to play it with only 4 megs of RAM on my 386. The disk access slowed it down bigtime and I remember using Norton Disk Cache (ncache) and setting up a virtual 1.7 meg cache to speed up loading of parts of the worlds. I actually found a pretty good balance with a 1.7 meg cache as it tremendously sped up the gameplay.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By Grast on 8/26/2008 11:30:13 AM , Rating: 2
OHHHHH MY GODDDDDD..... I have thought or talked about QEMM in years.

Hey does everyone remember Norton Commander. That was my file and hex manager of choice in the good old days of sprite gaming.

Later..


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By Spivonious on 8/26/2008 1:44:32 PM , Rating: 2
Ah the days when the OS didn't come with a file manager of its own. Imagine the riots that would happen if Windows 7 was just a kernel, command line, and shell scripting.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/26/2008 2:35:01 PM , Rating: 5
The Linux guys will riot regardless.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By niaaa on 8/27/2008 10:53:48 AM , Rating: 2
norton commander was a blast


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By johnsonx on 8/26/2008 4:05:33 PM , Rating: 2
ahh, good ol' QEMM...

I actually used it in a production environment just a year or so ago. A client had an old DOS-based 3-axis Bridgeport Mill that they wanted to be able to easily mill really large files, too big for floppies. After looking it over, I decided to install an ISA network card and the MS Network client for DOS. After installing that whole client though, there wasn't enough low memory to run the mill's control program. So I grabbed QEMM and played with the load order until I got enough stuff into UMB's to make it all work.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By frozentundra123456 on 8/28/2008 8:30:51 AM , Rating: 2
That is funny. We still have an ancient IBM computer controlling one of our chromatographs that has QEMM installed.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By FITCamaro on 8/26/2008 12:41:08 PM , Rating: 2
Well I didn't have a computer at all until 95 so my first game was Alien Legacy. It was the only game I had. I used to get up at 2am on a Saturday to play it until 5am when I'd have to sneak back to bed so my parents didn't catch me. Loved that game.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By JarredWalton on 8/26/2008 3:47:28 PM , Rating: 1
I never understood the difficulty of "hacking" your config.sys files (and autoexec.bat). I mean, you go in and create a boot menu (I think that started in DOS 5, but maybe it was 6?) and you have a completely clean boot with minimal devices and no memory management (for VoodooMM from Origin - what a joke!) and then you have a "clean" boot with EMS386 and HIMEM and a few critical things, and then you have the "everything else" mode.

If you didn't have the option for a boot menu, you just had a floppy disk with a clean boot available. It took longer for the OS to load, but it wasn't that hard. I actually remember using batch files as well to switch between the configuration files prior to DOS 4/5/6 (whichever added the support for menus).

Of course, you always had people that were running drive compression, which used up a decent chunk of memory to load the device driver. I hated Drivespace/Doublespace and the other non-MS compression utilities; they always caused drive access and performance to slow to a crawl and made it very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to free up enough main memory for a few select games.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By Cullinaire on 8/26/2008 9:43:32 PM , Rating: 3
Sure, it's all easy now. But back when all you wanted to do was play the damn game, and without google to back you up, it was a chore.
Mouse drivers, sound drivers, they all varied in size depending on which model you had, and I think I had the combination that left me the bare minimum of conventional memory that could run U7 (and it wanted a friggin lot).


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By borismkv on 8/26/2008 8:07:07 PM , Rating: 2
The insanely repetitive music from that game is still stuck in my head. I played it for so many hours. Me, my brother, and my dad spent about an hour tweaking configs to get that thing working, though.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By FITCamaro on 8/27/2008 8:48:24 AM , Rating: 2
I didn't have to tweak anything to run it. It did corrupt our computer twice though. You know you look back at the games from those days and think about how little memory it took to run them. I mean our computer was a 66MHz 486 DX2, 8MB of RAM, and a 720MB hard drive. Good ole piece of sh*t Packard Bell.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By Nik00117 on 8/27/2008 2:50:59 AM , Rating: 2
I know I wasn't as old as some of those cats. My first gaming came in 1999 with star craft on my laptop. I got a 5 GIG HDD, and couldn't install Diablo II and Starcraft at the same time. What a blast that was.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By akyp on 8/27/2008 5:50:13 AM , Rating: 2
I thought Doom was one of the first few games that used DOS4GW which means you didn't have to tweak config.sys anymore.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By MrBlastman on 8/27/2008 9:50:44 AM , Rating: 2
Well, you sort of did if I remember correctly, because Dos4gw had problems with either XMS or EMS memory being present when you ran a game using it. Dos4gw essentially I think was its own XMS/EMS memory manager built into the app.

Ultima 7 was by far the most irritating game to run of them all. It still is. At least, until you discover Exult. Exult will run it on a modern PC with Roland MT-32 sound (they recorded all the music), high resolution (as high as you want I think) and with Anti-Aliasing, Super Sai etc.


RE: CONFIG.SYS
By Cullinaire on 8/28/2008 8:49:19 AM , Rating: 2
Speaking of the "next-gen" games of the era, SimCity 2000 was a whole other can of worms. I remember upgrading my VGA board to 512K of memory so I could play that thing! My god what was I doing...


Well it all sounds nice, but...
By Flunk on 8/25/2008 9:57:47 PM , Rating: 2
Well, it's all very nice to say that but I would like to see some evidence that the industry is rebounding. The number of recent AAA PC releases is the lowest I can ever remember. Plus a large percentage are lacklustre Xbox 360 ports.

Shelf-space for PC games at major retailers is also down significantly. The three closest EB Games locations all have PC games relegated to a tiny shelf tucked in the back.

Hardware does not decide if games get made, only sales figures can do that. Now, after saying all that. I am a PC gamer and this all makes me very sad but it's going to take some solid evidence before I change my opinion.




RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By someguy123 on 8/25/2008 10:50:20 PM , Rating: 2
triple AAA titles have nothing to do with sales. in all honestly PC in it's entire lifespan hasn't had a constant flow of AAA titles; with your top companies like Blizzard and Valve trickling in AAA titles once in a while. PC seems to have a few years were there are TONS of AAA titles appearing (C&C, starcraft, diablo coming in i think the same year, hl2, warcraft 3, WoW, bioshock TF2 etc only a year or two apart), and then a few years in between with just a select few. This trend is still happening in consoles, though, unless you consider some of the titles like uncharted and forza as AAA. theres really only a few i'd consider AAA like GoW, MGS4, COD4 and Halo3.

the article does direct to a link where the "pc gaming alliance" posted 11b in revenue, and that's the important thing. the story is not that PC is a juggernaut in the industry, just that it is still a very profitable platform. The problem right now is that some corporations like to blame bad sales completely on piracy, and although it is a problem, it's not a platform killer everyone makes it out to be. Like the original article said....in a year or so when PC games look much better than what's possible on consoles, people will jump on the bandwagon again. then when a new console is released they'll jump on that bandwagon, and so is the circle of life.


RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By MrBlastman on 8/26/2008 10:31:21 AM , Rating: 5
The thing that draws me to PC gaming, and has since the early 1980's is the uniqueness of the PC gaming experience.

I've always enjoyed both Console and PC gaming - but I have found that Console gaming has always been more geared towards instant gratification, mash the buttons to win style of play. There are exceptions of course (Street Fighter II, RPG's such as the Final Fantasy 3, Zelda etc.) but for the most part this holds true. Just look at how Soul Calibur destroyed the fighting genre along with Tekken - button mashing galore.

PC gaming, however, always has taken an arguably more intellectual route. It began with those broderbund multi-game disks for the Apple IIe (I had lots of fun with those) - they were almost virtual magazines with games at the time. We progressed to Sierra's wonderful reign as Adventure gaming king and experienced titles such as Hero's Quest, Larry, KQ, Space Quest etc.... To be fair don't forget Lucas Art's and Monkey Island. We had a robust Flight Sim and Military Simulation library (it is still around but titles are far less frequently published), we had Wing Commander first. We had classics such as Defender of the Crown - cinemaware. We also had more advanced RPG's - Uukrul and its strategic combat, Gold Box series, EoB, Baldur's Gate 2. Real Time Strategy - consoles never have and never will touch this (except with the wii-mote possibly). Shooters - with the exception of Goldeneye 64, they have always been a superior experience on PC. Sim City 1 and 2000, Civilization... I could go on and on. We still have amazing in-depth titles today with things such as Supreme Commander, Falcon 4.0, DCS: Black Shark (coming soon), Sins of a Solar Empire etc. I could go on forever.

I think the main difference in Console and PC gaming is the uniqueness of titles. You find a lot of the same shoveled stuff on consoles, where on the PC I've always found a much wider, diverse variety of things to choose from along with far more complex controller schemes.

The PC doesn't need AAA titles, it makes up for this through diversity and depth of gameplay.

I still play Console games periodically though. I just picked up Bionic Commando Reloaded for the PC. They all serve a purpose but I for one am glad that PC gaming is still strong.


RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By FITCamaro on 8/26/2008 12:46:29 PM , Rating: 2
Started playing Sins of the Solar Empire. Good game but for it to be enjoyable I had to turn pirates off. I mean they had 10 ship fleets attacking you every 5 minutes from the start of the match. Couldn't get anything done. But its oh so fun to sit there and watch the planetary bombardments. And the giant cannon that can fire at planets across star systems is awesome.

Biggest complaint besides the pirates is how the computer always runs away when you're attacking them unless they've got far superior numbers. So if you want to destroy their fleet you have to chase them around a star system.


RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By TomCorelis (blog) on 8/26/2008 12:51:09 PM , Rating: 2
I love the pirates... just make sure you pay them off right before they attack, and its good for extra attacks against your enemy.


RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By CascadingDarkness on 8/26/2008 4:30:25 PM , Rating: 2
You're forgetting the greatest part! You aren't actually paying off the pirates. You're creating a bounty against the enemy. Meaning when you attack while pirates flank, you get your own money back!

I commonly reaquire 50% of the bounty I placed in first place. =)


RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By TomCorelis (blog) on 8/26/2008 4:53:50 PM , Rating: 2
I'm a bit of a turtle in RTS games...so really until I've built up blitzkrieg-level forces the pirates are nice for keeping enemies on their toes. Either way, you are right... bounties on the enemies, the highest of which the pirates go after. Not a huge fan of attacking while the pirates are doing their thing, however, because usually that means the bounty placed on my head is now the larger and more lucrative focal point.


RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By FITCamaro on 8/26/2008 5:33:04 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah I'm kinda the same way. I'll venture out but I don't seek to destroy them until I've got a decent fleet. You kind of have to since to acquire planets you have to defeat the forces around them. Often times I'll have one planet that only needs 3-4 starting frigates to get control of. But then the next one has like 10-12 ships including 1-2 heavy cruisers when I haven't even researched any of the other frigate types yet.

Granted if you've got your capitol ship built you'll win but with losses. I find the biggest thing to get quickly is the interstellar trade research so you can build trade stations. That way you actually gain money fairly quickly.


By TomCorelis (blog) on 8/26/2008 7:16:08 PM , Rating: 2
Honestly, a capital ship with capture ability and about 10x the basic frigate (Disciple vessel for me, since I play Advent) allows me to take most any planet I want in the early game.


By Jedi2155 on 9/1/2008 5:17:06 PM , Rating: 2
I think Advent at the moment is overpowered with their freaking illuminators. So that's why I've been playing them as of late >-D.

But to solve the problems of enemy fleets jumping away I usually use some sort of a disable or disrupt jump ability or if I know they are attacking my system, I would build jump inhibitors which work great at allowing me to kill off enough ships.


By borismkv on 8/26/2008 8:27:54 PM , Rating: 2
Hell. Just make sure your first couple ships are caps and let the pirates come. Not to much longer and you're fighting off the bad guys with level ten capital ships while they've got level 4.


RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By mmntech on 8/26/2008 1:33:38 PM , Rating: 2
Sins is a great game. To me it represents the golden age of PC gaming. Fun, stable, and DRM free.

I've just had so many problems with many of the so called "AAA" PC titles that have come out recently that I gave up on PC gaming all together. I hadn't even picked up a console for seven years but finally bought a PS3 last fall. Its just so much easier. I like tweaking my system but I don't like fighting with a game and downloading patches ad infinitum just to get it to run the way it's supposed to. The DRM in PC games is also getting a little too intrusive for my liking.

The PC gaming market is without a doubt in decline. Developers have said they don't want to develop exclusively for the platform anymore. The few PC games that have come out this year are mostly Xbox 360 ports. If that's the case, it makes more sense for me to buy the console version instead due to what I mentioned above. However, it may be a little too far to say PC gaming is dying. The platform will survive just fine with titles like Spore, Flight Simulator, and the Sims. Stuff that's difficult to implement on consoles. However, I think PC gaming is now past its golden age.


RE: Well it all sounds nice, but...
By TomCorelis (blog) on 8/26/2008 4:59:19 PM , Rating: 2
I'm not 100% certain the game is DRM free, at least in the way that I understand the term to be. I can't remember if it was in GalCiv, GalCiv2 or Sins, but I seem to recall some form of activation error one time when I tried to load up one of the games after running a preinstalled hard copy (on a second HD) just after I formatted my main HD and loaded a new OS.


By TheDiceman on 8/27/2008 10:30:48 AM , Rating: 2
That may have more to do with that usually for their games you have to log into their network (whatever its called) to activate a product. I personally have never had any issues installing or re-installing their games and activating beyond this little issue (since I keep forgetting my log in).


By CascadingDarkness on 8/28/2008 1:54:15 PM , Rating: 2
GalCiv2 FTW! I love Civ4 to death; Everything but combat. When it comes to that, it has some of the poorest, least thought out, frustrating combat in existence.

Examples of quotes screamed in frustration.
"Why are my tanks attacking their archers one at a time?"
"How can spearmen beat mechanized infantry?"
"Why are all battles fought one on one where everyone waits their turn like good boys. Like in some primary school drink line?"

GalCiv2 still doesn't give you any actual control over units. It's a strategy game, not tactical. What it does give you is both visualization, and the battle system that if you go into combat with the upper hand, you will win most of the time (there is always the occasional missle to reactor in first 3 seconds, that will spoil anyones day).

"What? My 8 fighters engage their 3 frigates in a simlutainous battle? (watches in awe)"

Plus nothings beats the grin you get when your 8 Billion marine shock troopers decimate a planet of 16 Billion inhabitants to conquer it.


By Polynikes on 8/25/2008 11:32:08 PM , Rating: 3
Digital distro has something to do with the tiny shelves, though certainly not all of it.


By 1078feba on 8/26/2008 9:26:58 AM , Rating: 3
You have to remember how much more goes into a PC game vice console.

They have to be able to run on a an ungodly number of different systems with different drivers, hardware, peripherals, etc. PC devs have to aim for some sort of nebulous middle ground.

I would think a game made specifically for a single console must be significantly easier to develop, even taking ports to the other two into consideration.


By initialised on 8/28/2008 7:51:59 PM , Rating: 2
Retail shelf space is down because people with PCs (and into PC games) are far more likely to realise that online distribution and retail is more cost effective effective and are far more likely to have a broadband internet connection. Retail in general is suffering but as usual geeks like us are the early adopters.

Blessed are the geeks for they shall inherit the earth.


PC gaming is here to stay
By AlexWade on 8/25/2008 9:56:24 PM , Rating: 2
Can you guarantee that in 10 years from now, I can play a console game on the latest and greatest? No. But 10 years from now, you will still be able to play DOS games from the 1980's. You may need a program like DOS Box to do so, nevertheless, it will work. Backwards compatibility for consoles is a lot harder than it is for computers. Even today, I play DOS games on my 64-bit Vista thanks to DOS Box.

Furthermore, computer games have distinct advantages of console games. Point blank, FPS is always better with a mouse and keyboard.

Not to be overlooked is user generated content. Just spend 5 minutes at a Sims site for an example of what I'm talking about. None of that is possible on the console.

Consoles aren't going anywhere either because they are cheaper and more convenient. Also, quite frankly, some games are better on consoles. I tried playing Tetris on my computer, and it was no good. Such a game requires the joystick. Sports games don't work well on computers either. Each has their advantage and each shouldn't be discounted.




RE: PC gaming is here to stay
By Hieyeck on 8/26/2008 1:02:57 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
Such a game requires the joystick.

Let me start with an apology to Mr. Corelis, I couldn't resist the urge...

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/gaming/pc_gaming...
http://www.saitekusa.com/usa/prod/pcgc.htm

QED

The ONLY advantage consoles have is that they're plug and play. No fiddling with installs, drivers, hardware fine print, et cetera. And that's the biggest reason why consoles are held in such high praise. It's perfect for the types who can't figure out that a 6" stick of RAM probably fits in the 6" slot - and we all know how many of them are out there.


RE: PC gaming is here to stay
By FITCamaro on 8/26/2008 5:35:49 PM , Rating: 2
Vista and even XP support many game pads. Vista even natively supports 360 controllers. Wired or wireless. And some games that are released for both even still support the 360s control scheme on the PC version.


RE: PC gaming is here to stay
By nafhan on 8/28/2008 8:43:09 AM , Rating: 2
It just takes a small driver download to work great under XP, too. I use a 360 gamepad to play audiosurf and emulator games. The 360 gamepad (IMO) is much nicer and sturdier than comparably priced PC gamepads.


By TomCorelis (blog) on 8/29/2008 3:03:16 PM , Rating: 2
Want to know what's even better than a 360 gamepad? An original Xbox gamepad with a spliced USB connector. I made one of those a few years ago and I love it -- I only wish the S-type controller had shoulder buttons. Those gamepads are rock solid: you could swing that thing around like some kind of flail and kill people with it.


RE: PC gaming is here to stay
By Sulphademus on 8/26/2008 9:06:53 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
Furthermore, computer games have distinct advantages of console games. Point blank, FPS is always better with a mouse and keyboard.


Similarly to FPS, I couldnt imaging WoW on a console; the controls would be horrendous trying to use an 8 button controller. Not to mention the modding aspect.


RE: PC gaming is here to stay
By jskirwin on 8/26/2008 9:31:13 AM , Rating: 2
It's interesting seeing this posted days before the release of Mercenaries 2 and weeks before Crysis Warhead, both titles that will appear on the PC platform (and in the case of Merc2, on consoles too).

What I never understood about the arguments critical of PC gaming is the assumption that you can either be a PC gamer OR a console gamer. This ignores the fact that many people simply enjoy games regardless of what media they appear on.

Both console and PC have their own strengths. The former has exclusive titles and requires little maintenance; the latter has better graphics, finer controls and more complex design, and the medium evolves faster than consoles.

It doesn't cost much to have a decent gaming rig - not much more than a next-gen console system. So why not have both?

Piracy seems overblown to me. Given the size of games now downloading is impractical except for the most determined with access to the fastest broadband. And that doesn't even take into consideration anti-piracy efforst like STEAM and the fact that pirated software practically guarantees installation of malware on one's system.


RE: PC gaming is here to stay
By robinthakur on 8/27/2008 7:04:39 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
the fact that pirated software practically guarantees installation of malware on one's system.


I'm not sure what you're basing that on. On everything which I hypothetically might have downloaded since 1991, I've never seen this widespread malware which you speak of. I think this is just a scare tactic which publishers use to convince people to pay for something they could get illegally for free. Most anti-piracy systems only inconvenience the paying public I should point out, and by the time the game gets downloaded by pirates (ARRRRRRGH) all these protections are mostly wiped out.


RE: PC gaming is here to stay
By Icelight on 8/27/2008 4:43:29 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
What I never understood about the arguments critical of PC gaming is the assumption that you can either be a PC gamer OR a console gamer. This ignores the fact that many people simply enjoy games regardless of what media they appear on.


Exactly! I enjoy different types of games between the PC and the consoles. Just as I can't stand playing an FPS on the console I could never see myself playing a JRPG on the PC (if they actually existed on the PC in some reasonable quantity).


PC and consoles converging
By gmw1082 on 8/26/2008 10:23:37 AM , Rating: 2
Over the years it seems like PC and consoles are slowly converging. Each new generation of console adds more features that used to be only found on the PC (hard drive, internet, etc.). This has made each generation of console more expensive than the last, while the cost of a decent gaming PC keeps dropping. I think this decrease in cost difference will help keep PC gaming strong.

For consoles, the ease of use and lower cost allows them to be more accessible to people. As newer generations of more PC like consoles are released, I think that consoles will continue to increase in volume of sales and eventually dominate the industry. I don't think pure PC gaming will die, but it will become an increasingly niche market for game developers.




RE: PC and consoles converging
By Hakuryu on 8/26/2008 4:10:31 PM , Rating: 2
The trend does seem to be an evolution where consoles become less a console and more a PC. I wouldn't be surprised if in 10-20 years consoles cease to exist, at least how we recognize them.

I'm guessing, but I bet the next generation consoles have web browsers, allow mice and keyboards to be attached, and have greater flexibility in upgrading. At what point do we stop calling it a console and start calling it what it is... a PC.


RE: PC and consoles converging
By TheDiceman on 8/27/2008 10:34:55 AM , Rating: 2
I think the general resistance to allow for mouse and keyboard is one of the largest barriers to consoles overtaking PCs permanently. I personally prefer PC gaming for 3 major reasons right now: I prefer a mouse and keyboard for most games, I like knowing that as long as I have the hardware I will get better performance and graphics off my PC, and I like that quite often the developers of PC games make addons and updates free whereas I would have to pay for them on a console. Oh yeah, and my PC games are generally cheaper in the first place, always a plus. I still do console game a lot mind you, especially RPGs, but I tend to find that games on my PC have more lasting playtime, especially online.


RE: PC and consoles converging
By gmw1082 on 8/27/2008 5:21:28 PM , Rating: 2
To build on this furthur, consoles could become more like an PCs except designed specifically for gaming. The processor and graphics hardware would be locked down to allow for optimization of games. Outside of the locked down hardware, everything on the console would use standard PC parts.

The hard drive would be easily upgraded to provide more disk space. The console OS would be capable of doing everything a PC could do. There would be mutiple USB inputs so anything normally connected to a PC would also connect to the console. Games will have an option to install on the hard drive to allow for faster load times, patches, and modding possibilities. Basically a PC but with the core hardware and OS being locked down.


RE: PC and consoles converging
By Reclaimer77 on 8/27/2008 5:37:50 PM , Rating: 2
Why would I want a console thats " basically " a PC just streamlined for games when I have a PC now ??

Honestly if updating a driver or two once in a while is too much of a task, then you SHOULD be using a console. The rest of us whos knuckles aren't dragging on the ground will manage our PC's thank you much.


RE: PC and consoles converging
By gmw1082 on 8/28/2008 8:52:00 AM , Rating: 2
As a PC gamer myself I certainly understand where you're coming from, but you have to look at it from another perspective.

The average user will compare the PC like console to a real PC. A big factor will be the games exclusively available for the console vs PC. The console is easier to use and has better graphical performance than a similarly priced PC due to hardware optimizations. The PC gives you the freedom to tinker with all the hardware and the OS, but most people don't care about that, they just want something that works and is easy to use.


How did you pick that one?
By rdeegvainl on 8/26/2008 8:51:00 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
MMOs are one of the PC's greatest strengths: what was the last hugely successful console MMORPG? Phantasy Star Online?


How about Final Fantasy XI?




RE: How did you pick that one?
By FITCamaro on 8/26/2008 5:37:08 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed. FFXI was awesome. Just wish I still had the time to play it.


RE: How did you pick that one?
By TomCorelis (blog) on 8/26/2008 7:11:07 PM , Rating: 2
I considered writing FFXI, however the game -- if I recall correctly -- was/is a much larger success on PC. I edited out a disclaimer that went along the lines of, "Well, I can't speak for the Japanese market" as well.

How do you do the whole social bit on consoles anyway? I can't imagine an MMO without some form of General Chat.


RE: How did you pick that one?
By rdeegvainl on 8/27/2008 8:46:50 AM , Rating: 2
They do have general chat. I was playing with an Xbox player, and ps2 player in the same linkshell and didn't even notice the difference. Also they have really cool translator features so you can actually interact with people who don't speak english. It's not like you're gonna hold conversations on "deliberatin' and conjugatin' the Emancipation Proclamation" but it does help alot with basic things.


RE: How did you pick that one?
By FITCamaro on 8/27/2008 8:56:02 AM , Rating: 2
The PS2 version supports a keyboard too. Actually when it comes down to it, the PS2 version was better than the PC. When you were in a zone it drew EVERYONE. Lower Jueno was packed with people. In the PC version you'd only see like 30-40 people tops. And that was at max settings. Don't really know what the 360 version looks like compared to the PS2 and PC version.

The PC version was faster though at pulling up the macro menu and responding to input. Especially during a fight.

I actually wrote an article on the game for THG back in 2005.
http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2005/09/10/why_final_f...


Pc games
By AlmostExAMD on 8/27/2008 3:44:02 AM , Rating: 2
Simple, Release pc games on blu ray medium it will slow down pirated software for a while and rebuild pc games as viable platform to sell on.
Pc will always kick arse as its components can be upgraded when the need arises, It's the software side of releasing on easily pirated medium, Such as cd/dvd that the average joe can burn in a few minutes that lets it down,It then effects sales which in turn pushes developers towards consoles to make a buck!
Call me crazy but I will happily keep forking out thousands of dollars each year on building a new pc for a gaming rig compared to a console that I would be stuck with until next gen.




RE: Pc games
By tallcool1 on 8/27/2008 5:33:13 AM , Rating: 2
Dude, you know what percentage of the installed PC base has a blu-ray drive? Probably less than 1%.


RE: Pc games
By FITCamaro on 8/27/2008 8:57:29 AM , Rating: 2
It won't stop anything. Because pirates still just rip the iso off the disc and come out with a no disc hack.


RE: Pc games
By mindless1 on 8/28/2008 8:57:17 AM , Rating: 2
It's do-able but would take more than just a No-CD hack because the developers would make video cut scenes giganormous to the point where the entire capacity of the disc was used. That makes distribution far more difficult unless those are hacked out too or recompressed with a supported codec.


RE: Pc games
By overzealot on 9/2/2008 1:44:37 AM , Rating: 2
Ripped / Recompressed games have been around since day one.
It would have no effect on piracy.


Anything you can do, PC can do better!
By Imaginer on 8/27/2008 1:24:18 PM , Rating: 3
Hell, wasn't it the PC that had FREE multiplayer games for the longest time and those that weren't free were the MMOs? Wasn't it the PC that allowed you to play your Winamp program in the background while you duke it out in a PC game? Wasn't it the PC that first allowed gamers to actually level edit to the greatest fidelity? And the PC also has the Internet too.

Hell, the only reason why not to have your PC as your gaming platform is because it is office bound.... Oh wait... HDMI/DVI/VGA hookups to your TV (of which now supports 1920x1080 of goodness - the reason for not using the PC on the TV back then was the pitiful 4:3 640x480 resolution, even if video cards had S-Video out, no one would take advantage) Wireless keyboards, Mouse, trackballs, hell you can freeking hook up that precious 360 controller natively to your PC!

If anything, I am not worried. If anything, it is the CONSOLES that are slowly becoming the imitators to the PC with the realization that I actually have to INSTALL THE GAME ONTO THE CONSOLE (oh right like the PC huh?) talks about my hard drive space is bigger than your hard drive space (PC users thoughts: pffff 1TB+ baby!). Downloadable content???? Patches????

And when I am done gaming, guess what? I can go back to productivity with the PC, or other things that it can do.

The only reason why people are pushing consoles is because it is easy to use, no wonder its #1. Go figure....

I would call the PS3 and 360 to be wannabe PCs rather than high end consoles because that is the mentality they are pushing to me now.




RE: Anything you can do, PC can do better!
By Spectator on 8/28/2008 9:53:18 AM , Rating: 2
Consoles can actually gimp the PC experience.

My one and only example i played was FFXI.

That game was so limited by having to support PS2; they even had to rename places and chat phrases to save memory (lol PS2 memory limitations).

In instances like that. having to pay for a gimped console friendly game. does not make me a happy PC gamer.


By Imaginer on 9/2/2008 12:22:31 PM , Rating: 2
It can only gimp if the developers want it to. (most likely because of the extra time and effort to make a superior PC version if they started out developing for the console)

Hell, I am well aware of that so called frustrating waste of time called FFXI. Jeuno, I can't see squat. Besieged? I can't see squat. Even when taking up meleeing jobs, I can't even see my weapon skills or the cool skill chain effects or even my magic bursts (as long as I have the enemy targeted locked).

SE developed for the PS2 first. That explains the PC the way it is. Only optimized in a few areas but unwilling to take the extra mile for more.

As long as companies develop for multiple platforms, expect them to develop for the common denominator if they want an all across equal experience for their game. As long as console makers are playing the dickwars about specs and graphics, expect that denominator to be there somehow or someway.


Old School
By Enlightenment777 on 8/26/2008 10:38:52 AM , Rating: 2
I wrote my first game, using "COPY CON".

I wrote my first program, one bit at a time, and all I had was 1's because 0's wasn't invented yet.




RE: Old School
By daenku32 on 8/28/2008 1:18:30 PM , Rating: 2
LOL.

Even though "COPY CON" did bring back memories.


RE: Old School
By overzealot on 9/2/2008 1:55:51 AM , Rating: 2
>copy con fill.bat
@echo off
clr
copy fill.bat + fill.bat fill2.bat
copy fill2.bat + fill2.bat fill.bat
fill.bat
^Z
1 file(s) copied.
>fill.bat
Does anyone else still set their prompt to $g and use cd to check their path?


heh
By jay401 on 8/26/2008 1:15:35 PM , Rating: 4
Well as someone who primarily enjoys playing classic games, I don't really care all that much what happens to PC gaming given where it's been heading the past few yaers. Thankfully I'll always have the old school games I enjoy and the memories of others I don't have anymore but enjoyed in the past.

Honestly, for all the hoopla about PC gaming going strong, there have been very few interesting titles, and even fewer anymore that don't have some zany requirement like "you also have to run this other software in the background in order to play it" or "pay per month to play it". All that stuff can kiss my butt, I'll stick to my classic games, thanks.

I never used to understand "classic gamers" or whatever, but I guess I've seen the light after getting fed up with the draconian content or payment systems that come with most new games.

Anymore it's DOOM, Quake, the Descent series, the MechWarrior series, Total Annihilation, and a number of other FPS and RTS games from the mid-to-late 90s that didn't have that "anti-piracy" nonsense (which usually only impacts legitimate owners), and that I've bought on average two copies of over the years (because the originals were given away and recently repurchased when I got the urge to play them again).

Those games all made good money for their creators and good memories for their fans. They didn't need wallet-sapping recurring charges or ridiculous access schemes (like Steam) to play them, and not so surprisingly they're still going strong today no matter where their developers ended up (bought out, sold off, merged, gone for good) so the die-hard fans can fire them up whenever they want without needing an active internet connection or high system requirements.

Many also have freeware 3rd-party support and mods that have added more modern graphical features and rendering paths, which keeps them fresh and appealing today. There are many mods for the classic DOOM and Quake games, and there's the MechTech MekPaks for MW4:Mercs, and the truly impressive D2X-XL for Descent 1&2. All are freeware, made with love by fans.

That's the type of PC gaming i know and love and support. People that grow up today with FIOS and World of Warcraft never experienced that and don't realize that what publishers have pushed on them is -not- the norm for PC gaming and is in fact -abnormal- to be subjected to. Since they don't know better, they don't know to fight against such things, so the publishers just get away with more and more invasive and controlling content "protection" schemes and they make money doing it, which is all they need to justify it. Oh well, just count me out.




RE: heh
By gamerk2 on 9/2/2008 2:30:01 PM , Rating: 2
Amen brother.


Doom 2 monsters
By tallcool1 on 8/26/2008 1:51:09 PM , Rating: 2
Nice picture on the article! The Archvile (sp?) was my favorite monster in Doom 2. I really was disappointed with the Doom 3 rendition of it though...

Nothing like the old days of tweaking config.sys and autoexec.bat files to squeeze out that last bit of memory below 640K. Remember messing with emm386.exe (with its variable switches)...




RE: Doom 2 monsters
By Spectator on 8/28/2008 9:56:23 AM , Rating: 2
:)

"Quemm has not caused this problem but is reporting it"

Classic. but the best is still.

"Guru Meditation" those were the days :)


RE: Doom 2 monsters
By overzealot on 9/2/2008 1:59:44 AM , Rating: 2
Try using the web browser in DSorganise.
You can and will get a "Guru Mediation" error.
Not quite the same, but you'll love it none-the-less.


pcga
By luseferous on 8/26/2008 3:19:10 PM , Rating: 2
PCGA

Oh Please !

This group contains Microsoft who have done more to kill off pc gaming in favour of their xbox varients than just about any other single entity.

Epic are currently hard at work making xbox exclusives for Microsoft.

Really if you belive these people are the saviours of pc gaming then your head is somewhere very smelly and dark.




RE: pcga
By luseferous on 8/26/2008 3:29:17 PM , Rating: 2
P.s I agree with most of the points you have put forward and that the pc gaming world is in no way about to disappear but the PCGA or at least some of its high profile members should be kept as far away as possible from any decisions the industry as a whole may make as to the future direction of gaming. because its continued health is not in their interests. (I will say it again :Microsoft)


PC Gaming
By frozentundra123456 on 8/28/2008 8:27:17 AM , Rating: 2
I finally believe that PC gaming in making a comeback from a period of a lack of quality games other than shooters.
The real thing that will "save" computer gaming is a lot of variety and high quality games(RPG's,shooters,strategy, etc.)
Recently almost every qualilty game has come out first for the consoles and been ported to the computer. However there finally seem to be some games coming out for the PC such as Spore, Starcraft 2, C and C 3 and Diablo that are PC exclusives at least initially.
Also, the latest generation of graphics cards are able to play most games at a reasonable quality for a reasonable price. This should make PC gaming accessable to more people.




RE: PC Gaming
By Imaginer on 9/2/2008 12:14:04 PM , Rating: 2
No... even if there are alot of various great quality titles spanning all genres, accessibility and the perceived notion that getting games to work with the PC is like programming a VCR in the minds of many gamers who like the accessibility of a console far better. Right now, with great titles, only the still devout PC users and some on the fence between console/PC will come back. Many out there have this mentality that gaming is only done with a console, the fact that they only want to game in a living room, the fact that some say that keyboards and mices can't work for FPS PC action in a living room setting...

And there is also the perceived notion and stigma that anyone you bring up PC gaming with would retort that it takes $4000+ to get started. (in part also thanks to companies like Dell/Alienware, Voodoo PC, NVidia, etc.) Even if you convince them that cost isn't a factor, it is the ease of getting things to work. Like the article suggests, you have to jump through hoops to get things to work.

Get rid of those two barriers or at least having educated consumers would do the trick in addition to having the great titles with uniqueness that aren't the clones or rehashes of played genres.


ummm... hmnmm
By cmontyburns on 8/25/2008 9:43:58 PM , Rating: 2
amen to that!
[or sho-ryu-ken, or something]




How I became a PC gaming snob
By kyleb2112 on 8/26/2008 5:02:21 AM , Rating: 2
A long time PC gamer, I recently gave in and bought a PS2 with the idea of playing just the cream of the crop of the huge PS2 game library. Surely there must be some great titles after so many years, I reasoned. But it hasn't even been worth the paltry 60 bucks I spent on the used console.

The controls and camera angles are MISERABLE even for many of the very top rated games. I used to curse games ported from consoles because I thought they screwed up the controls in the conversion, but I now realized they were ALREADY screwed up. Whether it's Resident Evil or the equally highly rated Metal Gear games, simply aiming the reticule is like rotating a tank turret. And the translation of platform gaming from 2d to 3d all but destroyed the genre. No longer is jumping a matter of skillful timing (ahh, the old NES Days), but a wild guess to offset haphazard camera movement.

As long as consoles are so pathetic at recreating an immersive experience, PC gaming will have its place. If they stop making new ones, I'll just have to keep playing the old ones.




Linux Games
By ted61 on 8/26/2008 11:24:44 AM , Rating: 2
Old Ted61 had a ball configuring those old games. I still remember how happy I was just to get the sound to work. I still buy a lot of the new games and play them through then move on to something else.

Ted99 loves the Linux games. Kids will sit for hours and play the simple games that people write just becuase they like to program. Some times, getting a linux game to run with good hardware and a 64 bit OS version is just like getting Doom or One must Fall to run.

There is a market for the next generation of PC games. What type of market that will be remains to be seen.




Ah Phantasy Star Online...
By Icelight on 8/27/2008 4:37:05 PM , Rating: 2
I had way, way too much fun with that game. More fun with it than any PC hack-and-slash game that came out before or after (including Diablo 2). Infact, I should have phrased that 'have', as I still play it to this day (The "newest" PC version - Blue Burst).

I love both PC gaming and console gaming for different reasons. I could not imagine playing FPS or RTS games on a console, just as I could not imagine playing RPGs (more of the JRPG variety, other RPG types like Bethesdas game and such are better on the PC) or third person action games on the PC (well, at least without a controller to use, that is).

PS. Phantasy Star Online is not an MMORPG. You wouldn't call Diablo 2 an MMORPG...




config.sys days are still here...
By Yaron on 8/29/2008 10:30:31 AM , Rating: 2
Nice seeing other old timers... :)

Talk about editing config.sys files... just this morning I was editing an ubuntu menu.lst file to get rid of all the stupid kernel versions that Grub is presenting while you boot the machine. Annoying as hell! I felt like I was in a time tunnel working on a 286... Good thing I didn't have to set the IRQs... ;D




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