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Year of the PC

MATATATMATATAT
edited September 2012 in Video Games
I was reading this article where the phrase "Year of the PC" was used. I've heard this phrase used conventionally especially within this year and the previous. I'd say its no lie that PC gaming is making a comeback, but it got me thinking about the reasons behind such a large shift towards PC gaming. Was console gaming just a trend, or was is a logical alternative for those who couldn't afford a gaming rig?

There is at least two parts to the answer that I see. One being that the technological advancements of gaming in the past couple years has slowed dramatically from what it once was. The other being that the price of building a computer capable of playing newer games and having such a machine last longer than a couple years. I also think people's willingness to more readily purchase games thanks to applications like Steam is making it once again okay to develop games on the PC. Piracy is not as much of an issue to PC gaming as it once was.

What I'm curious about is if you guys think that PC gaming is here to stay or if we'll see a recession back to console gaming once the next big development happens in PC gaming? And do you think with PC gaming on the rise console gaming will fall into the background or will it always be at least as predominant as PC gaming is?
Post edited by MATATAT on

Comments

  • AprecheApreche
    PC gaming is always here to stay. In most of the world PC gaming has always been king. it's just kicking ass in the US lately because the consoles have not updated in a long time. Also because the openness of the PC platform and Steam have brought a lot of games to PC that just aren't on any console. If you think about it there are more exclusives on PC than there are total games in most console libraries.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    I have no evidence to support this, but:

    I think the failure of the Wii to live up to its potential hurt the console market more than anything else. They did something innovative that made a big buzz, and a lot of people tried to follow them. Then Nintendo and everyone else failed to do anything with that innovation, causing people to turn away from their consoles.

    Also, as broadband is more universally accessible and affordable, getting games with Steam becomes trivial. So now you have an easily-accessible market (since pretty much everyone has a PC) that is looking to get their gaming fix.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Console gaming is already PC gaming. Every major console right now is running some *nix or NT variant kernel. The push towards gaming on actual PCs is because the Walled Garden architecture of console gaming is becoming restrictive enough that Joe Blow with Xbox Gold is starting to realize that he is majorly getting shafted on what he is paying $100 a year for.
  • RochelleRochelle
    NEVER AGAIN Xbox Live Gold. NEVER AGAIN.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    edited September 2012
    NEVER AGAIN Xbox Live Gold. NEVER AGAIN.
    Or Jolene Blow, evidentally. I don't wish to be discriminatory in my selection of nominative characterizations of the American every(wo)man.

    But yeah, XBL is very bad news indeed.
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • RymRym
    Console gaming is already PC gaming.
    No. Very few people consider closed/proprietary hardware platforms like this to truly be "Personal Computers." There is a gulf of usability and access wide enough to warrant a distinction.

  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    I always thought the appeal of the console was that it was a purpose-built machine that was cheaper than buying a gaming rig. That might still be the case, but you can get a pretty cheap gaming rig these days. We're at a point where the hardware to run everything you care about is cheap enough to kill consoles.
  • CremlianCremlian
    Year of the PC is just a gimmicky term to sell you on reading the article.
  • MATATATMATATAT
    Console gaming is already PC gaming. Every major console right now is running some *nix or NT variant kernel. The push towards gaming on actual PCs is because the Walled Garden architecture of console gaming is becoming restrictive enough that Joe Blow with Xbox Gold is starting to realize that he is majorly getting shafted on what he is paying $100 a year for.
    Playstation and Wii already have no fees associated with them, also Steam itself is somewhat of a walled garden. There are benefits to it being such, allowing for the application to have more control over your games makes such things like Steam auto updating your games much much easier for people who don't know much about computers. I'm not sure the "Walled Garden" is what is making people switch. I wonder though if with the next release of consoles the tide will draw on PC gaming.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Year of the PC is just a gimmicky term to sell you on reading the article.
  • SchnevetsSchnevets
    edited September 2012
    Also, as broadband is more universally accessible and affordable, getting games with Steam becomes trivial. So now you have an easily-accessible market (since pretty much everyone has a PC) that is looking to get their gaming fix.
    Don't forget that direct downloads have been priced fairly and competitively with Steam leading the pack. Consoles now have marketplaces as well, but prices remain stagnant and games quickly become forgotten.


    ...although I will say that this is the Year of the Gaming PC in a way similar to the mythological Year of the Linux PC which some claim we're getting closer to. It's happening less because of great accomplishments in the PC world and moreso because the gargantuan companies have become slow, clumsy, and vulnerable.
    Post edited by Schnevets on
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    Console gaming is already PC gaming. Every major console right now is running some *nix or NT variant kernel. The push towards gaming on actual PCs is because the Walled Garden architecture of console gaming is becoming restrictive enough that Joe Blow with Xbox Gold is starting to realize that he is majorly getting shafted on what he is paying $100 a year for.
    Playstation and Wii already have no fees associated with them, also Steam itself is somewhat of a walled garden. There are benefits to it being such, allowing for the application to have more control over your games makes such things like Steam auto updating your games much much easier for people who don't know much about computers. I'm not sure the "Walled Garden" is what is making people switch. I wonder though if with the next release of consoles the tide will draw on PC gaming.
    Steam's walls are pretty low, and you can always buy a game outside of Steam. No such option exists with a console - not legitimately.

  • SchnevetsSchnevets
    Console gaming is already PC gaming. Every major console right now is running some *nix or NT variant kernel. The push towards gaming on actual PCs is because the Walled Garden architecture of console gaming is becoming restrictive enough that Joe Blow with Xbox Gold is starting to realize that he is majorly getting shafted on what he is paying $100 a year for.
    Playstation and Wii already have no fees associated with them, also Steam itself is somewhat of a walled garden. There are benefits to it being such, allowing for the application to have more control over your games makes such things like Steam auto updating your games much much easier for people who don't know much about computers. I'm not sure the "Walled Garden" is what is making people switch. I wonder though if with the next release of consoles the tide will draw on PC gaming.
    Steam's walls are pretty low, and you can always buy a game outside of Steam. No such option exists with a console - not legitimately.

    To be fair, consoles offered a different form of openness by being reliant on physical media. There were multiple distributors, and eventually a fair price for a game was discovered - generic FPS 2008 could be found for $5 after 6 months, Super Smash Bros. Brawl stayed $50 FOREVER.

    Consoles are walled gardens in a different way, but I would say they were more open to the common consumer's needs up until this generation (when Microsoft and Sony decided they would rather just make dumbed down PC's*).

    *Not that the old strategy would keep working...
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Console gaming is already PC gaming.
    No. Very few people consider closed/proprietary hardware platforms like this to truly be "Personal Computers." There is a gulf of usability and access wide enough to warrant a distinction.

    Don't be a pedant, Rym. Gulf of usability aside, I'm saying that most consoles are constructed on PC architectures rather than being frameworks of circuitry with expansion pinouts for the rest of the circuit that constitutes the game, i.e. the NES, SNES, et al.

    The artificially-imposed gulf of usability and access is what is forcing the migration back to PCs. Consoles are just PCs with a lot of consensual DRM and bloatware.
  • RymRym
    Console gaming is already PC gaming.
    No. Very few people consider closed/proprietary hardware platforms like this to truly be "Personal Computers." There is a gulf of usability and access wide enough to warrant a distinction.

    Don't be a pedant, Rym. Gulf of usability aside, I'm saying that most consoles are constructed on PC architectures rather than being frameworks of circuitry with expansion pinouts for the rest of the circuit that constitutes the game, i.e. the NES, SNES, et al.
    It's not pedantic, it's practical. The gulf, for normal people, is insurmountable.

  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    In this vein, I think the third partition is mobile platforms that exist in a sort of seperate sandbox from either consoles or PC gaming. There is certainly overlap in all directions between the three, but it seems like some designs are always going to inherit both the advantages and flaws of a particular platform.
  • SailSail
    Steam made PC gaming as easy as Xbox Live but better.
  • MATATATMATATAT
    Console gaming is already PC gaming.
    No. Very few people consider closed/proprietary hardware platforms like this to truly be "Personal Computers." There is a gulf of usability and access wide enough to warrant a distinction.

    Don't be a pedant, Rym. Gulf of usability aside, I'm saying that most consoles are constructed on PC architectures rather than being frameworks of circuitry with expansion pinouts for the rest of the circuit that constitutes the game, i.e. the NES, SNES, et al.

    The artificially-imposed gulf of usability and access is what is forcing the migration back to PCs. Consoles are just PCs with a lot of consensual DRM and bloatware.
    If anyone is being pedantic it's probably you :P. DRM is still very prevalent on the PC and is often more difficult to contend with than on the console (where there is no contention unless you are pirating software).
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Hardly. Look, I'm saying that the average person gets a taste of the PCs capabilities from something like an Xbox (Netflix, playing AVI files from a thumb drive, downloadable games), etc. Then, said average person decides they want to do something just a little bit more (MKV files, Spotify, who knows), but they realize that the garden wall is in their way. These problems don't exist with the PC (or at least, not to the same extent), and so people are moving.
  • ChurbaChurba
    If anyone is being pedantic it's probably you :P. DRM is still very prevalent on the PC and is often more difficult to contend with than on the console (where there is no contention unless you are pirating software).
    Point of fact: Steam itself is, while very pretty and nice to use, still a form of DRM at the core.

  • MATATATMATATAT
    edited September 2012
    If anyone is being pedantic it's probably you :P. DRM is still very prevalent on the PC and is often more difficult to contend with than on the console (where there is no contention unless you are pirating software).
    Point of fact: Steam itself is, while very pretty and nice to use, still a form of DRM at the core.

    True, minus Steam my library has at least two different types of DRM between all of my games. On the Xbox I don't have to deal with any of these. I specifically remember a game (I can't remember what the name was, but I believe it was some Ubisoft game) where my friend literally had to put the game disc into his PC, let it load, and then unplug is cd drive from his motherboard to get it to work. Granted that was a few years ago but you will never find anything like that on the PC.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
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