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NOTE: This is an attempt at a serious discussion about Consoles and the PC as gaming platforms their past, present, and most importantly the future. This is not a thread set out to bash or malign either platform or their respected fans. If you feel the need to do so start your own thread and make a proper fool of yourself there.
History: I feel it is important to start with my personal gaming History. I am 36, my first gaming experience at an arcade was Space Invaders and at home Pong. The first home console game I had was a system that just played variations of a game called Breakout. I spent many hours playing on the Atari 2600 and dropped countless quarters at Arcades in the early 80's. I played Zelda, Super Mario on the NES but in the late 80's my love of arcade and console games faded. It was not until 1992 that my gaming began again when I bought my first PC, the powerful Intel 386!!!
And so I began my PC gaming journey. Since then, and in part because I got married and had children I haved owned the following consoles: Sega Genesis, N64, PS1, PS2, Gamecube. However, I very rarely play on the consoles. My children play on both the PC and the consoles and they enjoy both, my oldest console skills are way beyond mine now. I am a PC gamer. However, I am not a PC elitist.
Enjoy this time my fellow PC gamer, for this might well be the golden age of the PC game. Look at the games this year. Far Cry, Doom 3, Half-Life 2, The Sims 2, Rome: Total War (PC 2004 Games at GameRankings.com) to name a few, it's been a banner year for FPS games in particular. Despite this there are trends that can no longer be denied, and these trends herald the end of the PC as a gaming platform, and not to far in the future.
It was not long ago that the PC was a far superior platform to any console, but that gap has shrunk tremendously. Yes, the PC will always be superior for no other reason than it is constantly upgraded whereas the console is upgraded every 4-5 years. But the console is taking over, the sales numbers prove it but if you don't believe it go into a Best Buy or EBGames. The PC software area is shrinking and shrinking and the console area is growing. How many current game sites started as PC only and now include consoles or are now console dominant?? I wonder how much longer EBGames will sell PC software??
Yes the PC is a superior platform, yes games should look and run much better on a PC. But at what cost? I think you need to spend $1000 today to build a decent rig that can play the latest games well. I can pick up an Xbox or a PS2 for $150 today, when they are first released for around $300. Games cost the same for console or PC. However the real cost is not at the consumer end, but at the publisher/developer end. It is far more profitable to produce for the console than the PC. Let me explain. The console hardware is locked, the developer knows EXACTLY what the hardware is and it does not change, there is ONE combination. On the PC side it is exactly the opposite, the are countless combinations of hardware, AMD/Intel CPUs, Nvidia/Via/Intel motherboard chipsets, Nvidia/ATI video cards, numerous sound options, multiple OS's (Win 98, XP, 2000) - all these combinations are a nightmare for developers, and ultimately mean it takes longer, is much more difficult and cost more money to develop a PC game. Not to mention that once a console game hits the street it is 100% finished, whereas a PC game may have another 3-12 months of work as it is tweaked, patched, and possibly new content added. One more factor is it is much easier to pirate PC games.
The next generation of consoles will spell the doom of PC games. I am not saying that PC games will disappear completely, but the number of titles will drop significantly and we will see the trend where IF a game sells X number of units on the console side then they will make a PC version. Why do you think Microsoft got into the console market?!?! Why are they currently willing to lose so much money doing it? Because they saw the future 5 years ago. Why do you think Carmack at id says he has one more engine in him?? I believe in part because he knows the PC market is dying and does not want to develop on consoles. The PC will become a specialized market, catering to the strategy crowd in particular. I also think many die-hard PC gamers are gonna think twice when the next-gen of console games comes out, because they are gonna look great and be very powerful.
And so in 10 years I people may well look back at the year 2004 and say this was the last hurrah before the real decline, the last year the PC game held it's own against the console. The console is taking over and soon, if not already, will be the undisputed King of gaming. I do not look forward to this day, but I beleive it is inevitable.
The PC is Dead.... Long live the Console!! - though it pains me to write it, I believe it to be true.
History: I feel it is important to start with my personal gaming History. I am 36, my first gaming experience at an arcade was Space Invaders and at home Pong. The first home console game I had was a system that just played variations of a game called Breakout. I spent many hours playing on the Atari 2600 and dropped countless quarters at Arcades in the early 80's. I played Zelda, Super Mario on the NES but in the late 80's my love of arcade and console games faded. It was not until 1992 that my gaming began again when I bought my first PC, the powerful Intel 386!!!
And so I began my PC gaming journey. Since then, and in part because I got married and had children I haved owned the following consoles: Sega Genesis, N64, PS1, PS2, Gamecube. However, I very rarely play on the consoles. My children play on both the PC and the consoles and they enjoy both, my oldest console skills are way beyond mine now. I am a PC gamer. However, I am not a PC elitist.Enjoy this time my fellow PC gamer, for this might well be the golden age of the PC game. Look at the games this year. Far Cry, Doom 3, Half-Life 2, The Sims 2, Rome: Total War (PC 2004 Games at GameRankings.com) to name a few, it's been a banner year for FPS games in particular. Despite this there are trends that can no longer be denied, and these trends herald the end of the PC as a gaming platform, and not to far in the future.
It was not long ago that the PC was a far superior platform to any console, but that gap has shrunk tremendously. Yes, the PC will always be superior for no other reason than it is constantly upgraded whereas the console is upgraded every 4-5 years. But the console is taking over, the sales numbers prove it but if you don't believe it go into a Best Buy or EBGames. The PC software area is shrinking and shrinking and the console area is growing. How many current game sites started as PC only and now include consoles or are now console dominant?? I wonder how much longer EBGames will sell PC software??
Yes the PC is a superior platform, yes games should look and run much better on a PC. But at what cost? I think you need to spend $1000 today to build a decent rig that can play the latest games well. I can pick up an Xbox or a PS2 for $150 today, when they are first released for around $300. Games cost the same for console or PC. However the real cost is not at the consumer end, but at the publisher/developer end. It is far more profitable to produce for the console than the PC. Let me explain. The console hardware is locked, the developer knows EXACTLY what the hardware is and it does not change, there is ONE combination. On the PC side it is exactly the opposite, the are countless combinations of hardware, AMD/Intel CPUs, Nvidia/Via/Intel motherboard chipsets, Nvidia/ATI video cards, numerous sound options, multiple OS's (Win 98, XP, 2000) - all these combinations are a nightmare for developers, and ultimately mean it takes longer, is much more difficult and cost more money to develop a PC game. Not to mention that once a console game hits the street it is 100% finished, whereas a PC game may have another 3-12 months of work as it is tweaked, patched, and possibly new content added. One more factor is it is much easier to pirate PC games.
The next generation of consoles will spell the doom of PC games. I am not saying that PC games will disappear completely, but the number of titles will drop significantly and we will see the trend where IF a game sells X number of units on the console side then they will make a PC version. Why do you think Microsoft got into the console market?!?! Why are they currently willing to lose so much money doing it? Because they saw the future 5 years ago. Why do you think Carmack at id says he has one more engine in him?? I believe in part because he knows the PC market is dying and does not want to develop on consoles. The PC will become a specialized market, catering to the strategy crowd in particular. I also think many die-hard PC gamers are gonna think twice when the next-gen of console games comes out, because they are gonna look great and be very powerful.
And so in 10 years I people may well look back at the year 2004 and say this was the last hurrah before the real decline, the last year the PC game held it's own against the console. The console is taking over and soon, if not already, will be the undisputed King of gaming. I do not look forward to this day, but I beleive it is inevitable.
The PC is Dead.... Long live the Console!! - though it pains me to write it, I believe it to be true.
