Char Ell Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 TG Daily - PC industry rivals form gaming alliance against consoles Some of the heavy hitters in the game industry have decided to team up to promote PC gaming. PCGA members so far include Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Acer/Gateway, Activision, Dell/Alienware, Epic, and Microsoft. I hope they come up with a successful strategy for promoting PC gaming. I think it will be a pretty challenging for rivals to work together like this and the open nature of the PC platform won't help matters either. So while I'm glad to see this I'm not real confident that the PC Gaming Alliance will experience a lot of success in their efforts. Time will tell I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 some type of collaboration is always fruitful in producing better products, but because of the cost of building a decent gaming pc, consoles will always have the upper hand methinks All Id like to see are less exclusive titles, so PC gamers dont miss out on stuff like The Force Unleashed... mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ztalker Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Astrotoy7 wrote: All Id like to see are less exclusive titles, so PC gamers dont miss out on stuff like The Force Unleashed... Q.F.E. It kinda hurts to see all the good PC games go to the consoles and get nothing back. We already lost Unreal, Star Wars and overall: Shooters. Whilst shooters where the genre the PC's lived on... It's good to see the big peeps are trying to do something about this PS: Hope uncle George listens about a certain port for a certain game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 PCs can still do things consoles can't. What this could do is make some kind of basic standard--e.g. a minimum level of graphics card will work with x, y, and z games. I think the PC gaming market has not reached anywhere near its potential, and getting all these companies to work together could open this field up dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamqd Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 I just hope that MMO's stay PC, Star Wars MMO's being my concern, can you imagine trying to play a star Wars MMO on xbox live? 8 year olds farting and shouting racial slurs down your earpieces?! At least on galaxies the worst abuse you'll get is someone telling you that a parsec is actually measurement of distance not time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Open platform PC release. I wanna look on a game box and see Windows */Macintosh/Linux. I'm sending my suggestion letter now that they all seem to want to listen to eachother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 some type of collaboration is always fruitful in producing better products, but because of the cost of building a decent gaming pc, consoles will always have the upper hand methinks Especially in this day in age. In the past the differentiators (for me anyway) were multiplayer and graphics. Both of those have been equaled or surpassed by the latest consoles. Consoles are definitely cheaper than a new gaming rig that can run Crysis, Assassin's Creed, and presumably Mass Effect. All Id like to see are less exclusive titles, so PC gamers dont miss out on stuff like The Force Unleashed...But us PCers have had that for a while, and by and large we get mediocre to bad ports. And to make something that is comparible to the console version seems to require heavy horsepower PCs, which are an even smaller segment of an already small market. It kinda hurts to see all the good PC games go to the consoles and get nothing back. PC's do get some stuff, like the aforementioned Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect. But I expect you'll see less and less as time goes on... PCs can still do things consoles can't. For example? What this could do is make some kind of basic standard--e.g. a minimum level of graphics card will work with x, y, and z games. The problem is that if the PC games are going to be comparable to the next gen consoles, they are all going to require top end hardware that is out of the price range of most PCers (at least for now). And it is unlikely that many developers are going to develop lower-end games (specs-wise) for an inconsistent platform that has such a small percentage of the market. I think the PC gaming market has not reached anywhere near its potentialI think it has reached it's potential. There used to be no comparison between PC games and consoles, especially in the MP arena. Those differentiators have now mostly vanished, or even slid in favor of consoles. Or were you referring to something else? and getting all these companies to work together could open this field up dramatically.I hope they can, because I am a PC gamer at heart. But I am doubtful. From the link, they claim that that PC games are 30% of the US market (no comments on foreign markets?), with 2007 revenue growth being in the 13% range. The thing that jumped out at me is that they don't do any comparison with the console market, because otherwise the numbers are less meaningful. From here... 2007 was a banner year for video gaming, and the industry has the figures to prove it. The Entertainment Software Association announced today that total sales for 2007 were $18.85 billion, with $9.5 billion of that spent on games (both PC and console) and $9.35 billion on consoles. Game sales for the year were weighted very heavily in favor of the consoles. In fact, PC games accounted for only 9.5 percent of total gaming sales. Portable software sales (e.g., PSP and DS) hit a record of $2.0 billion, while consoles accounted for $6.6 billion in sales." From this it looks like PC gaming brought in a lot less than portables alone, and magnitudes less than consoles in general. It is a bit hard to strip the numbers, but it also looks from the article that PC games are growing at a slower rate than consoles. So while PC games are growing, their market share is getting smaller, which only increases the likelihood that developers will focus on consoles. What also has to be concerning for the PC market is the growth of the Wii... "There were also some changes in terms of who was purchasing the games. Two groups whose game-buying habits changed drastically during 2007 were people over age 35 (guilty) and females. Much of that is due to the incredible popularity of the Nintendo Wii, which has made gaming accessible to a whole host of people who would otherwise have never picked up a controller." The concept of casual gaming and getting friends together to play "party games" as well as the success of games like Guitar Hero are changing the market and making the more technical-knowledge-demanding PC market less appealing to the average gamer. And because of that, more devs will want to develop games that are less suited to the PC. Or, I could be wrong. P.S. Good to see you around Astro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoiuyWired Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Simple MMOs are already on consoles. The complex ones would probably stay pc, with loads of button used and customable UIs, things like WoW would be a good popular example. However, I do think that some games are better done a PC other than MMO. Sure, things like racing games and party games would work much much better on the console, as would spectator games where you get a video every 5.798 seconds o gameplay(like Squaresoft) Also, usually consoles are better in fighting game/shoot 'em ups where buttons/timing has to be precise and uniform on all the machiens to create a more enjoyable gaming experiance. BUT there ARE EXCEPTIONS. A few famouse japanese shoot'em ups and fighter games goes all the way up to ARCADE(and things like anime/manga) starts as great games on PC. Like the Melty Blood/Kiss series, any East~ series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 This is most excellent news, especially since I was thinking of the deteriorating state of PC gaming these days... Nice to see those big names in the Alliance instead of some cheesy indie devs and an Alderaanian Princess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Rider Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Microsoft has teamed up against console gaming? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Open platform PC release. I wanna look on a game box and see Windows */Macintosh/Linux. Couldn't agree more. That plus more comprehensive drivers from GPU manufacturers that'll work on virtually any OS with any new game you throw at it without having to either patch the game ten times or roll back your drivers twenty times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeiamyourdad Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 For example? Hotkeys for RTS games. In fact the control scheme for Strategy games in general cannot be copied by consoles unless they get a USB keyboard and mice. One can hardly imagine how insanely difficult it would be to play a Total War game on console. Even standard RTS games aren't very popular on consoles, no matter the attempts at breaking through that market. People know mouse and keyboard are best for that kind of game. Unfortunately, its golden age has been over for a little while, though the arrival of Starcraft 2 in the near future might spark renewed interest in the genre. The problem is that if the PC games are going to be comparable to the next gen consoles, they are all going to require top end hardware that is out of the price range of most PCers (at least for now). And it is unlikely that many developers are going to develop lower-end games (specs-wise) for an inconsistent platform that has such a small percentage of the market. Except that it is quite possible it changes to lower-end games. World of Warcraft for example, rode on the fact that older systems could run it without problem. In the end, 10 million subscribers and who knows how much profits. It could very well be a good idea to hit this market with such a strategy. Everyone has a PC or laptop in some form or another. Making games not marketed on how strong a computer you need to play it could potentially bring the PC down a new and good path. Starcraft 2 and Spore seems to be good example of this burgeoning trend. This brings out MMORPGs as another fortress of PC gaming. Unless it radically changes to twitch gaming, PC is still going to be the best platform and since nothing seems like it can truly threaten World of Warcraft as king, I don't think it's going to change in the near future. There's also Spore that's coming soon and is a PC/Mac exclusive. Another game where a console control scheme seems it would work against it. I think it has reached it's potential. There used to be no comparison between PC games and consoles, especially in the MP arena. Those differentiators have now mostly vanished, or even slid in favor of consoles. Modding is still exclusive to PC. Although with UT3, they're trying to bring it to consoles, I doubt that this "PC thing" is going to get to consoles very quickly in the near future. Although the console market is generally larger then the PC one in general, I see things as more cyclical then linear. For example, although 2001, 2002 and 2003 were clearly console years, with the PS2 arriving late 2000 and the XBox one year later. Nothing much happened for the PC, apart from a few titles such as Warcraft3. The year 2004, however, was a golden year for PC gamers. Although Halo2 and Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas came out that year, so did Half-Life 2 (PC), World of Warcraft (PC), Rome: Total War (PC), FarCry (PC), Unreal Tournament (PC) and Warhammer 40 000: Dawn of War (PC). Even though the PC was already dominated by the console in terms of software sale, quality games still came out for the platform. Yes, the market is also shifting more towards casual gamers and that's a good thing. Though our own shares, let's call it serious gaming, is getting smaller and in the same vein the PC share, it doesn't mean that we'll get crap either. The market still exists for us and it will live on for quite a while, as long as people own personal computers. Besides, laptops need good games for bored students stuck in school Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcesious Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I'd love to see what would would happen to the gaming industry if all of these companies combined forces to make the ultimate gaming PC... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 PC's do get some stuff, like the aforementioned Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect.... woot! shows you how out of the loop Ive been...I didnt even know that superb news though Theyre 2 games I genuinely want to play, Ive had enough of 1337 next gen shooters, no matter how spiffy their gfx I'd love to see what would would happen to the gaming industry if all of these companies combined forces to make the ultimate gaming PC... lolz....it'd need a small generator to power and cool it, and even then would still only get 4fps on crysis at 2500x1600 mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoffe Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 PCs can still do things consoles can't. For example? The thing I'm missing most about console gaming is modding. To be able to tweak a game to my liking and see how it fits together "under the hood" is a significant part of the fun. It also adds to the longevity of the game. I've been modding most games I have played so far to some degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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