Will I be PC gaming next year?

[Kobra]

I play PC games less and less each year. The reasons?

1) Declining quality in games.
2) Lack of diversity in titles (RTS and FPS seem to be the rage)
3) Lack of improvements over core concepts and graphics we've had for years.
4) Unfinished products.
5) Poor distribution models and copy protection issues.
6) Overpriced graphic cards and hardware required for top game performance.
7) Bugs and compatibility issues with PC games.

Enter the next generation consoles... From the Buzz at E3, it is clear the next gen consoles will have a *HUGE* jump on PC's. This is the first time consoles have leapfrogged PC's by any margin since the 3DO and Neo Geo systems.. When Neo Geo came out, it was lightyears ahead of any PC games in playability, graphics and control. It took years for PC's to catch up, and only then it required SLI graphic cards to come close - and still fell short.. This is probably why for many years I almost exclusively played consoles.

Then something happened, consoles got crappy. They were always well behind the PC in graphics and quality games. Consoles had more games, but they were expensive and usually weren't very good - or poor ports of PC games. I gave up on consoles - this was sometime around when the Dreamcast went away (the last decent console), and the PS2 an d Xbox arrived.

So since then i've been exclusively gaming on PC's. But I think this might change with the advent of the next generation consoles. The reasons above, but also the fact that high end graphic cards have hit $1000 in purchase price, and now they want us to purchase Physic engines for an addition $400 to get quality experiances.... So when the next generation consoles hit, and blow away PC's in graphics, speed, power, control, compatibility, and game selection/diversity. I ask why I shouldn't just forget the whole PC situation and go and enjoy console games on my HIGH DEFINITION TV set with nice controls, sitting back on my leather couch sucking down a cold soda?

I spend $300 on a nice next gen console, 3 times LESS than the cost of a top end graphic card for a PC, and I have everything I need for gaming enjoyment.

Anyone else think that PC gaming is going to be a infrequent thing for themselves by early next year - or at the least - secondary?

[Blackhawk]

I ask why I shouldn't just forget the whole PC situation and go and enjoy console games on my HIGH DEFINITION TV set with nice controls, sitting back on my leather couch sucking down a cold soda?

Honest, non-sarcastic answer: You should forget the PC thing. Truthfully - your posts seem to show that except for a rare game, you get more stress than enjoyment out of it. When a hobby becomes a source of stress, you move on.

Me, personally, I'll stick with the PC. I have a couple of hundred unfinished games in my backlog/collection, so I can keep busy for years.

[Daehawk]

I dont know where you buy your graphics cards but they are ripping you good bro. You can buy a nice 6600GT for $160. And most people dont own a HD tv so a console would look worse than a pc with them..Im one. I also hate the game types a console has and much prefer the diversity in PC gaming.

[Kobra]

Actually, backlogs are a good idea.

I have probably 8-10 titles sitting around waiting to be taken up. AAA games that will surely offer months of gameplay each for me (casual gamer). The new stuff just keeps on sukin'. But yea, looks like consoles are in my future very very soon. BTW it isn't stress, I never get stressed. I lead a stress free life. Don't confuse my annoyance or bad attitude at times with stress. Big difference.

I'm talking high end graphic cards, the new cards coming are in the $1000-1200 price range. 6600Gt's are solid cards, but some of the new games will destroy that card when you crank the settings. I'm talking 6800Ultra's and junk here.. Way overpriced crap, and the next gen cards + physic chips will push all of that much higher.

[LawBeefaroni]

I doubt my habits will change much. I'll play on the PC the most but when I find a console game I like, I'll play that.

The most common argument I hear is the couch argument. That consoles are better suited to leisurely gaming than a PC. I thought so at first too but I'm more comfortable at my PC. My office is set up with everything I need and I still get that feeling of hiding away to play that I did playing Zork in a dark basement. It's more immersive to me as well. Don't know why. Probably because the living room is the shared room, my office is my own room.

HD is the biggest technical advance. Previously no console could hold a candle to a PC with monitors having a far superior resolution. The few HD games I've played on my Xbox have rendered the resolution argument obsolete. The few HD games I've played.

The next generation consoles look quite capable. I've been suprised with the Xbox and Gamecube thus far and if consoles can put out better product in the future, I'll continue to play them.

[Kobra]

Good point on the living room thing... Shared room, uncomfortable, not the place to enjoy games - especially when someone else in the house wants to watch a movie.

I solved that problem.. I'm having my basement professionally finished (this week actually), nice plush carpet, recessed lights, and two seperate rooms. One for PC gaming/lan sessions with 5 PC's setup - each with 19" LCD's. (3 for me and my kids, and 2 for guests)

In the other room in the basement will be a leather couch and chair, my 50" HDTV, Bose system, and a wetbar with all the fixings.

I don't plan on hooking up any consoles until the next gen arrives though. But I sometimes wonder which room will win at the end of the day.. I guess I will find out more towards the end of this year. Heh

[Jeff V]

I don't play action games - consoles are worthless to me. I think two games in the last 100 that I've played even exists in console form (and the PC version was considered far superior in both cases).

[Vesper]

I don't think the new consoles will have a HUGE leap on PCs. Right now, a top end gaming system looks amazing in 1600x1200 compared to Xbox/PS2. All we've seen are clips from a very few Xbox 360 games and TECH DEMOS from the PS3. And if you go back into the archives and look up the tech demos for the PS2, you'll see that Sony likes to exaggerate... a LOT. I can guarantee you games will look nothing like their smoke and mirrors. The clips from actual X360 games are probably pretty accurate though.

Typically, new consoles come out and slightly exceed current PC technology for awhile. As they stagnate, PCs take over the lead once again, and the cycle repeats.

As far as unfinished/buggy games and distribution problems, I can't argue with you there.

[JonathanStrange]

I ask why I shouldn't just forget the whole PC situation and go and enjoy console games on my HIGH DEFINITION TV set with nice controls, sitting back on my leather couch sucking down a cold soda?

Honest, non-sarcastic answer: You should forget the PC thing. Truthfully - your posts seem to show that except for a rare game, you get more stress than enjoyment out of it. When a hobby becomes a source of stress, you move on.

Word.

[raydude]

I may be way off base, but I'm hoping that the graphics levels on the next generation consoles will top out with a resounding "Meh!" and that we can then go back to gameplay. Consider:

There's only so much "oohing" and "aaahing" that one can do when noticing that 500 blades of grass are being modeled and drawn independently in real-time on a console. Once the graphics levels top out and seem pretty much the same on any system developers have to concentrate on the other stuff to hook me:

good AI, deep strategy, and good gameplay.

Then again, I don't have to look to consoles for that. I'll stick to playing the deep strategy games on my PC.

[philosophist]

Anyone else think that PC gaming is going to be a infrequent thing for themselves by early next year - or at the least - secondary?

Ya. PC gaming is so... antiquated. Ironically, I enjoy building and tweaking PCs and read mags like CPU and Max PC. But when I want to simply enjoy a game, I don't want to dork with drivers and the like; I just want to play. And with my limited free time (3 kids will do that to you), I don't have time for mods (that are often of dubious value) either.

[philosophist]

I dont know where you buy your graphics cards but they are ripping you good bro. You can buy a nice 6600GT for $160. And most people dont own a HD tv so a console would look worse than a pc with them..Im one. I also hate the game types a console has and much prefer the diversity in PC gaming.

Why do you need an HDTV when your PC's monitor will work quite well?

[Kobra]

Typically, new consoles come out and slightly exceed current PC technology for awhile. As they stagnate, PCs take over the lead once again, and the cycle repeats.

One HUGE problem with this...

The powerful video cards for PC's are going up in price, massively. The new 6800Ultra with 512MB Ram is $1000.. Nvidia has told me they expect next gen chipsets to come in around $599 base, and exceed $1200 on the top end cards.

So to get cutting edge - the stuff that will surpass the new console boxes, you'll need to spend big. For the average joe, they won't see the quality. Also keep in mind all of the next gen consoles support 1080i HD Resolutions. That totally closes the gap in terms of what always set them behind PC's.

Speculation is that increasing costs to maintain the graphical edge in PC's, combined with the accessibility of the incredibly advanced next gen consoles. Added to 1080i console resolution.. Then I think we might have a problem comparing this generation to previous.

[Dhruin]

The most common argument I hear is the couch argument. That consoles are better suited to leisurely gaming than a PC. I thought so at first too but I'm more comfortable at my PC.

Amen to that! Good luck to those that lounge on the couch but I much prefer sitting at the PC in my study.

When the day comes that I'm really missing out on good western RPGs and TB startegy games, I'll think about a console but until then, the only game I'd like to check out but haven't yet is Jade Empire and that's not that big a deal. Looking over the anticipated Xbox360 stuff I don't see any must-haves that I won't be getting on PC. I'm sure it's different for lots of others but my for tastes, consoles just don't have the titles at this point.

As for price, I already have a PC, so the only real expense is a bigger video card and perhaps more RAM than I might otherwise have. New top end cards might start at those quoted prices but they certainly won't stay there.

[Kobra]

New top end cards might start at those quoted prices but they certainly won't stay there.

Don't bet on it.. I purchased a BFG 6800GT-OC over a year ago for $389.00... I just checked today, they are still $389. If you look, you can find no-name brands for $300-350 range. But the prices really haven't changed much.

6600GT's have dropped drastically, but they definately aren't top end. Although a very nice card for the pricepoint, what we are really referring to here are the top-kit cards. Prices on the upperish cards tends to not fluctuate very much (even over a year or two). I noticed even today, 5950FX cards are still the same price they were 2 years ago.

Even so, do YOU want to wait a year for a card to go down so you can play XYZ-Coolgame with Godlike graphics? Or need to spend $400 for that extra card to handle physics?

[raydude]

Whew, thank god I'm not a graphics whore .

[Jeff V]

Typically, new consoles come out and slightly exceed current PC technology for awhile. As they stagnate, PCs take over the lead once again, and the cycle repeats.

One HUGE problem with this...

The powerful video cards for PC's are going up in price, massively. The new 6800Ultra with 512MB Ram is $1000.. Nvidia has told me they expect next gen chipsets to come in around $599 base, and exceed $1200 on the top end cards.

So to get cutting edge - the stuff that will surpass the new console boxes, you'll need to spend big. For the average joe, they won't see the quality. Also keep in mind all of the next gen consoles support 1080i HD Resolutions. That totally closes the gap in terms of what always set them behind PC's.

Speculation is that increasing costs to maintain the graphical edge in PC's, combined with the accessibility of the incredibly advanced next gen consoles. Added to 1080i console resolution.. Then I think we might have a problem comparing this generation to previous.

Funny how you're carping about a $600 graphic card yet say nothing about needing a $2000 TV to play the console game at such high resolution.

[mori]

Didn't we have this arguement when the X-Box and PS2 were preparing for release? And the PS1 before that? We (PC gamers) are still around.

I just can't stand the crappy, sloppy controls of console games. The day I have to use a gamepad to play a FPS is the day I quit gaming.

[Kobra]

Funny how you're carping about a $600 graphic card yet say nothing about needing a $2000 TV to play the console game at such high resolution.

Because gumby, I already have a $2,000 TV to play the games at such a high resolution.

You see, there are many other ways to enjoy that TV... HDTV, HD-DVD's, HD Movies, you can even view your digital camera images and other things on it... Nobody.. I mean NOBODY, buys high end HDTV's just to play videogames.

It is part of the total package you see.. But that $600-1000 graphic card in your computer does one thing and one thing only... Allows you to see pretty colors on your computer monitor. That my friend, is a on-dimensional, limited use expense - and a high one at that.

Not sure how that equates to a HDTV as you put it. o.O

[Dhruin]

Am I willing to wait a year? I won't have to - as you say, $389 gets me a very nice card right now and whenever I'm ready to upgrade, there will be a suitable card for a similar price point. There may be a super-duper phenomal special card for $1000 but there will be one <$400 with 90-95% of the performance that will do a very nice job, even for the graphics whores.

Nvidia and ATI make quite a bit of money from add-on cards and they'll need to find a way to keep making cards gamers want to buy -- and as always, there will be demand in those mid price-points. I also just don't believe that the Xbox 360 contains $1000 worth of video + $400 worth of PhysX card plus the other stuff for $299 (the pricepoint analysts have pinpointed). MS will take a loss on every one but it won't be anything like over $1000. So, next-gen cards might enter the market at incredible prices but they'll soon produce "value" next-gen cards that will compete with the consoles at a price I can afford.

Point still remains, for my tastes, consoles just aren't where it's at (for the moment).

[SlapBone]

I'm just glad that Starforce's representative here on this board is going to stop PC gaming. It says a lot about this board

[Giles Habibula]

I've ALWAYS bought my parts for my rigs about a year behind cutting-edge, and those rigs always got me through the next 2 or 3 years able to play all the latest games.

For instance, my current XP 2600+ w/ 6600GT gets nice framerates in HL2 at 1600 X 1200. I'll admit it doesn't do quite as well with Doom 3, but even that game is completely playable at a very nice resolution.

I fully expect to be using this rig for quite some time with good results. And it cost way under $1000 to build.

And I have a backlog of literally dozens of games lined up that will run flawlessly on this. I'm not even worried about it at this point.

Not to mention another couple hundred games all set to run on my Win98 machine I have in the other room.

Switching platforms now, for me, would make no sense.
I love my PCs setup. I spent years tweaking my desk so that everything is perfect for me. I'm completely at home here in my very nice chair, and very very comfortable. And I have a TV mounted up in the corner of the room, should I ever desire to watch TV and play games simultaneously.

I guess my main point is that my PRIMARY expense is in all the games I buy. The costs of the systems I run them on is hardly worth mentioning by comparison. Sure, I buy parts as cheaply as I can, but the machine is a relatively inexpensive means to play a ton of relatively expensive games.

i.e I'll spend say $500/year on average on PC parts.
And maybe $1,000/year on games, both new and sale-priced.
Added together, that's a small price to pay for a hobby I enjoy very much.

[Grifman]

I play PC games less and less each year. The reasons?

1) Declining quality in games.
2) Lack of diversity in titles (RTS and FPS seem to be the rage)
3) Lack of improvements over core concepts and graphics we've had for years.
4) Unfinished products.
5) Poor distribution models and copy protection issues.
6) Overpriced graphic cards and hardware required for top game performance.
7) Bugs and compatibility issues with PC games.

More than half your problems still exist with consoles.

1) There is a lack of diversity in consoles. Most titles are geared towards hyped up teenagers - FPS, racing, fighting, sport games. There are no RTS games, no TB strategy games, relatively few RPGs. I honestly see few console games I want to play.

2) There's no improvement over core concepts either. In fact consoles seem even more stuck in the same genres and gameplay they always have.

3) The distribution model is the same one you rant about over PCs - no improvement here

4) Consoles seem to suffer from the "unfinished" problem also. See KOTOR 2 for a prime example.

The only points I'll agree with are bugs and hardware costs. Other than that, consoles generally have the same flaws/problems.

[Jeff Jones]

It is part of the total package you see.. But that $600-1000 graphic card in your computer does one thing and one thing only... Allows you to see pretty colors on your computer monitor. That my friend, is a on-dimensional, limited use expense - and a high one at that.

For starters, you are using hyperbole to stress your point. You can get a very good video card for $150, and a really kickass one for $300 (X800 XL or 6800GT). You also cited a $400 price tag for a product that doesn't even exist yet (physics cards).

I have a 6800GT, and it will play anything on the market at 1280x1024 and 4x anti-aliasing and 8x anisotropic filtering at very high frame rates.

I really don't have any issues with your thoughts that next gen consoles are going to be a big leap over the current batch (they are), but it bugs me when someone uses silly extremes to make a point .. as if to say that if we really wanted to have an enjoyable experience with PC gaming, we'd have to spend $600 minimum on the video card. You can get all the bells and whistles for much, much less.

[Kagath]

I sure will be.

[Jeff V]

Funny how you're carping about a $600 graphic card yet say nothing about needing a $2000 TV to play the console game at such high resolution.

Because gumby, I already have a $2,000 TV to play the games at such a high resolution.

You see, there are many other ways to enjoy that TV... HDTV, HD-DVD's, HD Movies, you can even view your digital camera images and other things on it... Nobody.. I mean NOBODY, buys high end HDTV's just to play videogames.

It is part of the total package you see.. But that $600-1000 graphic card in your computer does one thing and one thing only... Allows you to see pretty colors on your computer monitor. That my friend, is a on-dimensional, limited use expense - and a high one at that.

Not sure how that equates to a HDTV as you put it. o.O

But you don't already have a computer to put your graphic card in?

I wouldn't buy a PC just to play games on either - my PC has far more functionality than my TV. A gaming console, OTOH, has only a single purpose - to play games - and considering its inability to do anything else, I'd say it was MORE expensive than the fractional cost of a PC.

[raydude]

It is part of the total package you see.. But that $600-1000 graphic card in your computer does one thing and one thing only... Allows you to see pretty colors on your computer monitor. That my friend, is a on-dimensional, limited use expense - and a high one at that.

Everyone who bought a $600-1000 graphics card and is NOT a graphics designer or in a related career raise your hand. I'm guessing not many have.

Certainly not people who value gameplay over graphics.

[Jeff V]

Ray - that's not entirely the case - there are those handful of folks with more money than they know what to do with and have decided they will always have the latest and greatest. That isn't most of us, though, and that group is so small as to be safely ignored by developers, who typically target 3-year old machines as the recommended specs.

An example of a 3-yr old video card would be the 9800 Pro selling for under $120 at New Egg according to the thread in the Bargain Bin. Games written for the x800 or 6800 series graphic cards are probably still a year out.

[Kraken]

1. I don't want to play games in my living room;
2. Even if I did, my old 21" TV is not up to the task;
3. I don't play action games or care about flashy graphics;
4. I will always have a PC for nongaming uses.

The only thing that might eventually convince me to buy a game console is needing a blue-light laser, if those become standard, and having to replace (upgrade) my 20-year-old TV set with one of those fancy sets that everyone seems to be buying nowadays. Even then, the console's main function would be playing DVD movies -- see point 1.

Since I only watch TV about 8 hours a week (including movies), I'm hoping my current set will last me another 10-15 years.

[baron calamity]

When I got my 46 inch plasma, I was very tempted to go all console and thought maybe this upcoming generation of consoles would do it. However after seeing what was coming up at E3, I just don't think so. They seem to have the same dearth of quality original titles that the pc is going through. At least the odd indy title has a chance of appearing on the pc.

To tell the truth, the real innovation seems to be happening on the handheld arena. I'm more excited by annoucements on the DS and the PSP than for any console or any pc.

[philosophist]

Still not sure why we can't have both. With a $65 add-on (x2vga+), I have my xbox right next to my PC, both using the same 21" monitor. XBox games look gorgeous in 420p on my monitor!

I still play most games on my PC, but for games not available on the PC (ie Jade Empire), I can simply press a button and switch to my xbox. And from what I've heard, the xbox 360 will support VGA either out of the box or via a first party add-on.

So, what's the issue? Gaming in your office? Check. Gaming in high definition without buying an HDTV? Check. PC and console gaming? Check.

[Kobra]

Games written for the x800 or 6800 series graphic cards are probably still a year out.

That is wierd.. I've been playing them for months... Plenty of games written for 6600/6800 series, such as SCCT with it's shadermode3. In fact, almost all of the games i've purchased recently, are optimized for 6x nvidia series.

Where ya been?

[lorax]

To tell the truth, the real innovation seems to be happening on the handheld arena.

Truth or not?

[raydude]

Games written for the x800 or 6800 series graphic cards are probably still a year out.

That is wierd.. I've been playing them for months... Plenty of games written for 6600/6800 series, such as SCCT with it's shadermode3. In fact, almost all of the games i've purchased recently, are optimized for 6x nvidia series.

Where ya been?

Dude, give it a rest. So your ruler is the biggest. Do you really feel the need to brag about it to strangers?

[Jeff V]

Games written for the x800 or 6800 series graphic cards are probably still a year out.

That is wierd.. I've been playing them for months... Plenty of games written for 6600/6800 series, such as SCCT with it's shadermode3. In fact, almost all of the games i've purchased recently, are optimized for 6x nvidia series.

Where ya been?

None of them require such cards, smartass. It seems you determined to paint yourself as a martyr; for what, I can't tell.

[Grifman]

Funny how you're carping about a $600 graphic card yet say nothing about needing a $2000 TV to play the console game at such high resolution.

Because gumby, I already have a $2,000 TV to play the games at such a high resolution.

Yeah, but most people don't have HDTVs yet.

And most people don't and won't need $600 graphics cards to play games. The market won't support that so developers won't require. Your example gives you the benefit of a "free" HDTV while saddling PC gamers with a $600 graphics card they won't need (at least at that price). Your example is unfairly skewed, which is what others are trying to point out.

[Ridah]

The upcoming generation of consoles always exceeds the PC for about 6 months to about a year, but after that year of console glory, the PC kills the consoles for the next three. I've seen that happen through three generations now, and in my opinion the graphical leap is smaller than it used to be. Sitting during the PS3 and Xbox 360 theater presentations, I kept thinking "damn, my PC can already do that and for cheaper". Why cheaper? because I don't have to spend $5000 on a decent TV, not even including audio setup. I can afford high-end PC gaming at this point, I can't afford high-end console gaming though.

Thinking about it more, I seriously don't see why you consider abandoning PC, especially after this generation? There weren't any particularly stunning games being shown, and the ones that drew stares were mostly sequels.

[Kobra]

Games written for the x800 or 6800 series graphic cards are probably still a year out.

That is wierd.. I've been playing them for months... Plenty of games written for 6600/6800 series, such as SCCT with it's shadermode3. In fact, almost all of the games i've purchased recently, are optimized for 6x nvidia series.

Where ya been?

None of them require such cards, smartass. It seems you determined to paint yourself as a martyr; for what, I can't tell.

Required, no. You didn't say anything about "Required". Natually to get the really good graphics, you need the SM30 cards. SCCT looks far better for example with SM30 cards. (Nvidia 6X series)

Nobody said anything about "Required".

[RookieCAF]

So Narcissistic.. Kobra, Please go console, and give your computers away so you can enjoy gaming again, and we don't have to read your "poor Little Me" Posts..

[Beer Goggles]

I use my Xbox more as a media center then a gaming machine. PC gaming forever!