It's comforting to know that, at the end of each year, I can have a good laugh by looking at every gaming media outlet and reading their solemn words about how "while many believe PC gaming is dead, _____ proved to be a suprising year..."

Uh huh. World of Warcraft just passed 11.5 million players, some of the most popular shooters in the world are PC exclusive, and many of the best games around - Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto IV - are multiplatform.

And Nvidia and ATI are still at each others throats, in the process dropping indelible video cards which PC gaming enthusiasts are happily buying.

So, give me a good reason why PC gaming will surely meet its inevitable doom.

thejoblot:
It's comforting to know that, at the end of each year, I can have a good laugh by looking at every gaming media outlet and reading their solemn words about how "while many believe PC gaming is dead, _____ proved to be a suprising year..."

Uh huh. World of Warcraft just passed 11.5 million players, some of the most popular shooters in the world are PC exclusive, and many of the best games around - Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto IV - are multiplatform.

And Nvidia and ATI are still at each others throats, in the process dropping indelible video cards which PC gaming enthusiasts are happily buying.

So, give me a good reason why PC gaming will surely meet its inevitable doom.

Because of ignorance.

I can't think of one, because pc will never die :D

thejoblot:
Uh huh. World of Warcraft just passed 11.5 million players

This is one reason why many people think PC gaming is dead.

/grin

- J

It's not dead, and will never die. It simply won't ever return to the mainstream unless it suddenly becomes both cheap and easy to get a good gaming PC.

But the PC will ALWAYS be THE place to go for good RTS and FPS games, they're just BETTER on the PC... really.

As it was said, it probably won't die. The PC is quite a good method of gaming, as the demos are free. Aaah, free demos. I love you.
I'm rather sad that the Mac isn't in on much of this action. I was once told that Macs were a playing computer.
Playing my arse, there's like two Mac games I'd consider playing.

Sedina:
I can't think of one, because pc will never die :D

Even if mainstream video games don't come to the PC, you'll always have the indie market.

Neither can I! It's baffling to me. It's the same crap people have been saying since the Wii/360/PS3 were all released.

PC gaming, happily dead since 1984.

Jonathan Hexley:
As it was said, it probably won't die. The PC is quite a good method of gaming, as the demos are free. Aaah, free demos. I love you.
I'm rather sad that the Mac isn't in on much of this action. I was once told that Macs were a playing computer.
Playing my arse, there's like two Mac games I'd consider playing.

Free demos? I thought all demos were free, what do they cost money on XBL?

I wouldn't know since I bought a PS3 instead to play Final Fantasy >.>

Uh, it really isn't its just that console snobs can't figure out how to play games without a controller, so in their infinite wisdom, they condemn PC games as "stupid" because they "aren't sophisticated enough" to use a controller (read: Stupid mainstream gamer no understand keyboard! MORON SMASH!). Basically, I play both console and PC games and I really don't prefer one or the other, I just play on whatever format the game is on or seems to be best suited to.

Speaking of free stuff...you can't pirate games on an Xbox! ;)

Nah, I buy my stuff fair and square.

Too much effort. You have to update your PC and everyone has different set-ups. With consoles, you really just have a basic model that every has to an extent. Thats my opinion.

As long as there's money to be made, games will come to the PC, usually the developers that turn away from the PC release games I would never buy anyway so I don't lose out on much. The real question is... how can a game developed on a PC, released months AFTER console release, have more bugs and issues than a game developed by someone who's blind and yes Saint's row 2 I'm looking at you...

Phantom2595:

Jonathan Hexley:
As it was said, it probably won't die. The PC is quite a good method of gaming, as the demos are free. Aaah, free demos. I love you.
I'm rather sad that the Mac isn't in on much of this action. I was once told that Macs were a playing computer.
Playing my arse, there's like two Mac games I'd consider playing.

Free demos? I thought all demos were free, what do they cost money on XBL?

I wouldn't know since I bought a PS3 instead to play Final Fantasy >.>

I... Have no idea. I don't own Xbox Live, making Rock Band rather bland after a while. Not yet of course, I've still got a year to go.
But yeah, not sure if they're free, I don't have the online capabilites to check.

I don't think it's dead. Only dopes say that.

PedroSteckecilo:

But the PC will ALWAYS be THE place to go for good RTS and FPS games, they're just BETTER on the PC... really.

Thats your opinion, however i have a friend who constantly plays cnc on his 360 ( I really on't know why) and there are a lot of godd platform exclusive fps games. Really its you opinion on if it's better or not. Apart from that i completely agree with your post.

It's just "Nerdy" to have a "Gaming PC" or to be a "PC Gamer" but if you say something like "Yeah I have a Wii," that seems much more casual and not-un-cool in everyday conversation. Since Consoles look like they're "cool" "hip" and "the way to go" for gaming doesn't make it true. They're just simple and easy to use. Kind of like a parallel and opposite to Macintosh computers (both have some communities that say "PC = dead," both are supposedly "hip" and "cool," however, the Gaming Consoles play, you know, games, and the Maacintosh... I'll get back to you when I figure out what, exactly, it's supposed to do.)

bad rider:

PedroSteckecilo:

But the PC will ALWAYS be THE place to go for good RTS and FPS games, they're just BETTER on the PC... really.

Thats your opinion, however i have a friend who constantly plays cnc on his 360 ( I really on't know why) and there are a lot of godd platform exclusive fps games. Really its you opinion on if it's better or not. Apart from that i completely agree with your post.

You CAN play them on console, but if you have a PC that can run it, you're better off with the PC when it comes to the RTS genre, you just can't beat "keyboard and mouse" for that. I find the samething with FPS's, while I like the console ones just fine, it's way more fun and feels more natural on the PC.

Why do we still have fanboys?

Get jobs and go buy all systems! Become the platform king of your local area! Then you'll become immune to all reports of platform death, as you'll be able to jump to the next one. Sure, you'll suddenly be stuck with a platform that nobody supports anymore, but you seal that baby away for a few years and you'll have future console collectors offering you top dollar for your outdated hardware and software library.

Misconceptions.

Ahh, I love my thread. It's a bit outdated though, but most still applies.

System requirements. Only a very small minority will actually update their PCs to play games like GTA IV and Crysis.

Dead? No. But certainly far from dominant like it once was.

When I started seriously playing games, if you wanted to play online it HAD to be a PC game. It wasn't until the Xbox came out that console games started to match up with PC games in terms of general game quality and multiplayer potential.

If there is a problem, it's the simple fact that in order for a PC to demonstrate it's superior graphical capability in a game these days it has to have a lot of power behind it, which results in expensive and all too frequent upgrades. Couple that with the fact that very few games are PC exclusives these days and you have a recipe for disaster.

I still use my PC for some games. I generally prefer shooters in PC for example but I no longer cry when I try to play them on a console. Strategy games can really only be rightly played on the PC as far as I'm concerned. While I believe that one could create a successful MMO for consoles it has yet to be done, so when I'm in the mood for a second job I turn to the PC for MMO offerings.

As I've gotten older I've become less concerned with playing games in their "ideal" state though. These days, when I'm not working or what have you it's nice to be able to throw a disc into my Xbox and play a game online for an hour without having to fight with hardware settings or drivers or any of a dozen other little annoying things. To make matters worse, my gaming PC is getting a bit long in the tooth and there has yet to be a new PC game that makes me think I need to bother replacing my system to play. Sure there's Crysis or Far Cry 2, but nothing I've seen about either game seems terribly interesting.

Yarrrrrrrr!!! We're the pirates and we are gonna sink the U.S.S. PC Gaming.

It won't die but I feel that it may become increasingly marginalized, I know I would be more inclined to upgrade my machine for gaming if there was a way for me to rent pc games like I can with the consoles.

shadow skill:
It won't die but I feel that it may beome increasingly marginalized, I know I would be more inclined to upgrade my machine for gaming if there was a way for me to rent pc games like I can with the consoles.

I have a gut feeling that we won't be able to rent games anymore with all these game companies complaining about rentals and second-hand sales. Console DRM maybe?

Well, I actually prefer console a bit more than pc, but the only reason I'm still using my pc is to play mmo's

shadow skill:
It won't die but I feel that it may beome increasingly marginalized, I know I would be more inclined to upgrade my machine for gaming if there was a way for me to rent pc games like I can with the consoles.

Gametap is like the Netflix of PC gaming. I think.

thejoblot:
Speaking of free stuff...you can't pirate games on an Xbox! ;)

If you own a dual-layer disk burner, then yes, you can. In fact, piracy of console games is almost as popular as the piracy of PC games.

the appeal of the consoles is certainly undeniable, but I cant see PC gaming ever truely dying out. No console offers the freedom that computers do to those who know how to use them. and some games just dont work on a console, RTS anyone?

PC gaming is not dead and never will be so drop it. This idea of dead PC gaming was lame a few years ago.

Eggo:
Yeah, all those World of Warcraft subscriptions and Steam users are going to leave it a marginalized market.

one more reason to hate steam.