PC Gaming - A come back?

[Gareth]

I can't help but notice things seem to be picking up in the PC gaming world, it did look like it was dying a death (IMHO) but things seem to be being turned around. Some of these games are available on console but are better played on PC

Starcraft 2
Mafia 2

Still to come . . .

Fallout New Vegas
Max Payne 3
Crysis 2

I've noticed the 5900 series cards are dropping in price which can only mean one thing (the 6000 series are out soon which means I can hopefully start my new build).

 

[Leeham]

Always prefered my PC to my consoles, Fallout New Vegas is going to be awesome. I'd take aiming with mouse over a controller anyday.

 

[Damo_Sport]

I prefer my PC to my console.. especially on FPS as i don't think you can beat reflexes with a controller like you can with a mouse and keyboard.

I would buy MF2 for PC but my pc isnt up to the game as it used to be a few years ago when i built it..

 

[Darren S]

PCs trounce consoles for gaming - but they aren't for everyone. I think PCs have pulled ahead again as the PS3 and certainly the 360 hardware is getting long in the tooth now.

However, I think if next-gen consoles were released tomorrow, they would pull ahead in favour over PCs. It's rare to get a pure PC player like myself these days....

D.

 

[Addicted]

PC GAMING > *

consoles are usually just for the casual gamers, or gamers who see the pc as having too many 'buttons'

no really, always have and always will be a pc gamer!

 

[Cookie]

I have a PC, PS3 and 360

95% of my gaming is done on the consoles now.

Steam is nice, but it's no XBL

 

[Darren S]

I have a PC, PS3 and 360

95% of my gaming is done on the consoles now.

Steam is nice, but it's no XBL

It doesn't have to be Steam though. Steam is merely an option - one of many.

D.

 

[Gareth]

I have two 360s, a PS3 and Wii, but its still nice to see PC gaming coming back.

 

[CountryBumpkin.]

Ive been playing on my pc more tear recent weeks. I can't remember the last time I played my ps3.

 

[Daz.]

I got bored of spending hundreds of pounds once in a while to play a new game that would stutter, not work with the new sound card properly, crash yada yada yada...

I find myself more on my 360 these days and to be honest not concentrating on how amazing it looks anymore simply playing the game and having fun.

It's no fun spending 3 days on 3Dmark eeking out every last fps while maintaining image quality lol.

 

[Darren S]

I got bored of spending hundreds of pounds once in a while to play a new game that would stutter, not work with the new sound card properly, crash yada yada yada...

I find myself more on my 360 these days and to be honest not concentrating on how amazing it looks anymore simply playing the game and having fun.

It's no fun spending 3 days on 3Dmark eeking out every last fps while maintaining image quality lol.

I see where you're coming from Daz - as I said, PCs aren't for everybody. But we aren't all 3DMark Wh0res It's nice to ramp up the visuals, have superb audio options and have iTunes and maybe CS open at the same time on a seperate screen. I've never 'got' the whole console thing since owning (and still own) a PS1. Sure it was great to whack in the Gran Turismo disk and blat around Trial Mountain. But I got bored so quickly and just ended up always being pulled back to the scope and flexibility of the PC. When the PS2 was launched, I just had zero interest in replacing my PlayStation with the newer model.

D.

 

[David]

A lot of the games seem to have this over the top internet authentication stuff which i guess is encouraging game companies to develop more games since they're more diffiicult to copy etc. I don't know if it'll make a come back but it's nice to see. That being said for online, you'll always get a larger number of players on console (for a cross console game), so it's a tough battle for PC's. For example i'd never play street fighter IV on PC because all the pros are on console...really no advantage on a pc there, however fps's and possibly rts's.....

 

[Cookie]

It doesn't have to be Steam though. Steam is merely an option - one of many.

D.

Steam's the best option I've seen tbh.

My PC is only used for strategy games, and FM. RUSE looks uber pretty, and clearly designed to be played with a mouse

 

[Brand86]

I disagree that consoles are better for gaming, apart from maybe RTS games.

Consoles play straight out the box, don't require upgrades, and despite opinions to the contrary, 360 controllers to me are far more intuitive than mouse/keyboads.

I think the only key advantage is the graphics, but to me the 360 is fine...and I'd rather play on my huge LCD TV compared to sitting next to my PC desk (and yes I do know you can run your PC to your TV or get big monitors).

Again just my opinion, but I still think the PC gaming market has become a bit minority and will continue to decline.

Addicted - to say consoles for "casual" gamers is ridiculous though. How on earth do you think that???

 

[Addicted]

i said it's usually for casual gamers, obviously you get your hardcore gamers, and particularly on the 360 you get raging 10 year olds on XBL.

in my opinion you can't beat a pc, if you wanna play with a controller, then plugin a ps3 or xbox controller (which both work), if you want a steering wheel or a joystick then go ahead. if you just want pinpoint accuracy and access to plenty of buttons (for fps/rts/whatever) then you stick to mouse & keyboard (i really can't see how controllers can be that accurate, even if you are extremely good with a controller, it'll never be as accurate [but then that's my opinion as i've always been an FPS player]).

of course i agree with what people have said about upgrading computers all the time, but you really don't need to do it that often providing you have some knowledge (and yes i get that some people don't)! and perhaps its just me, but i like the fact that if i want to play a new game, i have the ability to upgrade a component if it falls behind, rather than buy a whole new console where i'm limited again.

also in terms of interfaces for interacting with other players and friends, it really depends on the games you play and how much you play. i use Xfire mainly, which i think all of my gaming friend's use which makes steam completely redundant!

my 2cents

 

[Cookie]

FPS's are infinitely better on the PC, I don't have any of the CoD's on the 360/PS3

 

[Gareth]

This wasn't intended to be a PC versus thread, just a PC is coming back into the fold kind of thing.

 

[Darren S]

A lot of the games seem to have this over the top internet authentication stuff which i guess is encouraging game companies to develop more games since they're more diffiicult to copy etc. I don't know if it'll make a come back but it's nice to see. That being said for online, you'll always get a larger number of players on console (for a cross console game), so it's a tough battle for PC's. For example i'd never play street fighter IV on PC because all the pros are on console...really no advantage on a pc there, however fps's and possibly rts's.....

You should try it m8 - it looks exceptional - in all 1920x1200 glory.

D.

 

[David]

yeh but without the competition i'll be bored. i'm ranked 9 in europe on psn, 3rd on the sfiv forums and 40th in the world (last time i checked which was about 3 weeks ago) so i need the top players tbh and they're all on console

bet ithe extra 120 llooks lovely though

halo wars though, wasted on console!!!

 

[wozzaa]

Street Fighter IV runs at 640P and then is upscaled to 1080P on the 360, 720p on the PS3.

Bit different when you see an actual 1200P signal.

Plus if a PC player really wanted to be s**t hot at it, they could buy a gaming keyboard and program all the special moves onto a single key. Makes doing huge combos a single key press.

 

[Brazo]

Majority of my gaming is done on consoles, mainly PS3 for demons souls but now that I have sold that the 360 is getting some attention.

I have a laptop thats capabale of running MW2 at a fair lick but couldn't run say Arma 2 at a half decent frame rate once you ramp up the graphical settings. My problem is I am to a keyboard and mouse what a sloth is to brain surgery! That said I do enjoy it!

The PC is slowly dieing I am afraid, majority of games in the OP are simply console ports. Its simply to do with money, why pay for a game when you can get t for free? (I buy mine from Steam) but you know the mentality. Its simply not worth a devs time if they are going to sell a few thousand copies yet have milions playing their games!