Is PC gaming dying

PC gaming can never die.. people will buy both consoles and graphics card as they will have no choice

Very true.. Thing is a never ending topic..

The pc's controls beat the consoles..
I was never able to master the controllers when it comes to consoles. I was not even able to master the controllers in my pc..not only fps, i couldnt do it any game..maybe its because of my hate for the controller..

As long as the keyboard and the mouse are alive, I will never leave my pc..I dont play much fps and MP. Still i love my pc..

Nowadays, the average price for console games is around Rs.2000 whereas its around Rs.999 for the pc games..

Games like Uncharted, KillZone 2, God of War, etc which are console exclusives are great, just because they are exclusives...If they had been made for the PC, they would have fared a lot better than the console versions IMHO..

NOOOO Not another PC vs Console thread

God.... it seems like this thread follows me wherever I go.....

Well if you are so cock sure about what consoles are about, why are you even asking for opinion/advice from others? As I mentioned before, I own a PC, 360 Elite, PS3 and PSP, That's why I am giving my opinion based on experience. 80% of my gaming is still done on the PC because I find it the best platform.

And yes I stick to what I said about Console only being a good choice only for casual gamers. They work out a lot costlier than PC for anyone who plays more 30~40 games in year even if you include cost for upgrading PC every year. A typical PC game costs 400~1000 bucks with around 700 being avg. A typical PS3 game costs 2700 on avg. XBOX 360 games cost 1850/- for ther regular ok'ish games, but most of the hyped up releaeses cost anywhere from 2400/- to 3500/-, So I would put them at 2400/- on avg. So if your main entertainment is gaming and you are serious gamer who plays lots of titles every year, then PC makes a lot more sense. In fact you don't even get so many good to decent games on a console in an year.

Graphics does not matter when the game sucks, but graphics does matter when the game does not suck. it does make a difference in the overall experience of a game. Dragon Age looks a tonne better on the PC As does most other games.

A game does not have to be a PC exclusive to stand apart from consoles. There are tonnes of multi - platform games that standout on the PC. Yes there are tonnes of games that I would prefer playing on the PC than on console. There are many games that I bought for console, but then also played the PC version as well for a richer experience of the same game. Mass Effect, Assassins Creed, DMC4, GTA4, RE4 are examples of games that I would rather play on the PC than on any consoles.

If you get past the top AAA multi-platform titles that supports every platform, there are tonnes of other great games on the PC that were made on a not so great budget or hyped up, but still deliver.

Code of Honor 3 which did not even get a thread on TE was one of the best counter terrorist themed FPS games I played this year and it had absolutely fantastic graphics to boot.

Games like C&C - TW and RA were a joke on consoles. Most of the RTS and FPS games are a joke due to poor controls. Then there are tonnes of addictive freeware/low cost games that you can play on PC and those will never see the light of the day on the consoles and even if they do, they would have cost for each and every one.

Personally, I would not dream of losing out on PC gaming even if some one is ready to sponsor all my console game purchases in exchange for loosing PC gaming. There is simply not enough good stuff on the consoles to make me give up PC gaming. Its always PC - 80%, Consoles - 20% for me.

Nope funky, I feel PC as a serious gaming platform is dying. You have to look at the numbers, consoles are making way more money for the developers as well console makers.

Piracy is less on console, development for console is easier (2-3 standard platforms vs multiple gfx cards combined with multiple processors). All the hoopla about Crysis, an average X360 game earned way more then Crysis (it was a financial disaster, it is a miracle that they yet got the development money for the sequel). Only thing PC has going for the moment is Indie games developers.

Good games require a lot of money to develop, and if the game companies reckon that the ROI (return on investment) is not enough, they will pull the plug. PC sales as a ratio of console game sales has been diminishing at a rather rapid rate in recent times. Its only a matter of time when companies will find it financially nonviable to develop PC games. The big question is the time frame could be 5-10-15 years, my guess is on the lower side.

^^ What you are saying is true to a extent, but there are many gamers who would not like compromises on the quality of their gaming experience and the current grade of console gaming is unacceptable to such people.

Technologically, PC is the best platform for gaming, but Game Developers want to put down the PC platform because of ROI (due to the issues you stated) and this is not something new and its been happening for quite a while now, but they cannot drop it all together because a tonne of gamers can still be found on PC. A person who has a decent computer for his work would always like to be able to do his gaming on it than having to buy a separate console and costly games and play them in only a fraction of the quality that he can potentially get on a PC that he already has. Even game developers realize that. Very few game publishers are solely reliant on console games for revenue. If they have a console only game, then chances are that they also have other games that are PC based.

Maybe what you said will happen, but by that time the distinction between PC and console would have evaporated, and there would only be PC's in what we now see as sleek and compact console boxes and you will do your work as well as game on them, but then I would rather call that console gaming dying rather than PC gaming dying.

your prophecy scares me, but I guess porting will always be there, I mean if its financially viable to make a game on XBOX xyz or PS N, then optimized porting techniques will be developed, just to cash on all the PC gamers there are who do not rely on pirated games...

Actually the real reason is different.

No major new developer can pull the plug on PC game development.
The major difference is in revenue generated in $.
But if you see the revenue generated by sales of consoles to the revenue generated by sales of game software, the picture is not encouraging there as well. The ratio of money generated by games : console hardware is close to 1.1

That mean an average person who spends $300 on a console sends just over $300 in games.

When the scene is like this, I do not see PC gaming dying. Nvidia and microsoft will ensure PC gaming industry stays. And if ATI comes out of its hole, they will as well

Microsoft is big time into consoles now and if you see the trend, the Xbox platform might be a console, but it will remain close to PC. Developing games for xbox will mean its almost too easy to port it to the PC, and these days cross platform development is only becoming easier, not difficult.

IMO.. PC gaming will be in danger only if they can find a perfect replacement of mouse , I mean adaptive as well as functional. Simply because everyone uses mouse, more like it's in the blood.

Yes, but not much higher for a multiplatform game
Infact developing games for X360 and PC go hand in hand ( as per what i have read) due to the highly matured SDKs from Microsoft. PS3 is altogether different

Hence we see many multiplatform games play well on PC and X360 but has lots of issues on PS3(sometimes get released a bit late)

The way i see it, the boundary between PC and console will slowly get diminished and there will be a common gaming platform (atleast from microsoft) with Windows on it, which will work like a PC as well

But Intel, AMD, Nvidia and Ati wont let that happen. They live on PC gaming

+1.. I can go with it.

Nah, those figures dont match up. X360 cost $200, and $200 will get you on an average 4 games ($50 per game), do you mean to say an average console owner will just buy 4 games in the console lifetime?
The amount of money M$ gets in game royalties (they get a cut for every game sold for the X360 platform) is increasing at a steady pace and is out-pacing the console (hardware) revenue growth. the figure is more apparent in Sony's case.

Hmm the guys to lose in the console scenario are ATI and Nvidia, but doubt they can really make a difference in the equation. Hint: M$ due to the sheer $ power, can arrange for attractive financing operations for a game company. Nvidia and AMD are in no position to do so.
Regarding your second point, its in M$ best interest if it keeps PC and consoles apart. It has heavily invested in consoles business, and desperately requires cash inflow from its Xbox segment (Afaik its yet loss making due to the discounts given on the hardware). On the other PC market for M$ is a cash cow, games or no games it really doesnt make a difference to their products (majority of the revenue is from the enterprise segment).

well heres my 2 cents..

what Lord Nemesis pointed out was perfectly correct. Biggest hurdle for Consoles in my opinion is the price of Software (Games). PC games are damn cheap in India nowadays. Great job being done by the local publishers (I think Milestone.. not sure). You will never get a AAA title like LFD2 released for as less as 699 on a console. GTA4 was released for 499!! BatmanAA - 699. If you play a lot of games, then PC is the natural choice.

As for the price of hardware, all I can say is PC is more flexible. If you are satisfied with the level of graphics of consoles, it is not that expensive to get a PC which can do that. Your current config with the 260 should be easily enough for that. But if you want game at the highest resolutions with all eye-candy high and high fps then of course you have to spend for that.

But I must agree that it is possible that in few years the PC might end up as a platform mainly for RTS and MMOs.

One minor hitch there. nVidia and ATi supply the GPU's for all these current gen consoles and they do make a lot more from PC gaming than from console gaming. So Its not like everything is in the control of MS and Sony When nVidia and ATi can control how many consoles get sold.

Corrected. Consoles are best for action adventure and tekken type games and thats it...