PC 2015 Report Card

Can there really be a PC "report card?" Isn't it more of a PC developer and/or Steam report card?

I don't use a PC to play Assassin's Creed. I use a PC to play DCS A-10C.

They're fundamentally different platforms.

I think PC will always be the top gaming platform. Yes it may not have the most exclusives that get release every year but it has a huge library of games. Including modding and bug fixing. I think consoles are ok but your always be limited with the hardware, have to wait for developers to fix bug and other things. To me personally I think PC Gets an A. In my honest opinion

so in short, the bad things about PC is that they arent consoles, or they dont look like consoles yet

"Modding tools aren't consigned to PC in the long run: CD Projekt Red has expressed interest in bringing Witcher 3 mods to other platforms, and Bethesda has an actual plan to do so."

You’re talking as if modding depended on administrative decisions and pum! by magic consoles will have mods. But is a bit more complex...

1. Mods are individual hobbies from gamers, horizontality is their strength, and there isn’t corporation directive that makes me make a mod for other platform what I don’t care.

2. Mods are made and tested on PC, port and test on consoles is an extra job that most modders want avoid, even to do the Readme file of the mod, take screenshots or video to show what the mod do is an extra unwanted work.

3. Graphics mods, filters, overpopulation, assets with too many polygons, etc, require to exceed the “recommended” or “preferred” requirements. For example: to run Fallout 3 you need a PC equal or better than a PS3, but to run graphic mods you need a PC that (at least) doubles the power of the PS3 (and x10 to run many of them together). Considering that Fallout 4 turns PS4 in a coffee maker, imagine what would happens with filtering, atmosphere, effects, textures 8K, assets full of polygons, more NPCs, bigger areas, forestation, etc...

That’s to start to understand the technical limitations of consoles to modding, but there is even more, like 3rd party programs, for example Fallout 3 to run pretty well a good quantity of mods requires: Script Extender, Mod Manager, Archieveinvalidation, Boss, Large Address Aware Enabler, Fallout Stutter Remover, Fake Fullscreen, FO3Edit, NifScope, merged patches, and more depending the mods requirements. Those programs are from modders or companies, but, even if those tools were released to consoles too, do you imagine a console user dealing with all of that?

So, why Bethesda announced mods to consoles if it is impossible to do with efficiency? I think the main reason is marketing, maybe Sony and/or MS don’t want to see their consoles as shit in comparisons like in modded versions (Skyrim, GTA, Ark, etc), and they provide some mod support as some weapons, nudity would work well (finally on consoles you will not be playing as children with parental control!), and take in mind that could be for paid, nobody knows how it would work because are closed systems, you haven’t control and you will depend on your company to use mods, you never will be able to do whatever you want, have that in mind.

To be clear, think well what you want before buy a game, if you just want to play vanilla (and slow and buggy), you can choose console version, but if you think that you will want to mod someday, you will want the PC version. Is an advise, I’m modder, I know what I’m saying.

Good luck!

LONG LIVE PC MASTER RACE!!!

Its also been a bit of a shit year for PC gaming too. Paid mods, and trash filling up the steam store.(Surprised these weren't mentioned)

Also. No one cares about the Xbox App on Windows 10 or do many people care about Steam Machines.

Also "Steafily increasing mod support" You do realise that PC has had mod support for YEARS. Hell even older games like C&C Generals had mods.

Also in terms of VR IT HASN'T MATERLISED YET! Only developers have access to it, and its a tech that could flop like 3D TV's did. Your right about the user tailored machines but again this has been a thing for years.

Also as for Steam Machine lineup you are aware that one could always build thier own Steam Machine.

@Chernnunos: Yes and no... He was referencing Steam Machines specifically, and those have a lineup. Steam Machines are supposed to make it easier for people who prefer a console-like package to play PC games on their TV. Right now, you can't just sit down and play any PC game on a Steam Machine.

What does streaming games from Xbox to Pc mean? Can I play the friggin game on PC or not? Why would I want to stream a game to PC? What am I missing?

1. Steam machines are a more of a new form of console than a PC. Something your co-CBS media company -- CNet -- agrees with calling it: "A new gaming console with the heart of a PC."

2. Who cares about XBone? Gamers, myself included, often own consoles. But we're not really interested in the Windows 10 XBone emulator to play our XBone games even worse than the XBone plays them.

3. E-Sports are not the sole domain of PC games. They can be any platform even if many are PC games. And they way you made it sound bigger than it is by comparing it to the Masters is laughable. The total prize money for the PGA tour in 2015 was $279 million. That's just the US. Heck, the Senior Tour has more prize money than e-sports. E-Sports has a long, long way to go before it can even take on Golf never mind one of the big sports.

4. PC's have been in the living room for a long time. Especially now that so many of us have unhooked from cable and stream Netflix through our computers. And, before that, we used it as a DVD player/recorder! And back in the days of 4X CD-ROMs I even used my old Soundblaster card as a stereo and played music.

Just because you're 20-years behind the times doesn't mean we are.

5. VR is still a big nothing. Delay. Delay. Delay. Delay.

@Chernnunos: And the terrible videos done by staff. Professional announcers are professionals for a reason, and it's not because they're gamer-hipsters with grating voices.

Or, even worse, when we basically get a YouTube trailer with a one-minute commercial on the front of it.

Probably the most moronic "report card" for PC gaming I've ever read.

You have no idea what you're talking about. No one who uses a PC gives even an inkling of a shit about the XBOX Win10 ap. Even if they have an XBONE, I'd wager the app is an afterthought if anything. I'd also be willing to wager that most people who use an XBONE as their primary system don't really care much about this either. If anything, this year has signaled a bigger move for PC gamers to the living-room, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Which brings up the next point. You honed in on the Steam Machines, but failed to even mention save in passing the more significant products involved; the Steam Link and Steam Controller. NO ONE CARES ABOUT STEAM MACHINES, except scared children who believe PC's are supercomplex alien apparatus' (they aren't). The Steam Link moves PC gaming to the living room and does so cheaply and effectively for existing PC users. There is even less reason to buy a console now because of this.

The idea that PC is a "flexible" platform is the most modest, limp-dick way of ceding that it's the premier model for a gaming platform available now. It has the most robust hardware. It can technically do anything developers want with few strings attached. It delivers better performance and better output and lets the players choose peripherals.

There has NEVER been a time in gaming history when consoles have been so thoroughly removed from relevance by their own transgressions. Their embarrassingly poor hardware and the limitations they place on users is no longer acceptable. The fact that you're even attempting to compare them to PC is laughable.

PC report card by somebody who doesn't know what they are talking about... Good job GS... :/

You talk about bringing pc gaming to living room but fail to mention a product that single-handedly eliminates the need for consoles forever: Xbox One wireless adapter for Windows 10.

trash 'report card' really. Writer must have an old Packard Bell sitting on his desk...puts windows 10 on it and xbox whocare wtf that is....loads up game...crashes....writes 'report card'.

if it's a review and a "score" for what PC offered this passed year why is there no mention of all the great games that were released?

all i see mentioned are that MODs exist and a list of things that disappointed this reviewer.

I am running Witcher 3 at an old Geforce 670 and I7 2600k. It runs pretty well and with good graphics.


It´s important to remember that while the PC hardware is more expensive, games are CHEAPER.

That´s because the PC hardware is not really more expensive. It´s just that console makers SUBSIDIZE the console cost. Consoles mostly are sold cheaper than they cost.

In return, the console maker gets a % of every game sold on console. And that means games cost more.

Medias don't give enough credit to MMOs, not even mentioned in the video :/

I have to agree with the majority of comments on this site, this report card is poorly written and researched. This should be done again because effectively, its completely empty and devoid of anything pc gaming related.

Gamespots Article in Review:

The Good:

_ They tried?

The Bad:

- They have to try harder

- VR doesn't exist at retail on PC yet and no one can buy it besides a select few that want lower quality DEV kits.

- NO ONE will buy a gaming PC to run an shitty Xbox One app to stream compressed games.

- Mod support has been around for decades and is just as strong as it always has been.

-eSports are not real sports and have nothing to do with the existence or use of gaming PC's.

-Steam Machines are Linux boxes limited to "some" Steam content and have nothing to do with Gaming PC's and should not have even been mentioned.

-Steam OS isn't even on the level of gaming PC and shouldn't have been mentioned at all.

-No mention of decades worth of unlimited backwards compatibility

-No mention of the overwhelming technical specs capable of a full gaming PC configuration and how it dwarfs all other forms of gaming.

-No mention of how staggering a full 2160p or 1440p image can be compared to the typical 720p/900p console. Likely because they only have small computer monitors and not 50"-70" 4K panels to do proper graphics comparisons on.

-No mention of PC games have selectable types of graphics settings to get the best performance out your rig allowing for any framerate or resolution you want and not one that's locked in based on what the developer was able to provide for the lowest common denominator configuration.

-No mention of discrete 7.1 channel surround sound that almost all PC games offer (and have offered for well over a decade) when hooked up with an HDMI to a modern A/V Receiver.

-No mention of hardware flexibility and ease of upgrading to keep up with the demands of the latest games.

-No mention that PC games are typically cheaper online than their full price console counterparts, either digitally or physically.

-... I don't have all day to keep going.. Gamespot, get your shit together. Your article is based on whatever one of your people was able to absorb from an E3 conference or trade show.

"the bad" are all not related to actual PC gaming at all. This means: no bad. Or at least nothing could be found worth mentioning.

A+++ as always. That's the PC report card, every year.

If mods don't appeal to you that's fine, but I've seen some use mods like the Buzz Lightyear mod as an example for what modding is capable of, rather than mods that add entire new sections to games, or rewrite AI behavior to improve upon the original, or add hundreds of new items/weapons/etc... to a game's arsenal, or hell, in the case of some mods, become entirely new game modes all together. Mods can add significantly more to a game than just cosmetic changes, and even those that only change the visuals are sometimes such profound changes to the visuals that they breathe enough life into the game to encourage seeing what all the modder has changed about the game visually.

Also, the gap between consoles and PCs in terms of power is not small, it's a rather large gap. The price gap between consoles is also huge, and for what you're paying for consoles, you're getting a decent deal in terms of what the consoles are capable of power-wise, and the other bells and whistles that come with the consoles (apps, blu-ray player, exclusives, etc...).

I used to game on consoles more than I do on my PC (this was before I bought a gaming rig), but what stopped me playing on consoles wasn't the superior power of the PC, it was that I strongly dislike both the Ps4 and Xbox-One. I've owned both consoles for over a year now (I bought the Ps4 in 2013, the Xbone at the end of 2014), and in all that time I still have yet to warm up to them. Something about the design of the user-interfaces just rubs me the wrong way. That's more of a personal complaint than anything else, but I just want to make it clear that being a PC gamer doesn't inherently turn you into part of the "master race". I'd love to game on consoles more, but this generation's just not doing it for me.