How do you think a new generation of consoles effect PC gaming?

I'm just curious what you guys think.

I think as budgets grow and consoles become more powerful and demanding, PC gaming will be tied more and more with consoles so publishers can squeeze more money.

Like this generation we saw former PC exclusive franchises like Battlefield and Call of Duty make a home on consoles alongside PC, while MMO's and RTS games had a slight bit of a presence. We might see more of that as well as possibly more cross platform play from guys like Valve who want to push Steam everywhere, but that's just my guess.

I mean, The Old Republic was something like $200 million to make, so I'm sure next gen companies like EA will probably try and find a way to get games like that on all systems to maximize their profits if budgets will continue to inflate and graphics will continue to grow.

Simply put, it won't.

It helps advance PC games in terms of graphics because these days, developers rarely build a game for the PC with the exception of the MMO and strategy genres.

I'm just curious what you guys think.

BSC14

I think it's silly to suggest a new gen of consoles won't affect PC gmaing at all.

Certinaly it will. And I think, fo rthe most part, it will be for the better.

First, games will finally start to take advantage of modern PC hardware. You'll see games using the full potential of DX10 and DX 11 hardware.

Secondly, developing for the PC will become easier (because those two API's are a lot easier to work with) and necessary. The new gen fo consoles will ahve TINY installbases compared to the current gen of consoles and the number of PC gamers. It'll take them a 2 to 3 years to catch up. So devs would be crazy (or they will be payed a ton fo money by Sony and MS) to not deploy their games on PC in order to make up for the fact that there just won't be that many new consoles out on the street yet.

It really depends on how much power these consoles have.

I really hope the next gen of consoles will be octocores.

It really depends on how much power these consoles have.

James161324

In the short term it will force everyone to upgrade their PC. Not everyone, but the average PC gamer probably will. The new generation of consoles is when they catch up to PC. They are only there for a year or so, and then PCs start to become cheaper and more powerful.

New consoles usually means new IP. If they get ported to PC, we might see some new games. The sequels will stick around though. There will be more CoDs and Maddens and all the other big sequels.

One possibility is the new consoles go the gimmicky route. If they try to be the next Wii with some new "revolutionary" way to play games, the new games obviously will not be ported to PC. That won't kill PC gaming, but it will definitely slow it down. In that case, less PC games will be made but more of them will be exclusive to PC. This is probably not going to happen though. The big console game purchasers on Xbox and Playstation are still the hardcore crowd that doesn't use or even avoids motion controls.

I really hope the next gen of consoles will be octocores.

NailedGR

I don't think it will go past 6 cores next gen. Remember they have to compress it all into a small console, not only that they have no doubt been working on it for a few years now so I don't think an 8 core processor is likley.

It'll effect it the same it has this gen. If PC only devs wanna make more money they'll make a console version simple as that. That only matters if you believe the PC version will be "held back". I know i'll see the exact same thing happening next gen.

Because this console cycle has been so long, I think that consoles will simply catch up to the current level of hardware that PCs have. It will affect consoles more than PCs (60fps, 1080p, etc etc on consoles). However, it will in the long run help, because developers will be able to strech their wings instead of holding back because the current consoles are so old.

That said, there are some games that do look great on consoles, such as Killzone 2, Gears of War 3, Forza 4, Uncharted 3, and Batman, AC.

On the first year, there will be serious competition. Then, PC shall win terrain against the consoles for the rest of the generation as always.

More games throwing DX9 away in favor of 11

Well if the Nextbox doesn't play used games, I can see it affecting pc gaming, because more people will skip the nextbox. As a result more will come to pc, or focus more on their pc.

We have a WiiU coming this year, Nextbox end of next year at the very earliest, prolly 2014, and the PS4 is the furthest away. So for a while it will be only 1 or 2 consoles to choose from, and if one of those consoles doesn't play used games, I can promise that we will be skipping on getting that one.

Regardless PC is still my main platform. Even over 3 years old still holds up pretty good, though by the end of the year, I will have started building a new rig.

[QUOTE="James161324"]

It really depends on how much power these consoles have.

ionusX

If its just that i wouldn't expect a huge jump then

[QUOTE="James161324"]

It really depends on how much power these consoles have.

ionusX

nothing

more games use DX11, so better graphix

thats it

nothing

more games use DX11, so better graphix

thats it

HaloinventedFPS

We won't see anymore blurred and low res textures. But gameplay will still be the same. Which means; dumbed down to the bone. murekkep