Ideas that the PC gaming industry should implement to compete with consoles

• All games should automatically run system diagnostics before install and self-install any needed drivers.
• Mods should be super easy to install. I would use the example in Civilization 4. Gamers should be able to install extra mods in "My Document" folders as opposed to having to hack the startup command lines or put files in obscure folders. You're never going to get all PC gamers to explore the terrific world of mods if you don't make it as easy as possible.
• All games should have gamepad support. Some people just aren't fans of the mouse/keyboard. If the norm has to be the Xbox 360 controller to make sure everyone has one standard, than so be it.
• All companies should stick with Steam for easy downloading. Steam seems to be the best download service, so go with it. Stop ruining yourself by having different competitors such as Direct-2-Drive. Pick one service to streamline it and offer EVERYTHING in PC gaming history, just like the Wii and 360 have done with so many console classics. There are a lot of classic PC games that new gamers never had a chance to experience.
• All patches should be available in the main menu of the game and self-installers.

Your ideas?

You lost me when you got onto Steam. Steam is a huge piece of trash for people with lower end computers and would force everyone to be high end gamers. It also forces you to be online when you use it even for single player and some people can only get DSL at best in their area or have a really sucky cable company like I do. I dislike Steam with a passion.

the main thing, imho, that PC needs to get more attention is a backer that actively promotes it as a gaming platform. obhiously consoles have their manufacturers and they promote and advertise thier consoles like nut bags. they talk about its strengths while taking pops at the other manufacturers (someone at MS recently mentioned that ppl would "graduate" from wii to 360...what a laugh :P).

obhiously the PC has a crap load of companies involved, from nvidia to dell and, hell, even sony and MS. but no one is really promoting it as a games platform. ive seen a couple of adds for dell XPS systems (and i mean 1 every year or 2...very small) but they completly fail to explain why an XPS would be better than a 360 or PS3 or wii.

i think a single, unified, voice on PC gaming, promoting it and explaing it, would be alot more effective than anythign else.

You have some interesting ideas, but I think you're premise is bad. PC gaming will NEVER compete with console gaming. It's two entirely different markets. PC gamers are hobbiests. They aren't afraid of technical challenges. They are willing to spend more money more often. They prefer games they can tweak to their own desires. They don't want to be told what hardware to use.

Saying "make X changes so PC gaming will compete with console gaming" is like saying "make X changes so Home Depot gift cards will compete with new home sales". There are some people with the skills, time and interest to build there own houses (and those houses are probably cooler, more personalized, and work exactly like the self-builder wants). But most folks just want to buy something they cant move into and not think about it.

I agree with a lot of what you said, but your first point about drivers is probably impossible. Where would the game find the drivers for your hardware? I don't want to MS to be the only repository for drivers- in fact, I'd hate that.

But I certainly agree about including gamepad support. It seems silly that a lot of games appear on both consoles and PCs and the PC version sometimes lacks gamepad support. I think it makes PC gaming more accessible, since a lot of people are uncomfortable with kb/m. Now, I understand that some genres (like RTS) probably aren't very well suited for it, but most genres could support gamepads just fine.

There's not much else I can think of to add to your list, honestly. There are some things MS could do, like create a less-bloated OS (or perhaps a gamer's edition).

compete with console gaming? Whats the point of that?

Consoles have their place, PCs have theirs. I prefer the OPEN Pc gaming platform. As cool as steam is, I don't want to see pc gaming ruled by xboxlive 2...

A friend of mine works at Futureshop and you will not believe how many people try to return their PC games because they cannot run on their "latest" hardware. I also saw a gaming PC that cost me $950 CAN being sold there for $1899, with a worse case, and when I went there to upgrade my laptop ram they told me it would cost anywhere between $200 to $300 dollars. The thing is you don't have to built your own PC but for maybe $50 more can have one of those small PC hardware store built them for you. In the media consoles are also greatly represented while PC's almost never. Other than WoW there are no commercials for PC exclusive games in NA. I mean why weren't even the big multi-million selling games promoted in such a way?

Also when I bought my first $2000, 200mhz processor PC it came with a ton of free games that established it as a gaming platform for me, now a days there is nothing like that. I don't think anyone is going to promote the PC platform out of the goodness of their hearts. The only way to make PC gaming more popular is promotion and lower requirments. However the only real way to make PC gaming more popular is online distribution. Games on PC may not sell as much but if publishers/developers make twice/thrice as much on them then it would certainly keep their interest in the platform. If companies can make more money of the PC then they will promote their games more and attract more people to the platform.

Microsofts efforts however are more of a joke, they are eithere really stupid or just don't care about PC gaming and much rather throw away money into the burning pile that is their Xbox brand with its amazing total of three profitable quorters.

A friend of mine works at Futureshop and....

Nikalai_88

obviously an authority

[QUOTE="Nikalai_88"]

A friend of mine works at Futureshop and....

TeamR

obviously an authority

Futureshop....that place is a hellhole for anyone who knows a thing about computers. Heck, I watched a floor representative searching the model number on the internet to find out the speed of the processor for the customer....right click my computer and select properties!

As for PC games competting with consoles...nah, what we really need are dedicated PC developers and we will be 100% fine. *Looks around the Internet* Look at that, we all already have the developers...guess we are going to live for another 3 console generations to come.

You lost me when you got onto Steam. Steam is a huge piece of trash for people with lower end computers and would force everyone to be high end gamers. It also forces you to be online when you use it even for single player and some people can only get DSL at best in their area or have a really sucky cable company like I do. I dislike Steam with a passion.

Nerkcon

You don't need steam online to run offline games, if it finds that you don't have an internet connection (Or if its down) it will start in offline mode and allow you to play any single player game (Half life, Half life 2, etc)

[QUOTE="Nikalai_88"]

A friend of mine works at Futureshop and....

TeamR

obviously an authority

WTF is with you? I was just pointing out that the average consumer does not know much about playing games.

Every game should self patch, its ridiculous that some still don't

Every game should let you play without the DVD, you install it, activate it and then put the dvd back in the box