Will PC gaming make a comeback?

Ever since the next Gen consoles came out PC gaming has been hit blow after blow. Weather its a delayed titles most recently Assasins creed 2. A crappy port Saints row 2, GTA IV just to name a few. Or games that don't feel like PC games anymore "cough" FEAR 2. The time of the PS2 vs xbox the PC always stood out as top dog in graphics and realism and games on the PC were constantly being pushed. Now the era of PS3 vs Xbox 360, PC games are being held back no doubt about that.

My friend mentioned about the PC gaming market between 2010 - 2012, he thinks with DX11 and new technology in games the PC will show how out of date consoles are and start getting top notch exclusive games again with stunning graphics. But if it carry's on like it is now with delayed titles, and game developers not using the full potential out of the lastest graphics cards. Well he basically thinks people wont bother buying PC hardware anymore because the next consoles will look identical to what PC's can do.

What do you think?

FEAR 2 was an awesome game! :P The only real thing hurting PC Gaming is piracy. However, I think PC gaming despite Modern Warfare 2 has been good overall :D

I must have been out of the loop. I didn't know PC gaming went anywhere! PC gaming will not go anywhere as long as developers release SDK's and their is a mod community. That is the only reason PC gaming needs to stay alive. Also, not as important. but i LOVE mouse + keyboard.

First thing, GTA IV is not a bad port, it's substantially more advanced on PC and it's only normal it would need a lot of power.

No, it won't make a comeback, and if you aren't into the games that are exclusive on PC and most of your friends are on consoles I see no reason for you to game on PC. As usual games will continue to look a little better on PC, some will look a lot better and there will always be the rare exclusives that make up for it all. No matter how advanced PC hardware will be, it'll always be held back because f the consoles, not many developers are prepared to spent more money on a game to make the PC version specially for PC, so most ports will be almost the same.

There is no such thing as everything is way better on PC now, of course all games look better, but the ones that aren't designed for PC will be exactly like the console games, gameplay wise.

The most important factor, when you choose a platform you either know what you get yourself into or you have no idea whatsoever and you go with that platform because it's trendy. If you want a top of the line awesome PC, you spend money on it, but it's not designed mostly for games, it's a PC, not a gaming console, if you use it exclusively for games then you know what you want and you made that choice, to spend lots of money on it, to be able to run every single game out there with everything maxed out, or you have a top of the line PC for more than just games, for video conversion, 3D modeling, etc.

The only time it will make a come back is "if" the mainstream audience suddenly begin to want something more from their video games. If all the players on Xbox360 and PS3 and Wii get to a point where they think, "ok I want to choose what grpahic settings to have", "I want mods", "I want better performance and better controls".. And if they start to shift to the PC platform. Then yes hardcore PC gaming will make a comeback. And you will see more games built for the PC and ported to console instead of the other way around. But that's a big "if".

Generally sometime after consoles peak developers start doing some interesting stuff on the PC

Ever since the next Gen consoles came out PC gaming has been hit blow after blow. Weather its a delayed titles most recently Assasins creed 2. A crappy port Saints row 2, GTA IV just to name a few. Or games that don't feel like PC games anymore "cough" FEAR 2. The time of the PS2 vs xbox the PC always stood out as top dog in graphics and realism and games on the PC were constantly being pushed. Now the era of PS3 vs Xbox 360, PC games are being held back no doubt about that.

My friend mentioned about the PC gaming market between 2010 - 2012, he thinks with DX11 and new technology in games the PC will show how out of date consoles are and start getting top notch exclusive games again with stunning graphics. But if it carry's on like it is now with delayed titles, and game developers not using the full potential out of the lastest graphics cards. Well he basically thinks people wont bother buying PC hardware anymore because the next consoles will look identical to what PC's can do.

What do you think?

mattuk69

My opinion is that PC gaming is here to say, though the way PC games have been traditionally developed is gone.

The days of PC exclusivity for games seems to be disappearing. Almost all of the big name titles now of days

are going to be both PC and Xbox 360 titles. It's caused a lot of crappy ports and games that could have been

so much more had they been exclusively developed for the PC, but their is a bright side. The PC is now getting

a lot more of the console type games (Assassins Creed, Mirrors Edge, and Street Fight 4 to name a few) that had

been missing from the PC library for years. The PC's online community has also taken a hit with games like L4D,

CoD:MW2, and BF:BC2, but there's a very good chance that they will combine the Xbox live community with PC

gamers. That'd give the PC games a great boost in the amount of people who actively play online.

Gaming Consoles are simply more convenient and cheaper. Spending 300 dollars on a system that can play and run games just as good as an 800 dollar rig is awesome. We are in a recession and thanks to consoles people can enjoy great games on a system that are relatively cheaper. I mean PC gaming is being put on the backburner simply because console gaming is much more profitable. If you can convince joe the plumber AKA (casual gamer) AKA one who plays video games like once a week) to spend 300 dollars on a console then your set. Its easier to call a system new tech and the cutting edge games slap a 300 dollar price tag and compare it to a PC and say were cheaper. That apeals to the more casual fanbase. It really just comes down to money sadly. Shuraijuro

You're talking in extremes, there's no reason console and PC gaming can't coexist like it has been all this time. It's not like there are less PC gamers now then there were in the 90's.

I don't even think it's the $ now days. As you can get gaming PCs a lot cheaper than they use to be. And PC games are cheap also. The money you would save on buying PC games year after year instead of Console games would be hundreds.

I think it's just two things. A: Console gaming has become more hardcore and more like PC gaming. More FPS, higher resolutions, online play, and so on. And they're very user friendly. Just put the disc on the tray and away you go. This is very appealing to mass market because this is what mass market wants. Easy, streamlined design which is easy to function. A lot of people don't want to mess with the complexity of PC gaming. Such as drivers, bugs, graphic settings and so on. And it's also brought a different dimension to console gaming which console gamers had never seen. That's why Halo blew up like a **** storm on Xbox and sold millions and console gamers were blew away. Where as PC gamers were left wondering what all the fuss was about, as they had been playing FPS better than Halo years before Halo was even released.

B: PCs have become more popular in the household. But the people buying the PCs are not true gamers. So gaming on the PC has become more point and click orientated. Most of the big sellers on the PC now and games which are point and click type games, very easy to play. Don't require FPS KB+M skills or hand eye co-ordination, you just need to know how to use a mouse. So sims3, MMORPGs, free online puzzle/rpg games with micro-transactions - stuff like that. Millions and millions of people playing games like these on the PC platform.

So more casual gamers are coming to PC, more hardcore gamers going to console. That's what's happening at the moment.

If making a "comeback" means imposing console level of standardization of experience and lack of freedom, which I believe they are currently trying to do using games like MW2, then I don't want it to make a comeback. I would rather PC gaming be the "underground" of gaming so that true innovation and creativity can be expressed.

I think I have not felt much need to buy one of the new consoles because almost everything is ported to PC now, which is the case now more than it ever was in the past. In short, I don't know how it could make a "comeback" since it's never been better. Yes, the crappy ports of console games suck, but I don't know if I'd necessarily call the times when most console games weren't ported at all "better".

Because of all of the sales on Steam, D2D, and Impulse and the convenience of buying from home, I have far more good games than I have time where I actually feel like playing them. The gross saturation of PC games is probably the reason I haven't really felt all that compelled to get a PS3 yet.

I think I have not felt much need to buy one of the new consoles because almost everything is ported to PC now, which is the case now more than it ever was in the past. In short, I don't know how it could make a "comeback" since it's never been better. Yes, the crappy ports of console games suck, but I don't know if I'd necessarily call the times when most console games weren't ported at all "better".

Because of all of the sales on Steam, D2D, and Impulse and the convenience of buying from home, I have far more good games than I have time where I actually feel like playing them. The gross saturation of PC games is probably the reason I haven't really felt all that compelled to get a PS3 yet.

SpaceMoose

No kidding. Ever since STEAMS been doing the super deals I've been buying games like crazy.

In the time span of a year I bought 61 games for my PC. There's just no way I can pass up on

games that I want that are 50% off or more. It really getting to be a problem since I'm only able

to complete a game for like every 2 or 3 that I buy. I just can keep up.

IMO though most of the games ported are lack luster. They're hardcore games, in that they require skill to play. But they always seem to be missing that extra layer of depth which was seen in many PC exclusive titles 5+ years ago. I think "dumbed down" is the phrase which is used often to describe these ports.

Gaming Consoles are simply more convenient and cheaper. Spending 300 dollars on a system that can play and run games just as good as an 800 dollar rig is awesome. We are in a recession and thanks to consoles people can enjoy great games on a system that are relatively cheaper. I mean PC gaming is being put on the backburner simply because console gaming is much more profitable. If you can convince joe the plumber AKA (casual gamer) AKA one who plays video games like once a week) to spend 300 dollars on a console then your set. Its easier to call a system new tech and the cutting edge games slap a 300 dollar price tag and compare it to a PC and say were cheaper. That apeals to the more casual fanbase. It really just comes down to money sadly. Shuraijuro

I think pc gaming is in the lead. You have to remember that the usa isnt the whole world, and even then what game is more played than wow? Yes it kinda sucks that pc gaming is being somewhat dominated by one game, but there are still plenty of other great games out on the pc. PC has the best lineup for 2009 hand s down, whats so great about the 360/ps3 line-up this year? Dawn of War 2, arma 2, aion, empire total war, l4d2 (playing on 360 is foolish), dragon age (console version are garbage) etc....

[QUOTE="Shuraijuro"]Gaming Consoles are simply more convenient and cheaper. Spending 300 dollars on a system that can play and run games just as good as an 800 dollar rig is awesome. We are in a recession and thanks to consoles people can enjoy great games on a system that are relatively cheaper. I mean PC gaming is being put on the backburner simply because console gaming is much more profitable. If you can convince joe the plumber AKA (casual gamer) AKA one who plays video games like once a week) to spend 300 dollars on a console then your set. Its easier to call a system new tech and the cutting edge games slap a 300 dollar price tag and compare it to a PC and say were cheaper. That apeals to the more casual fanbase. It really just comes down to money sadly. Dr_Brocoli

PC gaming does not need a comeback, if you are a real pc gamer you know there are tons of great games for pc.