Here's how I see it. (In simplistic graph form)

Notice how the average skill of an experienced gamer begins higher than CoD's skillcap.

Many people on this forum would probably fit into that "Experienced Gamer" category. They've played FPS games in past such as Counter Strike, or Quake, and CoD just doesn't compare.

I've also noticed that the much more ambitious, and technically impressive games come from America and Europe as well.

And yet i wont buy a single PC game :)

finalstar2007

Would you buy it now?

For the PC in 2012 I'm looking forward to:

Knights of the Chalice 2

Legend of Grimrock

ArmA 3

Age of Decadence

Dead State

Xenonauts

Iron Front: Liberation 1944

Maybe modded Far Cry 3

Dishonored (multiplat)

It's amazing how many interesting western games are on the PC when compared to the very few on consoles.

Yangire

iknorite?

There just isn't a place for a mid-tier, or low-tier dev on the consoles anymore since it's all about big-budgets, and cinematic experiences.

PC has stuff for everyone though.

Halo is the only console FPS that legitimately requires skill.

Of the more mainstream PC FPS games Counter Strike 1.6 takes more skill than CS: Source which takes more skill than TF2

[QUOTE="SW__Troll"]

I want to say I agree.

I mean this is the first gen where Sony actually had to go head-to-head with a competitor. In previous gens they got to face Sega being stupid with the Saturn/Dreamcast, and Nintendo gimping their console of features like disk-drives. They also had the leg up on the Xbox last gen because they launched much earlier, and gained a huge amount of support prior.

But this gen the 360 and PS3 were on mostly even footing with similar hardware power, and similar feature sets, and Sony fell on their face.

Makes me all the more excited to see next gen. I will love to see the new strategies each company brings out to compete with each other.

ZIMdoom

So in short, your point is that the company who made CD/disc gaming the standard, and the first to make 3D graphics the standard doesn't know anything about hardware because Nintendo and Sega suck?

That makes zero sense. Sony got to where they are because they made hardware the customers anddevelopers wanted (although Sony has plummeted in this regard) and that nobody else at the time was even bothered with. You are looking at this backwards. If not for Sony and the PS1, carts would have stuck around much longer than normal (or mini discs or some stupid medium) and graphics would either be kiddie or 2d.

Yah, you basically said exactly what I said.

Wow.

Vita went up 3,000 units from a game that fanboys were claiming would boost sales tremendously, and put the Vita back on track against the 3DS.

3,000 units..........

We've got a system seller on our hands!!!! 3DS is going doooooowwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnn!

I've thought of F2P as a big advantage of PC gaming for a long time now.

I wouldn't say it's the "next big advantage". It already exists, and I've sunk hundreds of hours into free games.

I disagree with your idea that games like GTA, and God of War are hardcore games. They're very easy to pick up and play, and are advertised directly to the mainstream crowd. It's a big reason as to why they became popular in the first place.

And with that said I also disagree that casuals are ruining hardcore gaming. There are hundreds of games fit for the hardcore crowd, and many more to come out as there will always be a market for them, and always be developers with a passion to make those types of games.

I felt with each release they got progressively worse over the years. It also didn't help that fan service became their top priority, and it was just hard to take the game seriously.

I have absolutely zero interest in playing Soul Calibur V