Front page poll 05/15/07 - What do you feel is wrong with PC gaming?

[Queue]

What do you feel is wrong with PC gaming?

There’s a serious lack of quality games.
The constant need for hardware upgrades is insane.
All the games worth playing charge monthly fees.
There is nothing wrong.
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[Bruenor]

None of the above.

There is a serious lack of marketing muscle behind PC gaming when comapred to the marketing budgets of Sony, MS and Nintendo and the marketing muscle they throw behind their respective consoles.

More hype = More Sales ultimately

[Rob]

Although I agree with Bruenor in the lack of marketing department, I believe there is a lot more too it.

First is the cost of a PC. If you are a gamer and want power (and know what to look for), you could spend 800+ where a console is $400 on average. Add in a cost of a monitor and speakers, it adds up. Most people already have a TV.

Second is the confusion, not helped at all by ridiculous minimum requirements listed on the game box. If someone who wants to be a gamer but buys a Wal-Mart special they will be sorely disappointed when their new machine can't play the latest games. I ran into this quite a bit when I worked at HP and had quite a few calls asking why their new PC could not run Everquest (the big game at the time). Getting into PC gaming is simply not user friendly compared to consoles who simply buy the game for their system and it works right out of the box.

I do not believe there is a lack of quality games; they may not come out as fast as on a console, but there are still many quality PC titles and many currently sitting in bargain bins. Bargain bins are also a big plus to PC gaming in my opinion. Games go down in price faster and end up being much cheaper. Older console games usually stay at $20, but an older PC game can be had for as little as $5.

I personally do not see the need for constant hardware upgrades unless you are a frames per second whore. My last PC ran for a solid three years before I started to feel the strain. I opted for a new PC, but a new $180 graphics card probably could have extended the system for a year or two, albeit at lower resolution and settings. However, that being said, a console usually gets a 5 year life span with no need to upgrade.

Monthly fee? WoW being the big PC game that requires a monthly, but it is not like they have to play WoW to enjoy PC gaming. Besides, XBox Live is huge and you have to pay for the service PLUS MMO fees (Phatasy Star Online and the future Conan game). So I see that as a break even point at the least, PC gaming for the win since most of their PC games are free online.

There is a big reason why consoles dominate sales, and I do not believe it is only to marketing.

[Bruenor]

Although I agree with Bruenor in the lack of marketing department, I believe there is a lot more too it.

First is the cost of a PC. If you are a gamer and want power (and know what to look for), you could spend 800+ where a console is $400 on average. Add in a cost of a monitor and speakers, it adds up. Most people already have a TV.

I don't buy this argument anymore, seeing how a computer is as much of a common appliance as a TV these days. People are going to own a PC of some sort.

Now you may use the reasoning that to get the "full experience" of PC gaming you need to spend $800+. Maybe, but you don't need the "full experience" to enjoy it. After all, to get the "full console experience" you need an HDTV. HDTV's don't have the market penetration of even PC's yet, but it doesn't slow console sales down.

Second is the confusion, not helped at all by ridiculous minimum requirements listed on the game box. If someone who wants to be a gamer but buys a Wal-Mart special they will be sorely disappointed when their new machine can't play the latest games. I ran into this quite a bit when I worked at HP and had quite a few calls asking why their new PC could not run Everquest (the big game at the time). Getting into PC gaming is simply not user friendly compared to consoles who simply buy the game for their system and it works right out of the box.

This is one I can agree with. This combined with marketing is what is wrong with PC gaming.

The rest of your post just agreed with me so I won't bother quoting.

[Kalbrecht]

Of the list - b.

But with the following caveat to agree with what Bruenor and Rob said. User-friendliness is a real problem. You simply don't know for sure if it will work on your PC until you buy it, take it home and open the box to try and install it. You are required to keep your system requirements in mind everytime you walk into a store.

While this is fine for the power user, it's of little use to the casual gamer, who just wants to plug and play. You can get a relatively cheap PC that will play the majority of games, but why doesn't it look like the screenshots? What happens when things go wrong?

Marketing - that's a tough one. This is partly the fault of the quite disparate elements of the PC market. I mean - look at Apple. With a dedicated marketing structure behind a VERY coherent product line, they're able to market themselves out the wazoo. The PC market is far too divided to be able to do that effectively. Beyond the Dell XPS line (and a couple other equivalents) there are no PCs out there which market themselves hand in hand with games. And games can't really market themselves effectively without a coherent hardware platform.

[Ojnod]

I don't think anything is wrong with it. I think PC gaming is a nice little niche in the gaming market and will only turn away its followers if the corporations try to turn it into "the other console".

[Shoboy]

The problem with PC gaming, and this has been a problem ever since I got into it back in the good old days of DOS and a 286/386 is this: The focus on gaming is too strong when it comes to latest and greatest. Innovation in gameplay and interaction is where it should be, not another fancy way of rendering light or pixels. People care too much about how a game looks and not how it actually plays. GAMEPLAY is god, not graphics.

I honestly feel that we were good enough at Unreal2, and from that point until now, the gaming world should have been focused on gameplay, interaction, execution, story, presentaion of the whole package.......... not more pixels and shaders and hdr's and yadda yadda ya......

Like I said in another poll, software and hardware move at different speeds, and the gap between them is the root cause of all our PC game problems.

But then again, if GPU technology stayed the same, everyone who makes them would go out of business, so I think the very nature of our hobby is limited and self destructive.

[GeneralKarl]

Problem? You Betcha.

1) Graphics cards ridiculously priced. They have less than $5 worth of components, and the improvements are not captured for years. They are worth about $25. Period.

2) Advertising portion of Marketing is Perfect. Through this website. I am aware of every single new game I am interested in, long before its release. Marketing Result (Because of 3dGamers):SUCCESS

3) Customer Survey portion of Marketing inexcusably flawed. Most people in this forum have been avid gamers for 10 years+. Not once developers paid 3dGamers to pay us to solicit feedback. This is a common practice in all industries and has been for 40 years. Result: The software developers/hardware manufacturers assumed that long time gamers would pay BIG just to keep playing (Reused software in 2nd/3rd versions of games sold at Full Price and Hardware upgrades). Instead, they see a steady stream of gamers just stop buying anything or buying used when someone gives up.

Well thats all the free suggestions I offer. You want more? Pay.

4) Gameplay still given lower priority than graphics by developers/hardware manufacturers. Result: Graphic cards push game-playing cost beyond the average game player. More than three hundred percent higher than a few years ago.

[pcfreak]

If you want to blame someone for the state of PC gaming, blame the consumer. Games designers react to demand and alot of casual gamers demand stunning graphics over gameplay. People who are really into gaming know exactly what I mean. How many times have you all read posts about the latest games within this forum and people have raved about them because they look stunning? I bet it's a hell of alot!

Back in the day when graphics were limited, the designers HAD to focus on gameplay or the games wouldn't have sold. As time has moved on, the opposite is in effect. Is this a bad thing? YES!! I am not knocking all great looking games but there are many that get played for a week or two and then are resigned to cd/dvd heaven.

I openly admit that I have bought games before mostly on the awe factor, and I have regretted it 90% of the time :blush:

Cheers,

Stuart

[Shoboy]

Games designers react to demand and alot of casual gamers demand stunning graphics over gameplay. People who are really into gaming know exactly what I mean. How many times have you all read posts about the latest games within this forum and people have raved about them because they look stunning? I bet it's a hell of alot!


This was the single biggest reason why I never read a single review of HL2 or Doom3, and didn't read ALOT of game reviews after those games. Almost EVERY SINGLE GAME had a graphics comparison to HL2 or Doom3. I didn't give a rats a** about how the graphics looked compared to xxxxxxxx, I cared how the game played, if the graphics had bugs to it or if it ran slow, etc....... Not how it stacked up to another game.

TOOOOO much focus has been on graphics...........

[Rafal Dudek]

TOOOOO much focus has been on graphics...........

Yea but thats a problem for the whole gaming industry, not just PC. Designers now spend most of the money towards visuas and not enough on gameplay. So now you have these 10-15 hour lacklusters with very pretty visuals but gameplay wise, it's m'eh.

I'm sorry but even the greatest graphics in the world can't compare to games like Heart of Iron and Europa Universalis series =]

Sure, make the best damned visuals you can but PLEASE focus on game design. If you can make a fun and addicting game, graphics mean nothing for your success. I mean, look at World of Warcraft hehe =]

[Kalbrecht]

Not sure if anyone might have seen this, but this is interesting reading in terms of the concepts of game design and storytelling:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/category/437

Warren Spector, the head behind Deus Ex etc, in a series of articles.

[Kratos21]

i dont know what this issue is about on pc price's of +800, and beside's everyone should know the diffrence when buying a pc game in the frist place, read the lil small label at the bottom of the box, if that game dosent meet your pc requirement's dont buy it.


it's funny when people dont read something so simple, but you also dont have to spend money on a hardcore system to play game's.

i got friend's with pci xpress, and it's just a waste of money everyone is scoping out the new deal's on card's and such, when you should stiill read the label on the Box of the game, aero, isnt good for the new window's longhorn got horned, and people buying the newest window's vista crap are getting rob on that bugged out window's.

the problem is you can buy a monster horse for nearly 3 to 4 hundred dollar's secondly when you purchase that new dvi with an s-vid + vga or tv-out card

it can be hooked up to a tv, i dont people think before they type when they speak on something so stupid.


the market thing for pc game's suck's they want to lead you to the conmsole of dream's but my vote is still on the pc, the pc get's upgraded just bout every month with something new everytime, your console it would be lucky to see a software upgrade, since nothing else can be beside's the harddrive.

i got a ps3, and it isnt like the xbox of joke's from microsoft, the gaming is free, no charge's will ever i do mean ever apply this include's the new conan thats coming out on the ps3, thats why the xbox is a joke and a waste of time, microsoft is the guru of pc game's now they wanna do console, something mr. gates now's nothing about, the xbox is a good system, but i wouldnt waste my money on buying timecard's to play online.


Other maker's of the pc world if you read this message Please market better for the pc game's this is why pc has a lack of buying games on the pc. you never m,arket them. :mad:

[Joe Cool]

Does anyone else think that PC games used to be cheaper? I remember when I used to have a playstation, yes some of you who know my hard line pro-pc stance may be shocked to know I had a PS1, and my mates had PC's they where buying games for about 15-20 Punt while a PS1 game was 30-40 Punt. Now however a new PC game is about 60 Euro while a 360 game is about 70 Euro! How did the pc close up so much? What gives?