PC Gamers Moving to Consoles Says id

[CSN NewsBot]

Eurogamer had a chance to talk to id Software's Steve Nix and Greg Stone about their shift to consoles.

For me, I'm exactly what he's [Steve Nix] describing - I'm a guy that used to play on PCs, and now I'm totally console. It's so much money to keep up with the bleeding edge of technology on the PC, and it really just is easier to take a console and say, well, this is good enough. I think that's the way it is for me, and for a lot of people at this point in time.

This discussion comes at a time where Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is in its final stages of polish for its console release later this year. They added that they only see this as a limited trend as there will always been diehard PC fans.



Along the same lines, there will be new playable demos of the 360 and PS3 versions of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars coming soon. No set release date for the demos or the full game is currently known.

[meowmeow]

Hell-to-the-no.. you mean to tell me that people prefer analog controllers over keyboard + mouse for FPS games?!

[Kotae]

I don't think it's so much that people prefer controllers over a keyboard and mouse combo - I think it's more so that people cannot afford to upgrade their computers to be able to run the newer games. I know that I'm in that boat.

[Que_?]

So they can afford $400 + 50+ another control +50 XBL +60 A Game +$10-40 for MS POINTS for that same game you just spent $60 bucks on.

Hell the cost is about the same. Games cost is almost 6x more on the consoles. You don't have to buy any of the DLC but it's there and people do. So in the end your going to get less and less and there will be more and more DLC.



It's just a hell of a lot better on a PC. It's the company that make MORE money on consoles games then PC. They might force people to change.



I have Wii and an Xbox 360 and still do most of a gaming on the PC.

[Kotae]

Except for the fact that consoles generally last longer than computers - computers have to be upgraded almost yearly, whereas consoles have a lot longer lifespan. The 400 dollars is a one time purchase, as are controllers generally (unless you're my brother and like to destroy them easy).



The DLC is optional, as is Xbox live. While those two are nice, it is not necessary for most games. Keep in mind that pc gaming =/= fps gaming only.



I own several consoles, and my PS2 is the one I have had the longest - unlike my laptop, which I've done as much upgrading as I can to it (and my next step being an actual desktop), I have not had to upgrade my PS2 in order to play the games that have been released for it in the past five years. I don't have to worry about compatibility or whether or not it has the specs required. If developers released any more big name titles (which is unlikely since we are on the next generation of consoles), I wouldn't break a sweat or bemoan the fact that I can't play it.



I think that's why many people are migrating from PC to console at times - it doesn't mean that people prefer one way over another. Some computer upgrades are cheap, but some aren't. Many people do not have the money to upgrade yearly or be able to afford a rig capable of playing the games. I know I sure don't.

[pwnedbyIbanez]

Well, a lot of pc gamers have hated using a controller for fps games, so I thought it was cool that Epic Games allowed people to use mouse + keyboard for UT3 on the ps3

[sushi]

So, now Id is doing the same stupid shit Epic is and saying, "Oh, well, it's easier for everyone if we dumb everything down for the consoles. And hey, we make more money!" Fags. PC online gaming is so much better, forget everything else about graphics, controls, w/e. Online console gaming is slow, clunky, and generally shit. I'll never switch.

[Zips]

sushi wrote..

So, now Id is doing the same stupid shit Epic is and saying, "Oh, well, it's easier for everyone if we dumb everything down for the consoles. And hey, we make more money!" Fags. PC online gaming is so much better, forget everything else about graphics, controls, w/e. Online console gaming is slow, clunky, and generally shit. I'll never switch.

Too bad. You'll be missing out on some great fun and in fact, I've had far more fun on some console FPS's than I have ever had on their PC counterparts, if they have one. Rainbow Six: Vegas 1 and 2, TimeSplitters, and even Halo just to name a few.



It's really just a shame you're coming off as so closed minded and well... perhaps a little afraid that consoles might infringe on the once mighty iron grip that PC used to have on the FPS genre.

[Kotae]

sushi wrote..

So, now Id is doing the same stupid shit Epic is and saying, "Oh, well, it's easier for everyone if we dumb everything down for the consoles. And hey, we make more money!" Fags. PC online gaming is so much better, forget everything else about graphics, controls, w/e. Online console gaming is slow, clunky, and generally shit. I'll never switch.

I grew up playing FPS games on the pc. I love the classics - Quake, Duke, Unreal, Doom. I thoroughly enjoy them, and I still play them to this day. However, the only recent FPS that I have enjoyed and continue to play online is Halo 3. Not all console FPS games are shit - but hey, everyone has their own opinion on that.

[Bokuho]

[insert long-winded post here which I had written but actually now that I look at it, it's mostly redundant]



Consoles do shooters just fine. They're certainly more fun than PC shooters, and if you spend enough time with it, a pad can be just as effective (if not more so) than a keyboard+mouse. All the top TimeSplitters players on the PS2 used to all use the pad, even though that game had full support for a keyboard and mouse. In the original Unreal Tournament, even on the PC version, at least half (if not more) of all the top players used a pad. Pads are so much better for movement than a keyboard and mouse (racing games on PC ftl), and movement can often be a big deciding factor in how well a player does in a shooter. Near-instant precision aiming is great and all, but when your target is running circles around you (literally) and can keep their aim trained on your head perfectly while doing so, that great aiming you get with the mouse becomes near useless. Someone who knows how to use a pad well, will beat a keyboard and mouse user. It's been done many times before and I have in fact yet to see a pad user lose by any great margin.







Plus cost, development times, industry standardisation, etc.







EDIT: Looks like I managed that redundant, long-winded post after all.

[Sintra]

1st point - keyboard + mouse >>> any console pad (especially the mouse part). I don't understand how there's any discussion on this. It's that simple.

2nd point - PC games can be much more fun than any console game. I've attended numerous LANs and I know this. However, if you're more a single player person, consoles can be better (and usually are).

3rd point - yes, it's true, using consoles does turn out cheaper. You know the game will work, and it'll run without any slowdowns (generally) and you don't need any patches or additional software (generally).



What I've come to see among friends and aquaintances, is that people want to play all the new games. And the games are made to meet the new standards of technology, so, they've got to get new hardware. Consoles elliminate this need. But to go as far as saying they're the future? I don't know.

I, on the other hand, don't need to play newer games. I'd like to, but I'm not going to spend money just like that. I don't believe in "updating" hardware. Sure, maybe a bit more RAM, but that's it. So, I just stick to the good old games, or don't play at all.

The funny thing is, at all the LANs I've been to, the most recent game I've ever played is farcry and UT2004. And it's funny owning it up with about 30 fps over guys playing at 100 fps. Usually we play CS or CoD (and yes, the first CoD) for the fps (sometimes good old UT), and we rarely touch any other game type. Sometimes a bit of starcraft or a custom map in warcraft3. Ah, swat4 is a lot of fun too (in your face console users)!



After all this, I really wouldn't mind playing a fps game on a console, provided I can hook up a keyboard and mouse...

[Zips]

Sintra wrote..

1st point - keyboard + mouse >>> any console pad (especially the mouse part).

Way to not even read any point that flat out said how they both have their advantages and only went with what you think is the case, but isn't actually.

2nd point - PC games can be much more fun than any console game. I've attended numerous LANs and I know this. However, if you're more a single player person, consoles can be better (and usually are).

Again, read. There have been, and are, and will be plenty of multiplayer FPS on consoles that will trump PC offerings, and vice versa. But to simply generalize all FPS SP titles to the console world or all FPS MP titles are only best on PC. That's just ignorant to say.

[Sintra]

No, I read everything. Those points are still valid.

I'm not even discussing 1st point. I've tried both. I prefer the pads for fighting games or adventures, but for fps, just mouse + keyboard. It's just better.

As for the 2nd point do you see me stating that PC fps games > console fps games? Notice the can. CAN be much more fun. CAN be much better. Not ARE much more fun or ARE much better. I didn't generalise. So take back that statement that I am ignorant! >

I accept that consoles can be better. But you guys are just laying the PC fps in the shadow, not considering part of the multiplayer aspect.

So don't just say I don't read anything. I do. I only write idiotic statements at the OTF.

[Kotae]

Okay, so summary:



Both are good in their own respects, and depending on which games.



Good enough? D:

[Sintra]

Yeah.