Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

[Spawndemon]

A new outlook in our From the Editors' Desks series, "Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming" lists a number of reasons why gamers should look more towards consoles for the future:

10. Where is the Resale?

Any trip to your local GameStop will undoubtedly bring up a conversation between you and a clerk concerning resale values (now I don't mean to single out GameStop, they are simply an example). You will notice that games for the 360 and PS3, even games that are over a year old, will have a much higher resale value than compared to a brand new PC game. For instance, I recently saw the different values at a store the other day, and a copy of Metroid Prime 3 (Wii) could be sold for $40 while a copy of Mirror's Edge could only cash in $17. Many games do not last longer than thirty hours and can easily be completed in the span of a week. For this reason, console gamers tend to bring games back to earn a few extra dollars. Those willing to spend only a few dollars with the help of resale best steer clear of the PC.

9. A Mishmash of Characters

The PS3 has Kratos, the 360 has Master Chief, and the Wii has Mario. So what does the PC have? Nothing. This may be one of the biggest issues with PC gaming: there is no series aimed at pulling the whole market with it. While the Need for Speed and Warcraft series have done great things, these are ultimately not aimed at the hardcore audience and do not intend on keeping PC gaming above water. Having recognizable franchises to pull a system along is always beneficial. PC gamers can only hope to someday replace Rick Astley with a real mascot. Continue Reading...

When will the PC be represented in this group?

----ThQp is one of the network's distinguished article writers, having been with and writing for the Total Gaming Network since its inception in 2007. ThQp enjoys playing games on the PC and Nintendo Wii while not attending classes or writing for the Total Gaming Network. He currently resides in some nondescript cold location, Canada.

Want to know the other 8 reasons to ditch PC gaming? Read the rest of this new editorial here.

[Wizrdwarts]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

The PS3 has Kratos, the 360 has Master Chief, and the Wii has Mario. So what does the PC have? Nothing. This may be one of the biggest issues with PC gaming: there is no series aimed at pulling the whole market with it. While the Need for Speed and Warcraft series have done great things, these are ultimately not aimed at the hardcore audience and do not intend on keeping PC gaming above water. Having recognizable franchises to pull a system along is always beneficial. PC gamers can only hope to someday replace Rick Astley with a real mascot.

But do we need a mascot? The thing is, the PC is not just a gaming machine. It can be used for work, internet, movies, etc. Somehow I don't think the lack of a mascot will kill the PC. I think that's actually what attracts me to the PC - a huge variety of games, not just the ones Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony will license.

Whenever you hop online with your Xbox 360, it seems only sensible to bring your mic and headset with you. The microphone has brought more connectivity between gamers than could ever be imagined, lending a voice to an avatar. For whatever reason, PC gamers are less eager to grab their headsets, instead turning to forums for help.

[media]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7153152098207965240[/media]

You can't search a XBLA chat on google, but everything posted on forums are saved and indexed by Google.

PC gaming undoubtedly has the best visuals on the market. Pretty graphics, with high FPS, and a processor that isn't killing itself is craved by all gamers. Unfortunately, price tags prevent the PC market from reaching its full potential. While Sony and Microsoft fanboys get to enjoy their high-end graphics at all times, PC gamers are forced to spend hundreds of dollars in upgrades every few years to keep up with technology. Comparing the lifespan of a console to the number of upgrades a PC will need, you will find roughly a 1:2/ 1:3 ratio; this is too expensive for just about anyone.

Or you could turn it down to medium and play current games fine on a Pentium Dual Core and a 9800GT. Console hardware is cheap because the company makes money off the games. PC hardware makers obviously can't do that. I've noticed that PC games are usually still $50 while console games are mostly $60 now (haven't went out to buy games in a while, so correct me if I'm wrong).

[MrKLM]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

I always wished I could trade in PC games for cash or even store credit.

[TheEn|gma]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

I wrote one long *** reply to this, but TGN randomly glitched out and I lost it. I disagree and if I can muster the energy to re-write you'll find out why. But this post does make me want to mention something which probably/hopefully already been mentioned internally.

[MrKLM]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

I wrote one long *** reply to this, but TGN randomly glitched out and I lost it. I disagree and if I can muster the energy to re-write you'll find out why. But this post does make me want to mention something which probably/hopefully already been mentioned internally.

Type it out again. :thumbsup:

[Obsidian Spire]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

ThQp enjoys playing the Nintendo Wii while not attending classes or writing for the Total Gaming Network. He currently resides in some nondescript cold location, Canada.

Does this mean ThQp no longer plays PC games or that he never did? I mean it would be kind of odd to work on a mostly PC gaming site if you only play consoles lol.

Ninja addition: I find console gaming more sociable because you can directly interact with your friends. Also, the consoles do have some big MMORPGs, just not as many. Consoles usually have fewer hackers, but they are still there.

You should have a top 10 reasons why PC gaming should thrive. Written by Andre, Podcast member extraordinaire, preferably. :P

[TheEn|gma]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

Type it out again. :thumbsup:

I'll dictate to you shall I?

[swizza]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

I do agree with many of your points, especially the future for PC gaming looking bleak, however there are plenty of reasons why PC gamers should not give up just yet. Here are 5 reasons why PC Gaming will live on:

1. Free Games: There are no free games on the consoles and I doubt there ever will be. Battlefield Heroes is PC only and will be completely Free-To-Play. Not to mention the many free mmorpgs like the upcoming Guild Wars 2.

2. Mod support: Let's face it, mods on the PS3 or the 360 are little to none at the moment. Most addons on the consoles charge the gamer, whereas on the PC it is free. And even if it is free on the console, its either a watered down version of the original mod or they scrap it all together. The newest Titan Pack for Unreal Tournament III is only on the PC right now since the PS3 version isn't ready yet and the 360 version probably will never happen.

3. Steam: Valve is saving the PC genre with its Steam app. You can pretty much purchase many PC games at a discount with Steam, plus alot of Valve's own PC games like Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 are still alive and kicking. They now have achievements just like Xbox Live, and speaking of Xbox Live Microsoft made it free for the PC if you have the service already active.

4. "Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network are clear winners in the race for ease of entry to a platform." One word for this - World of Warcraft. There are 11 million people playing this game, so if anyone wanted ease into PC gaming, jump right into WoW and create a Night Elf hunter(sorry had to say it lol). And Xbox Live isn't the nicest place with the slew of racism going on during matches. Many times I don't wear my mic due to the rudeness of many of the players there. I'm not saying the PC is better than Live, but Live or PSN are not winners in this category.

5. PC is the King of Casual Gaming: If I'm not mistaken, there has been a huge push in the casual gaming market the last few years. With sites like Gametap.com, GoG.com, Miniclip.com, Pogo.com, iwin.com, etc etc, The consoles probably will never catch up to the PC. Anyone's mom can get on their laptop, jump on Yahoo and play from hundreds of casual games. Whereas on the 360 you have Scene It and a small list of Arcade games...all that cost. PC? Free.

Don't get me wrong, I love console games, especially my Xbox 360(I mean my blog is green for crying out loud!). But everything besides the DRM fiasco, developers moving on from PCs, and the Future looking bleak I have to disagree with. Whether we like it or not, World of Warcraft and the abundance of free premium and casual games currently out and on the way shows me that although this form of PC gaming may die, it will be reborn with more free games, more mod support, and more places to build a community like Steam running the show.

[ThQp]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

Does this mean ThQp no longer plays PC games or that he never did? I mean it would be kind of odd to work on a mostly PC gaming site if you only play consoles lol.

I've always played PC games and still do today, much more than I play the Wii

[Delta1]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

Valve's business model is the future of PC Gaming and as long as there are PCs there will be PC games.

A mascot, are you kidding me? Is this the Mickey Mouse Club?

I could say more, but I have used up all my rant energy a few days ago. I need a recharge.

[MrKLM]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

I was a big time PC gamer for years 1996-2008 then around that time my pc started to slow down it started to fall far behind and I just couldn't keep up. Sure I love gaming on the PC but I couldn't afford the constant upgrades so I choose to try out a Playstation 3. Sure it's fun but it still is no PC when it comes to gaming.

When you look at that list yea there are a lot of very valid points that for some people are true but no so much for most of the people here who are the high tech PC gamers.

[Eagle101]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

A mascot lol, well i am sure Gordon Freeman is up to it asides that PC gaming is the way for me. I do own a PS3 but have never touched it since MGS4.

[=98=]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

You also have top remember that markets run in cycles, it's natural. So, if this is indeed the slow down, perhaps even slump, there should be a rise in the future. Whether this be through technical innovation or that consoles are effectively turning into HTPC's is anyones guess.

[Frantic.ie]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

A mascot lol, well i am sure Gordon Freeman is up to it asides that PC gaming is the way for me. I do own a PS3 but have never touched it since MGS4.

Gordon Freeman is on the 360 now :P But he doesn't look as good tbh! I think we need the guy out of Crysis, console gamers will never know what a good game looks like until they see Crysis in all of its glory (max graphics, max res, forcing it into high AA settings etc)

[TheEn|gma]

Re: Editorial: The Top 10 Reasons to Ditch PC Gaming

10. Where is the Resale?

Any trip to your local GameStop will undoubtedly bring up a conversation between you and a clerk concerning resale values (now I don't mean to single out GameStop, they are simply an example). You will notice that games for the 360 and PS3, even games that are over a year old, will have a much higher resale value than compared to a brand new PC game.

Firstly console games retail for at least £10, typically £15 extra than their PC counterparts.

For instance, I recently saw the different values at a store the other day, and a copy of Metroid Prime 3 (Wii) could be sold for $40 while a copy of Mirror's Edge could only cash in $17. Many games do not last longer than thirty hours and can easily be completed in the span of a week. For this reason, console gamers tend to bring games back to earn a few extra dollars. Those willing to spend only a few dollars with the help of resale best steer clear of the PC.

Pre-owned games are pushed by retailers because of the insane profit margins that the stores can impose at free-will. Essentially they've got an almost endless stream of games that they can obtain for practically any price that they wish and sell it for any price. That's a retailers wet-dream.

PC games will have a lower trade-in price for numerous reasons, mostly due to high risk when they are compared to consoles. Mostly due to CD key issues and that PC games as a percentage of sales are the most frequently returned.

9. A Mishmash of Characters

The PS3 has Kratos, the 360 has Master Chief, and the Wii has Mario. So what does the PC have? Nothing. This may be one of the biggest issues with PC gaming: there is no series aimed at pulling the whole market with it. While the Need for Speed and Warcraft series have done great things, these are ultimately not aimed at the hardcore audience and do not intend on keeping PC gaming above water. Having recognizable franchises to pull a system along is always beneficial. PC gamers can only hope to someday replace Rick Astley with a real mascot.

When will the PC be represented in this group

We've had him since 1998

8. MMORPG - Gaming's Heroine

It's amazing that the gaming industry's biggest cash cow can be seen as one of the many problems that plagues PC. The MMORPG genre, most notably the game World of Warcraft, has ruined many gamers with its easily addictive play style. The concept has yet to catch on with consoles due to a more basic control scheme and a lack of power to process the gigantic servers that run Azeroth. Records exist of many PC gamers who have stayed up for extended periods of time, eventually losing their lives. This is no longer a laughing matter; I feel it is necessary to warn you not to fall into the trap.

I don't see how you can use this point as pro-console? A game so good it's addictive to some people (including yourself no) which is not only an exclusive to PC but it's phyiscally impossible to be on consoles is in your view a negative point? Logic. You do not has eet.

7. The Stereotypical Gamer

It has been repeated time and time again and will always remain true - words can hurt a person. Nowadays the 360 and PS3 are seen as good forms of entertainment, similar to gaming in the early 90's; this is not the case for the PC. For twenty years the PC gamer has been labeled as the overweight slob who sits at home pleasuring himself all day. In most cases this is not the truth, but as a whole, it brings the opinion of the group down. If you're looking for social acceptance, stick with your consoles.

Don't really care, as I suspect most PC users. This might be more important for main stream players. Most people look to games for fun and escapism. Not to look cool.

6. The Spore Incident

A new trend is on the rise in the world of PC gaming, and it is wildly unpopular. SecuROM technology (more commonly known as DRM) aims to prevent users from installing one copy of a game on multiple computers. Gamers, however, are a group that tends to move from machine to machine, making it nearly impossible to play DRM-enabled titles. Some of the more notable cases of DRM are BioShock (which later removed its activation limit), Mass Effect, and Spore. Negative feelings towards DRM gained much momentum after Spore was released. Gamers were so distraught that Spore became pirated 1.7 million times in 2008, becoming the most pirated game of the year.

DRM is doing nothing for growth in the PC industry, as with Piracy. Steam is trying and I'm an avid supporter of it but some people just simply aren't ready. Which to the PC gaming elite isn't important, but for the business men with their projected sales unfortunatly it cuts too large of a percentage of it's market. Though it's good to see non-valve games going Steam only.

Sadly, this seems to be the case with PC games

Not really, when a 360 dies some film/media files are hard-drive/console bound so it's not perfect in this regard though not any where as bad as PC.

5. XBLA > Forums

I god, tell me. I mis-read.

Whenever you hop online with your Xbox 360, it seems only sensible to bring your mic and headset with you.

Sensible if your a 13 year old child with a mouth full of profanities and a mind full of awful your momma jokes.

The microphone has brought more connectivity between gamers than could ever be imagined,

If your imagination is getting shouted down by a bunch of pre-teen children then go for it.

For whatever reason, PC gamers are less eager to grab their headsets, instead turning to forums for help.

Isn't it better to have it documented somewhere were people can read it it time and again instead of pestering people on VOIP.

Every so often a poor lad will find himself on a forum full of trolls who flame him for asking questions. Since this is the only way of getting help for whatever game, this could completely ruin the experience.

Chances of getting screamed at on XBL are probably higher than getting flamed on a forum.

Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network are clear winners in the race for ease of entry to a platform.

Totally got to agree so much easier for console gamers to get into only gaming. The PC's diversity which for so long has been a selling point is becoming a bit of a problem day by day. Where do PC gamers go when they want download a demo? You and I know about Filefront, GamersHell and TGF but a gamer fresh after buying their first PC wouldn't know that. And Google as oblivious it is to you and I it's suprising that not that obvious.

4. An Industry in Recession

Developers who once focused all their resources on the PC are now starting to branch off into new waters. Two prime examples of this are DICE and Epic Games. For years, these two juggernauts were dominating the PC FPS scene with the Battlefield and Unreal series' respectively. Recently the gaming community has seen Battlefield Bad: Company and Unreal Tournament III. Though UT III was also released on the PC, it became apparent that both of these games were meant for the console crowd. The online capabilities of the PS3 and Xbox 360 have become great attractions to the FPS gods, as every year more and more PC franchises branch off to take a shot at the console market.<br />

I don't miss UTIII at all. I loved the original UT great but it's lost it's edge. Apart from Valve there aren't any major developers out there pushing the PC genre.

2. Technology Is Constantly Advancing

PC gaming undoubtedly has the best visuals on the market. Pretty graphics, with high FPS, and a processor that isn't killing itself is craved by all gamers. Unfortunately, price tags prevent the PC market from reaching its full potential. While Sony and Microsoft fanboys get to enjoy their high-end graphics at all times, PC gamers are forced to spend hundreds of dollars in upgrades every few years to keep up with technology. Comparing the lifespan of a console to the number of upgrades a PC will need, you will find roughly a 1:2/ 1:3 ratio; this is too expensive for just about anyone

.

Don't forget as I mentioned earlier, consoles games for the most part are £10-20 more expensive than PC games. But for the most part PC hardware is expensive although you can sustain a good experience without running at the highest settings.

1. The Future Looks Bleak

It pains me to say this, it really does, but this crumbling industry is not going to fix itself any time soon. EA and Activision, the two biggest publishers in the industry, are slowly but surely drifting away from the PC. The same goes for many others including the now defunct Sierra Entertainment, Take Two Interactive, and Ubisoft. For those wishing to stay in the elite gaming scene, now is the time to leave your computer chair and take a seat on the sofa. A platform can only go so far, and after 20+ years, it seems as if the PC is coming to an end.

Yes they are, maybe were going to see less carbon copy games. Maybe the indie game scene will be king again? Don't forget small games is how the likes of Doom started. World of Goo is a great game, so is Defcon and Darwinia/Multiwinia from Introversion.

Not having the big houses spitting out games left right and centre isn't a good situation but it's not the end of the world. The consoles simply isn't ready to replace the PC.