PC vs. console sales

[SWT_Janowich 10]

It always surprises me, that certain people don't get the fact,

that the only reason to reserve the situation is to make the PC

profitable again.

Boycotting is bollocks because it brings nothing.

[Madus_Maximus 0]

It always surprises me, that certain people don't get the fact,

that the only reason to reserve the situation is to make the PC

profitable again.

Boycotting is bollocks because it brings nothing.

The problem there is the vast majority of PC releases are mediocre at best these days. They're either poorly made console ports (either poor buggy code like GTA 4 for example, or just no thought of the difference in play style/control the PC has), or just poor in general. You get one or two good games coming out every year if you're lucky. I wouldn't even class the others as fillers with the tripe that hits the shelves.

Just looking on Steam shows how bad it is. There's hardly anything out there. I wouldn't mind so much if they did some extra work on the PC version. How hard is it to add say going prone and leaning into FPS's? It's not like we play against console players so there's no advantage to be gained from it.

There's just way too much mediocrity these days. The game industry has become like the film industry. Just pump out unoriginal crap with shiny effects, or remake older stuff with the new shiny effects then market the hell out of it and ignore the actual game part of the product. Rinse and repeat.

I'm greatful for developers like BIS who seem to understand that games are more than just a marketing campaign designed to sell as many copies as possible in a short time span before people work out what they just bought isn't really that good. BIS seem to do it for the long haul. I'm sure they get a somewhat steady stream of sales over time rather than a massive spike on release then that's about it. BIS games are like a fine wine, they mature and get better with age (sounds corny but it's true).

Let's wait and see. Things like this Live online game streaming thing may push things in the right direction.

[krycek 349]

That Onlive thing is a bunch of crap,not sure what others think but I'm not going to spend 40-50 euros for a game and then be at the mercy of that company if you actually want to play the game.

Imagine if you want to play it again in 3-4 years and they decide the server cost is to big for old games.I hope it never takes off.

About the mediocrity of new games or poorly made ports,remember we always had a bunch of crap and a few handful of good games each year from the times of PS1 and PS2.

If the mediocrity and poor ports were the problem than we weren't seeing hundreds of thousands of torrent downloads for a game(insert any name here).

These guys sum it up pretty well: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/2/19/

[Deadfast 43]

I wouldn't mind so much if they did some extra work on the PC version. How hard is it to add say going prone and leaning into FPS's?

Well, there is some work involved, especially if you don't have the animations.

But there is absolutely no excuse for "Press ENTER to continue". The main menu is the first thing that you see and I find it ridiculous more and more developers can't be bothered with at least moving some buttons about.

[Zipper5 74]

But there is absolutely no excuse for "Press ENTER to continue". The main menu is the first thing that you see and I find it ridiculous more and more developers can't be bothered with at least moving some buttons about.

Agreed. That "other game" is a perfect example. Boot it up and already your first impressions tell you it's going to be a shit game, which it was indeed.

I believe the lack of prone in BC2 actually servers a purpose - it has, in my experiences, stopped players from camping. Sure you still get the 'tards that sit on that rock in Port Valdez and just stay there sniping the whole round, but there aren't as many as in some of the larger maps of MW2. (Lol, "larger" :D )

As to lean, well, that's just stupid. The only reason for them not putting that in is that the controller doesn't have enough buttons for it and they're too lazy to configure it in for a keyboard to use. I can't believe the radical change from COD4 to MW2... COD4 had dedicated servers, lean, and multiple other PC exclusive/optimization features. MW2 on the other hand...

[dm 9]

Boils down to $$$

Why spend the extra $$$ on sorting those features out when it'll still sell billions of copies without them anyway?

[Nielsneo 10]

Well, there is some work involved, especially if you don't have the animations.

But there is absolutely no excuse for "Press ENTER to continue". The main menu is the first thing that you see and I find it ridiculous more and more developers can't be bothered with at least moving some buttons about.

Indeed. Take Metro 2033 for example. The developer said that they really would make an effort for the PC version. It would have multicore support and stuff. Guess what the first thing you see when you start it......."Press ENTER to start". I stopped playing after 10 minutes as i was getting sick from the excessive blurring and other console features crap.

[Archamedes 10]

I am hardly surprised by those stats being as playstation and xbox are soley made for gaming yet a pc is a universal computer meant for so much more. If it were stats on sales of microsoft office (and for arguements sake it was compatible for both ps3 and xbox) what platform do you think office would be most popular on?

[Flash Thunder 10]

I am hardly surprised by those stats being as playstation and xbox are soley made for gaming yet a pc is a universal computer meant for so much more. If it were stats on sales of microsoft office (and for arguements sake it was compatible for both ps3 and xbox) what platform do you think office would be most popular on?

And dont forget you need a 2500 dollar PC to run Arma 2 or any PC game now for that matter. :j:

[Nielsneo 10]

I am hardly surprised by those stats being as playstation and xbox are soley made for gaming yet a pc is a universal computer meant for so much more. If it were stats on sales of microsoft office (and for arguements sake it was compatible for both ps3 and xbox) what platform do you think office would be most popular on?

Well you can play DVD's with an XBOX and blue ray's with the PS3 so they are not soley for gaming. And remember that people don't buy or build an high end PC for word-processing.

And dont forget you need a 2500 dollar PC to run Arma 2 or any PC game now for that matter. :j:

Please, not that excuse AGAIN. I paid 750$ for my PC a year and a half ago and it runs ArmA2 just fine with high and very high settings.:rolleyes:

[Dmented 10]

And dont forget you need a 2500 dollar PC to run Arma 2 or any PC game now for that matter. :j:

Yeah to run everything on high. That's why there's a LOW SETTING!

"Low settings!?" :butbut:

[Infam0us 10]

lolconsoles

[Baff1 0]

I think Rockband and Guitar Hero alone would kill the PC sales stats, but who cares about those?

Not really. The worlds biggest earning title is World of Warcraft, a PC game.

On it's own it's taken more money than all the PS3 games ever released combined.

Activision makes 70% of it's money on PC titles.

It's Call of Duty franchise makes 23% of their total revenue. (And costs a lot more to make).

COD developers say they want to take the game MMO. Lol.

The PC is most commonly owned gaming platform on the planet. If you can crack it, tap into that market, no rival game on any rival platform will come close to you.

Edited July 2, 2010 by Baff1

[Flash Thunder 10]

Well you can play DVD's with an XBOX and blue ray's with the PS3 so they are not soley for gaming. And remember that people don't buy or build an high end PC for word-processing.

Please, not that excuse AGAIN. I paid 750$ for my PC a year and a half ago and it runs ArmA2 just fine with high and very high settings.:rolleyes:

Did you miss the sarcasm or wut? :rolleyes:

[Nielsneo 10]

Did you miss the sarcasm or wut? :rolleyes:

Guess i missed that. :eek: But it's still a vallid point in conjunction with what Archamedes said. When you go to a PC store and you tell the salesman that you are going to use it for word processing he is not going to say "well this $2500 dollar PC should be enough to do it". (Unless he is a shady salesman and the buyer is a complete idiot) Same goes the other way around. When you want a DVD player the salesman is not going to give you a console.

:D

[gossamersolid 155]

Like people have been saying, all these sale figures are in stores only. They seem to miss the fact that Steam, Direct 2 Drive, Gamersgate and Impulse even exist.

[*LK1* 10]

oh no, i see where this is going...

I'm going down into my bunker. Someone wake me when the shitstorm has passed.

omg lol.