nVidia try to ruin PC gaming!

[Lyris]

So, Half Life 2 is nVidia only... let's say Deus-Ex is ATi only... gamers will give up on the PC as a gaming platform and go straight to the consoles...

I can't see this happening really, PC owners I've talked to really don't like consoles much. I used to be like that, it's all the small things... a lot of PC owners I know when you mention consoles to them immediately think of bad PC>Console ports, overlooking the fact a console's best games are usually exclusive to consoles and that they have games of their own. To quote an early PC Gamer article on "Dreamcast: the PC console", "is this bad for PC gaming? No. We'll still get the best versions of all the games..." It is odd that console gamers don't have the same bias against the PC's (usually awful) console ports.

One thing I must say really annoys me is when some PC-only gamers claim to have knowledge of the console scene. Some of them see consoles as inferior boxes to plug into a portable TV set through the antenna socket and have quick 10 minute games on.

"GameCube cannot possibly be better than Microsoft Xbox."
"Why?"
"Well, Xbox is more powerful, and it's made by Microsoft."

ACTUAL CONVERSATION

If it was upto me there would be no pc games, a computer is made for data processing,

Eeew... yes, it is made for data processing, but it also runs games extremely well if done right. A lot of PC games really aren't my thing but trust me, I've been there, for some people there really is no other way. The game pad is only a start, a lot of PC gamers hate the things and wouldn't be without a mouse and keyboard, or without a good choice of the hardware to own, or without a lot of customization, or without the potential of hacking and updates. Like it or not, some of PC gaming's best ideas made consoles great. Imagine Phantasy Star Online without the keyboard (or modem?), and Xbox Live's downloadable content didn't just come outta nowhere...

[Ravon]

XB Downloadable content.......it just a patch..... just like a pc, it stinks... open an xb up and what do you find....... a pc..... M$ have no idea.... can you open up a ps2 and stick your pc hard drive init.... NO... M$ would have been better if they actually did some design work.... they are just holding everything back IMO.....

I played pc games for years, but got so sick and tired of upgrading ever 6 months and downloading patches. Now my main pc at home only downloads stuff that i want or i use it to write cd's..... thats it..no games

Anyway this has nothing to do with nVidea,

[srgbilco]

As a recent (well, around the time of SMS) PC to console convert, I can emphatise with the peeps on here that hate PC gaming. Granted, the patches and updates do get old fast, but this is a moot point if you get a mag like PC Gamer with it's DVD of patches.

But the worst thing, and what drove me to get into consoles, is the constant upgrading. I've had my PC for 2 years now, around the time of Q3, which I could play at high detail levels. Now it can't even run Battlefield 1942. So it was a case of spending ?300-400 to get a moderate to low spec PC that would work well for about 1 1/2 years or spending ?170 on a GC with SMS and memory card.

Since then I've never looked back. Oh, and I too was very snobbish, thinking GC was just for kids, the pads terrible and Sony the all conquering god, untill I actually played the likes of SSB:M, SMS and Pikmin in Virgin, HMV etc. Just goes to show that fun, great gameplay speaks for itself.

But in favour of PCs, as long as yours is up to spec, then you gameplaying possibilities aren't limited by what manufacturer you use. Multiplayer out of the box and actually refined for most games? Deep, in-depth games like Deus Ex? And, most importantly, great free mods like Counter-Strike and DoD? As well as all the other stuff you can do on a PC.

So, IMO, the best situation would be to own both a PC and some consoles. That way, you can play at least 2 AAA titles every month, so you don't have to dip into the dross or the merely average games in a dry spell. Which is what most of you already kney, probably.

Edit: How may spelling errors have you got? Madam, I got ****ing loads.

[Ravon]

My main problem is just keeping up with the jones's, constant upgrades....

I have the 3 next gen consoles 2 older ones, 1 main pc, 1 laptop and there is a further pc and laptop and a server to look after.......

if i want to play the latest games i can, but its just easier IMO to switch on one of the little boxes under the tv to play games......

[Buttox]

This should be fairly easy to get around with a wrapper to emulate the nVidia-specific functions.

If nVidia/Valve go down this route, then a lot of PC gamers are going to start questioning whether they should support the 2 companies involved. There are, after all, a lot of very good team-based FPS out there already.

[Lyris]

XB Downloadable content.......it just a patch..... just like a pc, it stinks...

open an xb up and what do you find....... a pc..... M$ have no idea.... can you open up a ps2 and stick your pc hard drive init.... NO...

What exactly is your point here? If anything this is a bonus.

I played pc games for years, but got so sick and tired of upgrading ever 6 months and downloading patches. Now my main pc at home only downloads stuff that i want or i use it to write cd's..... thats it..no games

Same here. I got bored with all the money spending and patching (was on 56k at the time), and most of the games I played were old ones that had stopped working on new systems. This is when I got a Dreamcast and I'm extremely happy I left PC games behind. I prefer using them for more creative stuff like Photoshop, web design, and of course all the web browsing and messenging.

[Baroque]

This should be fairly easy to get around with a wrapper to emulate the nVidia-specific functions.

If nVidia/Valve go down this route, then a lot of PC gamers are going to start questioning whether they should support the 2 companies involved. There are, after all, a lot of very good team-based FPS out there already.

That may have been the case with 3Dfx's Glide, but Cg looks to be the first step towards hardware based development language. Potentially it could be a challenge to OpenGL and DirectX, as instead of forcing in hardware abstraction, it trades increased speed & performance against portability. Depending on how deeply it?s wired into the hardware, a wrapper may not be feasible.

After Half-Life, Valve can pretty much walk on water, nVidia also have more hype in the games market then they are actually worth. When I discussed the matter of exclusive games to vendor GPU's last night with some hardcore FPS gamers, the unanimous response was that they'd just buy two PC's.

If nVidia see this as an end run around their competition, now that the law of diminishing returns is coming into play when it comes to adding features to their cards, it's possible that the market could split.

E3 is coming so we'll see.

[bwi]

I've kept quiet over the past week or so on here, but Ravens comments are so ill-judged its laughable.

Whilst i am about to upgrade (build a new one) my built in late 2000 pc still mages to play most thing i throw at it, only the new unreal games are starting to struggle but nothing major.


PCs are good at what they do and cosoles like-wise , don't be such a rabid fan boy.

Bri