2010 - The start of a new golden era in PC gaming?

[capcom_suicide]

The Xbox360 and PS3 are now getting a bit long in the tooth, but we know that the developers will squeeze every last polygon out of these devices in the coming years.

That said, there is still no official announcement on a new generation of hardware. Sony almost seem to "Lock down" their hardware so that the third/fourth/fifth generations finally start to show what the machine can do, (F eks Killzone 2 & Uncharted)

The 360 seems to have been the easier machine to code, but it is quite possible that first party efforts on PS3 will be the better looking games.

The PC world of gaming is a murderous place. Hardware driver mis- matches can cause huge reductions in performance, sometimes games favour ATI, somtimes Nvidia, and the enthusiast PC gamer often gets the feeling that the developers haven't optimised their code, and that hardware upgrades are required all too often.

But if you play on a PC at the sweet spot in timelines, when consoles are getting old & graphics are being reduced, then the PC can become the place that games can be seen at their very best. Added to the fact that many gamers have excellent HD TV's the use of a PC as a "Super console" using wireless 360 pad, offers up an interesting potential.

Graphics cards today in the 5750, 5870 and 5970 are getting so damned powerful that 1080p 60fps gaming on PC is starting to be a reality on the most demanding games at full eye candy.

I loved console gaming, I always have. I love the way the 360 games auto update, and I love the way xbox live works for coop and chat. But some games are starting to look so damned amazing on PC that I am moving closer and closer to finally getting a PC again. I nearly did a few months ago, and I find myself close again now. I paid a lot of ?? on PC hardware in the old days, with 3DFX Voodoo 2, Voodoo 3, Radeon 9800pro, Nvidia 4800Ti and finally 7800GTX. Dropping the PC in 2006 was a superb feeling. The 360 was giving me better than PC graphics on my plasma TV and the console cost less than my last Graphics card.

But now I suspect it will be 2 years before the next gen consoles are out, and I am seriously considering getting back into it.

Have others done the same? Taken a time out, and now gone back to PC wanting to experience the latest games at full resolution/effects? Just looking at GTA4 at 1080p, max view distance with 70pfs tells me I need to experience that.

What do people think? Is the door open for a new golden era of PC gaming for the graphics enthusiasts?

[kernow]

I was a rabid PC gamer, nowadays I just can't be bothered. I don't ever want to sit at a desk with a hulking noisy desktop PC ever again and play some games. I guess you could argue that you could get a little shuttle and connect it to the TV in the lounge, but meh, I'm just happy with console gaming for now.

People always wonder how I went from playing FPS's with keyboard and mouse to playing on a game pad and angrily tell me kb+mouse is far better, to which I reply, yes I know, I just don't care anymore. Give me a sofa and gamepad anyday.

As for graphics, the PC probably wins out, but the simplicity of a console is so much more appealing to me, I doubt I'll ever be a pc gamer again. I can't be bothered to keep up with what the latest graphics card is (its a minefield pretty much), none of the PC games really appeal to me - and what with modern PC releases such as modern warfare 2 essentially being console games with no dedicated server modes anymore and max 8 players, apart from the better graphics I struggle to see the advantages.

What would you play on it?

[capcom_suicide]

What would you play on it?

First of all, I am talking about using a PC as a console: I'm thinking a black box, hidden at the back of the TV table, and then connected to the TV. Use the 360 wireless dongle and pad where possible.

Games wise: I'm think of the best console games, at super high res. Things like Mass Effect 2, GTA4, COD2, Op Flashpoint 2, L4D2 etc

I'm also keen to try exlusives on PC like Arma2. In fact I'd say a good deal of my requirements are related to exactly that game.

[smouty]

A made a point in the Mass Effect 2 thread of saying how I'm happy with the 360 version of ME and people told me it was so much better on PC but much like kernow I really can't be bothered.
I've seen a few 360 vs PS3 vs PC graphics comparisons on the web and whilst the PC undoubtedly looks better it is not THAT much better.
I bought my 360 60Gb new for £94. You just can't beat it for value, performance/£, integration and I actually prefer the controller over kb + mouse plus is is virtually plug and play. I work with PCs everyday and would consider myself pretty hardcore tech wise but until PCs are cheap and as easy to use as a console I won't go back to using one for games.

[capcom_suicide]

A made a point in the Mass Effect 2 thread of saying how I'm happy with the 360 version of ME and people told me it was so much better on PC but much like kernow I really can't be bothered.
I've seen a few 360 vs PS3 vs PC graphics comparisons on the web and whilst the PC undoubtedly looks better it is not THAT much better.
I bought my 360 60Gb new for ?94. You just can't beat it for value, performance/?, integration and I actually prefer the controller over kb + mouse plus is is virutally plug and play. I work with PCs everyday and would consider myself pretty hardcore tech wise but until PCs are cheap and as easy to use as a console I won't go back to using one for games.

That is 100% in line with how I feel on the "Don't do it" side. But the "1080p max view distance" devil is sitting heavy on the right shoulder...

[sj33]

I've said this on for the forum quite a few times, but I'll say it here anyway. I'm a console gamer through-and-through, ever since getting a Master System when I was 3, playing my uncle's Japanese Megadrive a bit later etc... but necessity has forced me to largely abandon the main consoles this generation. I am at university for most of the year, and my consoles are at home. I am not in one place for long periods of time. Instead, I have a game-capable laptop, which I used mainly to play games which I would have played on a console. Resi 5, Mass Effect, Mirror's Edge, The Last Remnant, Street Fighter 4 etc.

It's definately an eye-opener when you find that you can play games, even ports of console games, on a mid-range PC with the graphical settings set above console-levels. For me personally, the ability to put my laptop in my backpack and take it anywhere it really great - I don't feel tied to the spot like I do with a console, or indeed a desktop PC.

That said, the advantages of consoles still exist. The ability to just fire up the console and know it will work, instead of having to deal with driver issues and whatnot really shouldn't be underestimated. It is a trade-off - I love the ability to take control of my setup and configure it for my need... but I can see why this would get in the way of just playing some damn games!

At the end of the day though, I have very specific needs about what I want from a gaming machine, portability is important for me, which I guess is quite separate from looking at the benefits of a desktop PC.

[FelixofMars]

This is pretty much my view, developers and publishers are less interested in the PC due to all the compatibility issues and most users are happy with the quality of console graphics as a result the PC market is shrinking.

While say 10 years ago the PC was king of the visuals and you could never produce anything even approaching a mid spec rig let alone a high end one on a console and games had to be tailored to the console this is just not the case.

Also the top genre for PC gaming the FPS has now been ported successfully across to working on the console without particularly losing anything in translation say maybe a bit of a faster turning circle (which can always been replaced by a quick turn button if required.)

Visually the PC has little gain and of course you will have to upgrade either the RAM, the GPU or the whole thing every few years to run the latest.

I was a rabid PC gamer, nowadays I just can't be bothered. I don't ever want to sit at a desk with a hulking noisy desktop PC ever again and play some games. I guess you could argue that you could get a little shuttle and connect it to the TV in the lounge, but meh, I'm just happy with console gaming for now.

People always wonder how I went from playing FPS's with keyboard and mouse to playing on a game pad and angrily tell me kb+mouse is far better, to which I reply, yes I know, I just don't care anymore. Give me a sofa and gamepad anyday.

As for graphics, the PC probably wins out, but the simplicity of a console is so much more appealing to me, I doubt I'll ever be a pc gamer again. I can't be bothered to keep up with what the latest graphics card is (its a minefield pretty much), none of the PC games really appeal to me - and what with modern PC releases such as modern warfare 2 essentially being console games with no dedicated server modes anymore and max 8 players, apart from the better graphics I struggle to see the advantages.

What would you play on it?

[dataDave]

What would you play on it?

Starcraft 2

[abigsmurf]

The PC will have a big year. A Core i5/phenom II with a 5770 will outperform a games console now and once nVidia get their arses in gear and give ATI some competition prices will plumment.

Big games for the PC this year:

AvP - previous games need you to be far more twitchy than controllers allow for and this is one of the first major games with DX11 tesselation (DiRT2 has it but only really uses it for water effects)

Diablo 3 - possibly a bit optimistic to expect it this year but could be a winter title.

Starcraft 2 - Won't work on a console

id Tech 5 and Doom IV engine. Megatextures will really boost PCs in a way that consoles can't hope to match.

Universe of Starcraft. Wouldn't surprise me if it's announced at Blizzcon. Depends when WoW:Cataclism gets released.

[Matt]

You know my opinion on PC gaming. I understand this is primarily a console forum, but it's good to see others here appreciating what PC gaming is capable of. There are lots of great games on the PC, and as I always say, if you consume a reasonable amount of games over a couple of years, the cheaper price of them pretty much pays for the PC itself

[NemesiS]

I'd take PC gaming over console gaming any day of the week. I love my consoles and wouldn't get rid of them as they gaming is so easy with them, but theres nothing to touch PC's running games at full res, full speed and the mouse and KB is still by far the best control medium on the planet for most game genres. I could not in a million years imagine playing the likes of WoW on a console with a pad

Also the sheer diversity of games on the PC gives it a huge advantage over consoles as developers can experiment more and the fact that you can zip on the internet and jump into any one of a million free MMORGS or flash games makes it a winner. I also simply couldn't live without my taptop. I certainly couldn't see myself typing this with a PS3 chatpad on my plasma

The only downer as people have mentioned is the upgrade path. It costs to play the latest games on PC, but not as much as some would have you believe. An £800 desktop now would be good for 3-4 years. I picked up my 17" laptop with a Q9000 CPU and an Ati 4850 for £700. That can run anything you can throw at it maxed out in almost most cases . Desktop replacement lappys are now so affordable that i'm not sure that i would ever go back to a desktop. I happy as larry sat on my sofa playing L4D2, FM2010 or whatever.

Horses for courses tho. Consoles are certainly more accessible and i love playing games on them, mainly single player, but any stellar 3D title which i want, i'll always get the PC version.

[Skull Commander]

As long as scenarios like this exist:

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=101179

I shall stick to consoles. That thread is like a different langauge to me!

[Matt]

As long as scenarios like this exist:

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=101179

I shall stick to consoles. That thread is like a different langauge to me!

It's not that bad

Like much in life, until you've some experience on it, new things are daunting. Don't fear the PC!

[BaudAttitude]

It did seem to me that 2009 was a real turning point; PC games have been coming out cheaper and better looking than their console versions. Most of them have Xbox360 controller support so you're not forced to use keyboard controls, and the few that have GFWL support even let you pad your gamerscore. Saw this for the first time in Arkham Asylum and quite liked it. Wish more games used this, to be honest.

Put in hard numbers: In 2007, I finished 4 games on the PC; that went up to 8 in 2008 and then 18 (!) in 2009. I don't see that trend changing until the consoles get another generational leap.

[charlesr]

If/when I get another PC, I'd make sure it was a small silent thing that can sit by the TV so that I can give PC gaming a go as well as use it for media streaming (the 360 interface is sooooo rubbish compared to XBMC it's like they weren't even aware of its existence. and it's too loud even with the quietest fans).

I sit at my desk all day for work, so I couldn't imagine sitting there in the evening too. What a life eh?