End of PC Gaming?
With the introduction of the PS3, Xbox 360 and the WII , I believe we may be seeing the last generation of PC gaming as we know it today.
Consider the facts.
The consoles are backed by large corporations which subsidize the price of the consoles to ensure market share. Sony, Microsoft, etc all loose money on every console they sell, but make it up through subsequent sales of games and the sheer number of consoles sold. Sony for instance looses a reported $241.35 for every PS3 they sell while for Microsoft the figure is around 126$.
For a PC one has to source the components separately and none of the hardware manufacturers are as big as the console corporations, . Also they have absolutely nothing to gain by subsidizing their products. Hence their is no way a PC gamer can get the same value as that of console. Add to the fact that the life-cycle of a console is at least 5 years as compared to a maximum of 3 years for the PC. So, there is absolutely no way a PC can compete with a console on the price factor.
I think the main hurdles for a console manufacturer were the lack of connectivity, poor resolution of TV's, and poor gaming interfaces. The emergence of LCD and plasma screens and integration of internet gaming in consoles has to a large extent solved the first two.
Why consoles, do not provide a keyboard and a mouse as standard or at least as an official accessories and allow 3rd party manufacturers I cannot understand. Entire genres of games like FPS(like counterstrike) or RTS(Warcraft) cannot even use a console.
On one hand these people spend millions trying to get an accurate motion sensing mechanisms and the 'perfectly' shaped controllers but on the other they are not bothering to incorporate and market, proven and existing technologies like a mouse and a keyboard. A few consoles have options to attach a mouse, but tracking/quality is poor or they havent been marketed well. What does a console manufacturer have to loose ?
The argument against having a keyboard and a mouse is that it doesn't suit the 'image' or its cumbersome to control a mouse sitting on a sofa 5 feet away. But surely, for a huge market share these problems can be overcome.Also, And the argument that hardcore fps and rts users don't want to use a console doesn't add up to me. If they had an option to play the same game the same way on a console, wouldn't they at-least consider it?
As a casual gamer myself, I would love to have the option to play all of FIFA , Counterstrike and Warcraft on the console properly and leave my PC free for doing other stuff!
5 comments:
Having played a number of games on both console and the PC I have found the experience on each to be decidedly different.
With the PC the experience tends to be very intense; for instance in a game of warcraft or C&C one has to micromanage 100 units and structures each the size of an under-fed mosquito. Personally if I don't have my monitor no more than a foot away from my face and my keyboard and mouse placed ideally on my table the experience tends to be highly discomforting.
Then we have the console games. These scream fun and tension release. Yes, admittedly the FPS genre of game seems like an excellent candidate. But I honestly feel that we can do something a lot more creative than a bloody mouse for a controller. How about a gun akin to the wii mote!
I can see other games being played on consoles too!! like MMORPG's. I'm all for getting WOW on console. But again lets have some nice interesting controllers. The whole point of a console game is to make the experience feel natural and easy. Do you really think a keyboard and mouse will provide that?
One thing that a console will always lack imo is game modding. Game modding thrives for the PC. In WoW every clan chooses to use their own interface that they have made in XML. And how about Warcraft 3? How many people really play Warcraft 3 anymore? as far as I can tell they only play DOTA which happens to be a mod. Then theres half-life... did you know that counter strike started off as a mod? Well I guess the point is that if it werent for these games being released for the PC, then we wouldn't take them appart and mod them like we have.
In the end I strongly feel that both console and PC games are here to stay. I think that the introduction of the key board and mouse to the console wouldn't kill PC gaming at all!! I fear it would be the death of the console!!
Both will stay for the time being atleast. PCs offer more flexibility while consoles are more user friendly and there is no need for installation of games etc.
Yes i think adding a mouse n keyboard to a console will make it much more convienient for internet sake atleast and it beats all current controllers when it comes to FPS games etc.
Another thing is that for multiplayer gaming pcs still have the edge because they offer the options of creating dedicated servers, ways to chat while playing the game with the keyboard for low bandwidth users and ways to set game parameters to get the best performance for the game online. there are soo many things to PC which u cannot get on a console, for instance can u play what ever music u want in the backgroud while u play a game on a 1 DVD only console?
Basically i feel that consoles need to become more powerful (or more PC like) for PCs to get butt whooped in the gaming market, which is what is happening right now. Before consoles never had any provision for online gaming and internet surfing. now some consoles even have an option for interfacing a mouse. slowly consoles are becoming more pc like and everything is converging. soon i wont be surprized if consoles replace home pcs for ppl who just check mail and use ms office or if PCs just replace all consoles by having console hardware integrated into them.
Ah.. comments by the "hardcore" gamers i was referring to in my post.
Modding ....thats definitely a good point, but perhaps not not as impossible as you think. Obviously a hell of a lot needs to be done.
Perhaps as you say mouse and keyboard may not be the ideal solution. And progress towards next gen controllers have already started with the wii..
But in that case also.. the fragment of people using the pc for gaming will only come down as controllers are found for more and more differnt genres.. bringing them into the realm of mainstream consoles.
As for the power of consoles, we already talking about 6 cell processors , imagine the config of the next gen or the gen after that.
how hard can it be to provide a limited chat in game, or music...(ps3 has a 60gig hdd or so)
Obviously the other possibility is that pc.. incorporate all the elements of a console.. which has been already on for ages.. but i doubt that will happen coz.. it will be too expensive as there as mutiple providers for hardware and nothing to tie them together to reduce costs..
Essentially i think a console will gaming optimized OS where u wont be able 2 do stuff like office or code... or photo editing but hear music and surf and chat.. but i still think it will remain distinctly different from PC's.
Damn.. im i getting confused or wht!!
In other words.. the console will be an integrated solution for your living room (home theatre,music,movies,gaming)... while a standalone PC.. will be for the other stuff(office,coding,etc)!!
With hindsight (the fact that I can verify this here in the US), I can say that your prediction was absolutely true.
I went into two gaming store in a mall here and checked the actual percentage of shelf space devoted to these categories.
Wii: 30%
PS3 + : 40%
XBOX 360: 25 %:(
PC Games: < 5%
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