This is massively long, sorry. Take it more as enjoyable debate and not nit-picking.
The 360 is not the king, the Wii is the king, unfortunately. I simply leave it out of the equation because it does not directly compete with the PC. The 360 is big because it has good games with great multiplayer support, it is essentially a distilled PC. The PS3 has great games that only it has. 3-4 AAA titles in one year is enough to get someone to buy a platform, since you will have spent as much money on games as you do on the console itself.
The 360 is the industry leader in 3rd party software sales, which is what drives the industry. I know the Wii has sold more consoles, but half of them are sitting unused on someone's dresser with a copy of Wii Sports and nothing else. As for exclusives driving platform sales you are of course right... other things do as well, hype and marketing for instance. The PS3 had a better year than the 360 exclusive wise yet the 360 still outsold it due in part to its rep as the cool console to have right now.
The only thing PC really has left is RTS and MMO, the latter of which is inevitably going to be console-ported. RTS games are never going to leave the PC because of controller limitations, despite all the attempted console ports. But except for Blizzard, RTS games have never been tremendously popular.
MMOs are tremendously popular, even ones other than WoW are still selling a lot of copies and then making money every month. The Old Republic and Star Trek Online will both make a lot of money. MMOs are hard to do on consoles not just for interface issues but also because consoles are closed systems and MMOs almost need open ones. Star Trek, Conan, Champions and more were all supposed to go to Xbox and never did because Microsoft will not open up the system in the ways needed for an MMO to work. I am sure they will figure that out eventually, you're right, but it may take a while.
RTS is a niche? I guess, though CnC and Dawn of War and of course Starcraft rack up some great sales numbers. Company of Heroes as well. Just because it's niche though means nothing to me, I like it and there are AAA big name RTS exclusives on the PC, it counts.
More and more games are being ported from console to PC rather than PC to console.
This is true and I would never say otherwise, but your arguement had to do with exclusives and the lack of them meaning doom for the platform. That has nothing to do with what is ported where. The end point is that every game that can be ported is ported, generally speaking, and if a lack of exclusives means the death of a platform then they're all dying.
Even if you cite L4D2 as a made-for-PC game, it is still more popular on the 360.
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/modernwarfare2/index.html
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/left4dead2/index.html?tag=result;title;1
I don't know what those links are supposed to tell me, registered Gamespot users are not exactly a scientific sample. No one really knows what platform Left 4 Dead sold more on, Steam does not release sales numbers and Steam is a massive part of game sales on the PC. Every story that talks about PC sales declining seems to ignore that massive monkey in the room.
Relic, the studio behind CoH and DoW, is moving towards consoles as well with Space Marines (which thus far does not appear to have a PC version).
Yeah, the lack of a confirmed PC port on that game is a little odd, but they have hinted they might do one. In any case they go where the money is, they want to branch out. Nothing wrong with that as long as they keep supporting the PC, which I am sure they will. Relic has said repeatedly they will support the PC until its no longer possible.
Exclusives are not gone. Both MS and Sony and Nintendo continue to push exclusives to push their consoles. Whether its the next halo, god of war, or mario game, exclusives still serve a purpose.
There aren't that many though, 2 games on the 360, neither of which is really that important. ODST seems to have been a minor hit that no one still talks about and Forza 3 is good but so is Need for Speed Shift and iRacing and a bunch of other racing games also on PC. Neither is essential. If you are the type of person who needs every hit game then I guess you need a 360 for those two games, but then you would also need a PC for it's exclusives. I don't see your point here, every platform has them in very limited and easy to ignore numbers, but if you NEED them then you NEED that platform, but it's the same for PC.
But for PC, exclusives serve less of a purpose than "because we have to".
And that has always been the case, there is no one company that runs the PC, it's an open platform. There has never been a game exclusive to the PC because of any other reason than it was not easy or possible to also put it on console. As consoles can do more genres we will lose more exclusives, that's just a fact, you're right.
Still, as I said, consoles are not brimming over with exclusives either, and the PC is still the best way to play every game released on multiple platforms. That will never change.
PC is becoming more and more of a niche market because the money is in the consoles.
Well the PC has always been a niche market, more or less. I grew up on Guybrush Threepwood, Roger Wilco and Doom's space marine but almost every other person I have ever met grew up on Mario and Sonic. PC has never been the focus of the mainstream industry in the way consoles have been and with more and more mainstream gamers that is more and more the case. I guess if you go to gametrailers and kotaku you might think we are small and insignificant and DOOM DOOM DOOM, but those are sites tailored to mainsteam gamers.
In short, there is nothing wrong with being a niche. I was playing Left 4 Dead mods all night and wrapped up with a little Samorost 2, console gamers can do neither of those things. I am proud to be a niche.
If PC gaming is defined by a better experience, then Indie games do not fit the bill. What good is eyefinity for little indie games.
Well this just shows the PC has many strenghts, which is a good thing. On one hand it is the premium experience for those with the money and computer skills, on the other hand it is the only open platform for gaming which allows for lots of small companies and indie groups to make games on it. It is also by far the most robust digital delivery platform which offers publishers large and small a chance to sell games directly to consumers and not have to fight for shelf space with AAA titles. PC has a lot going for it which is why in the face of the other platforms' massive mainstream successes it is still going strong. Take pride in that!
Hardcore PC is declining and the industry knows it. Why else form that "PC gaming alliance" which has thus far done nothing? The horizon is not bleak, but it is not bright either. If blizzard does not support eyefinity with starcraft 2 or diablo 3, then what will we do?
Well I don't really consider Eyefinity to be that essential, but I am sure it will be supported. In any case I don't know if I would say PC is declining, more not expanding. There's no reason to be bleak though, at least not yet. In the future things might get worse but that is a long ways off... right now I have too many awesome PC games to play and not enough time to do it. There's a new awesome PC game released every couple weeks it seems like and of the massive GotY contenders this year I think Uncharted 2 is the only one not on PC. Publishers have said they are dropping Wii support and such but they still support the PC, Dead Space sold like crap on the Wii and was a failure but we're still getting Dead Space 2 on the PC.
We have a lot to be thankful for and a platform still cranking out the hits. I don't understand the doom and gloom attitude.
Login
FAQ
Search
Members
