Why Console gaming is dying and why PC or Steam gaming is the future

[joanro 247]

People have been saying consoles are dying for awhile. Based on the PS4 sales and to a lesser extent, Xbox Ones' and Switches' sales, there isn't any evidence to support this statement. That reminds of the people who constantly talk about Nintendo's doom and yet here they are still. In other words, I will believe it when it happens, until then game on good sir.

[CypherHoof 26,482]

I think the only thing that will kill consoles is convergence - as they become more dependent on downloaded content, on always-online gaming, and other steam-like features, then they really only have standardization (and specialization) of hardware to separate them from the more generic pc (and for things like laptops, usually that is pretty much fixed anyhow).

But we are also seeing increasing power to things like android based hdmi media centres, tablets, and ultra-small-formfactor hdmi based computers.  Given sufficent development in those areas, I can't see why handheld consoles (and tablets) or tv-based consoles (and media centres/usff computers) would differ in more than branding and what software is running, particularly if (say) Microsoft were to try and leverage its decent console market share to improve its near-embarrassing share of the tablet market....

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,422]

One of the biggest flaws i take in your logic here is the lack thereof. You discuss the internet as an advantage for computers, but consoles have access to the internet as well. Computers do, however, have access to far better graphics. But graphics do not make a game.

Plus, I think you're forgetting a little something that is proving to be a cancerous growth on PC gaming, and that's a little scam business tactic called early access. It is predominant in console gaming and it is killing the business.

[Celli 4,336]

10 minutes ago, Someguyinablazer said:

Plus, I think you're forgetting a little something that is proving to be a cancerous growth on PC gaming, and that's a little scam business tactic called early access. It is predominant in console gaming and it is killing the business

And yet, the PC gaming market continues to thrive and grow, same with the console market.

Well, the console market isn't growing, but I digress.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Celli

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,422]

@Celli Sure, it's going to be on an up swing. My opinion is if they don't put limits on things like early access, people will get fed up. Maybe not destroy pc gaming, but it will be bad news for steam.

[Celli 4,336]

Just now, Someguyinablazer said:

@Celli Sure, it's going to be on an up swing. My opinion is if they don't put limits on things like early access, people will get fed up. Maybe not destroy pc gaming, but it will be bad news for steam.

Early Access won't kill the market. I take it you don't pay attention to much in the PC community?

Hardware sales have grown tremendously over the last few years. In fact, they've been outdoing console sales. Also, if you want to stop early access from becoming a problem, don't buy the games. 

[Guest]

The main thing here is that PC is much more useful for SO many other things, I can't see a reason in playing games on console when you can play AND do lots of other stuff on the PC.

Plus, from what I know, console games can't be modified in any way, leaving the players kind of empty with what they can do with the game, while PC games are heavily modifiable, and creating addons, mods and such is way easier, making the game more enjoyable.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Guest

[Discordian 6,015]

43 minutes ago, Niko said:

The main thing here is that PC is much more useful for SO many other things, I can't see a reason in playing games on console when you can play AND do lots of other stuff on the PC.

Plus, from what I know, console games can't be modified in any way, leaving the players kind of empty with what they can do with the game, while PC games are heavily modifiable, and creating addons, mods and such is way easier, making the game more enjoyable.

It should be noted that things like mods are superfluous by definition. The base game is enough for most people. Personally I have no interest in mods except to improve performance, and usually won't bother unless it's fixing a broken game.

 

As an example, Planescape: Torment literally won't start on platforms later than Windows XP because of a missing value in the OS checker that counts newer operating systems as invalid. You have to replace a .dll file somewhere that corrects that one line of code.

 

I prefer playing games in their intended state. I'm not going to spend enough time on a game to make mods matter either. Mods are for people who only ever play a few games multiple times, for those that like to play around. I almost never replay a game. I continuously move from one game to another and have little desire to spend more time on a game once it's beaten.

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

@Someguyinablazer Early Access can be cancerous, but the games that perpetually stay in that state (Ark and DayZ for example) are the real cancer.

[Envy 6,122]

52 minutes ago, Niko said:

The main thing here is that PC is much more useful for SO many other things, I can't see a reason in playing games on console when you can play AND do lots of other stuff on the PC.

Plus, from what I know, console games can't be modified in any way, leaving the players kind of empty with what they can do with the game, while PC games are heavily modifiable, and creating addons, mods and such is way easier, making the game more enjoyable.

1. Well, you're free to have that opinion, as long as you realize that not all of the rest of us share it. As much as a PC can do, it can't legally (which is a deal breaker for me) play the Nintendo games I want to play. The majority of franchises I enjoy happen to be Nintendo franchises. So actually for me it goes more like why would I only have a PC when the PC doesn't receive the vast majority of games I even want to play? Games make a system. I will want whatever system has the games I want to play.

I primarily use my computer for internet, streaming my shows (I don't have cable TV... or any TV reception at all for that matter), and listening to music. Those are the functions I rely on it the most. I don't like wearing it out with playing games, because then... What would I do without my PC for the rest of those functions? Die. Yes, probably. =P

2. Console games actually *can* be modded (Super Smash Bros Brawl has seen tons of mods, for example), but companies like Nintendo will brick consoles if they find out they've been modified. I would imagine this is more because modified consoles are usually used for pirating and not so much that they're against modding in general, but either way, PC does have this point. The mods that people have done for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 are just fantastic. I love it.

[Angle Alastor 3,805]

1. most or maybe half of the people are not computer techy or dont have the money to build a high power pc..

2. some people dont want to figure out how much wattage or what parts needs to go ware to just get it in that sweet spot

3. there are wayyyy too many diffrent video card types and too many to know what is the best and what is the worst.

4. some people dont know what good of a video card they want to use with there cpu to knot bottleneck.

consoles

1.some people dont really care what kind of power it is under the hood , as long as it doesnt lag and works.

2. they just want to plug it in and play the game without figuring what parts is good for these games.

3.some people  may have a history on computer games ware it crashes and there pc dont work anymore and had to reinstall EVERYTHNG!

[Celli 4,336]

53 minutes ago, Vulon Bii said:

@Someguyinablazer Early Access can be cancerous, but the games that perpetually stay in that state (Ark and DayZ for example) are the real cancer.

Meanwhile, Subnautica and PUBG are showing how to do early access correctly.

[Discordian 6,015]

2 hours ago, Celli said:

Meanwhile, Subnautica and PUBG are showing how to do early access correctly.

I watch Markiplier play Subnautica once in awhile. That game looks amazing and one I'm tempted to get even if it never comes out of EA.

[Celli 4,336]

2 minutes ago, Discordian said:

I watch Markiplier play Subnautica once in awhile. That game looks amazing and one I'm tempted to get even if it never comes out of EA.

It's supposed to release around September-October. It's a beautiful game, and quite creepy at times. Not a game for people who are aquaphobic.

[Discordian 6,015]

I actually have a friend whose biggest fear is deep ocean shit but he still watches Mark play it. He probably wouldn't ever play it himself but he can't resist how well the game is designed in spite of that.

[Guest]

12 hours ago, Discordian said:

It should be noted that things like mods are superfluous by definition. The base game is enough for most people. Personally I have no interest in mods except to improve performance, and usually won't bother unless it's fixing a broken game.

 

As an example, Planescape: Torment literally won't start on platforms later than Windows XP because of a missing value in the OS checker that counts newer operating systems as invalid. You have to replace a .dll file somewhere that corrects that one line of code.

 

I prefer playing games in their intended state. I'm not going to spend enough time on a game to make mods matter either. Mods are for people who only ever play a few games multiple times, for those that like to play around. I almost never replay a game. I continuously move from one game to another and have little desire to spend more time on a game once it's beaten.

Yeah it all comes down to ones opinion, if you dislike mods, all good. 

12 hours ago, Envy said:

1. Well, you're free to have that opinion, as long as you realize that not all of the rest of us share it. As much as a PC can do, it can't legally (which is a deal breaker for me) play the Nintendo games I want to play. The majority of franchises I enjoy happen to be Nintendo franchises. So actually for me it goes more like why would I only have a PC when the PC doesn't receive the vast majority of games I even want to play? Games make a system. I will want whatever system has the games I want to play.

I primarily use my computer for internet, streaming my shows (I don't have cable TV... or any TV reception at all for that matter), and listening to music. Those are the functions I rely on it the most. I don't like wearing it out with playing games, because then... What would I do without my PC for the rest of those functions? Die. Yes, probably. =P

2. Console games actually *can* be modded (Super Smash Bros Brawl has seen tons of mods, for example), but companies like Nintendo will brick consoles if they find out they've been modified. I would imagine this is more because modified consoles are usually used for pirating and not so much that they're against modding in general, but either way, PC does have this point. The mods that people have done for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 are just fantastic. I love it.

Did my post come across as rude or something? Of course I do realize that it's just my opinion and that not all of you are going to share it, lol. Sure, some games you that you can play on PC aren't playable on consoles, and vice versa. If you like to use your PC for other stuff, then good for you. It's just different for me, that's all.

Not to say that I hate consoles, of course. I loved my PS2 back in the day more than my own life:D It's just that I prefer my PC currently.

 

Edited July 15, 2017 by Guest

[Rapira85 53]

Your opening insult surely doesn't help your message.
I never understood why people care so much about "platform wars", are they having stocks in any of the companies? lol

Of course PC gaming is more convinient in general, if you are tech savvy. If not it's way too hard to get into the upgrades and downgrades of the generically named hardware part no. 123452.

Ideally consoles should be the ones you don't need to upgrade and just pop in the disk and play systems but thanks to updates that is pretty much a thing of the past.
Gotta wait for that day one patch on a console... when you buy a console to have ease of access to games.

Beside that you most likely will play the same "narrative driven actiongame" on either of the systems so it's really up to how people want to consume the medium.
More choices are better. Valve is pretty much a monopoly on the pc and they are increasingly anti consumer. Sure you can cheapen the medium with binge buying games you will never ever play for cheap because people can't even think to not waste their money on impulse purchases.

meh, I don't like gamer culture in general.

 

Edited July 19, 2017 by Rapira85

[Weles 100]

Nope, I use both PC and PS4 all the time. The only one I hated was X Box.

[Celli 4,336]

@Rapira85 You don't need to be tech savvy to get into PC gaming. And the hardware is easy to memorize and identify.

You know how to build with Legos? Congrats, you know how to build a gaming PC.

[Rapira85 53]

1 hour ago, Celli said:

@Rapira85 You don't need to be tech savvy to get into PC gaming. And the hardware is easy to memorize and identify.

You know how to build with Legos? Congrats, you know how to build a gaming PC.

Still a lot more difficult than just going to the store and buying a box that works out of the box.
Everything goes towards being convinient. Some people just want to play games and are not interested in the hardware.

Legos don't cost a lot and are not being manufactured by other companies and stuff like that. They will always fit.
For the average joe, there is a product they buy and that's all. Consoles are a single thing, you can buy and xbox or Playstation. They are branded and marketed.
PC is a general platform...

Like the difference between buying a... fridge and something that you want to buy because it is feeling like a unique product.

[Johnny1226 14,674]

I enjoy both consoles and pc because consoles have better graphics and stability while pcs have more content and freedom one usually comes at the cost of another that's why I buy specialized games on pc and mainstream games on consoles 

[Celli 4,336]

36 minutes ago, Rapira85 said:

Still a lot more difficult than just going to the store and buying a box that works out of the box.
Everything goes towards being convinient. Some people just want to play games and are not interested in the hardware.

Legos don't cost a lot and are not being manufactured by other companies and stuff like that. They will always fit.
For the average joe, there is a product they buy and that's all. Consoles are a single thing, you can buy and xbox or Playstation. They are branded and marketed.
PC is a general platform...

Like the difference between buying a... fridge and something that you want to buy because it is feeling like a unique product.

Sure, PCs require doing a bit of research, but it really isn't that hard. It's not a lot more difficult, just a little more. And when you're putting the pieces together it's like Legos. Parts will only go in a certain port and it's hard to mess up. 

Finding the right parts only takes a few minutes.

And the great thing about PCs is choosing what you want. Consoles are stuck with what are in the box. You can go as cheap or as expensive as you want with a gaming PC. 

Another thing, the only things that won't always go together are the motherboard, CPU, and RAM. Even then, a motherboard will support a wide range of CPUs and RAM. 

GPUs? You can put a GPU from 2007 into a motherboard that just released. But with CPUs, everything is labeled and it's hard to put the wrong thing in.

Now let me ask you a question. Have you ever built a PC?

33 minutes ago, Johnny1226 said:

I enjoy both consoles and pc because consoles have better graphics and stability while pcs have more content and freedom one usually comes at the cost of another that's why I buy specialized games on pc and mainstream games on consoles 

You're joking right? PCs have better graphics. A PC with a GTX 1070 is going to trump a PS4 pro in the graphics department and then some. PCs are also pretty stable. 

[Lucartini 104]

PC is the future. Can you play indie games on a console? Only if SoNO and NintenDMCA like them, and those companies hate fun.

[Johnny1226 14,674]

To get those graphics and stability you would have to buy a high end computer that would cost thousands to me it's not worth that much too expensive compared to consoles 

[Babyyoshi309 1,829]

I have not read anything above this post, but I just want to say, "PC MASTER RACE!!!!!!!". Okay, I will leave now.