PC Gaming Renaissance?

[Section_Ei8ht]

PC Gaming Renaissance on the Horizon?

Major industry players plan a major push to revitalize segment.

by Wade Steel

October 31, 2005 - Anyone who has walked into a major gaming retail outlet in recent years can't help but have noticed the ever-shrinking shelf space devoted to PC gaming. The sales figures paint an even more dismal picture for PC gaming enthusiasts: while console gaming sales have increased every year since 1999 to $6.2 billion in 1994, PC gaming sales in the US peaked in 1999 at $2 billion and have declined every year since for a total of $1.1 billion in 2004. Into this environment, major industry players like Microsoft, Dell, and GameStop are making a concerted effort to revitalize PC gaming, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

Chris Donahue, director for the Windows gaming and graphics team at Microsoft, stated that "We underinvested in making sure that hasn't happened, and that's one of the things we're going to fix." GameStop chief operating officer and vice chairman Dan DeMatteo claimed that he "would hate to see it go away...I wouldn't be the one to cause it to go away. If the consumer is there and publishers are making good games for the PC, I will be there."

For its part GameStop is seeking to increase the visibility of PC gaming by entering into a partnership with Dell Computers to place PC gaming kiosks - similar to those already in place for the demonstration of console games - in some of its retail locations. Currently, only 25 out of the over 4,000 GameStop locations nationwide have the PC game kiosks but that number is expected to increase.The kiosks will be powered by Dell's revamped and supercharged XPS computers, coupled with 42-inch Dell high-definition plasma monitors.

While GameStop and Dell are focusing directly on the demonstration of PC gaming for the consumer, Microsoft seeks to re-energize its Windows operating system as a gaming platform and intends to treat the release of its upcoming Windows Vista OS with all the fanfare of a gaming console release. The company intends to tout Visa as "the most game-friendly Windows operating system ever." In addition, Microsoft is attempting to convince PC game publishers to release games on DVDs rather than the current CD format in an effort to eliminate the now-standard multi-disk installation. Furthermore, the company intends to encourage PC game developers to adopt some of the "plug and play" features of consoles by allowing games to be played once the disk is installed rather than waiting for complete installation on the harddrive.

While the release of the next-generation consoles has inevitably brought with it the doomsayers who say the death of PC gaming is nigh, we can see from this report that some of the industry's heavy hitters continue to see the PC as a viable gaming platform and worthy of continued support. This effort can only benefit the entire gaming community - both PC and console alike.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/662/662771p1.html

[Thrik]

[johnm487]

[Bic-B@ll]

[von*ferret]

about bloody time!

[Gaz]

Everytime I go into my local GAME shop, the PC section has moved, and is smaller.

I hate it.

Consoles suck ass.... Viva La PC

[insta]

Hooray, good news

[Farles]

you cant mod for consoles like you mod for PC. Then console sucks. That's all.

Good News. Would love to see windows lag lees during games.

[ginsengavenger]

PC gaming has gained a lot of ground lately in large part, I think, due to MMOs (and WoW specifically). The big concern with PC games has always been the ease of piracy - but it's a funny thing. One of the guys from work just spent two weeks in China (where everyone knows piracy is rampant). He says the only games people play are PC MMOs, and game companies can make money because you can't properly pirate an MMO.

[Kosmo]

I think that it is going fast to the situation where PCs are mainly used to play internet games and MMOGs, I don't see any console no matter how hawt their Live or other is. There are just so many strenghts in PC gaming, like modding, better and more adaptive network architechture, and I don't see consoles able to do fps MMOGs with their puny memory, hell, if you want to walk around Orgrimmar in WoW and still have FPS more than 6, you have to have atleast 1gig of memory.

But consoles and singleplayer games and multiplayer games without internet connection, I'm sad to say that most of the games are just done better than PC games.

Sure PCs still dominate FPS and RTS markets, and pro gamers use PCs.

Other than that, we are doomed.

[Minos]

PC gaming has gained a lot of ground lately in large part, I think, due to MMOs (and WoW specifically). The big concern with PC games has always been the ease of piracy - but it's a funny thing. One of the guys from work just spent two weeks in China (where everyone knows piracy is rampant). He says the only games people play are PC MMOs, and game companies can make money because you can't properly pirate an MMO.

Yes you can, I know quite a few guys who play all these MMOs on pirate servers

[ginsengavenger]

I've done it too. but not with thousands of players on the server - that is why I qualify it with "properly" because with just a few people you're missing the point entirely.

[Skjalg]

I think all sales will increase alot when all game devs start using online validation^^ Just like steam.. Makes it harder to pirate

I also think that sales for console will drop once it gets easier to pirate those games^^

[D3ads]

Bravo!

[ReNo]

For me, there just aren't enough interesting games on the PC. If you like FPS/MMO/RTS/Simulations, then you are spoilt for choice. If you like other genres you're kinda screwed on the PC.

Truth is though, I wouldn't WANT to play other genres on the PC really. It doesn't suit racing games like Burnout, or crazy side scrollers like Viewtiful Joe, or funky sports games such as Jet Set Radio, or fast paced beat-em-ups like Soul Calibur, or party games like Warioware, or... And truth be told, a lot of these other genres are essential to many people - I for one would hate to be limited to the PC suitable genres.

Something I've never really understood are people who say consoles suck because you can't mod the games. What about PLAYING the games? Since when did that become such a chore? Don't get me wrong, it's great when games come along that you can mod, but NOT being able to mod something is hardly detracting from the game itself. Chances are people who mod PC games only do it for one or two games a year. Are people restricting themselves to buying only moddable games on principle? If so, thats freaking stupid, and if NOT, then saying consoles suck due to inability to mod is somewhat hypocritical. Unless you aren't a gamer of course, but if thats the case I seriously question your desire to make games.

Anyway, this hasn't exactly been relevant to the discussion, so I'll shut up now