PC gaming has come a long way since it was introduced way back in the early 90’s. Companies like ID Software showcased games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom in 1992 and 1993 respectively on the PC. These games were a technical benchmark in the gaming industry and gave birth to a new genre which we today know as “First Person Shooters”, something we all are glad for.
To date, first person shooters are best enjoyed on a PC because of the use of a mouse and keyboard which makes movement and aiming easy compared to the analog controllers. In spite of the PC being a platform for first person shooters, in spite of it being the most comfortable platform, we are going into an era where developers are considering first person shooters solely for consoles. What is provoking them to take such drastic steps? What is forcing them to take away something from the PC that it deserves from the beginning?
PC GAMERS POINT OF VIEW
Over the years as the “the Personal Computer” became immensely popular, so did PC gaming. There were massive changes in the way these games were seen and experienced. Genre’s got diversified, graphics and sound got better, and everything improved at an overwhelming rate.
Games went from a few colors to representing a million. Your average Joe computer just wasn’t enough to handle these games. Then we had graphic cards, the list was short and sweet. A gamer could easily buy one of them and it would last him easily for years, but as technology started improving, so did the games.
Today, we have to choose from nearly more than a dozen graphic cards which are laid out from best performers to least. If that wasn’t enough, with technology the graphic cards improve and a new “Dream Machine” one comes out every 6 months or so which is twice as powerful and half the price of the previous one. You will be left cursing yourself on why you couldn’t wait a little longer (in spite of the fact that you still waited for quite a long time!).
All this confusion and mayhem is frustrating for many PC gamers. What do we do then? More reasons why PC gaming is becoming messier than a fish market.
There was a time when PC games were simple and fun, but as time progressed, so did everything around us including games. It had to become bigger, better and shinier then the rest. No longer is the situation as simple as an Apple. It’s too complex for the simple mind to understand.
Today’s games have got settings like Antistrophic Filtering, Anti-aliasing, Shadows, Specular Map, Depth of Field, Dynamic Lights, HDR etcetera…(soon enough we will have to get a degree to understand these terms!).
Ultimately my question to you guys is…
“Aren’t games supposed to be the work of art, just like movies? Aren’t they supposed to be seen the way the developer/director wants it to be seen? What’s the use of art if you scrap out essentials like the details, facial expression? What right does anyone (graphic cards) have, to dictate on how you should experience the game?
My point here is why can’t there be a standard graphics card on which each and every game would work seamlessly for a long time like our console counterparts (Maybe I am dreaming too high!). You cannot say “yes” to a bad print movie, you cannot “yes” to an out of sync movie, then why the heck is it an absolutely opposite reaction towards your PC games? Isn’t it just better to stick to a $400 console which will last you at least 4+ years? Why the heck would anyone even have second thoughts?”
THE SAGA CONTINUES…
Today’s games that get released on the PC have to be optimized for different computers with different hardware configurations. A consumer just cannot be bothered to wait for months before a patch is released which will make the game run properly on the PC. A PC gamer has to spend a premium to enjoy his games and on top of that wait for months before the patch fixes that specific problem. Maybe I am wrong, maybe everyone has just migrated to consoles in order to play the games they are meant to be played.
As for other games, Cliffy B puts it this way, “I think the PC is just in disarray… what’s driving the PC right now is ‘Sims’-type games and WoW and a lot of stuff that’s in a web-based interface. You just click on it and play it…”
So as a PC gamer are you seriously satisfied with your games? Are you satisfied with the fact that you have to upgrade often? Are you satisfied with the lengthy waits for that one patch that will fix that stupid bug that makes your game crash? Are you satisfied with those pathetic console ports?
The story of a pissed off developer:
What? No good news here my friend…
With the popularity of the internet, p2p (Peer-2-Peer), motto’s like ‘sharing is caring’ just did not make sense to our dear game publishers/developers. Piracy became rampant and games were distributed through the web. To make matters worse, games got leaked online days or weeks before their actual retail release dates and millions of gamers downloaded these games. Game companies lost billions of dollars in sales for the PC platform. Still wondering why we see less and less “exclusive” titles on PC?
What we see today are ports from consoles making their way to the PC. The developers make games keeping the console in mind. How many times have you been disappointed to that crapfest of a port from the console? The PC segment sure might have the most powerful hardware but the next day that hardware is nothing more than obsolete. How can you even think that the game developers can optimize their games properly for each and every graphic card that comes out every few months including the old ones…?
As technology improved, so did consoles. Today’s consoles are made to last for years to come. No hassles like patches are involved because everyone has the same console with the same configurations. This makes the job a lot easier for game developers to have one piece of hardware and exploit it.
Gamers are also well satisfied with consoles because the $400 console will last for years rather than a $1500 computer that you might have to upgrade every few months. Consoles are a ray of hope to feed your gaming needs, they rarely disappoint you. I just hope that consoles don’t go the PC way.
–Akshay Singh