PC Gaming...rules once more?

[Fury]

That definitely used to be true but as more console games become available at 60fps, expectations will change. At least I hope so. The improvements to gameplay are more noticeable with a higher framerate than resolution.

I wish more ps4/xbox games would focus on framerate than resolution/fidelity but they don't. The wolfenstein games on consoles did by using a dynamic framebuffer and I thought it worked great.

Honestly, it's not even the 60fps that I think most console folks will notice, it's the consistency. Most of the people I know who only own consoles, only buy big games and never check a digital foundry article before. They buy them, if they feel like shit, then they feel like shit. Original Destiny didn't seem bad at 30fps (PS4) because it seemed to stay at it. It's the games that it drops to 15-20 when it gets busy that people notice.

I know not every developer is going to use a dynamic framebuffer but I feel like a few visual options wouldn't hurt on consoles. Not the full pc treatment but stuff like god rays and other effects could be added as options instead of just plunked in.

Until that happens, I will mostly use my ps4 for exclusives and my xbox one as modern art. I don't expect it to change, there are 100 million current gen consoles shipped...most of these people just want to play madden or COD and they are just accepting it for what it is.

 

[Madmick]

This is actually an amazing idea. I would still prefer they block M+KB for Xbox titles but other than that it sounds great and seems to benefit everyone involved. Even I would have to consider switching back to Xbox if they did this. The only thing holding me back at that point would be Sonys exclusives but if they could also get the psnow app (doubtful) that would be insane.

Oh, naturally, the KB+M inputs would only be an option inside of the Xbox Steam app and Steam games. Everything inside the "Xbox" filtered ecosystem still runs on discrete Xbox servers, and would be restrictive to the classic Xbox dual-analog controllers for input.

Of course you're setting up a server-hosting war between Steam and Xbox, and Gabe doesn't want to fight that war. It's not like there aren't caveats for Steam, too.

The bottom line is consoles these days are under-powered PCs. They are inferior in every way at this point other than the marketing behind them and the "ease of use". And this only applies to people who have zero experience with PC gaming.

1. Low Price
   
2. Cost value
3. Ease of use-- plug n' play
4. Game stability

These are the fingers on the branch. PCs can't match the low entry price point of $250, and they can't match the performance value of the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X at launch. Greater ease of use and reliability is disappearing with rolling updates/patches, and with the open-source world catching up and adapting automatic drivers for things like dual-analog controllers.

 

[fdswer]

Oh, naturally, the KB+M inputs would only be an option inside of the Xbox Steam app and Steam games. Everything inside the "Xbox" filtered ecosystem still runs on discrete Xbox servers, and would be restrictive to the classic Xbox dual-analog controllers for input.

Of course you're setting up a server-hosting war between Steam and Xbox, and Gabe doesn't want to fight that war. It's not like there aren't caveats for Steam, too.

1. Low Price
   
2. Cost value
3. Ease of use-- plug n' play
4. Game stability

These are the fingers on the branch. PCs can't match the low entry price point of $250, and they can't match the performance value of the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X at launch. Greater ease of use and reliability is disappearing with rolling updates/patches, and with the open-source world catching up and adapting automatic drivers for things like dual-analog controllers.

I wouls say ease of use is in the PC favor now, run faster, updates done in the background, multitasking is way beyond anything a console can do, and steam supports most controllers now connecting a DS4 is the same as a PS4.

 

[jefferz]

This is actually an amazing idea. I would still prefer they block M+KB for Xbox titles but other than that it sounds great and seems to benefit everyone involved. Even I would have to consider switching back to Xbox if they did this. The only thing holding me back at that point would be Sonys exclusives but if they could also get the psnow app (doubtful) that would be insane.

Microsoft has said a couple of times that k+m is coming, but they've kicked the can down the road a couple of times.

 

[Sycho Sid]

Was PC gaming ever not the leader?

 

[ssBaldy]

Steam is boss. Stopped pirating altogether. Wish they did the same for lossless music...

 

[loyalyolayal]

I have both, but tbh once consoles hit 60fps across the board PC wont be king much longer. Especially Microsoft going cross plateform with xb and pc. Sony will be the one getting fucked in the end.

@Madmick already covered that in the OP. Jungles asians are still playing in internet cafes. They don't have to buy a PC, internet plan, ac, etc. Asian PC gaming scene is growing and China is predominantly PC.

I'm surprised that there's no coverage of The International here.

 

[Fatt Hughes]

I've seen the light and I'm heavily interested in building up a pc for my gaming.

 

[KaNesDeath]

I've seen the light and I'm heavily interested in building up a pc for my gaming.

Starting from scratch is expensive. However if you purchase peripherals correctly they will last you 10+ years. So when the eventual CPU, Ram, motherboard and heatsink upgrade costs come the price is mitigated.

 

[KidBaize]

Starting from scratch is expensive. However if you purchase peripherals correctly they will last you 10+ years. So when the eventual CPU, Ram, motherboard and heatsink upgrade costs come the price is mitigated.

How long do motherboards last these days? That was one of my issues when I was shopping around. I couldn't decide how much to worry about having the ability to upgrade.

 

[jefferz]

How long do motherboards last these days? That was one of my issues when I was shopping around. I couldn't decide how much to worry about having the ability to upgrade.

Intel boards tend to last 2 generations. We're on the 2nd gen of intels current socket so their next gen, Coffee Lake, will be a new socket. AMD has promised to use the AM4 socket until 2020.

 

[Steve-French]

Why doesn't anybody ever talk about the lack of sports games that the PC has to offer. The PC doesn't have Madden, UFC, NHL, Fight Night, MLB, or PGA games anymore. The PC has FIFA and NBA live, but the comminties for those games are a lot bigger on the consoles.

I agree that the PC will always be superior and with the help of the internet building a rig is easier than ever, but there are still a lot of casual gamers out there that will buy a PS4 or XB1 for their man cave and get a lot couch co-op hours out of it.

Consoles are also cheaper and more convenient to get started with. Right now you can get an XB1 for $200 with a controller, or an XB1S (That has the ability to upscale games to 4K) with a controller for $230. There is no way you could build a PC with an XB1 controller that could do the same thing for that price.

 

[jefferz]

Why doesn't anybody ever talk about the lack of sports games that the PC has to offer. The PC doesn't have Madden, UFC, NHL, Fight Night, MLB, or PGA games anymore. The PC has FIFA and NBA live, but the comminties for those games are a lot bigger on the consoles.

I agree that the PC will always be superior and with the help of the internet building a rig is easier than ever, but there are still a lot of casual gamers out there that will buy a PS4 or XB1 for their man cave and get a lot couch co-op hours out of it.

Consoles are also cheaper and more convenient to get started with. Right now you can get an XB1 for $200 with a controller, or an XB1S (That has the ability to upscale games to 4K) with a controller for $230. There is no way you could build a PC with an XB1 controller that could do the same thing for that price.

That would be like saying your $230 price is bullshit because it doesn't include the price of a keyboard and mouse.

 

[Steve-French]

That would be like saying your $230 price is bullshit because it doesn't include the price of a keyboard and mouse.

I suppose, but aside from FPS's don't most PC gamers use game pads these days? The Keyboard and mouse also have to be bought separate when building a rig though, where as the price of a console always includes one controller.

 

[GhostZ06]

Why doesn't anybody ever talk about the lack of sports games that the PC has to offer. The PC doesn't have Madden, UFC, NHL, Fight Night, MLB, or PGA games anymore. The PC has FIFA and NBA live, but the comminties for those games are a lot bigger on the consoles.

I agree that the PC will always be superior and with the help of the internet building a rig is easier than ever, but there are still a lot of casual gamers out there that will buy a PS4 or XB1 for their man cave and get a lot couch co-op hours out of it.

Consoles are also cheaper and more convenient to get started with. Right now you can get an XB1 for $200 with a controller, or an XB1S (That has the ability to upscale games to 4K) with a controller for $230. There is no way you could build a PC with an XB1 controller that could do the same thing for that price.

 

[KaNesDeath]

How long do motherboards last these days?

Realistically 4-5 years. An the upgrade is driven by the CPU designers changing the socket type in the new generation CPU builds.

 

[jefferz]

I suppose, but aside from FPS's don't most PC gamers use game pads these days? The Keyboard and mouse also have to be bought separate when building a rig though, where as the price of a console always includes one controller.

I use a game pad for certain games, like retro style 2d side scrollers, but use mouse/keyboard for most games.
The great thing about PC gaming is I have a choice of peripherals to fit me. Your Xbone has the stock one, a $100+ upgraded version of that controller, and a bunch of Mad Catz style junk.

 

[m52nickerson]

Why doesn't anybody ever talk about the lack of sports games that the PC has to offer. The PC doesn't have Madden, UFC, NHL, Fight Night, MLB, or PGA games anymore. The PC has FIFA and NBA live, but the comminties for those games are a lot bigger on the consoles.

Your right that the majority of sports franchises are not on PC. Of course this is because years ago PC players figured out that they could simply mod older versions of he games change rosters and uniforms as well as add pretty much all the others changes that happen year to year with those games. So EA stopped welling them on PC because they could not make the money on that platform and it risked there yearly sales.

I agree that the PC will always be superior and with the help of the internet building a rig is easier than ever, but there are still a lot of casual gamers out there that will buy a PS4 or XB1 for their man cave and get a lot couch co-op hours out of it.

...and this will continue. Consoles will always appeal to those that just want to game without any more thought to it.

Consoles are also cheaper and more convenient to get started with. Right now you can get an XB1 for $200 with a controller, or an XB1S (That has the ability to upscale games to 4K) with a controller for $230. There is no way you could build a PC with an XB1 controller that could do the same thing for that price.

Again you are right you can't build a PC that meets those specs for the price. However you would not really want to. PC gaming does have a higher initial investment, but will catch up over time. More so if you take into account the cost to play online with consoles. Once you have a good gaming PC even keeping it upgraded is not going to be that expensive.

 

[Scerpi]

You're right. This is true.

There is a third option, I think, where Microsoft opens up their Xbox to allow for Steam (and KB+M) to be installed, so long as they get a split of Valve's revenue for every sale made from an Xbox console, and also if Microsoft made it clear that the Xbox was not specifically supported for these titles the same way that games carrying the Xbox banner are supported and optimized. In the Xbox One interface, for example, "Steam" could be its own app, and you launch your games from within it; furthermore, in the "Games + Apps" section, where they separate "Apps" from "Games", they could add a third filter for "Steam" which includes only your Steam games.

Naturally, the Steam app on the Xbox would be a modified, restricted version of their app.

I don't see what they have to gain by sacrificing this additional revenue because if you wanted to make a game restrictive to the Xbox as a piece of hardware you can still do it-- still have to do it-- by paying the developer not to spend the incredibly lucrative time to easily port it to the other console and PC. It's 2017, and all variations of the PS4 and Xbox One consoles operate on AMD Jaguar x86 CPUs (w/8 total cores) and GDDR5 GPUs. The Xbox One OS includes Windows 10 (& DX12) at its core; the PS4 is slightly more exotic in that it runs on a proprietary fork of a FreeBSD platform (& DX11) for its OS, but this amounts to little practical difference versus Linux in adapting games, as both belong to the "UNIX-type" family of operating systems, and of course Steam, in addition to running on all versions of Windows including Windows 10, where it is most popular, has its own homegrown operating system for the Steam consoles called SteamOS; a fork OS that Valve built on the Debian base of Linux. Virtually all games in existence run on DX11 or OpenGL with only the latest and greatest taking advantage of the most advanced DX12 or Vulkan APIs. There are few hiccups that either platform's "custom" architecture and operating systems offer.

Hell, even the same Freesync monitors & TVs that attract AMD owners in the PC world are attractive to these console owners.

So they're already paying developers besides themselves to restrict their games to the Xbox. My best guess is that Microsoft already achieved the sale of their "box", and the whole purpose of this is to control the revenue streams attached to it. Basically we're demanding they upend the very foundation of their business strategy. It's the only threat that can't be solved:

• Steam sells identical games also available on Xbox platform where Microsoft makes a more favorable revenue split on sales
  • Solution: block any game Xbox sells on its own system from the Xbox Steam app
• Xbox Live service subscriptions dwindle; free online PC games would threaten this
  • Solution: disallow external servers and block all games with free online play from Xbox Steam app
• Opportunity cost: money spent on Steam is consumer time exhausted, a finite resource, and it's money NOT spent on Microsoft's Xbox store
  • Solution: don't put an Xbox Steam app on your console

Still, it's becoming more and more intriguing as it appears that the PC master race and the dirty console peasants may be forced into the unthinkable condition of banding together in order to ward off the mobile barbarian hordes. After all, YouTube competes for time, but if Microsoft didn't include it, then it would be one thing their competitors had that they didn't. Better to have something, and better still to have something your competitors don't.

I'm just picturing the hellstorm when the consoles kiddies meet the PC gamers head to head for the next Battlefield or COD game.

The slaughter will be glorious.

 

[Steve-French]

Your right that the majority of sports franchises are not on PC. Of course this is because years ago PC players figured out that they could simply mod older versions of he games change rosters and uniforms as well as add pretty much all the others changes that happen year to year with those games. So EA stopped welling them on PC because they could not make the money on that platform and it risked there yearly sales.



...and this will continue. Consoles will always appeal to those that just want to game without any more thought to it.



Again you are right you can't build a PC that meets those specs for the price. However you would not really want to. PC gaming does have a higher initial investment, but will catch up over time. More so if you take into account the cost to play online with consoles. Once you have a good gaming PC even keeping it upgraded is not going to be that expensive.

I don't disagree. I plan on building a htpc someday when I have the time to do so. I'm pretty computer savvy and I've always found them fun to tinker with.

I'm just afraid that I'll spend more time and money dicking around with the thing vs playing games As of now I'm more than happy with my XB1 and 360 and I know that once I get the taste of high dollar PC gaming I'll start to obsess over it and spend less time gaming.

As for modding sports games goes that doesn't always cut it as some years the physics and engines change.