Console Games Sales Beat Out PC

ttol writes "In the Star Tribune, they write that "PC games fell 6.2 percent through the first 10 months of this year, making the first such decline ever." They go on to say that consoles will break record sales this year, and that there is a shift towards console gaming from PC. Is this due to the fact that there are now three major contenders (XBox, Playstation 2, Game Cube) and all the advanced features they offer (DVD ability on the first two etc)? I, for one, will continue with my Battlefield 1942 on my PC."

Comments

Re:Well, DUH!

[tigress]

FIFA 2003, PC: $39.99, PS2/XBOX/GC: $49.99.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, PC: $29.99, PS2/XBOX/GC: $49.99.

The Two Towers, PC $29.99, PS2/XBOX/GC: $49.99

Though, I'm quite sure you're right about PC games getting more expensive. On the other hand, PC games don't have to pay license fees to Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.

Re:Its all about ease

[silvaran]

all ya need to worry about is 640*480 and identical hardware

Some TVs have 1080i (high-resolution). Others support widescreen (available on some games). Some games are available on multiple platforms. You have to get it right the first time, because you can't release patches later. If your game pushes too many polygons, you can't simply increase the minimum requirements. There is a plethora of input devices and such available on the market for each console. You can't develop games on the same hardware that they run on. There are various display formats available depending on your region (NTSC, PAL, etc).

So yeah, there's a little more to worry about than just 640x480 and assuming everyone's running an identical setup.

simple facts

[Jacek Poplawski]

Calculations, calculations and another "new economy". Everyone say "consoles are coming, PCs are dying". But what about simple facts:

• on PC you can play games from 1980s to 2002 plus use emulator of almost every platform
  
• on PC you can buy very cheap games from "classic packs" or cover CDs, classic games are for example Fallout, Unreal, Thief or Railroad Tycoon 2 - are these games really worse than current "hits" ?
  
• on PC you can use a lot of freeware/shareware games, Free Software is also much closer to PC than consoles
  
• last but not least - abandonware, or you can call it "piracy" if you want
  

Of course if you want to buy something, turn it on and play few new games - console is probably better choice than PC. But which console give you so much possibilites (just in games!) as PC?

Re:Its all about ease

[DrEldarion]

Buh? What on EARTH are you talking about? NWN Will run INCREDIBLY on a $1000 PC. It's been a while since you priced components, hm?

ECS K7S5A Motherboard - ~$50
Athlon XP 1800+ - ~$80
GeForce 4 TI4200 - ~$150
512MB (quality) DDR RAM - ~$150
HD - ~$100
CD-ROM - ~$20
Case - ~$50
Speakers - ~$30

$630, not including monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and this system will run basically anything you throw at it. (I have basically the exact same system, with PC133 instead of the DDR RAM, and I can run any game I've run across in 1600X1200 full detail)

-- Dr. Eldarion --

Re:Well, DUH!

[lightspawn]

Given that a console costs a fair bit less than even the most basic PC, and is lot easier to look after (no BSOD or GPF on a console - yet)...

The PS2 and 'cube have no hard drive to let games mess with other games, but that's not the case for the xbox. The lord of the rings title was shipped with a game-freezing bug.

Here's my favorite part:

Microsoft's solution to the Xbox cinematic bug is to have users remove The Lord of the Rings from the hard drive, install three other games, and then reinstall The Lord of the Rings.

No word yet on whether Microsoft will send free games to new Xbox owners with less than three other games.

Re:Well, DUH!

[Jace of Fuse!]

I've never seen a XBox anywhere with a Blue Screen of Death. In fact, I'm not sure it can blue screen. It does have a green error screen normally realted to disc errors, though.

I've seen PS2s and GCs do the same thing. I've bought PC games that were scratched out of the box and failed to install, too. I've also seen PCs, PSOnes, Dreamcasts, and even DVD players overheat.

Your statement, while funny, is really just FUD. The XBox isn't any more crash-prone than any of the other consoles. It's certainly less crash prone than any computer system being used for games, and that includes both Linux and Mac systems. (Mac fanatics, yes, I've seen your precious Macs crash.)