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Ten Gaming Myths Debunked

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the no-jamie-or-adam-here-unfortunately dept.

ThinSkin writes "The Playstation 3 will fail. Video games are too violent. Copy protection is the beginning of the end for gaming. These myths and others are the target for Loyd Case over at ExtremeTech as he takes ten gaming myths apart and debunks them. From the article: 'Rumors are partly due to the nature of the overheated coverage that's the rule of the day on Internet sites. Rumors spread, become accepted as fact and remain embedded in people's belief systems long after the actual facts have emerged. There also seems to be relatively little historical perspective among some writers, which can alleviate breathless hype, either positive or negative.'"

5 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Is this guy a psychic? by kmhebert · · Score: 5, Funny

    How can he know the PS3 will not fail? Is... is he going to give me $600?

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    Regular Meta Moderators are not more likely to get mod points.
    1. Re:Is this guy a psychic? by coop247 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What did the "Web Hype" do for Snakes on a Plane, oh thats right, NOTHING. Just like some bad press will not kill the PS3. Believe it or not (gasp), there are a lot of people that don't read Slashdot, and don't troll gaming message boards.

      There are 106 million people who have a PS2, thats a pretty large customer base. Maybe some of them can't afford 500 at launch, but I guarantee there are a couple million who can and will. Later on down the road when the price comes down and availability increases, the rest of the 100 million can get one, its called Price Discrimination. Why should Sony sell you a PS3 for 400 when I'll pay 600.

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  2. The myths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Playstation 3 will Fail
    PC Games are Doomed
    You Need a $500 Graphics Card
    Console Games are for Twitch Gamers
    Handheld Games are for Kids
    Console Games are Too Simple
    PC Games are Too Complicated
    PC Copy Protection is Too Onerous
    Games are Too Violent
    I'm Embarrassed About Gaming

  3. Eleven. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Myth 11: Breaking up an article into little bitty chunks and failing to provide a printer-friendly view motivates people to read your content.

  4. Uh... by Dragoon412 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    But the proponents of PC gaming Armageddon forget that the game play styles of PC games versus console games are different.

    This gets bandied about all the time, and I wonder if anyone saying it ever stops to think.

    PC and console games tend to be different because the systems have different capabilities. Your PC's monitor has, traditionally, crammed a lot more pixels onto the screen than your TV's. This has tended to favor genres that need a lot of screen real-estate, like RTS, and the genres that typically go heaviest on the eye candy, like FPS. Furthermore, every PC comes equipped with a keyboard and mouse (spare me the pedantry of your 8086 not having a mouse), which gives a more precise control setup than a typical gamepad. What needs precision in control more than anything? FPS games. Hence, the PC has dominated RTS and FPS, while the console has played to its strengths (or, at least, to minimize its weaknesses), giving us menu-based RPGs, sports, platformers, and the like.

    But think about it - HDTV? A 1080p TV is pushing a lot more pixels than most peoples' monitors. Even at 720p, you've got a whole lot of pixels on that screen. And the consoles are taking advantage. RTS is looking more and more feasible on the console. Meanwhile, they've got the "ooh, wow, eye candy!" effect from the resolution increase. So does anyone think it's really a major stretch to see a KBM setup on a console? Hell, the Xbox already has one! And for all we (no pun intended) know, the Wiimote is going to blow the KBM setup out of the water for FPS gameplay.

    So, I'm not saying the PC is dying, but looking at this zomg pc gamez r difrent then console games argument: the gameplay experiences are different because of the hardware differences, and the hardware differences are decreasingly significant.

    The PC once had exclusive dominion over online play, superior control, superior display, and moddability, at the expense of higher cost and (potentially) having to deal with the headache of PC hardware/compatibility issues.

    Now, the consoles have online play. They've got the great displays, and tentatively, even better control, with none of the hassles of PC gaming.

    The only thing the PC's got a leg up on, now, is moddability, and with the likes of XBL, how long can we expect that to last, maybe this generation?