PC Gaming Alive and Dominant

An anonymous reader writes "Ars reports on a panel at PAX East which delved into the strength of the PC as a platform for games, and what its future looks like. The outlook is positive: 'Even as major computer OEMs produce numbers showing falling sales, the PC as a platform (and especially a gaming platform) actually shows strong aggregate growth.' The panelists said that while consoles get a lot of the headlines, the PC platform remains the only and/or best option for a lot of developers and gamers. They briefly addressed piracy, as well: 'Piracy, [Matt Higby] said, is an availability and distribution problem. The more games are crowdfunded and digitally delivered and the less a "store" figures into buying games, the less of a problem piracy becomes. [Chris Roberts] was quick to agree, and he noted that the shift to digital distribution also helps the developers make more money — they ostensibly don't have everyone along the way from retailers to publishers to distributors taking their cut from the sale.'"

Comments

Re:It's not surprising

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

Two things. First, the PS4 didn't even do video playback on day one. It's a games focused machine. The Wii U is entirely games focused as well. The fact that both can do Netflix isn't so much a statement about consoles becoming entertainment centers, but rather, the dogged determination of Netflix to be EVERYWHERE. The XB1 on the other hand... Well. That's another thing entirely.

(This is also true of the Vita and 3DS. Both of which are strongly focused on games.)

There really is a diminishing return on graphics. At some point, making better graphics just requires more human power.

The problem with the PC is that the control scheme is REALLY limited. Say what you will about two analog sticks and some buttons, but, you get more variety of game play out of that, than you can with KB/M. Moving along 4 dimensions with smooth analog controls is nicer than 2, and using something other than a mouse.

Playing something like Armored Core or Metal Gear just feels nicer on a game pad. Sure, it's less precise, but, more precise isn't exactly more fun. When you're aiming at high speed targets, i'd rather have auto-lock than a mouse.