Gaming pc is making a comeback

[Night Hunter]

 

Playing the Xbox and PlayStation from a living room couch isn't what it used to be.

 

This week, the video game industry will descend on Los Angeles to hold the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, its loudest, biggest and most lavish annual conference. Much of it is a giant advertisement for video game consoles, with some of the most highly anticipated presentations coming from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, discussing games like sci-fi epic Halo 5 for the Xbox One, adventure game Uncharted 4 for the PlayStation 4 and space shooter Star Fox for the Wii U.

 

From the outside looking in, it may seem like video game consoles are the most popular products in the industry. That's beginning to change.

 

Sales generated by PC games are poised to overtake those for video game consoles, a monumental shift that is many years in the making, according to data from industry researcher PwC. By the end of 2016, PC game sales are expected to reach $29 billion around the world, compared with $28 billion in sales for the console market.

 

 

The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo -- E3 -- is Microsoft's, Sony's and other large game makers' biggest marketing opportunity for reaching console gamers.

The gap will continue to widen over the next few years, thanks to the growing popularity of PC-based gaming in other countries, like China and India.

 

The video game industry is going through rapid change. Gone are the days when people played games only on specialized devices, like a video game console. Smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes and virtual reality systems have begun to change the way video games are played, as well as how we all pay for them.

 

"You could have said 10 years ago that there were three major platforms: Console, PC and Web," said Brian Blau, an analyst with research firm Gartner. "Now you have TV streamers, mobile devices -- you even have watches today. There's so many more types of devices to play games."

 

One of the biggest beneficiaries of that change has been the PC, which has become the only way to play some of the best-looking and most popular games in the industry and to enjoy some of the most cutting-edge features online gaming has to offer. And later this year, that will also be the only way to play high-quality virtual reality games, offering players the opportunity to strap on a headset and transport themselves to all manner of imaginary worlds.

 

The PC won't just be the technology on which players spend the most money playing games, but it will soon become one of the key battlegrounds of new technologies as well.

 

Source http://www.cnet.com/

 

 

 

[SiD]

which has become the only way to play some of the best-looking and most popular games in the industry

 

 

Some of the most popular games are exclusive to consoles. I've hoped so many times to see the Halo series, or even the Last of Us make it to PC. Fact is a good chunk of devs think the PC market is shit, that the majority of us are thieves.

 

While we may have some of the best looking titles, not everything is about looks. It's about a good story or good gameplay. Even then, look at the 'popular titles' we get. GTA V? It took them two god damn years to put it on PC. Many great console games we don't see for year and years, or we have to break down and find emulators to play them. Then you have that great reminder that If we do get a console game, it's usually a really shitty port. Anyone remember GTA IV? Dark Souls? Call of Duty Ghosts? They all ran like shit on PC, had terrible controls, and required modding fixes.

 

I'm hoping that with the release of the SteamBox and its accessories, that it will put the PC in the proper competitive market with console and open the bigger developers up to developing for PC. Until then we're the king of indie. Not AAA.

 

[Saint070]

I hope that the pc gaming will get a boost again because i miss the great battles in lot of games like COD.....

 

But don't forget that its cheaper to buy a console then buy a good gaming pc so that will always stay a problem.

 

The developers stiil are making the games first for the console and then take a look for the pc so they try to make a console game and turn it to a pc game and what the past has given us is proof that it does not work like that.

[Vanaraud]

One field where PC will be a must is VR, if I´m not mistaken both "glasses" run in 1440p or even higher(in future), so a High end(or even CF\SLI) is only way to drive them.

 

Other then that I´m skeptic: 2 major titles came out lately Dragon Age III and Witcher 3, which had to be PC game. Both feel like console ports and  Dragon Age III is totally unplayable for me on PC.

Also Intel came out with Iris Pro 6200 iGPU which gives out 2x more FPS than AMD APU-s driving current gen consoles. I wonder what next gen consoles with Intels new iGPU-s are capable of...

[excedo]

And people said PC gaming is dying. hell no... Only steam got over 9 million active players each day. If they only could add ET to theire database, it would give ET a very big player boost.

 

Also a decent PC for playing games isn't that expensive. Around 600 bucks you got a decent PC.

Edited June 15, 2015 by equaLz~