The Evils of Console-centrism

[Omni]

I actually remember a thread made awhile back asking who shows more disdain, console gamers or PC gamers. It was pretty interesting.

[Ryan]

Blizzard makes awesome games (Brood War is my personal fav).

At one time I was OBSSESSED with Tribes, and then Tribes 2.

Soldier of Fortune 2 is a great game (It's like Counter Strike minus the stupid camping, one shot kills, cheating, and other bullshit).

The one thing I NEVER understood is why the hell people bought Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 for Dreamcast and said how great they were. The PC version for BOTH GAMES are 10x better.

[Clash!]

I don't like the Hassle of PC gaming. You have to keep updating things, and worrying about patches and if you have a good enough 3D Card so that the game will actually look as good as it does on the back of the box. There was a time when I wanted to get more involved but just decided not to. And a lot of the releases don't interest me at all. I just like playing on consoles so much more that I don't even want to bother looking into the PC area of Gaming.

[NeoZeedeater]

My biggest issue is simply that so many of the same people who bash "casual" gamers for being closed-minded and not playing games like Rez for example, haven't played some of the best games ever made, like System Shock for example. It seems hypocritical to me.

[Kinopio]

if you made a thread about the system shock games, i'm sure it would be quite populated for a thread about 2 games that aren't recent. i played the 2nd one myself, but i don't talk about it often because i didn't find myself enjoying the game that much.

[StriderKyo]

I know this is gonna get me in trouble, but this is how I feel...

PC developers just aren't as talented. They just aren't. Sure, you can point out any number of shitty console games, and then you can point out how cool Warren Spector is and everything, but the talent pool on PC is about as deep as a Mr. Turtle, and has been for a decade. Gameplay? That's 6th on the list after realistic graphics, ridiculous looking lantern-jawed heroes, brown textures, making sure the thing only crashes 2 out of every three times you play it, and more brown textures.

2, maybe 3....heck, in a good year 4 really exciting PC games come out. I think we can all agree there's alot more creativity happening on consoles. Do I like Diablo? Does Deus Ex 2 look sweet? Do I wish somebody had the nads to put strategy games on consoles and actually market them? Yes, yes and yes.

But I don't care about the fucking Sims. I don't like Warcraft. And I don't care for the fact that there are roughly 4 genres of game on PC - the dimestore fantasy novel rpg, the fps (0wn4g3!11!!), the make your own theme park/railroad company/sewer system genre, and strategy games, both real and fake time.

Sure, there are things that pop up outside those genres all the time, but there simply isn't enough quality to justify the ridiculous price tag that accompanies PC gaming. I have an Xbox, and it can run Doom 3. Why the hell would I drop $1000 on PC parts every other year just to keep current?

I don't have any sort of predisposed bias against PCs. I grew up playing the C64 and Amiga, and it genuinely used to be that computers had the best stuff. But those days are long, long gone. Xbox Live is better than any PC online gaming service (except maybe in cost). Console games have cool features like no destructive bugs, art that doesn't suck (Everquest must die), and development teams of more than 15 people (Shenmue had 200!). The best console developers understand how to create a kinesthetic response from the controller. Very, very few PC games I've played in the last decade feel like the developers have even thought of the idea.

Look, if controlling fpses with a mouse is worth the insane cost to you, or you really like Daikatana character designs, then by all means go ahead. But I only have so many gaming hours in a week, and consoles fill those far better at a fraction of the price.

Done.

[Captain Vegetable]

Originally posted by Frogacuda
Arcade...gaming [is] underrated too.

And how!

I love gaming on my PC, if not for anything but the console's lack of point-and-click adventure games. I do enjoy other game though. EQ, AC, all the RTS Crafts (ie: Blizzard games), Diablo.

I probably spend more time with a single game on my PC, say Diablo 2, than with any single game on any console I own.

I still maintain my Battle.net Diablo accounts, while the save files for FFX, Kingdom Hearts and several others have been deleted, never to be played again.

PC games tend to have a replay factor that most console one-and-done's seem to miss.

Originally posted by StriderKyo
I know this is gonna get me in trouble, but this is how I feel...

PC developers just aren't as talented. They just aren't. Sure, you can point out any number of shitty console games, and then you can point out how cool Warren Spector is and everything, but the talent pool on PC is about as deep as a Mr. Turtle, and has been for a decade. Gameplay? That's 6th on the list after realistic graphics, ridiculous looking lantern-jawed heroes, brown textures, making sure the thing only crashes 2 out of every three times you play it, and more brown textures.

They are talented, just in a different area. PC games tend to not be typical Japanese fare. Which is probably what you're looking for. It's unfair to say they aren't talented, when you don't like what they do in the first place, not because of any fault of theirown, but because of your very own tastes.

2, maybe 3....heck, in a good year 4 really exciting PC games come out. I think we can all agree there's alot more creativity happening on consoles. Do I like Diablo? Does Deus Ex 2 look sweet? Do I wish somebody had the nads to put strategy games on consoles and actually market them? Yes, yes and yes.

I agree on all points here.

But I don't care about the fucking Sims. I don't like Warcraft. And I don't care for the fact that there are roughly 4 genres of game on PC - the dimestore fantasy novel rpg, the fps (0wn4g3!11!!), the make your own theme park genre, and strategy games, both real and fake time.

Ya'see! It isn't the lack of tallent, it's your personal biases and tastes.

...but there simply isn't enough quality to justify the ridiculous price tag that accompanies PC gaming. I have an Xbox, and it can run Doom 3. Why the hell would I drop $1000 on PC parts every other year just to keep current?

I agree, again. My PC is a piece of crap that can hardly run anything. It doesn't keep me from gaming, but it frustrates me when I think of all the current games I'm missing out on.

[NeoZeedeater]

Just because something isn't to your taste, doesn't mean it isn't good. I personally don't play Starcraft but I will certainly admit it's high-quality.

Any time someone complains about PC gaming having only 4 genres, it makes me think of the snobs in PC Gamer complaining that everything on console is Tony Hawk or Tekken.

[StriderKyo]

Originally posted by Captain Vegetable

They are talented, just in a different area. PC games tend to not be typical Japanese fare. Which is probably what you're looking for. It's unfair to say they aren't talented, when you don't like what they do in the first place, not because of any fault of theirown, but because of your very own tastes.

Well, I can't keep my biases out of it, but it's not western developers I have a problem with - I just think most all of the really good ones, Ion Storm and Blizzard now included, are moving/have moved to conoles. Tony Hawk, Halo, Rallisport, Sly Cooper, Metroid Prime - there are tons of western developed games with incredible gameplay, depth and style to spare.

Alot of the people working on those games started on the PC scene, but moved to a platform that was capable of reaching a wide audience, and had publishers actually willing to front enough cash to get things done right (ie., no patches) before shipping.

This meant more money to hire things like artists who aren't the shittiest ever, talent that can produce film-grade soundtracks, and actual play testers.

[Cheebs]

Originally posted by StriderKyo
I don't have any sort of predisposed bias against PCs. I grew up playing the C64 and Amiga, and it genuinely used to be that computers had the best stuff.

I always felt that the C64 was a console with a command prompt and (long, long, long) load times. (Mostly) Every C64 was the same. The C64 could plug into your TV. C64's didn't have a damn thing to configure. But most of all, the C64 had console/arcade style games. Jumpman ruled.