Hi Bombers. Looking for some input from long time dedicated pc gamers on the state of there platform. I'm looking to possibly return to pc gaming as my dedicated platform but I have to admit it's been years (Were talking Voodoo cards and original Unreal for a timeline.) This being said consoles still do serve me well but I'm very hesitant with the next gen looming to early adopt any offering that the big 3 has to offer. Of course I'll be getting them eventually but I want to wait until a hardware revision and the 1st party exclusives that take a while to be developed early in a consoles life cycle. So that brings me to my question.

Where do you feel the state of pc gaming is and will be with the next gen about to be released? What are your pet peeves about pc gaming that nag at you and with those issues why do you keep coming back? I guess I'm looking for a good idea about what I'll be encountering and issues I will see. I know about compatibility and drivers and have built many pc's in the past for other uses so that will not sway my decision. Also price isn't a factor because after breaking down how much I've spent on rpl consoles and peripherals it evens out easily. So with those two easy cons out the way let's hear some stories and experiences from you pc Bombers as to why your still down with the pc.

There is nothing wrong with PC gaming. There's no need to have a discussion about "the death of PC gaming" or "the state of PC gaming" because it's perfectly fine. With services like Steam, Desura and GOG acquiring content cheaply is quite easy. Also since Steam garnered major popularity around 2006/2007 the platform has grown to include games from all genres, developers and eras.

The next generation of consoles will not have any impact on PC gaming's popularity just like the last generation did not. PC gaming will maintain consistency. It might grow because of indie/casual games on Steam and Desura. However I doubt it will ever die.

Also as for drivers; there is one display driver per brand of graphics card that you need. It can be downloaded from the chip manufacturers site, which is not a hard thing to do. Anyone can do it; also the driver software now gives you the option to install an auto-update/update notification tool.

As far as I'm concerned, it's the best possible way to game and definitely the way to go in the next gen (and this is coming from someone who has only had his first gaming PC for a little less than two months). Most everything is far cheaper and much more malleable (mods, etc.) than would even be imaginable on consoles. The only issue with it these days is if you are a fan of physical media or have a slow internet connection, because Steam and its kin are definitely the best solutions for purchases.

I just got Sniper Elite 2 for 30 bucks on launch day, with no aliasing and lots of fancy effects on my 1080P TV at 60 FPS. I used a controller (which took no work), but if I wanted to I could use a mouse and keyboard.

PC gaming is rad-tastic.

(On the other hand, Dawn of War II looks like junk because it won't acknowledge how good my computer is)

Personaly, they both have there uses. Some times a game will come out exclusively for the pc, some times the Xbox, or Ps3. Sometimes I would rather play a game on the console, even if it might look better on my pc.

The state of PC gaming.. hmm.

My only problem with PC being my platform of choice (read: only platform) is that the games coming on consoles look fun and it's devastating when they don't come to the PC. I'm sure it would be the same if I had a 360 and Demon Souls released on the PS3, never to come out on the 360. Thank god Dark Souls is coming to the PC.

That being said - there's limitless content on the PC side, it just doesn't get the same press that the consoles get. Like Seastalk said, Steam, Desura, and GOG make the acquisition of games silly easy. Even Amazon's getting in on it (Amazon's my personal favorite just because of the ridiculous download speeds I get from them).

If you're concerned about the next gen some how wrecking the PC's viability as a gaming platform, no. Consoles might garner more attention because suddenly all these games are coming out and they look prettier but if you take a look at what's possible on the PC it'll always be ahead of consoles. Best reference I have for this is looking at The Witcher 2 for the PC and the 360. 360 looks ok, but even on medium to low settings on a PC it's breath taking and blows the 360 out of the water. Then again, you'll also see more coverage for consoles than PCs simply because you don't have to upgrade a console's hardware every year to keep in line with the average.

Finally, why I'm on a computer as opposed to consoles... the only argument I have is that I don't like spending money on consoles when I know they'll be out of date in a few years away. I'm still on a computer I built back in like... 2007? Guess that's the same life span as the current generation of consoles, but I can tweak and change things to make this run better (and prettier) than the consoles can handle. I guess that's why. Financially, you can just squeeze more out of a computer than you can a console. It really just comes down to I have more fun on the PC than I would with consoles. I'm a keyboard and mouse guy, and even poor or AWFUL ports of games from consoles to PCs feel better than playing it on a console. The whole thing about Skyrim's UI being too controller-biased seemed odd to me since it was still perfectly functional and all. I toss in a controller to try to play and ugh. Terrible.

By the way, things have gotten much better since the Voodoo days.

I made the switch to PC out of necessity since starting college a couple years back. I'm on the thing so much for papers and programming that I might as well game to chill out RIGHT AFTER finishing that 5 page paper. That was my mentality anyway. I just like that it's so flexible.

As for drivers and all that, I've never had a problem with video driver stuff *knock on wood*. My brother did once, but I just uninstalled in safe mode and then reinstalled in regular (?) mode and it was fine. The driver stuff that nVidia has now is really nice (I think). I'm not sure how the next generation of consoles will affect the PC market, if at all. I just built a new system a week ago and I think my graphics card will be a bit stronger than the stuff going into the next gen consoles. But even if it isn't, I'll just get a new one for $250 bucks which is the price point I buy a next gen console anyway.

Also, games are really cheap if you wait for them on Steam. I feel bad for some of my friends who end up buying shit day one while I end up (a couple months "late") paying 30% of that.

When people make those 'the state of PC gaming' threads they're specifically talking about 'the state of PC exclusives'.  As if you can't play Skyrim or Saints Row or Mass Effect or Syndicate because they're also on consoles.
 
The secret is exclusives on every platform are less important than they ever have been.

@Mr402 said:

Where do you feel the state of pc gaming is and will be with the next gen about to be released? What are your pet peeves about pc gaming that nag at you and with those issues why do you keep coming back?

There was a time about 7 - 10 years ago, I thought PC gaming was toast and rarley did it. Lately I do I pc game more than console gaming. Since 2009 or so I feel it's really come back.

It's gotten much better than it's been in along long time of late, perhaps the best it's ever been in some ways. Steam and GOG have been godsends. I'd go so far as to call Steam a gamechanger. I feel like it's really eating into console business.

ancedotally it seems like installs and stuff has been smoother and less glitchy across the aboard.

The MOBA thing I think is helping pump a lot of new life into PCs. That genre is basically exclusively on PC.

still my main quibble is that there still is a seeming dearth of certain genres in PC gaming still. That is is the one big negative, certain series and gamestyles are basically not present at all. Consoles and handhelds still have greater variety of styles imo. So I do end up console gaming still because of that.

EA built its own download service in Origin, you know that means PC gaming is for real now!

@Toxeia said:

The state of PC gaming.. hmm.

My only problem with PC being my platform of choice (read: only platform) is that the games coming on consoles look fun and it's devastating when they don't come to the PC. I'm sure it would be the same if I had a 360 and Demon Souls released on the PS3, never to come out on the 360. Thank god Dark Souls is coming to the PC.

Yeah, but after years of Xbox360/PS3 exclusives you kind of get used to it. And i won't buy a console as an act of defiance, stupid as i am.

I think we're at the point now where people can stop declaring the PC dead. It's alive and well.

I still play consoles for exclusives but have been mainly using my PC since buying my first graphics card years ago. I think anyone that's willing to dump $800 into a computer will be more than satisfied with their purchase. Even a $200 graphics card will produce far and away the most beautiful graphics you have ever seen and will have more power than the next generation of consoles.

The only thing that ever really bothers me about PC gaming is bad ports, but the customizability of most games far outweighs any drawbacks. Also, if your computer is good at games, it's good at just about everything. Having a fast computer to mess around on is pretty nice.

Thanks for everyone's input. I am going to pull the trigger and build a 3D gaming/htpc (Don't worry I won't be using a HTPC case because of proper cooling.) for 3D movies and games since I own a 3D television. I feel the only issue I will encounter is having to wait for multiplat releases which usually come later then consoles. That and poor ports. Other then that I think if I roll with a gaming pc for multiplats and Sony's and Nintendo's next offering then I'll be set for next gen.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun is your friend. Great website dedicated to PC gaming.

@Mr402 said:

Thanks for everyone's input. I am going to pull the trigger and build a 3D gaming/htpc (Don't worry I won't be using a HTPC case because of proper cooling.) for 3D movies and games since I own a 3D television. I feel the only issue I will encounter is having to wait for multiplat releases which usually come later then consoles. That and poor ports. Other then that I think if I roll with a gaming pc for multiplats and Sony's and Nintendo's next offering then I'll be set for next gen.

Most PC versions release day and date with consoles. As for poor ports, we've been seeing much less of those, plus usually you can hook a controller and it will work fine (as a lot of the bad ports simply don't update the UI/controls for keyboard/mouse well).

And if the rumours are true and the 720/ps4 will essentially just be PCs anyways, port quality should go up.

Nothing wrong with the PC gaming arena though it is highly tempting to get a multiplatform game on something other than the PC depending on where your friends are at. While there still doesn't tend to be a ton of big name titles only hitting the PC, thanks to steam there's a bunch of indie titles or games from smaller studios that don't go out to the consoles & are a blast/steal on steam. Legend of Grimrock is one recent title that has a huge amount of potential in future DLC possibilities that's PC only. With all the lower price to get into games on the PC, it's a great time to go into it if you have a PC that can handle the games of the past few years.

PC gaming is great. Mods. Good prices on games thanks to various digital distribution services. Always the best quality visuals. The only thing I can say against it is that some games don't make their way to the PC. I'm looking at you, Red Dead Redemption.

Steam has grabbed my interest in PC gaming, the cloud saving and automatic updates did it for me, as they eliminated the last concerns with PC gaming I had, and the organized library and friends list are the reason I mostly only play PC games on Steam.

Other than that, it's stuff from GoG.

I'll build my first gaming PC probably still this year and I realize it won't be cheap but I'll won't buy it all in one go, going for an i7 with HD4000 until I get the money for a decent GPU, but it's totally worth it, because it's more stable than ever. Windows is getting better and less intrusive, a rig is lasting an entire generation thanks to consoles (I totally think it's a good thing, no more replacing GPUs 2 years after they're out) and services nowadays make it easy on you, and cheap in the long run.

This whole thing makes me wonder if I should still buy Nintendo consoles for Super Mario games, which is sad.

I'll build my first gaming PC probably still this year and I realize it won't be cheap but I'll won't buy it all in one go, going for an i7 with HD4000 until I get the money for a decent GPU, but it's totally worth it, because it's more stable than ever. Windows is getting better and less intrusive, a rig is lasting an entire generation thanks to consoles (I totally think it's a good thing, no more replacing GPUs 2 years after they're out) and services nowadays make it easy on you, and cheap in the long run.

More then enough AAA tittles for the pc to come back to.... simply the best platform to game on period. (just my opinion) Nothing looks quite like a PC game, more then enough controllers available for a PC, and nothing comes remotely close to how games look on a PC then any other platform.

Just do some searching there are some stunning games out for the PC, you wont be disapointed :D