The Giant Beastcast: Episode 38

@belowstupid:

PC vs CONSOLE STUFF BELOW, I TRY TO BE DIPLOMATIC BUT FEEL FREE TO IGNORE IF YOU'RE TIRED OF IT:

How are they the backbone of the industry if they just buy some of the big releases? Probably used copies of those?

Also do your friends know that sometimes there IS a difference between the console and PC version? Sure if you talk to your friends about RAM and CPU they roll their eyes but if you mention that it can lead to making a game looking and running better or worse (different) even at an additional cost they might take interest.

But I think you're right, I have friends that are like that too, but those are the same people who have no idea what 'frame rate' or 'resolution' or 'digital distribution' is, they don't know what a 'season pass' or 'dlc' is, they buy games used without a second thought because it's cheaper, they have no idea of major stories in the gaming world such as the XBOX DRM debacle preceding the Xbone launch, if you told them about a video game called 'Bastion' they would immediately assume you could buy it at Gamestop/EB Games. When I showed them what 60 frames per second looks like on youtube, no joke they exclaimed 'woah' out loud.

These are also the same people that vilified Giantbomb when I showed the site to them because GTA V didn't clean up their GOTY awards, since GTA V was pretty much the only game that came out that year for them.

And maybe that's why consoles are still selling well, more than just convenience or preference, perhaps there are still millions of people who think that is all gaming is.

But I still don't understand how the industry would crumble in the absence of them, not that there ever will be an absence of them but yea.

Also apparently if you pirate Alan Wake you get an exclusive eye-patch for Alan, exclusive to the pirated version.

Thank you Jeff? For greenlighting Vinny a racing wheel \o/

So now Jeff wants to fight a pig. Perhaps him and Dan can rent out an arena and just fight animals together for a weekend.

Jeff putting Vinny on blast was hilarious.

Alex's gradual "How'd it get burned?" was great.

Yeah, that insight into the design process of a large games company continues to be really interesting. As much thought goes into the design philosophy and feel of each colour/class as goes into the individual playtesting of each card.

Until they produce a similar weekly article, I assume the Hearthstone design team at Blizzard is basically a funhouse of clowns by comparison. A couple years in, Hearthstone still lacks a lot of definition on some of the classes. Still seems like they bit off way more than they could chew by doing 9 different classes.

While I love listening to the Beast crew and rest of giantbomb, it's a bit tiring how much these guys bash consoles and praise PC gaming. Jeff just asked how did these consoles sell so much if the hardware is so inferior. Well, the answer is simple, many people don't have the time, money, or just the inclination to buy a beefy PC for games. I follow video game news very closely and try to learn as much as I can but I am a researcher at a university and my job doesn't allow me to buy a powerful PC. My laptop is only good for research purposes and checking Facebook. So, a console, which is a box that can run top shelf games without much a problem and get Netflix, is pretty convenient for me and will always be convenient. Until a PC comes that doesn't need upgrading or fiddling around with 100 different things to get a game running at 60 FPS without a hitch and is affordable, a console will always be convenient for me. All the people at the office I work in, are the same. All my friends have consoles and guess what? Many people buy consoles for the same reason. That's why they have been getting more popular not less as time goes on.

These guys, whether they like it or not, whether hardcore fans of Giantbomb like it or not, are in the minority and they fail to recognize that and just bring up this pointless conversation time and time again. They are looking for an answer to a question that nobody has on their mind. There are tons of other aspects of video games as a result of the industry's growth that these guys can cover but still, every chance they get, they go after the same boring argument. That they are bummed they haven't found a reason to turn on their consoles. Well, many people have a reason and you have already been covered for 5 years. So, please move on to more interesting subjects and discussions, even if you flag this message as inappropriate and insulting. Thanks!

Jeff taking on a pig is the new Dan (not to be confused with NewDan) taking on a wolf, except several degrees more reasonable.

@treetrunk: The reason I think the industry ( big games specifically) would dramatically change is because I don't believe that enough people who play console games will go over to the pc so publishers could still justify making big games.

You're right when you said that a lot of console people think that's all gaming is, but I believe that's all they want it to be. If you didn't see my post before I compared it to a car, I like my car, I enjoy driving it, but I have zero interest in building or modding my car even though it could perform better, I don't want to put in the time, money, or effort. Tomorrow if I couldn't buy a car, and I had to build one I wouldn't do it if I had the option ( I know that isn't the best comparison because most people NEED cars so they wouldn't have a choice but to build one, but I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at. )

What I meant by backbone is that the consoles add very clear, very big potential sales which help justify spending big money. If i'm a developer and you walk up to me and say if we make this big game only for pc we could potentially sell to X people based on the number of people on steam, but we don't know exactly how many people have a rig good enough to play our game, so that muddies the waters a bit, I'm less likely to take the risk. However if you say we can sell to pc and 60 million dedicated gaming boxes that are in people's homes at x spec that sounds a lot better to me, because now I'm not taking as big of a leap of faith, I can see a clear number of potential buyers, and plan accordingly. I don't know exactly what kind of people make up those 60 million, but I at least know that there are 60 million.

Making games only gets more expensive. You could of made 5 PS2 games for the price of one PS4 game. Tomb Raider (2013) sold over 3.4 million copies and square enix said they didn't make a profit, that is insane. So maybe back in the day if consoles went away enough people would of jumped to pc to support the big games that cost tens of millions, but nowadays I don't see enough people that would buy and maintain a modern pc to make a publisher want to risk spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a smaller market.

Of course this is all doomsday prepper talk, but I'm just trying to acknowledge which side my bread is buttered on.

I'm not saying all games would go away, small indie games would be fine, but we'd see a lot less COD, Madden, Destiny, Gears of War, Uncharted type of games.

Time to start some sim racing reviews. It's the one major game category that Giantbomb overlooks. Dirt Rally was a really awesome and influential game for sim racing last year, but it never got a mention except for Drew playing the early access once.

I think the issue wouldn't be so big if the PC ports in many cases weren't treated as a throw-away side-project without much care in to how to really take advantage of the platform.

I agree once again with everyone saying the reason consoles do so well is simplicity and ease of use. But I think it needs to be even further emphasized.

For most of the mainstream market, it's not merely a matter of simplicity being a "+1" on the pros and cons list between consoles and PCs; it is literally the determining factor: "the one that can play the games with my friends most quickly/simply/easily is the one that I want."

Framerate? Don't care. Resolution? Sit too far from the TV to even notice. Super cheap Steam sales? I only buy three games a year, who gives a shit.

These are not necessarily my feelings, per se, but they are the feelings of many, many people who go for the more straightforward choice, period - and they will continue to do so, no matter how many times we have "in the bubble" press folks predicting the death of consoles "no, seriously for real this time," despite record sales, because unless PCs can become cheaper and more straightforward than consoles, they won't win over that huge crowd. And they can't do that without losing the things that make them PCs.

Live and let live, guys. We have different sets of priorities. It'll be okay.

#Notallgoyim

@belowstupid: Yeah I can agree with that

Finally getting around to listening to this and yeah, it's kind of weird how the games press has gone from "PC gaming are dead" to "console gaming is dead" in the last 5-10 years. But in general I agree that they seem to be in a very weird bubble to ignore why consoles are still selling like crazy and will maintain a market. For most people the extra graphical prowess is not nearly enough to drop a grand on a PC setup and spend the time to build/maintain a PC. And the customization in terms of options that a PC allows (or often demands to get a game working) is a negative instead of a positive.

For myself it's a combination of cost/effort and the fact that I've never cared about or really noticed framerate or graphical issues. I get almost everything I want from the PS4 and supplement with the odd assortment of PC games I can play on an six-year old laptop. I'm not going to spend double a console building a PC, and then extra maintaining it on a year-to-year basis to keep up, just so I can get 60 FPS and high fidelity on new games. I've got a $400 box that plays almost everything that comes out reasonably well, with the ability to easily download or drop in a disc and no fucking around with options.

@nefarious_al: yeah! i'm glad this was already was already posted. cbb have been saying sclusie for years and years

Great hearing them talk about the money hole that is card games. I was into card games as a kid and recently started buying hockey cards again. The difference is that I can't actually play with the hockey cards. I'm hearing they make e-packs so you can open card packs online and pay a fee to get sent your physical cards. The end times are near.

When it comes to silence i'm the exact opposite. I live in a studenthome with like 10 other people in the middle of a city , so when i don't hear ANYTHING i start to freak out.. even in the middle of the night. I also love on the ground floor & at the streetside so there should never be complete silence not even at night , so when i hear someone come in trough the front door or someone goes to the batheroom or w/e i feel better

Totally agree. Consoles work. I dont have to deal with any hardware changes/upgrades. I like buying a game and knowing it will work on my hardware because it is standard.

After recent messes like AC:Unity/MCC/BF4 as well as the issues with XBL/PSN, the 'plug-in and play' aspect of consoles is becoming less and less true (Nintendo being the exception). That's not to say consoles serve no purpose - play what you play and have fun. However it's weird people were taking such an offence to what was being discussed. I currently have a PS4 and a PC (having been a long time console gamer prior) and have enjoyed the pros as well as experienced the cons on both, there's nothing really incorrect with what was said.

@jedikv: I didn't take offense to what they were saying. It's just they bring up the same conversation almost every podcast and it always starts with one of them pondering about starting their consoles. I just said these guys are not in the majority and even if they are, the whole "PC is superior to consoles" discussion is boring and serves no purpose. The time they spend talking about this issue could be spent on something else that is new to listeners and worthy of discussion. State of the consoles and PC is not going to change anytime soon. So why dwell on a topic that,as far as many people including developers are concerned, is not a huge problem in the industry and has been discussed to death before.

By the way, their discussion did not start due to a game not functioning well on a console but rather working fine on PC. All the games you mentioned had problems across all platforms as far as I know. But hey according to you, I'm too much in love with my PS4 and too biased to pay attention to what's being discussed. So, what do I know??

@mehrdadkazem87: Well firstly I wasn't directing it specifically at you but I appreciate the passive-aggressive sentence at the end there while claiming no offence taken.

As for the discussion, not everyone has had wide experience with gaming on either platform or even gaming in general. This discussion might not interest you or you may not agree, but there's probably a number of people that have taken something useful out of it. Not everyone in this community has the same amount of knowledge, there's always going to be people new to the subject (or even gaming in general).

In terms of the games I mentioned, (one of which was a platform exclusive), it was to serve and an example of how the whole 'knowing it will work' mantra with consoles isn't so guaranteed anymore. Look at Bloodbourne, The Witcher, Just Cause 3, Fallout 4 or Firewatch (all had or have issues on console) - heck there's an entire GOTY segment dedicated to it. As consoles have increased in sophistication, there's more PC-like characteristics (patches, installation, hardware variants) so the comparisons are natural as the two platforms start overlapping more in terms of features and games (compared to pre-360 gen where consoles and PCs were two very distinct platforms). Saying that I still agree there's a certain level of convenience offered by consoles that PCs still haven't matched (but are getting significantly closer) and will for a long time have a place .

To be fair, not every PC owner has to spend money every year to keep up. I still do maintenance on the PC time to time like physically cleaning it with an air compressor but that's usually 15-30 minutes that I do every few months. The last purchase I've made for the PC was last year when I just wanted to upgrade to a better GPU which I used part of my tax return money on (plus it was a really good deal).

Other than that, I've never had to change parts just to keep up since I built it about 3 years ago and if I really wanted to I could have just stuck with the old GPU I got and still be able to play the games that come today. The settings may not be as high on the more demanding games but it'll still be able run them just fine. Plus, I don't own any of the current gen systems, too because I invested in building the PC and don't really need to get any of the consoles for their exclusives. So far, I've been really happy with it.