A few things: E3 has been a largely console affair for quite some time. Leipzig and CES are the two major events that show case PC games. The reason why PC games aren't at E3 anymore is because its largely a first party hosted affair. There isn't a consolidated voice behind the PC, and the smaller, indie companies that make all the great PC titles simply don't have the kinds of cash to by floor space to show off their neat titles. PC games still have the most announced exclusives, highly rated titles, and some of the most intriguing up comming line ups. Heck, Blizzard is practically reviving two of the greatest games of all time in 09-10. There are tons of great games come to the PC soon. (Go go Disciples 3 wooooo!).
That being said, you don't need a 2K rig to run games all the time. I myself have a fairly modest rig; 7900GS, 2 gigs DDR2, and a D945 dual core. Despite this fairly modest rig, it can run ALL new games at GREAT settings, far surpassing anything that consoles can even begin to provide. Heck, many of the games coming out on consoles nowadays aren't even 720p and are upscaled. Despite that, most PC gamers play all their games in atleast 720p. You could easily play in lower resolutions and curb stomb console games with adequate frame rates on a fairly modest rig. All things considered, my rig would only cost 550-650 dollars in today's money.
Now sure this is still more than your average console. As a matter of fact, its more than every consoles. PC gaming is more expensive up front. Deal with it. Longevity is also increasing at exponential rates. The rig that I just listed has been around for 2-3 years, and will continue to play all the upcomming games on medium-high settings well into 2010 if I wanted to. Not only that, but games on the PC are cheaper than their console counter parts. You can easily end up saving money over a longer, extended period of time on the PC thanks to cheaper games.
Now some of you may say, what about renting and trading in games? That s a common misconception about PC gaming. There are specialty stores in the United Sates (and abroad) that will trade in PC games. The ony in TN is called McKay's used book store for example. Many companies are even beginning to offer streaming services for PC games. D2D, steam, and many other services have begun to streamline the process in which you can get games.
Buh buh, isn't the PC industry dieing? I see companies moving over to consoles all the time! Nope, thats just the circle of life. A company starts out indie, grows big, and then starts moving on to a wider audience. Besides, third party exclusives are becomming extremely rare in this day and age. The lack of a unified voice is affecting the PC in many ways. We still get the same great indie titles, but many of the bigger people are differentiating. Thats not to say that the PC has any less great games than it had in the 1990s. It is still getting tons of great games. Not only that, but recent figures released by the PCGA state that the PC accounts for over 30% of the entire software sales industry. That makes it the single largest grossing platform on the market in terms of game sales. Not to mention Microsoft and the PCGA have been quoted as saying, "There are over 200 million online PC gamers". The PC installed user base is extremely large.
Aside from the great titles that are announced and continuously coming otu for the PC, you also have games that were traditionally solely on the consoles beginning to make their way over. Fighters, JRPGs, and action games are beginning to find new niches on the PC. With Street Fighter 4 being simultaneously released on the PC, its merely hte start of a wider adapation of the genre. We have great games like Melty Blood as well. Not only Street Fighter, but we are also getting an exclusive Dead or Alive Online game sometime in the next year or so. Games like Devil May Cry are also beginning to make their way to the PC, as capcom is leading the charge for the action genre. Final Fantasy 13 is also rumoured to make its way to the PC as well. With all these games making their way to the PC, the great catalogue of games the platform has is exponentially growing.
One of the most common complaints I hear about the PC is that it is extremely hard to use. This may have been the case back in the 90s, but with the adapation of automated software many of those worries are being thrown out the window. Automated patches, easy installs, and drivers on the game cds have replaced the old methods. Not only that, but consoles have begun adopting PC methods and are using installs more and more frequently. Games on the PC used to be notorious for bugs as well, but the consoles are also beginning to have the same kinds of problems. Games on the consoles are being released with crippling bugs. For instance, in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 my entire character profile vanished one day. Over 40 hours of gameplay gone in the blink of an eye.
All this aside, why would anyone be a PC gamer you ask? The flexibility to have a rig that conforms to your style, the great current and future lineup of games, the automated ease of use, the strength of the market, and many more factors have made the PC a great platform for today's gamer and for tomorrow's gamer alike. Whether you like fighters, JRPGs, action games, adventure games, shooters, WRPGs, strategy games, etc there is something for everyone on the PC.
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