PC Gaming vs. Mac vs. Console

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I just don't know why they don't make a freaking Mac version.  Is the user base so small that we are just negligable money to a company like EA?  My iMac is more than powerful enough to run the game with no issues.  Why isn't there a native version?

There is no money in making a native version. If they did, they would have to make servers to handle the different code and you wouldn't be able to play with people on the PC. Kind of defeats the purpose. Then add to it the low numbers of people who use macs to seriously  game and the fact that you can run them in Boot Camp and you get zero reasons spend the time, money, or effort on a Mac version.

Having owned Macs in the past, I can say that it has always been an issue and one I don't see changing any time soon.

Yeah and consol gaming will likely see the slow demise of PC gaming.

I seriously disagree with this statement.  You don't need to look far for why either.  I will not likely go to console gaming anytime soon, even if I magically got the funds simply due to the sheer lack of indie-developer support on Xbox/PS3.  Also, you can't have the wide range of games on consoles compared to the variety on PCs.  That's simply due to the controls and the processing power that PCs have and consoles will never outmatch the power that PCs have unless consoles get released on a more regular basis of every-other-year, which won't happen because that would kill the console market.  (You try justifying $300 every year for a new console ;))  PC gaming is here to stay. 

If anything, Nintendo's products are more likely to be killed by iOS and Droid than consoles are likely to kill PC gaming. 

Sorry, off topic.

As far as the whole pre-order access thing, I guess I don't have a very good solution.  What I can say is, this will make some people reconsider pre-ordering games if the benefits don't outweigh the costs of pre-ordering over waiting and buying later.  Although granted, premium MMOs also seem to be on the out-and-out so maybe in the long run this won't hurt anyone.  Time will tell. 

King

[X]

I just don't know why they don't make a freaking Mac version.  Is the user base so small that we are just negligable money to a company like EA?  My iMac is more than powerful enough to run the game with no issues.  Why isn't there a native version?

There is no money in making a native version. If they did, they would have to make servers to handle the different code and you wouldn't be able to play with people on the PC. Kind of defeats the purpose. Then add to it the low numbers of people who use macs to seriously  game and the fact that you can run them in Boot Camp and you get zero reasons spend the time, money, or effort on a Mac version.

Having owned Macs in the past, I can say that it has always been an issue and one I don't see changing any time soon.

Yeah and consol gaming will likely see the slow demise of PC gaming.

I seriously disagree with this statement.  You don't need to look far for why either.  I will not likely go to console gaming anytime soon, even if I magically got the funds simply due to the sheer lack of indie-developer support on Xbox/PS3.  Also, you can't have the wide range of games on consoles compared to the variety on PCs.  That's simply due to the controls and the processing power that PCs have and consoles will never outmatch the power that PCs have unless consoles get released on a more regular basis of every-other-year, which won't happen because that would kill the console market.  (You try justifying $300 every year for a new console ;))  PC gaming is here to stay. 

If anything, Nintendo's products are more likely to be killed by iOS and Droid than consoles are likely to kill PC gaming. 

Sorry, off topic.

As far as the whole pre-order access thing, I guess I don't have a very good solution.  What I can say is, this will make some people reconsider pre-ordering games if the benefits don't outweigh the costs of pre-ordering over waiting and buying later.  Although granted, premium MMOs also seem to be on the out-and-out so maybe in the long run this won't hurt anyone.  Time will tell. 

King

I'm going to assume that since you don't have a console you don't keep up with them. The Xbox has a HUGE indie game community where you can buy their stuff off of Xbox live. As for the cost, you're pretty wrong there again. Consoles are designed to have multi-year life cycles. Also because they have set specs, the game designers are designing to those specs.

Last but not least, the specs are PC level specs but dedicated to gaming. Xbox uses trpple core chips with hyper threading. So pretty much everything you said about consoles is really outdated or out of touch. Also due to the sheer number of gamers, designers get HUGE budgets to make their games. Something that doesn't happen with PC only releases.

Bryan is right PC gaming is going to die soon. I can easily see you using your gaming device as an entertainment system ... what Xbox and Sony are doing now and the lighter weight computer work will be handled by tablets.

PCs will still exist, but the only reason they are still getting major games is because the budget provided by console sales.

Console sales can create record breaking franchises that dwarf some films. Call of Duty has make more than the Star Wars franchise. That's only possible because the large number of gamers.

I don't think it will die completely because MS is working hard to support PC gaming to some extent including their live network, but Consoles will forever be the dominating force in gaming. People know that they don't have to spend hundreds on the next video card to support the next big game and that comfort in not going obsolete out the box is always going to drive sales.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

[spoiler]World Of Warcraft, Minecraft, Terraria, and a whole list of games are so far only doable on PCes.  That I don't see coming to consoles.  And the one main reason is the controls.  And those are just a few games I mentioned that come to mind, I have plenty more where those came from.    Several genres like real-time-strategy games are impossible to do on consoles. 

No, I'm not out of touch with consoles (much), but last I checked we can duke out i7 cores, RAM the size of mountains (ok, maybe not :P) and graphic cards that consoles are years behind on.  Modern Warfare 3 is a good example, despite everything the developers tried they had to use a lot of "cheats" to keep it running at 60 FPS, cheats that they would not needed to have done on a PC.  (Limited field of view, less detailed textures in certain places, etc).  Graphics and Power, consoles will lose to PCs every time and I'm not talking about the cheap computers.  Plus, mice are more accurate than controllers in FPSes.  That's well known, as they have to keep the PC crowd separate from the console crowd.  (At least, that's how it was, I'm not sure about the new releases atm). 

Ok, I should have left Xbox out of the Indie statement.  As far as I know, PS3 has not got much for an indie community, but I slightly forgot about Xbox Live Arcade. 

Btw, while you may not have to buy another console for several years, I'd be curious to know how much accessories costed you. 

I won't be convinced that consoles will have the lead until they can do MMOs, RTSes, Infinite-worlds and more games that I can't think of at 1am in the morning well.  But the only way I see them doing that is if they basically turn the console into a PC, with a keyboard, mouse and everything.  [/spoiler]

And we are severely off-topic X, we should probably move our discussion to another thread entirely. 

But I will grant one thing...if the studios decide to abandon PC-gaming, then there is nothing that can be done about it and I will be rather saddened if that day were to pass. 

King

[Rico]

I split off some of the recent posts from the SW:TOR to start this new topic.  Lets try and keep them separate if we can.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I split off some of the recent posts from the SW:TOR to start this new topic.  Lets try and keep them separate if we can.

Thanks Rico.  :)

King

[Bryancd]

And as Cloud applications continue to grow and expand in capability, portable gaming will also begin to eclipse traditional desktop PC or laptop gaming. The industry is going to move towards and serive whatever devices people have n their hands the most on a daily basis.

[Rico]

While I will agree gaming has shifted locale a bit, PC gaming won't be going away anytime soon.  You will never be able to pack the power of any current high end PC into your pocket.  As hardware improves the shift continues to still have the fastest, biggest, baddest hardware in a PC.  So for people that want the high end stuff, that's where it will be.  Portable devices devices pack some power, but again not as much as the latest hardware a PC can use.  In 5 years a new smart phone or new tablet might have the power of a 2011 PC.  But it won't have the power of a 2016 PC - if you get my drift.