What happened to PC gaming?

Kckazdude

Kckazdude

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 4, 2002
Messages
1,763
Way back when I first started my PC gaming, games were being released all over the place. If it wasnt a full pricce game it was a mod for the game I already had. Quake, Unreal, Half-Life etc. all were great games. There was a mod community for each and never a dull moment. You couldn't download the maps as fast as they were coming out. Then there was all of the mods for each game. It really seemed like every week something new was coming out over the net to play.

These days mods are thought of and quickly die. I had hopes that some of the recent games would spark some new mods but it doesnt look very promising as of yet. All of the Far Cry mods I was looking forward to seemed to have died out. There seems to be lots of hype over Doom3 mods but nothing is coming out as yet. Jury is still out on HL2 for any mods. Even the official mod Day of Defeat is yet to be released.

Lately I have been eyeing my sons X-Box and thinking that there are some cool games on that. There isnt a mod community for the X-Box but I can always trade the games in and get another. Just seems so wrong to go back to a console platform after 12 years of PC bliss. Then again, maybe something will bring back the mod fever that I have been looking for so long. The more I think of it the more it seems PC gaming is slowly fading out.
 
I agree...three or four years ago when I really got into gaming big there were a ton of great games out. However for the past couple of years only a small group. However, this year has some things to look forward to..Empire Earth II and others...I think! Anywho, I know what you mean...but I haven't lost all faith in the developers...yet! :D
 
I'll phrase it as briefly as I can:

The true gamer doesn't care about the platform, only the games.
 
Terpfen said:
I'll phrase it as briefly as I can:

The true gamer doesn't care about the platform, only the games.
Click to expand...



Werd

exception PS2...I hate PS2

sorry
 
I think most of the PC modding problems are due to too many Engines coming out in a such a short amount of time. DOOM, HL2, Far Cry, and Unreal. I saw at least 10 Mod teams say they were going to Mod for one engine, only to have them change their mind as soon as a new engine was announced that had supposedly more bells and whistles.

Also, some developers promised Mod Tools would be available at the time the game would be released, or soon after (Far Cry). Of course in a few cases, that never panned out and sometimes they never came out at all. Or if they finally came out it was too late. Also, as I saw with the Ravenshield community, Patches released by the developers, literally destroyed a teams confidence in an Engine or game chosen to Mod for.

Some Developers will give the mod community only a small set of Tools. Because in the Developers Mind they are going to make their expansion packs first, before releasing the entire SDK.
 
What is also not good is when developers release buggy games and then don't release a patch for them. Case in point is Riddick which won't be compatible with the 75.90+ serires of Nvidia drivers because there is a bug in its opengl detection that needs a work around. From what I have read on the Riddick forums' they are NOT going to release a patch for it.
 
Terpfen said:
I'll phrase it as briefly as I can:

The true gamer doesn't care about the platform, only the games.
Click to expand...
Thats a good quote to remember, and sig worthy.
 
Terpfen said:
I'll phrase it as briefly as I can:

The true gamer doesn't care about the platform, only the games.
Click to expand...

Ok, fine, I'll agree to that with one addition.

The gamer looking for expandability and depth cares about the PC platform
 
I think the reason mods are dying out is because mods take so much work and effort and then the developers see that they are not played much so they say the hell with it and give up on the project.

Anyway, Red Orchastra 3.2 came out yesterday. You should try that.
 
Terpfen said:
I'll phrase it as briefly as I can:

The true gamer doesn't care about the platform, only the games.
Click to expand...
Sadly, I don't think we have many of those around here. Those console threads grow so so big because we have all the angry PC gamers in here complaining that someone *gasp* might like a console just as much as PCs.
 
There are still good games! Just a little harder to find..

I think the PC market is going to go totally MMO though, as they are getting bigger and bigger.

Darwinia is a good game to try out.
 
I think the reason we are not seeing any mods come out is because a mod takes huge amounts of work to develope now. Modelling a charachter for a mod is going to take a lot more devotion, time, effort and skills then it did in 5-6 years ago. Levels are getting more and more complex with more interactivity, and detail. I have tried to learn modelling programs, and level editors many times but I find them extremely difficult. The only modelling program I can use at the moment is Cinema 4D but that is because we use it for our animation and 3D modelling at school. I still dont know enough about it to create charachters yet though. These programs take a lot of skill and devotion to learn. This isnt the 1980's you cant have a guy program an entire game anymore and distribute it from the back of his parents garage.

I am howevor looking forward to 3DBuzz's Half Life 2 VTMS and I will probably be buying his c++ VTMS because I have always found he can explain things much better then other tutorials on the internet. His unreal VTM's helped me alot with the creating an unreal tournament 2004 level, but I still have alot of stuff to learn with these programs befor I am ready to put them up for download. I have been thinking lately once I have enough experience with the modelling and programming aspect of games I will go buy the torque engine and make an independent game.
 
If you want tons and tons of mods go run and get FS 2004 easily the most modded game in world history. Only competition may be older versions of flight sim.
 
All good points and most considered already. My point about the mods is just the last bit of the end of PC gaming to me. These days when a PC game comes out we usually have it completed in less than a week. Unreal took me almost a month to complete and I had more free time to play games back then. All of this taken with the fact that some game developers are taking a "I dont care" attitude towards bugs and incompatibilities just seems like PC gaming is slowly dying out. Seems more and more like to get our game on we have to invest in the latest console of the day and hope the game of the week is on our platform of choice.
 
Have you ever tried to play a 1st person shooter with those damn analog control sticks? It sucks! Stick with the PC.
 
gottes said:
Have you ever tried to play a 1st person shooter with those damn analog control sticks? It sucks! Stick with the PC.
Click to expand...

One, there are more genres than FPS games.

Two, dual analog control for FPS games does not suck. It is perfectly usable, and in fact, it is light years beyond pre-dual analog control schemes. Have you ever played Quake on the N64 or Saturn? How about Duke Nukem on the Saturn? I rest my case.

Relax.
 
I have tried to play CS and Halo on the X-Box and I have to agree, it sucks. However, there are so many other games that are controlled very well with the controller that are only available on console.
 
I have an x-box and I enjoy the Tony Hawk and sports games. I have a hard time playing those types of games on the PC. I think maybe you should just have the console and the PC.
 
how can you say there haven't been as many PC games being released? Where were you last year? HL2, Doom3, FarCry, Splinter Cell, BFvietnam, shit... I can't even remember all the games that came out.... I mean shit... this year was the best PC game year I remember... and that includes the quake days.... I think over time you've forgotten how much time had past between those game releases you mentioned (Duke3d, Quake, HL, Unreal).

... I think you're forgetting that most major released for the consoles also got released for PC as well (like KOTOR2, Splinter Cell, etc. etc.)...

Personally I am over saturated with games and I am behind on my playing. I have like 12 games (not all PC, but at least half of them are) that I still have to play....

So many games, so little time.... If only I didn't work.

peace,
OriginalOCer
 
I believe he was reffering to the PC as some sort of exclusive platform, where the volume and variety of mods available. Now PCs seem to be more like mix-matched consoles, with some big releases, but very little community. Sure, we saw DooM3, HL2, Riddick, to name a few, but what else have we seen? Not much has come out of the community. Not when contrasted to 4-5 years ago. Chances are, if there was a particular game mode or type you were craving for back then, you could find a mod to satiate it. Now, you have to sort of generalize these cravings to a select level, or scenario in the big titles.

So yeah, the PC has done pretty well for itself, but what happened to the community that made PCs such an exclusive and alluring platform?
 
Quicksilver said:
Ok, fine, I'll agree to that with one addition.

The gamer looking for expandability and depth cares about the PC platform
Click to expand...

I agree with ya. My son has an Xbox and Gamecube, plus he, my wife and I all have computers and I very much prefer computer games to console games. Of course, I'm more into FPS and RPG games, which I find better on the computer then any other platform. I love(d) how strong the community was (and is) for such RPG games as Morrowind and NWN. Hopefully when the next in those series comes out, they'll attract as much attention... ;)
 
Kiggles said:
I believe he was reffering to the PC as some sort of exclusive platform, where the volume and variety of mods available. Now PCs seem to be more like mix-matched consoles, with some big releases, but very little community. Sure, we saw DooM3, HL2, Riddick, to name a few, but what else have we seen? Not much has come out of the community. Not when contrasted to 4-5 years ago. Chances are, if there was a particular game mode or type you were craving for back then, you could find a mod to satiate it. Now, you have to sort of generalize these cravings to a select level, or scenario in the big titles.

So yeah, the PC has done pretty well for itself, but what happened to the community that made PCs such an exclusive and alluring platform?
Click to expand...


Exactly. It goes even deeper than that in that the games used to be very addicting. Especially the MP aspects of them. I just dont se the level of commitment in PC games anymore.

I may need to try RPG games again. I didnt care too much for Warcraft which is the only RPG I ever tried. Since that time FPS were the mainstream and what really interested me at the time.
 
The problem is, in my opinion, that modding got *too* big. There are so many quality engines and so many people wanting to make the next big mod (ala Counterstrike -- not necessarily the same game play [though there's enough CS clones to sort through] but just trying to be as successful) that no one has time to play them all.

Go to Filefront, for instance, and look at the user mods for UT2k4. There are dozens of them! And many of them are very, very high quality -- Alien Swarm, Red Orchestra, Air Bucanneers, the list of high quality, enjoyable mods is in the double digits. But there are a limited number of people who own UT2k4 -- certainly not as many as owned Half-Life, for instance. And Counterstrike, the most famous and popular mod for HL, had a huge advantage -- it was out of the gate early, before most other mods. Nowadays, people start working on a mod even before the game it will be modding is available! Counterstrike and TFC were in a quality, playable state before any other decent mods and so had time to attract and addict those who tried them out. For UT2k4, there are so many to try out that you can't devote any significant amount of time to one over the other and learn to enjoy the intricacies. No stable base of users for any of them is established, and they wither away. Look at the UT2k4 mod 'Checkmate', for example. Tons of fun, very polished, easy to pick up and play right away but with a moderate learning curve that rewards the frequent player. I would wager that 90% of UT2k4 players have never heard of it, though, let alone people who don't own UT2k4.

I think the next big game to come from the mod scene will be for a non-FPS game. The market is just oversaturated for FPS mods, to that genre's detriment.
 
Terpfen said:
I'll phrase it as briefly as I can:

The true gamer doesn't care about the platform, only the games.
Click to expand...

i dont agree with this completely.....i have come across a few games where its better to play them on one platform verses another. im sure this varys from person to person, but, for example, i happened to like playing GTA:Vice City on a PS2 vs. on a PC. sure, the graphics are better on a PC, but i felt it was a better experience playing it on the PS2. and, from what i've heard, Halo (1 or 2) is better on the Xbox vs. the PC. Also, I'd rather play DOOM3 on a PC vs. on the Xbox (same with Half-Life).
 
bipolar said:
The problem is, in my opinion, that modding got *too* big. There are so many quality engines and so many people wanting to make the next big mod (ala Counterstrike -- not necessarily the same game play [though there's enough CS clones to sort through] but just trying to be as successful) that no one has time to play them all.

Go to Filefront, for instance, and look at the user mods for UT2k4. There are dozens of them! And many of them are very, very high quality -- Alien Swarm, Red Orchestra, Air Bucanneers, the list of high quality, enjoyable mods is in the double digits. But there are a limited number of people who own UT2k4 -- certainly not as many as owned Half-Life, for instance. And Counterstrike, the most famous and popular mod for HL, had a huge advantage -- it was out of the gate early, before most other mods. Nowadays, people start working on a mod even before the game it will be modding is available! Counterstrike and TFC were in a quality, playable state before any other decent mods and so had time to attract and addict those who tried them out. For UT2k4, there are so many to try out that you can't devote any significant amount of time to one over the other and learn to enjoy the intricacies. No stable base of users for any of them is established, and they wither away. Look at the UT2k4 mod 'Checkmate', for example. Tons of fun, very polished, easy to pick up and play right away but with a moderate learning curve that rewards the frequent player. I would wager that 90% of UT2k4 players have never heard of it, though, let alone people who don't own UT2k4.

I think the next big game to come from the mod scene will be for a non-FPS game. The market is just oversaturated for FPS mods, to that genre's detriment.
Click to expand...


Woa, that was a good read!
 
I got into pcgaming because I started to enjoy fps games. I'm sick of them at the moment. I realized very quickly, early on, that if you dont enjoy rts or fps, you have no reason to be a pc gamer. I wish they would expand, I'd like to see better sports titles, I'd like to see some fighters actually make it to the pc, and better ports of console games. Perfect example is the new game "Cold Fear" I was at gamestop yesterday looking around when the manager got a call from ubisoft telling him to pull the game because it wasn't loading on pc's. Huge glitch, but typical for a port. Remember how awful the port was for GTA3? The list goes on and on. I played Half-Life 2, and that seemed ..for lack of a better term, to be my pc gaming orgasm, now I just want some sleep until Unreal 3 engine hits. ;)
 
|0b0 said:
I got into pcgaming because I started to enjoy fps games. I'm sick of them at the moment. I realized very quickly, early on, that if you dont enjoy rts or fps, you have no reason to be a pc gamer. I wish they would expand, I'd like to see better sports titles, I'd like to see some fighters actually make it to the pc, and better ports of console games. Perfect example is the new game "Cold Fear" I was at gamestop yesterday looking around when the manager got a call from ubisoft telling him to pull the game because it wasn't loading on pc's. Huge glitch, but typical for a port. Remember how awful the port was for GTA3? The list goes on and on. I played Half-Life 2, and that seemed ..for lack of a better term, to be my pc gaming orgasm, now I just want some sleep until Unreal 3 engine hits. ;)
Click to expand...

and because it's PC gaming, you'll need to upgrade your vid card to run that engine at maximum settings, which is the only way to go. :D
 
|0b0 said:
I got into pcgaming because I started to enjoy fps games. I'm sick of them at the moment. I realized very quickly, early on, that if you dont enjoy rts or fps, you have no reason to be a pc gamer.
Click to expand...

Not exactly true. I'm in a similar position, FPS games got me into computer gaming, but now I'm bored to death with them. My genre of choice now though is RPG's and I think they are far better on the PC then anything offered on the console platform. Morrowind was my favorite RPG game so far, but I also played Diablo and Diablo II, NWN, Sacred, Dungeon Siege and more. So, add RPG's to your list of reasons to game on the PC platform... ;)
 
wtburnette said:
Not exactly true. I'm in a similar position, FPS games got me into computer gaming, but now I'm bored to death with them. My genre of choice now though is RPG's and I think they are far better on the PC then anything offered on the console platform. Morrowind was my favorite RPG game so far, but I also played Diablo and Diablo II, NWN, Sacred, Dungeon Siege and more. So, add RPG's to your list of reasons to game on the PC platform... ;)
Click to expand...


yea, shame on me, I did forget rpg's, although I personally dont care much for pc rpg's, it is a decent sized genre for the pc world. I'm just too much of a final fantasy head to get into anything else, rpg = the ff series to me lol. :D No bias here...lol
 
All I have to say is that I've been playing a UT2004 mod (Carball) for around a year now, and I'm still enjoying the hell out of it.
 
wtburnette said:
Not exactly true. I'm in a similar position, FPS games got me into computer gaming, but now I'm bored to death with them. My genre of choice now though is RPG's and I think they are far better on the PC then anything offered on the console platform. Morrowind was my favorite RPG game so far, but I also played Diablo and Diablo II, NWN, Sacred, Dungeon Siege and more. So, add RPG's to your list of reasons to game on the PC platform... ;)
Click to expand...

Fallout! Go get it!
 
Kckazdude said:
I have tried to play CS and Halo on the X-Box and I have to agree, it sucks. However, there are so many other games that are controlled very well with the controller that are only available on console.
Click to expand...

You can get a controller for your PC (I Have 2x Logitech wireless PS2-alikes that rock for the living room) but you can't get a mouse for your console.

Need I say more? :p

EDIT: I don't want to hear any mentions of Mario Paint.
 
TheAcorn said:
EDIT: I don't want to hear any mentions of Mario Paint.
Click to expand...

That thing doesn't deserve to be called a mouse. It would fall apart after a couple months!
 
carrot said:
i dont agree with this completely.....i have come across a few games where its better to play them on one platform verses another. im sure this varys from person to person, but, for example, i happened to like playing GTA:Vice City on a PS2 vs. on a PC. sure, the graphics are better on a PC, but i felt it was a better experience playing it on the PS2. and, from what i've heard, Halo (1 or 2) is better on the Xbox vs. the PC. Also, I'd rather play DOOM3 on a PC vs. on the Xbox (same with Half-Life).
Click to expand...
yes some games are better on certain systems but i'm sure that's not what he meant... he meant there is no reason to discriminate a game just because u don't like the system... a good game, is a good game... that's all there is to it.
 
carrot said:
i dont agree with this completely.....i have come across a few games where its better to play them on one platform verses another. im sure this varys from person to person, but, for example, i happened to like playing GTA:Vice City on a PS2 vs. on a PC. sure, the graphics are better on a PC, but i felt it was a better experience playing it on the PS2. and, from what i've heard, Halo (1 or 2) is better on the Xbox vs. the PC. Also, I'd rather play DOOM3 on a PC vs. on the Xbox (same with Half-Life).
Click to expand...

You're only proving my point, though: you aren't being a system fan-boy. You want the best version of a game, therefore, you care about the games over the platforms.
 
I think that the slowdown in mods being released is that our expectations are too high, so these groups want to add more and more polish. PC games still rule in my book though



just my 2cents
PS2 sucks!
xbox is ok
:cool:
 
TheAcorn said:
You can get a controller for your PC (I Have 2x Logitech wireless PS2-alikes that rock for the living room) but you can't get a mouse for your console.
Click to expand...
Glad that you mentioned that controllers for your PC very rarely work as well as they do for consoles. They never work better.

Because of this, I will always prefer racing games on consoles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top