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[Vulcano's assistant]

Everything that matters is whether there is a single version of the software for say platform. Until PS3s and WIIUs start running X360s games and don't require a port, you cannot count them together. You know publishers don't.

 

[iamshadowlark]

This is a discussion about software, not hardware though. While there are countless configurations for PC's "Windows gaming" is a sensible catch all term.

The DS and say, the PS3 are different on a hardware, OS, game library and input level. Windows PC's/laptop just differ in specs. Every windows game works on any windows machine provided you have the hardware power.

According to who?
I based my argument of revenue from gaming.

This is about as weak as arguments get. Or do you think that graph is covering my family PC I used to play Quake 2 on?

I can buy the bulk of the games on Steam and run them on almost any modern Windows PC.

And you talk about missing points?

 

[Leb]

But... It is the biggest platform.

You almost have to admire his tenacity at this point: regardless of how he construes the data, the numbers still don't work out; and only with the most preposterously unjustified grouping of data does he manage to get a favorable result.

 

[SneakyStephan]

snip.

pc is the only place where you can get 1080p 60 fps, wide fov etc, that is my point.

any performance issues/bugs can be fixed and the community is usually there

there is no alternative, what is not to get
how does this make pc gaming a hassle? Because you CAN fix things and aren't at the mercy of developers. It's a good thing, not a bad thing, yet you refuse to aknowledge this.

Developers gona develop

Spoiler

buggy broken games

You're mad that not every game runs well, why are you blaming the pc platform for this? As I said in my previous post, go blame the publishers responsible for letting the game through QA and the gaming press for ignoring the issues, and be glad that you have the option to do something about them.
Fact is most games DO run well, neither hardware manufacturers nor the community or the consumers are responsible for the rotten eggs.

Also thanks for the passive agressive little personal stab at the end there. I actually have consoles as well , I don't look down on people who game on a console, I just have the full perspective and get annoyed at all the false equivalences and misinformation that spawned this thread and kept it going in circles (not referring to your post btw)

off topic: Opiate is a frigging saint with endless patience, the way he keeps dignifying shadowlark despite the endless moving of goalposts and refusal to respond to reasoning.

 

[iamshadowlark]

You almost have to admire his tenacity at this point: regardless of how he construes the data, the numbers still don't work out; and only with the most preposterously unjustified grouping of data does he manage to get a favorable result.

Unjustified?

pc is the only place where you can get 1080p 60 fps, wide fov etc, that is my point.

any performance issues/bugs can be fixed and the community is usually there

there is no alternative, what is not to get
how does this make pc gaming a hassle? Because you CAN fix things and aren't at the mercy of developers. It's a good thing, not a bad thing, yet you refuse to aknowledge this.

Developers gona develop

Spoiler

buggy broken games

why are you blaming the pc platform for this?

Also thanks for the passive agressive little personal stab at the end there. I actually have consoles as well , I don't look down on people who game on a console, I just have the full perspective and get annoyed at all the false equivalences and misinformation that spawned this thread and kept it going in circles (not referring to your post btw)

off topic: Opiate is a frigging saint with endless patience, the way he keeps dignifying shadowlark despite the endless moving of goalposts and refusal to respond to reasoning.

Opinions I guess.

I see him moving goalposts and relying on nothing but a leg of semantics. *shrugs*

 

[Opiate]

SMFH. Are you serious right now? Can I pull out my old 486 and load some Crysis on it? Or will I have to buy several generations forward hardware? Could I use my old pentium pro computer with the 56k connection and jump on WOW? PC has never been a unified platform in most any sense. Several PC gamers went to various lengths to defend that in this very thread. But now its a catch-all in the face of a weak argument?

If I buy a PC today -- let's say, this one, just to not pick some super amazing top end machine -- I will be able to play 95%+ of the games intended for the Windows platform right out of the box. Not everything, of course; there are typically exceptions, perhaps including some of the very newest games as well as some of the very oldest. Some 360 games require a hard drive or are Japanese and won't work with a US 360. DSi games won't work if you buy a regular DS. Some PS3 games require the PSEye or PSMove. But 90%+ of the time, the game will work on the platform you have bought, be it 360 or PC or DS or PSP.

if I buy a PS4 when it comes out, however, I cannot and will never play PS3 games, or 360 games, or Wii games, or any DS games, or 3DS games, or any Wii U games, or PSP games. In contrast to the PC, I will only be able to play maybe 1-5% of the games on my "platform," if by "platform" we mean 3DS + PS3 + PS4 + 360 + Wii U + Wii + DS + PSP + PSVita.

If we're going to combine such hugely disparate platforms, then surely we can combine PC with iOS and Android -- in fact, some more modern Android tablets can indeed run Windows if the person wants them to. I mean, if we're going to get in to the habit of combining platforms even if they are not compatible and have hugely different form factors. And once we do that, we're right back where we started: PC + iOS + Android is bigger than PS3 + PS4 + Wii + Wii U + DS + 3DS + PSP + PSVita + 360.

 

[derExperte]

Unjustified?

Let's call it desperate.

 

[Wiktor]

There was no grand point, other than PC gaming not being the biggest platform.

But it is the biggest platform. it's userbase is like five times the numer of console gamers.

Even among core gamers PC is far bigger than consoles.

 

[Clawww]

it must sting to see your kid ask to build a PC to create a handcarved minecraft empire with his friends while you lie consumed by your couch, passively stabbing whichever QTE your moronbox demands in order to unlock the next daytime TV tier cutscene.

"no son, you wouldn't understand. these games are for grown ups"

lmao

 

[patapuf]

According to who?
I based my argument of revenue from gaming.

If we include hardware numbers this isn't even close.

Just to make it clear: are you really saying the DS and the PS3 are the same platform "on a macro level"? How? They have literally nothing in common Hardware or software wise.

Windows PC's on the other hand, do.

 

[Clawww]

That's exactly what I want!

A good Steam machine is looking to be a better next-gen purchase for me than a PS4 right now (although, it's not like I'm getting a PS4 this year anyways).

Don't be intimidated. You can easily put together your own PC for a decent price and have it running with minimal hassle. There are so many great resources on the internet and even here on GAF. It's really not very difficult at all--it just requires a few hours of learning and paying attention, which is nothing considering what you'll get out of it. I don't blame you if you can't be assed, though. But it's fun and worthwhile.

 

[Gully State]

it must sting to see your kid ask to build a PC to create a handcarved minecraft empire with his friends while you lie consumed by your couch, passively stabbing whichever QTE your moronbox demands in order to unlock the next daytime TV tier cutscene.

"no son, you wouldn't understand. these games are for grown ups"

LOL...Press A for awesome...

 

[-tetsuo-]

it must sting to see your kid ask to build a PC to create a handcarved minecraft empire with his friends while you lie consumed by your couch, passively stabbing whichever QTE your moronbox demands in order to unlock the next daytime TV tier cutscene.

"no son, you wouldn't understand. these games are for grown ups"

 

[PKrockin]

you could make an argument that anyone who has kids, owes it to them to invest themselves a gaming PC. it's like a chemistry set. in reality they, just want to make water turn blue or bubble over, but they're accidental learning some basic scientific fundamentals.

we may not be rewriting autoexecs anymore, but there is still a certain hands-covered-in-engine-oil quality to PC gaming, if you find that daunting, you should maybe put down your lobotomised content delivery devices and treat it as an opportunity.

lol, okay, this is seriously hilarious.

 

[iamshadowlark]

If I buy a PC today -- let's say, this one, just to not pick some super amazing top end machine -- I will be able to play 95%+ of the games intended for the Windows platform right out of the box. Not everything, of course; there are typically exceptions. Some 360 games require a hard drive or are Japanese and won't work with a US 360. DSi games won't work if you buy a regular DS, and so forth. But 90%+ of the time, the game will work on the platform you buy, be it 360 or PC or DS or PSP.

if I buy a PS4 when it comes out, however, I cannot and will never play PS3 games, or 360 games, or Wii games, or any DS games, or 3DS games, or any Wii U games, or PSP games. In contrast to the PC (or 360 or DS or PSP if we classify these as platforms in themselves) I will only be able to play maybe 1-5% of the games on my "platform," if by "platform" we mean 3DS + PS3 + PS4 + 360 + Wii U + Wii + DS + PSP + PSVita.

If we're going to combine such hugely disparate platforms, then surely we can combine PC with iOS and Android -- in fact, some more modern Android tablets can indeed run Windows if the person wants them to. I mean, if we're going to get in to the habit of combining platforms even if they are not compatible and have hugely different form factors. And once we do that, we're right back where we started: PC + iOS + Android is bigger than PS3 + PS4 + Wii + Wii U + DS + 3DS + PSP + PSVita + 360.

I'm not sure what you're arguing. Of course consoles are disparate from box to box, thats the whole point of a gaming console, im not sure how that translates to "phones are PCs too". But you trying to oversimplify PC into one unified entity is somehow justified by the fact that you can a new PC today thats backwards compatible? Despite the fact that when a new generation of DX/SM cards come out and games start hard requiring that, your compatibility dies until you replace hardware?

 

[Tain]

i often roll my eyes when PC-only dudes (who, like many other kinds of posters, are often kinda lacking when it comes to knowledge of console libraries) act like console gaming is nothing but QTEs, and i don't even like minecraft...

...but that ghst post is pretty sick

 

[-tetsuo-]

Despite the fact that when a new generation of DX/SM cards come out and games start hard requiring that, your compatibility dies until you replace hardware?

You mean I actually have to upgrade this computer? This is some bullshit.

 

[iamshadowlark]

So if I'm reading this right, changing one part and maintaining software compatibility is more disparate than two console platforms that don't and will never be compatible in any way shape or form?

No. Its the cherrypicked point of distinction that i'm scoffing at.

 

[Uriah]

Jesus this is embarrassing

 

[-tetsuo-]

Something something Blue Ray something unlimited capacity.

 

[Of All Trades]

LOL...Press A for awesome...

Eh, not really seeing as how Minecraft is on 360 (and hugely popular) and mobile platforms, and I (absent of proof) suspect most kids playing Minecraft on PCs are doing it on a cheap laptop (which may as well be a sealed box). If anything the gif-applauding only makes the PC-warrior contingent look worse, akin to applauding someone throwing bananas at a black person during a UK football match just because that person happens to be wearing your team's colors.

 

[Mudcrab]

Eh, not really seeing as how Minecraft is on 360 (and hugely popular) and mobile platforms, and I (absent of proof) suspect most kids playing Minecraft on PCs are doing it on a cheap laptop (which may as well be a sealed box). If anything the gif-applauding only makes the PC-warrior contingent look worse, akin to applauding someone throwing bananas at a black person during a UK football match just because that person happens to be wearing your team's colors.

No way...

 

[Opiate]

I'm not sure what you're arguing. Of course consoles are disparate from box to box, thats the whole point of a gaming console,

No, the consoles are not just "disparate," but completely and absolutely incompatible with each other.

im not sure how that translates to "phones are PCs too".

Apparently we're getting in to the habit of combining platforms as long as they share a few common elements, even if they have completely different form factors with significantly distinct input methods, run completely different operating systems made by competing companies, and which cannot play any of the games built for the other systems even if you try.

 

[Uriah]

Eh, not really seeing as how Minecraft is on 360 (and hugely popular) and mobile platforms, and I (absent of proof) suspect most kids playing Minecraft on PCs are doing it on a cheap laptop (which may as well be a sealed box). If anything the gif-applauding only makes the PC-warrior contingent look worse, akin to applauding someone throwing bananas at a black person during a UK football match just because that person happens to be wearing your team's colors.

Well this is a post.

 

[iamshadowlark]

No, not just "disparate," but completely and absolutely incompatible with each other



Apparently we're getting in to the habit of combining platforms which share a few common elements, even if they have completely different form factors, run completely different operating systems, may completely different operating systems made by competing companies, and which cannot play any of the games built for the others.

Again, what is the revelation here? Consoles and PCs have different concepts? Isn't that what the premise of this thread boils down to?

Again, we're comparing console gaming products sold on platforms from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to the whole of PC gaming. Not that hard.

 

[Nyoro SF]

No. Its the cherrypicked point of distinction that i'm scoffing at.

This is a glorious post when you consider what you were doing earlier.

 

[Mudcrab]

This is a glorious post when you consider what you were doing earlier.

And they say irony is dead.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Again, we're comparing console gaming products sold on platforms from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to the whole of PC gaming. Not that hard.

You would think so...

 

[jet1911]

Again, we're comparing console gaming products sold on platforms from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to the whole of PC gaming. Not that hard.

Nope. You are.

Notice that the numbers for handhelds and console are not added together?

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

In a way, I have to give it to you guys for keeping that same discussion going in circles, seeing some of the late drive by post, you are keeping the thread from spiraling into terrible stuff.

 

[Zincalloy]

I've been primarily a pc gamer for about three years now, and while it was awesome in the beginning to be able to play games at 1080p/60 frames a second. My tolerance for the level of bullshit I have to put up with has about run its course. It's not the price of entry, the mouse and keyboard, or playing games at a desk; those issues have already been addressed and largely fixed. It's the constant pc tinkering and general clunkyness that keeps people from pc gaming.

Disabling a keyboard driver to get a game to work, editing ini files and replacing .dll files on a regular basis, certain settings like DX11 or physx breaking a game, windows updates interfering with your game in the middle of a session, limiting certain games to two cores so they don't crash every 10 minutes, poor optimization, games being broken at launch, shitty 3rd party drm, and a whole bunch of other crap that is still common place and shouldn't be tolerated.

I just now reached my breaking point after not being able to progress in Arkham City due to constant crashes during the Mr. Freeze fight. I tried just about every fix I can think of: disable rivatuner-nope, disable D3Doverider-nope, evga precision-nope, restore all default nvida values- nope, update and restore drivers-nope, disable DX11 and physx- nope, and the list goes on and on ad nauesum for about an hour before I just decided to say fuck it, I'm not putting up with this anymore. There goes my money and about 6+ hours worth of play time down the drain. The time I spend to play games shouldn't be taken up with me pulling my hair out just to get a game to function properly, or just work for that matter.

And don't think I'm just being ignorant to the share of issues that plague consoles as well, but at least the only example of a console game I can think of that just flat out refuses to work is Skyrim for the ps3. Spending time to "fix" pc games and deal with the bs is a regular thing for me These issues have really made it hard to decide whether or not I should upgrade, or go ahead with consoles for next gen and for-go the extra bells and whistles with pc gaming.

I truly hope Steam os addresses to fix these issues, otherwise pc gaming will always be a shadow to consoles in terms of public awareness and publisher recognition. I say this as a core pc gamer, and I'm sure I'll get plenty of people playing dumb and telling me how wrong I am, but until people start to really address this and voice concerns, pc gaming will never be something that's taken seriously.

I'm with you 100%. That's why I play games almost exclusively on my consoles now except for PC exclusives. I just can't stand the bull every time. And God forbid a virus slips into the cracks. I turn on my console, slip the disc in, and it just works! That is it and I love it.

 

[iamshadowlark]

Nope. You are.

Notice that the numbers for handhelds and console are not added together?

Of course I am. I started the comparison. Which part are you missing?

 

[Opiate]

Again, what is the revelation here? Consoles and PCs have different concepts? Isn't that what the premise of this thread boils down to?

The relevance is that the PC is a single platform, while consoles are not. In fact, that is the very definition of a platform. This is now explicitly a denotative argument: a platform is defined as a hardware architecture with software framework (e.g. OS) that allows software to run.

By definition, if the software cannot run on the platform, then it isn't part of the same platform -- while recognizing there are at least a few rare cases and exceptions (very old or very new PC games; 360 games from Japan on a US 360; DSi games on a DS; PSMove games on a PS3). If 95%+ of the software can work, we tend to call that a platform.

If we want to instead redefine a software platform as just a loose philosophical connection between systems made by different companies in different form factors running different software and which are completely incompatible with each other, I think that's very silly, but fine, let's completely redefine what a platform is. In that case, Windows+iOS+Android are also loosely philosophically connected (and as stated, in some cases Android tablets can already dual boot to Windows), so even if we decide to completely redefine words to suit our arguments, PC is still bigger.

 

[AzaK]

The OP's reasons are why I abandoned PC gaming after being primarily a computer gamer for 20 years. I just got sick of the maintenance and couldn't be bothered with it any more. I've fully played 2 games on a PC (Limbo and Walking Dead) in about the last 8 years.

However I will say that if the Steam Box can solve all the problems, I am very likely to return to it.

 

[CecilRousso]

However I will say that if the Steam Box can solve all the problems, I am very likely to return to it.

Don't count on it . The Steambox will not magically make everything "Press x to play", so if you can't handle computers and computer games today, then Steambox will most likely not help you as much as you want/need.

I'm with you 100%. That's why I play games almost exclusively on my consoles now except for PC exclusives. I just can't stand the bull every time. And God forbid a virus slips into the cracks. I turn on my console, slip the disc in, and it just works! That is it and I love it.

Yeah, what you actually sit down and play isn't that relevant, as long as it's just about putting a disc into the console.

 

[scitek]

Having been a PC gamer for almost as long as I've played video games, the things you complain about are what makes PC gaming fun to me. The extra effort for the perfect gaming experience is exciting and well worth it.

I love tinkering.

Agreed. Tinkering is a hobby of mine unto itself.

 

[TAJ]

Interesting just watched a guy playing that be batman game on his Xbox complaining about the poopy fps and it froze on him...he had to restart them it happened to him again.

Was funny watching the guy rage lol.

I think the issue is with this specific batman game. I have about three hundred steam games and some odd number from gog. Haven't had to tinker with anything. I every ran fallout 1 with out any hitches.

LEGO Marvel Superheroes is a PC game that had no setup issues. (For me. Someone mentioned The Witcher 2 not running at all at first and that game was fine for me with the same graphics card. YMMV on all of this stuff.)
But a character has gotten stuck in the level geometry so badly that I had to restart that section of the game.
And at one point, all the characters were supposed to get on an elevator together. I got on, and three of the four other characters piled on. But one had pathfinding problems or got stuck. (I don't know which, because I was locked in the elevator with no camera control.) I went and made dinner and the character still hadn't made it into the elevator when I got back. I started from my last save, played through to the elevator again, and everyone managed to get on. Still annoying.

 

[dcx4610]

I'm in total agreement with OP.

I've been gaming on PCs just as long as consoles and while I enjoy building and tinkering, it definitely gets tiresome when you just want things to work.

I've been on a kick of hitting my backlog of PC titles recently. Out of the recent 6 I've played and beat, every. single. game. crashed. Multiple times, throughout the course of each game.

Yes, my hardware is up to spec. I know what I'm doing. It's simply bad programming, buggy drivers and games having to to work with 100s of different specs rather than just your specific rig.

For the people that don't mind tinkering, yes, you can get the best quality graphics possible on PC but you have to work at it and deal with a lot of headaches. Especially with the PS4 and XB1, the gap is going to close even more and PC quality graphics (for now) can be had without the hassle of everything above.

 

[Omikron]

It amazes me how often you hear people use the line 'I know what I am doing' and yet appear to have so many issues when attempting to use a PC to play video games. Is this just sort of trend I am seeing because I want to see it, or is there some substance behind it.

Coming from a developer perspective (desktop apps, not games, but still), these people who tend to have issues constantly are the ones that know enough to be dangerous. They usually change or tinker with various parts of their system thinking that are making 'improvements', when in reality they are just leaving a minefield of incorrectly configured or even broken system ready to rear its ugly head.

I am sure it is the platforms fault though. Somehow.

 

[chickdigger802]

It amazes me how often you hear people use the line 'I know what I am doing' and yet appear to have so many issues when attempting to use a PC to play video games. Is this just sort of trend I am seeing because I want to see it, or is there some substance behind it.

Coming from a developer perspective (desktop apps, not games, but still), these people who tend to have issues constantly are the ones that know enough to be dangerous. They usually change or tinker with various parts of their system thinking that are making 'improvements', when in reality they are just leaving a minefield of incorrectly configured or even broken system ready to rear its ugly head.

I am sure it is the platforms fault though. Somehow.

Please god, don't dig in the registry.... noooooo

 

[Clawww]

It amazes me how often you hear people use the line 'I know what I am doing' and yet appear to have so many issues when attempting to use a PC to play video games. Is this just sort of trend I am seeing because I want to see it, or is there some substance behind it.

Coming from a developer perspective (desktop apps, not games, but still), these people who tend to have issues constantly are the ones that know enough to be dangerous. They usually change or tinker with various parts of their system thinking that are making 'improvements', when in reality they are just leaving a minefield of incorrectly configured or even broken system ready to rear its ugly head.

I am sure it is the platforms fault though. Somehow.

PC gaming requires a touch of humility. Most people lack that. I really have my doubts about the expertise and hardware level of the people claiming to have every other game they play fucking crash.

 

[NervousXtian]

Thank you....


Skyrim has severe issues on PS3? "F You Bethesda"

Arkham City has issues on PC? "THE ENTIRETY OF PC GAMING SUCKS!"

Skryim is one of the few games on consoles recently that was just flat out broke, and became unplayable.


Ridiculous agenda driven logic.

Arkham City is far from being the only PC game that has had issues.

Fact is, for the most part consoles offer a very user friendly experience. Worst case is lost time downloading updates and waiting for loading screens. Yet, completely devoid of any user input past pushing X/A to continue.

Of course, with that ease of use comes a considerably downgraded performance and lower resolutions.

It's a trade off.

Bringing up Skyrim doesn't prove the point of console games having severe issues.. it does the opposite.. because it's so rare.

I'm not talking about low frame rates or bad IQ. I'm talking severe issues like no booting up, graphical glitches up the ass, constant crashes, etc. It's very very rare.

Just speaking for myself here.
I don't really look down in the sense of people refusing to "maintain" a PC as stupid. I Do look down in them in the sense that they are Refusing to learn because it's "hard"
I respect the fact that some can't afford it or if they just plainly admit that they are afraid of the hassle or just not willing. Because a well maintained PC is already updated when you wake up or in the process of downloading said update.

I will not go into how to maintain HKLM or any "serious" things. Those are best left for us who actually know what we're doing or at least have the sense to backup what we hold precious.



It's wonderful right?

Again, consoles are pretty much universally idiot proof. The worst thing you can lose is time updating a game or installing a game.

I've never had to search Google to find a fix to have a game actually boot up on a console.

pc is the only place where you can get 1080p 60 fps, wide fov etc, that is my point.

any performance issues/bugs can be fixed and the community is usually there

there is no alternative, what is not to get
how does this make pc gaming a hassle? Because you CAN fix things and aren't at the mercy of developers. It's a good thing, not a bad thing, yet you refuse to aknowledge this.

Developers gona develop

Spoiler

buggy broken games

You're mad that not every game runs well, why are you blaming the pc platform for this? As I said in my previous post, go blame the publishers responsible for letting the game through QA and the gaming press for ignoring the issues, and be glad that you have the option to do something about them.
Fact is most games DO run well, neither hardware manufacturers nor the community or the consumers are responsible for the rotten eggs.

Also thanks for the passive agressive little personal stab at the end there. I actually have consoles as well , I don't look down on people who game on a console, I just have the full perspective and get annoyed at all the false equivalences and misinformation that spawned this thread and kept it going in circles (not referring to your post btw)

off topic: Opiate is a frigging saint with endless patience, the way he keeps dignifying shadowlark despite the endless moving of goalposts and refusal to respond to reasoning.

Seriously, why are you going at me with this. You're not even arguing against anything I've said. I bolded the important word that you didn't choose to emphasis right before "DO".

Most.

Which is my point to begin with. Most games work fine. Most.

It's the ones that plain flat out don't that people complain about. The thing is with PC's... it's not universal which work and don't work for someone.

 

[Leb]

It amazes me how often you hear people use the line 'I know what I am doing' and yet appear to have so many issues when attempting to use a PC to play video games. Is this just sort of trend I am seeing because I want to see it, or is there some substance behind it.

Yeah, there's a term for this form of cognitive bias. Fortunately, I took an Intro to Psych class my freshmen year of college, so I'm sort of an expert on this stuff and I'm quite certain it was called the Bumbling-Bugler effect.

 

[spock]

Completely agree with OP. I am and have been quite PC savvy, but the older I get the less I want to futz around with any of that nonsense. I dont want to tweak jack snitz for games to work. I also dont like having to deal with "work arounds" for general business & pc apps as well. If I want to tinker the pc aint the place I want to do it. For me its nothing but a waste of time and energy I could be using elsewhere. When you have kids, a business, etc you value your time and "tweaking" anything just to get it to work sucks major donkey nuts...

 

[Omikron]

Yeah, there's a term for this form of cognitive bias. Fortunately, I took an Intro to Psych class my freshmen year of college, so I'm sort of an expert on this stuff and I'm quite certain it was called the Bumbling-Bugler effect.

Good thing I never took any Psych classes, so I can continue believing in my own theories without substantial evidence.

 

[CecilRousso]

Coming from a developer perspective (desktop apps, not games, but still), these people who tend to have issues constantly are the ones that know enough to be dangerous. They usually change or tinker with various parts of their system thinking that are making 'improvements', when in reality they are just leaving a minefield of incorrectly configured or even broken system ready to rear its ugly head.

With a risk of generalising, that feels like a pretty good assumption. I'm quite baffled at how much problems some people seem to have with their PC's, but maybe they're actually trying to hard. I would like to know how many of those where who seem unable to get their games to work that are talking about actually getting the games to run, or mean getting that they're tinkering to get the game running with all kinds of fancy graphical effects.

Some games will be botched at launch, and some incompatibitlites will always be there, but I find it hard to believe that that many people are actually having problems to get pretty much every game to even run.

 

[Dr.Acula]

LEGO Marvel Superheroes is a PC game that had no setup issues. (For me. Someone mentioned The Witcher 2 not running at all at first and that game was fine for me with the same graphics card. YMMV on all of this stuff.)
But a character has gotten stuck in the level geometry so badly that I had to restart that section of the game.
And at one point, all the characters were supposed to get on an elevator together. I got on, and three of the four other characters piled on. But one had pathfinding problems or got stuck. (I don't know which, because I was locked in the elevator with no camera control.) I went and made dinner and the character still hadn't made it into the elevator when I got back. I started from my last save, played through to the elevator again, and everyone managed to get on. Still annoying.

That example has nothing to do with the PC though. You could be on amd, Intel, ati, or nVidia, and that path finding bug would manifest. I've had some stuff happen in GTAV where characters didn't go where they were supposed to, but that's independent of getting a RROD, or having another hardware problem.

 

[dLMN8R]

Do you realize how many random MMOs there are? That charge money? Nobody has argued that there aren't successful AAA games on the PC. Quit being obtuse.

What am I being obtuse about? I'm confused why you directed this post to me.

My point is very clear. The entire premise of this thread is flawed. The implication that PC gaming needs to do anything to be "taken seriously" doesn't make any sense in the context of the actual number of people playing PC games, the amount of revenue being made by PC games, and the amount of professional being done on PC games.


I pointed out game numbers. Others pointed out revenue numbers. I'm still left with a question of what the OP means when he implies that anything needs to happen for it to be "Taken seriously".

 

[TAJ]

That example has nothing to do with the PC though. You could be on amd, Intel, ati, or nVidia, and that path finding bug would manifest. I've had so e stuff happen in GTAV where characters didn't go where they were supposed to, but that's independent of getting a RROD, or having another hardware problem.

And the example that I was responding to had nothing to do with consoles.

 

[inm8num2]

It's the little things in life like tinkering with a PC that sharpen our wits and keep us clever. When everything is done for us automatically, we understand less and lose our abilities to deal with those little problems

But tinkering can be avoided with PCs. These days compatibility and stability are much better than before. Not perfect, but much more manageable.

I guess I don't understand why someone would abandon a platform because they don't want to visit a website and download an updated graphics driver, for example. Not saying that's the OP's situation.