First, I don't want this thread to be consoles/PC war thread, even if the title of the thread implies it. The title just outlines my thoughtsfears, that's all. This thread is more about the future of gaming industry.
We had a new thread today about PS3 online cheaters - MW2 PS3 after Jailbreak, what can players do?
Also Cevat Yerli has made another prediction about next-gen consoles:
I sort of agree with him, I think we'll see new consoles by 2013-2014, but............ there are some thought that bother me.
a. The consoles from previous generations had some advantages over PCs as a gaming platforms:
1)Games just worked - no patches, no constant freezes, no bugs. Well, almost no bugs.
2)There were no long installs.
3)There were no online cheaters.
Console gaming was simple and smooth experience. Quite limited in some regards (no user content, no tweaks) but simple and smooth. This gen the situation has changed drastically.
b. Now we have a closed boxes which have all shortcomings of PC platform:
1)Big post-release patches.
2)Bugs in most games.
3)Long installations for smoother experience (sometimes mandatory installs).
4)Online cheaters are present now on both platforms.
c. But in the meantime don't have any redeeming features that PC as a gaming platform has:
1)Tweakability - you can tailor a game for yourself - graphics settings, input devices , etc.
2)User-generated content, mod support
3)an opportunity to improve graphics and perfomance by upgrading your hardware
d. Also while consoles now have most issues that only PCs have had there are no means to combat them for an average user:
1)On PC if the game doesn't work as intented you can Google for a solution and solve the issue by tweaking. But on consoles you should wait for devs to solve a problem.
2)Since cheaters were always present on PC there are a lot of countermeasures to them - dedicated servers, worldwide ban lists, anticheating soft, an aware community, etc. There are no such measures on consoles now, except a slow and infrequent bannhammer. At least fuckers can be kicked from a game on PC.
So my question is: why should I buy the next-gen consoles if they're basically closed PCs now without any redeeming qualities + some issues that platform holders aren't able to solve ?
Seriously, that bothers me because AAA-game development is quite dependent on consoles nowadays, and the first few years of the next-gen might suck for PCs anyway in this regard as it has happened this gen. Yes, there is a possibilty that new consoles will be seriously underpowered but there are also a possibility that they won't. Also there is a possibility that new graphic engines will be tailored for console architectures and not PCs, Tim Sweeney was talking about that at the beggining of this gen. The problem is that I don't want to buy them at all, online cheaters were the last straw. At least I can deal with this shit on PC myself, while on consoles I'm at mercy of a slow platform holder or a publisher.
I hope to provoke an intelligent discussion lol
We had a new thread today about PS3 online cheaters - MW2 PS3 after Jailbreak, what can players do?
Also Cevat Yerli has made another prediction about next-gen consoles:
"For some reason my gut feeling is still that we'll see a new [console] generation in 2012, 2013," Yerli said. "Factually spoken, it looks like I'm going be wrong, but my gut feeling is that there's going to be a new one because it's really getting old and tight in this space."
I sort of agree with him, I think we'll see new consoles by 2013-2014, but............ there are some thought that bother me.
a. The consoles from previous generations had some advantages over PCs as a gaming platforms:
1)Games just worked - no patches, no constant freezes, no bugs. Well, almost no bugs.
2)There were no long installs.
3)There were no online cheaters.
Console gaming was simple and smooth experience. Quite limited in some regards (no user content, no tweaks) but simple and smooth. This gen the situation has changed drastically.
b. Now we have a closed boxes which have all shortcomings of PC platform:
1)Big post-release patches.
2)Bugs in most games.
3)Long installations for smoother experience (sometimes mandatory installs).
4)Online cheaters are present now on both platforms.
c. But in the meantime don't have any redeeming features that PC as a gaming platform has:
1)Tweakability - you can tailor a game for yourself - graphics settings, input devices , etc.
2)User-generated content, mod support
3)an opportunity to improve graphics and perfomance by upgrading your hardware
d. Also while consoles now have most issues that only PCs have had there are no means to combat them for an average user:
1)On PC if the game doesn't work as intented you can Google for a solution and solve the issue by tweaking. But on consoles you should wait for devs to solve a problem.
2)Since cheaters were always present on PC there are a lot of countermeasures to them - dedicated servers, worldwide ban lists, anticheating soft, an aware community, etc. There are no such measures on consoles now, except a slow and infrequent bannhammer. At least fuckers can be kicked from a game on PC.
So my question is: why should I buy the next-gen consoles if they're basically closed PCs now without any redeeming qualities + some issues that platform holders aren't able to solve ?
Seriously, that bothers me because AAA-game development is quite dependent on consoles nowadays, and the first few years of the next-gen might suck for PCs anyway in this regard as it has happened this gen. Yes, there is a possibilty that new consoles will be seriously underpowered but there are also a possibility that they won't. Also there is a possibility that new graphic engines will be tailored for console architectures and not PCs, Tim Sweeney was talking about that at the beggining of this gen. The problem is that I don't want to buy them at all, online cheaters were the last straw. At least I can deal with this shit on PC myself, while on consoles I'm at mercy of a slow platform holder or a publisher.