Okay, I just read the whole thread and take issue with a couple of your views Coolio. I respect your opinions very much but this is just my two cents:
-COOLIO- said:
i guess im saying that i see desktops becoming console replacements. would you agree that they probably arn't doing this currently for the most part in mainstream culture?
I would disgree. Many people have bought consoles to get rid of the PC frustration of drivers, framerate issues, hardware problems, cost, and overall hassle. I am one of these people. But I DO think that now that this gen is nearing an end and things are getting outdated, more people are tempted to buy PC's again. You and I are examples of this. I haven't had a good gaming PC in years and I have a serious itch again. But we aren't mainstream.
-COOLIO- said:
i dont think pcs were replacing consoles in the past.
He means consoles were replacing pc's in the past. People bought PS3's cause it was cheaper and easier than desktops and at the time had the same level of graphical fidelity.
That strikes me as an odd interpretation of what I said, so perhaps you haven't followed PC gaming for very long at all. The PC used to be the home of western game development. Consoles are now the lead platforms for most FPS games, most racing games, and most big budget WRPGs. Consoles have replaced gaming PCs for a lot of people.
-COOLIO- said:
this blows my mind if it's true. if so, i guess im saying that i think we're going back to that then.
growing up as a kid though, i dont think i could play most of my favorites on the pc. i pretty much played doom, starcraft, the sims and that was it for the pc.
Oh it's true. Consoles have replaced PC's as the lead platform for FPS, racing games, and most big budget WRPGS. Just look at Call of Duty.
-COOLIO- said:
oh, well yeah that's true, i dont think aaaannyone buys a console in place of a pc though.
I did buy a console in place of a gaming PC. I know many people who are less tech-savvy than myself who did the same.
well either way youre spending 8 hours in front of an lcd monitor to sit in front of another lcd monitor. the distance you sit from it is up to you.
No, it's not the same. At work you're sitting upright with your wrist and arms doing a lot of work and doing a lot of text reading. At home you're able to lay down and get comfortable, relax your arms, and generally take in more pretty images than text reading.
-COOLIO- said:
the key here though is that this particular cycles is going to be about 3 years longer.
Longer than what? Are you talking about the 10 year lifecycle of the PS3? PS2 also had this, and it just means that the ps3 came out on year 6 of the 10 year lifecycle. You don't think we're going to see new consoles around 2013? Because I think many here would disagree with you.
-COOLIO- said:
this is definitely a factor too, but we wont see games with very high graphically fidelity on these devices just yet though.
I would tend to agree with you, but things really are advancing fast. Take a look at this engadget post (
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/marvell-unveils-1-5ghz-triple-core-application-processor-all-cu/) , which shows off a new smartphone chip ready for production capable of displaying 200 million triangles a second. Compare that to snapdragon on current mobile devices which is pretty impressive in itself and only does 22 million triangles. We're just a couple years away from some serious gaming on mobile platforms.
Again, I think your opinions are interesting but I also think you're influenced by your new PC. If you think the mass market is patient enough to move PC's into their living rooms and fiddle with drivers, fps, hardware upgrades, getting the right audio drivers and cables, patches, and overheating as a replacement for PS4 or xbox720, this is simply not true. Most non hardcore gamers would like it, but don't know how to do it or don't want to bother to learn, especially since a gaming pc is hundreds of dollars more than a console. I think right now PC gaming is absolutely on the rise and I love it. But I also think once new consoles come out we'll see a resurgence of console gaming.
sorry for long post!