Iacobellis
Junior Member
I'm pumped for next-gen, but yeah, consoles have usually trumped PC's for the first year or so. This generation seems different.
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The Economist: "The newest games consoles look underpowered and similar to PCs."
- Thread starter antipode
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darkistheway
Member
Then your comment is nonsensical. But you obviously have an axe to grind...
Uh, no. 360 and PS3 were still inferior to PCs. Keep in mind that Crysis was a 2007 release on PC.
If you don't think they crammed as much as possible into these next gen boxes at the price they're selling them, I really have nothing to discuss with you or anyone that wants to argue it.
darkistheway
Member
not very. it's a very artificial image even within the context of the game. it's achieved by messing with the time of day settings, crushing all the blacks and generally throwing a bunch of shit at the screen. basically the equivalent of playing a game and squinting your eyes until it looks photoreal.
The Gamecube was just $250, and the PS2 was $300. Both were huge leaps from their previous consoles. $400 really isn't that cheap.
The Economist is not all about click-bait. I doubt you've even read an issue. They're one of the best publications out there, with a highly educated and influential reader base.
The Economist is not all about click-bait. I doubt you've even read an issue. They're one of the best publications out there, with a highly educated and influential reader base.
yeah but the gamecube actually was magic.
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
He isn't lying.
What is neglecting to mention that while there are whole wealth of PC indies getting console ports, we are still nowhere near the point where PC gets the same games as consoles. UNtil that day, there will be still a place for consoles.
That said, for many reasons, I feel this is my last console generation. The industry as a whole seems to be moving towards some weird bastardization of the MMO Paid2play, with added DLC and Microtransactions model, with increasing focus of cinematics and trying to ape film and tv. The only games to buck that trend are indies, and you dont need a console for that.
What is neglecting to mention that while there are whole wealth of PC indies getting console ports, we are still nowhere near the point where PC gets the same games as consoles. UNtil that day, there will be still a place for consoles.
That said, for many reasons, I feel this is my last console generation. The industry as a whole seems to be moving towards some weird bastardization of the MMO Paid2play, with added DLC and Microtransactions model, with increasing focus of cinematics and trying to ape film and tv. The only games to buck that trend are indies, and you dont need a console for that.
statham
Member
I don't know, but I'm learning upgrading you PC every year isn't that costly. I just sold my phenom x6 2.7 chip for $120 and bought a 8320 for $140, last year I sold my 460gtx for $80 and bought a 7850 for $150 with 3 major games. This is selling used, buying new.
It seemed like it at the time. So many titles looked and sounded glorious on an SDTV. Wish I still had an SDTV to revisit that feeling.
It's funny that there are people who actually make this kind of comparison lol. While forgetting that PC's have 8gB of ram on top of the ram that's entirely dedicated to the GPU.
(Not saying you do, of course)
darkistheway
Member
I literally have no idea what you trying to say. What does that have to do with using non-custom chips? It is the very point the article makes. In order to get a consumer-friendly price point and create a nice jump technically, the console makers went with well-established tech... a la the PC.
Time to watch Riddick.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
For what it's worth: in today's money, that is $330 and $400 respectively.
6 year old PC game says hi.
This does not look as good as Shadow Fall, not even close. Not sure what you're trying to prove with a gif at 4x the speed of the regular game. The only thing about Crysis that is impressive, is the texture work. Let me know when they hire some actual artists.
Mass Effect
Member
lol. IQ is great, but I wouldn't call that "superior to all next gen titles shown so far"
Still funny though.
That first part is perfectly fine. Not everyone needs or wants a high-end PC. That second part is misinformed at best. Really the BS "comfy couch" argument? This isn't 2005 anymore.
Actually, $300 in 2000 is a little over $400 now. So it's comparable, especially with the PS4 being the most powerful system this time around.
With the Gamecube, being $250 and far superior to the PS2 technologically, it was a pretty amazing deal for what you got (no DVD player notwithstanding), and a "better" deal than what you got with the PS2... from a [games] technology standpoint.
I just put together a gaming PC from scratch. No prior experience plus I'm quite dumb when it comes to tech stuff. I read a few articles about CPUs and GPUs and subscribed to the PC thread here on GAF. The friendly folks there walked me through it. If I can do it, anyone can do it.
If you can put Ikea furniture together, you can build a modern PC no problem. It's almost foolproof.
Probably a TITAN/780 comes under enthusiast, but 2-3 years later expect TITAN level performance in mid-range cards for 250-300$. Then what?
This time scenario is different as compared to 2005/06 when consoles were on level with even high end PC's.
Anton668
Member
so then the PS4 can do just as much as a PC?
Jawmuncher
Member
Agreed. It's all about the devs making the most of what they have. Launch Games never present what the system is fully capable of.
So they're not underpowered at all. Theyre actually insanely powerful at their price points.
tensuke
Member
No, but I get what he's saying. Buying/building a PC for just $400 will get you less power than a PS4 at the same price. For the price, it's better, but obviously PCs can be much, much more powerful.
Also, at least The Economist didn't say the Nintendo X-Box.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Pretty much every single PC component on the market is standardised and built to fit perfectly in one way without force having to be used. If you can't follow a quick-installation guide or aren't clever enough to realise "Cable A goes into Plug A" then you've got bigger problems than needing to seek out a builder who'll charge you $50.
Just like with everything in life, if you're spending a significant amount of money on something and can't be bothered to do the proper research on it, then you're an idiot.
TacticalFox88
Banned
Can the Titan Graphics card run Crysis 1 to the point where it looks like the bullshots posted back in the day?
Teletraan1
Banned
Why is "The Economist" ignoring the value proposition here and only focusing on power? Pretty shallow article. They should keep in their own wheelhouse. At any time during the release of the last couple rounds of consoles you could buy hardware that was more powerful than what was in consoles. However it was expensive due to the market for such things being very small. Going back further it was Arcade hardware. However the enthusiast market in the PC space has expanded in the last 8 years and created sub markets with so many tiers of video cards with little concern for heat dissipation or power requirements. Of course a small set top box is going to have a lower performance envelope than something with no constraints. I think these systems look great for what they have in them. Now bring out some games that I am actually interested in playing and I will buy one.
Enthusiast PCs are still doing fine as far as I know.
The PC gaming market is growing quite nicely.
Edit, some commentary:
JPR said:PC gamers continue to buy and build with a fervency that could be compared to motorcycle, 4X4, and sports car enthusiasts, always looking for more speed, power, utility, and handling.
Jon Peddie, President of JPR said "Not only is gaming becoming an even more important purchasing influence of PC sales due to the offloading of more basic functionality to smart devices, but we are forecasting growth in the most expensive discrete graphics products. We are also impressed with the embedded graphics offerings this generation and going forward."
Ted Pollak, Senior Gaming Analyst at JPR said "The effect that key titles have on hardware sales is phenomenal. Enthusiast PC Gamers embrace content creation and modding, so when titles like Bohemia Interactive's ARMA 3 are in the pipeline; we start to see anticipatory hardware sales. In fact, we are estimating over $800 million of PC builds influenced primarily by this title. A major component of this situation is that many games are placing increasing demands on the CPU. The result is that swapping out the graphics add-in board is not enough this time around and gamers are building (and ordering) overclocked PC's from the ground up."
JPR believes that PC's have an advantage in casual gaming as X86 tablets expand the market, and new powerful CPUs with built-in graphics have opened the door to the living room. On the high end of the spectrum nothing can surpass PCs at this point in time because they can run ultra high resolution graphics better than any other platform. Because consoles have display restrictions and forgiving couch based control input, they just can't compete with the PC's precision and power.
Projected hardware sales:
Link
rudieboy77
Member
I think it is very telling when the Economist, who honestly could care less about which console or PC is better has noticed this.
hemtae
Member
There was something that said the high end market was growing though.
Anton668
Member
again, you CANNOT do a 1:1 price comparison with PC vs consoles. a PC is NOT a gaming machine.
sure it costs more to get a good gaming PC because basically ,if you have no PC at all, you have to build a PC and then upgrade it into a gaming machine.
The market segment you are referring to includes the non-gaming email/internet laptops and desktops that are being replaced by tablets.
The enthusiast PC market has always been growing.
Sushen
Member
Still no where near to compete with consoles or tablets in terms of user base.
Agent Icebeezy
Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
Hmm, anyone with a link to the original page? Thanks.
It's the colors, that blue and orange.
I've built more than one PC but my experience isn't commensurate with the average person, nor are most people who build PC. What may seem routine and easy to someone who has been around tech all their life can be difficult for someone who hasn't. Just the same as it may be easy for a carpenter to build a shelf, but not as easy for someone who hasn't done much wood-working.
Assembling PCs are not hard, but the complexity comes in when you are choosing the components to put in. Let's not act like PCs don't have different motherboard form factors (ATX, mini-ATX, microITX) which you also have to consider the processor socket type depending ont he processor you want to use... let's not act like certain cases might not allow certain graphics cards to fit due to how the cages are laid out., etc., Building PCs for me and other people who have been around PCs for a long time is not difficult, but for the average person who doesn't have any technical inclination, it can be intimidating.
The non-tech inclined person who just wants to play games would be much better served off going to console and that was the exact point I am trying to make. It's not fair to compare thousand dollar PCs that you have to custom choose the parts and ensure they are compatible and then assemble yourself to $400 to $500 boxes with everything already assembled. I was being generous when using the $50 fee to have a custom builder build it for you, because to get an equal console experience of go out, buy, take home and play, they could go off and buy some alienware PC or some other prebuilt, and will end up paying a huge premium to do so.
Yes you can. Jesus Christ yes you can. If I want to play popular games I can spend $400 on a PS3 and $xxx on a laptop for portable computing purposes. I now have two dedicated devices for simplicity and separation's sake. One is play, one is work. Both do damn good at what they need to do and I don't have to worry or tinker or upgrade for a very long time. Having 2 distinct devices has major advantages in not overlapping each other.
And besides that little scenario, the contents of my wallet allow me to compare anything and everything I please.
Evolution_1ne
Banned
in who's universe?
OT: captain obvious
says the guy with the lLuigi avatar, I bet that new Mario Kart game blew your fucking face off huh, and yes you should get your eyes checked
6 year old PC game says hi.
Best thing about Crysis is that it is far more "next-gen" in design than pretty much every next-gen game announced.
hemtae
Member
I would think that the user base of PCs that are powerful than current gen consoles are pretty close to consoles.
High end PCs user base is greater than the PS4/XB1 and tablets/Smart phones are easily higher than everything right now.