i regret to inform all members of this forum that PC gaming is dying and little can be done to save it. PC is about to experience the fate of Amiga, but not because of technical inferiority to dominant gaming machines, but for entirely different reasons.
years ago, when Justified ancients of MuMu ruled the world and PC and Amiga ruled the video gaming, new and imaginative games were released on weekly basis. action and arcade games, flight sims, racing sims, sports games, cartoony and FMV adventure games, RPG-s, strategies... virtually every game genre imaginable could be found in the market. the games were low-budget, technically weak, but original, playable and imaginative. there were very little gamers in the world, and they were a very picky and refined bunch, who settled only for high quality titles which they didn't judge by their graphics but by their (re)playability.
this all changed with the arrival of Playstation. small, stylish and powerful, PSX quickly found its way into many homes, and made many kids, their parents and their grandparents happy. the mass production of games for the new market could begin.
in years to come, game production changed from a profitable business into an industry. and characteristic of every industry is that products are mass produced for purposes of increasing profit and therefore it is simpy unacceptable that products are designed with care and imagination. "imagination" and "originality" were main guidelines for small and enthusiastic teams which reigned the gaming production in the past. but when gaming became an industry, it had to accept basic principles of capitalist economy, the most important of which is that production is dictated by demand on the market. now we come to the main cause of our gaming disaster - the market now accepts ever shit that is offered to them! that's right - we can't blame Lucas Arts for turning Sam 'n Max and Full throttle into action games, we can't attack Lord British for releasing a half-finished semi-product called Ultima: Ascension, the mutilation of Fallout BOS isn't Chuck's or Feargus's fault. gamers are the one to be blamed! "but", i can hear you say, "how can we be at fault? we don't want Fallout or Baldur's Gate to be released on Xbox." now it's time to come to a painful realization - WE (and by "we" i mean true, educated and dedicated gamers) are a minority! just look at the sales of PC games last year. almost one third of sold games are either children's games, educational titles and family games. less than 40% of games are T or higher rated (i.e. 60% of sold games contain no violence whatsoever) . all of these are either strategy games (vast majority), first person shooters or roleplaying games (minority). this shows two things: first, most of current PC "gamers" are kids and housewives. second, only three gaming genres exist on PC. what happened to flight sims, adventure games, racing sims, arcades...? i don't know about you, but i'm sick of playing only FPS's, RTS's and RPG's, which all use either Quake 3 or Unreal 2 engine and are about as innovative as mexican soap operas. and this was just an overview of PC market. it's time for another shocking piece of information - ONLY 20% OF OVERALL SOLD GAMES ON ALL GAMING PLATFORMS ARE PC TITLES! 80% (EIGHTY PERCENT!!!) of gaming market belongs to consoles! i shouldn't even bother to descibe an average person who owns an Xbox or PS2, but i will anyway. such a person decides whether or not to buy a game by examining the screenshots on the box. his sense and knowledge of a good game are about as great as my grandma's interest in quantum gravity. phrases like "role playing game", "Wolfenstein", "Civilization", "dungeons and dragons", "all your base are belong to us" are completely unknown to him. it is therefore no wonder that 85% of sold console titles are action, fighting, racing or sports games. they are all designed to be eye candies, all looks and no imagination, like a sexy blonde with "i wish these were brains" written on her t-shirt. they're clones of clones, rip-offs of something that may have been good and is now exploited for greater profit.
after the initial creative wave of 3D PC games triggered by the introduction of first good 3D cards like 3dfx Voodoo, the production practically died and became more or less symbolic in past three years. don't believe me? how many REALLY good and memorable games can you name that were released since 2000? i can only name five: Deus Ex, Europa Universalis, Operation Flashpoint, Sims and Mafia. Deus Ex is one of the best games i ever played, it has great action, great atmosphere, great level design, great storyline and great characters. Europa Universalis is almost revolutionary with its complexity and flawless integration of politics, diplomacy, economy, warfare and historical accuracy. Operation Flashpoint is the most realistic and immersive war game ever made. Sims is a great idea which could potentially have become a fabulous game, but was ruined by mindless exploitment for business purposes. Mafia is already a legend, with its amazing graphics, cool characters, incredible atmosphere and overall great feeling of participating in a gangster movie. and that's it! only five great games in three years. some other projects in past three years were good attempts, potentially great games, but lacking certain...immersivity which differentiates legendary games from hits that play well and sell big but are quickly forgotten afterwards. these numbers are tragic - during the 90-ies, dozens of new titles of very diverse genres appeared every month, many of them being very good, and every few months there would be at least one game so great, so imaginative, so flawless that it shadowed all others that were made before and became a legend remembered by all gamers for all eternity. Elite, Wing Commander, Herzog II, Wolfenstein, Doom, Arena, Wasteland, Metroid, Secret of Monkey Island, Red Baron, US Navy Fighters...these games will be remembered forever and it pains me horribly when i see their names exploited by greedy developers, who use them to label their crap and attract older gamers like us, in addition to the regular bunch of ignorant souls who have nothing better to do with their money than spend it on below average titles.
some optimistic PC gamers today claim that new renaissance of PC gaming is now beginning, and are using announcements of "promising" games like Enter the Matrix, Brute Force, "new" Full Throttle, HALO and ISS for PC as arguments to support this claim. they fail to realize that all these "great" titles are in fact designed primarily as console games and will only undergo some minor adjustments to make them more "suitable" for PC. in other words, we'll be getting shit that falls off the console table! promising announcements, impressive presentations, breathtaking trailers and screenshots - these are all methods that developers use to decieve us into thinking they've only been temporarily neglecting PC, but will now make up for lost time by releasing tons of great games that'll make us happier than ever. right. i don't know about you, but console ports and unimaginative rip-offs aren't my idea of great games. this "renaissance" will just give greater boost to careless money-driven development and flush innovative design further down the toilet. the outlook looks bleak. the only good news is that there are still some small and experienced teams who put actual effort into their games and believe that gaming culture still survives and has strength to struggle with prevailing gaming industry. at least one of those titles will see the light of day, and that should be enough to keep gamers from completely giving up hopes for better future. or maybe we should just send everything to hell and buy Xbox?
years ago, when Justified ancients of MuMu ruled the world and PC and Amiga ruled the video gaming, new and imaginative games were released on weekly basis. action and arcade games, flight sims, racing sims, sports games, cartoony and FMV adventure games, RPG-s, strategies... virtually every game genre imaginable could be found in the market. the games were low-budget, technically weak, but original, playable and imaginative. there were very little gamers in the world, and they were a very picky and refined bunch, who settled only for high quality titles which they didn't judge by their graphics but by their (re)playability.
this all changed with the arrival of Playstation. small, stylish and powerful, PSX quickly found its way into many homes, and made many kids, their parents and their grandparents happy. the mass production of games for the new market could begin.
in years to come, game production changed from a profitable business into an industry. and characteristic of every industry is that products are mass produced for purposes of increasing profit and therefore it is simpy unacceptable that products are designed with care and imagination. "imagination" and "originality" were main guidelines for small and enthusiastic teams which reigned the gaming production in the past. but when gaming became an industry, it had to accept basic principles of capitalist economy, the most important of which is that production is dictated by demand on the market. now we come to the main cause of our gaming disaster - the market now accepts ever shit that is offered to them! that's right - we can't blame Lucas Arts for turning Sam 'n Max and Full throttle into action games, we can't attack Lord British for releasing a half-finished semi-product called Ultima: Ascension, the mutilation of Fallout BOS isn't Chuck's or Feargus's fault. gamers are the one to be blamed! "but", i can hear you say, "how can we be at fault? we don't want Fallout or Baldur's Gate to be released on Xbox." now it's time to come to a painful realization - WE (and by "we" i mean true, educated and dedicated gamers) are a minority! just look at the sales of PC games last year. almost one third of sold games are either children's games, educational titles and family games. less than 40% of games are T or higher rated (i.e. 60% of sold games contain no violence whatsoever) . all of these are either strategy games (vast majority), first person shooters or roleplaying games (minority). this shows two things: first, most of current PC "gamers" are kids and housewives. second, only three gaming genres exist on PC. what happened to flight sims, adventure games, racing sims, arcades...? i don't know about you, but i'm sick of playing only FPS's, RTS's and RPG's, which all use either Quake 3 or Unreal 2 engine and are about as innovative as mexican soap operas. and this was just an overview of PC market. it's time for another shocking piece of information - ONLY 20% OF OVERALL SOLD GAMES ON ALL GAMING PLATFORMS ARE PC TITLES! 80% (EIGHTY PERCENT!!!) of gaming market belongs to consoles! i shouldn't even bother to descibe an average person who owns an Xbox or PS2, but i will anyway. such a person decides whether or not to buy a game by examining the screenshots on the box. his sense and knowledge of a good game are about as great as my grandma's interest in quantum gravity. phrases like "role playing game", "Wolfenstein", "Civilization", "dungeons and dragons", "all your base are belong to us" are completely unknown to him. it is therefore no wonder that 85% of sold console titles are action, fighting, racing or sports games. they are all designed to be eye candies, all looks and no imagination, like a sexy blonde with "i wish these were brains" written on her t-shirt. they're clones of clones, rip-offs of something that may have been good and is now exploited for greater profit.
after the initial creative wave of 3D PC games triggered by the introduction of first good 3D cards like 3dfx Voodoo, the production practically died and became more or less symbolic in past three years. don't believe me? how many REALLY good and memorable games can you name that were released since 2000? i can only name five: Deus Ex, Europa Universalis, Operation Flashpoint, Sims and Mafia. Deus Ex is one of the best games i ever played, it has great action, great atmosphere, great level design, great storyline and great characters. Europa Universalis is almost revolutionary with its complexity and flawless integration of politics, diplomacy, economy, warfare and historical accuracy. Operation Flashpoint is the most realistic and immersive war game ever made. Sims is a great idea which could potentially have become a fabulous game, but was ruined by mindless exploitment for business purposes. Mafia is already a legend, with its amazing graphics, cool characters, incredible atmosphere and overall great feeling of participating in a gangster movie. and that's it! only five great games in three years. some other projects in past three years were good attempts, potentially great games, but lacking certain...immersivity which differentiates legendary games from hits that play well and sell big but are quickly forgotten afterwards. these numbers are tragic - during the 90-ies, dozens of new titles of very diverse genres appeared every month, many of them being very good, and every few months there would be at least one game so great, so imaginative, so flawless that it shadowed all others that were made before and became a legend remembered by all gamers for all eternity. Elite, Wing Commander, Herzog II, Wolfenstein, Doom, Arena, Wasteland, Metroid, Secret of Monkey Island, Red Baron, US Navy Fighters...these games will be remembered forever and it pains me horribly when i see their names exploited by greedy developers, who use them to label their crap and attract older gamers like us, in addition to the regular bunch of ignorant souls who have nothing better to do with their money than spend it on below average titles.
some optimistic PC gamers today claim that new renaissance of PC gaming is now beginning, and are using announcements of "promising" games like Enter the Matrix, Brute Force, "new" Full Throttle, HALO and ISS for PC as arguments to support this claim. they fail to realize that all these "great" titles are in fact designed primarily as console games and will only undergo some minor adjustments to make them more "suitable" for PC. in other words, we'll be getting shit that falls off the console table! promising announcements, impressive presentations, breathtaking trailers and screenshots - these are all methods that developers use to decieve us into thinking they've only been temporarily neglecting PC, but will now make up for lost time by releasing tons of great games that'll make us happier than ever. right. i don't know about you, but console ports and unimaginative rip-offs aren't my idea of great games. this "renaissance" will just give greater boost to careless money-driven development and flush innovative design further down the toilet. the outlook looks bleak. the only good news is that there are still some small and experienced teams who put actual effort into their games and believe that gaming culture still survives and has strength to struggle with prevailing gaming industry. at least one of those titles will see the light of day, and that should be enough to keep gamers from completely giving up hopes for better future. or maybe we should just send everything to hell and buy Xbox?
