# Where are the PC games?



## PacificOcean (Feb 26, 2009)

The last time I had a PC for gaming was in about 99/2000.

There where loads of PC games of every genre then.  Much better games graphics wise than the Dreamcast or Playstation 2.

Fast forward nine years and I have recently got a new PC with loads of RAM and a flashy graphics card etc.

But where are all the PC games?

There seems to be hardly any new releases, most seem to be on console first and only and those that do make it to PC seem to be poor ports like the Amiga to ST days.  (GTV IV, I am looking at you!).

The one title I have been really looking forward too, Street Fighter IV, will be released on the PC "sometime" in Q3 and I bet, despite having a supercomputer, it will be shite compared to the PS3 or Xbox.

What has happened to PC gaming?


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## 100% masahiko (Feb 26, 2009)

PacificOcean said:


> What has happened to PC gaming?



Alive and well!! I play all the 1st person shooting games on the PC - DOOM, COD4, Quake....beats the consol everytime.


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## Sunray (Feb 26, 2009)

Comes and goes

Went through a decent moment a few months ago, slackened off at the moment.

I've no problem with ports, most have been fine, look at Bioshock and Fallout 3 for instance.  Both best played on a PC.


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## The Groke (Feb 26, 2009)

Lots of games around.

How many years of PC gaming do you need to catch up on?

What genres do you like?


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## _float_ (Feb 26, 2009)

Fighting games are fairly rare on PC. Give me some clues about the kind of games you like and I will try and recommend some games...


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## _float_ (Feb 26, 2009)

Sunray said:


> Went through a decent moment a few months ago, slackened off at the moment.


There is always a 'bulge' of releases in October/November/December. Jan/Feb is always the quietest time of the year.


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## Structaural (Feb 26, 2009)

100% masahiko said:


> Alive and well!! I play all the 1st person shooting games on the PC - DOOM, COD4, Quake....beats the consol everytime.



This. 
Really looking forward to unpacking my desktop at the weekend and getting back into Fallout 3 with a mouse.

Killzone 2 is on it's way for the PS3 but I don't reckon I'm going to get on with FPS with a controller. Though I'll give it a go as I won't have to leave the sofa.


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## PacificOcean (Feb 26, 2009)

_float_ said:


> Fighting games are fairly rare on PC. Give me some clues about the kind of games you like and I will try and recommend some games...



I have really enjoyed Dead or Alive 4.

For that sort of game, maybe I need an X-Box rather than a PC?


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## _float_ (Feb 26, 2009)

There haven't really been many pure "fighting games" (eg like Virtua Figher or Dead and Alive) on PC - so yeah, consoles are better for those... 

...however, on a PC you can 'emulate' a lot of old consoles:

see a list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_emulators 

There are a lot of other genres (first-person shooters, online multiplayer games, role-playing games, real-time & turn-based strategy, driving, flight and space sims, management, adventure, etc etc ... which have all had decent games released over the last few years.)


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## kabbes (Feb 26, 2009)

I can never quite be bothered to play stuff on my PC.  I got about 1/3 of the way through Bioshock and couldn't be bothered with the loading times any more.  I generally can't be bothered with trying to figure out if the new release will run well on my set-up.  I can't be bothered with the faffing about with installing older games that never seem to be compatible with Windows Vista (which I had no choice about installing, because it came with the computer).

Basically, I appreciate that the game I buy for a console will just be a case of stick it in and run it.  Perfect.

The exception are games by Valve.  Steam is a joy on PC.  The various Orange Box games were the best games I've played on anything ever.  So all hail Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2 and the mighty Portal.  But other than that, the PC can mostly fuck right off.


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## Fez909 (Feb 26, 2009)

Swarfega said:


> Lots of games around.
> 
> How many years of PC gaming do you need to catch up on?
> 
> What genres do you like?



I'm in a similar boat to OP. Recommend away (I'm sure they won't mind this thread hijack!)

The last game I played on the PC was Battlefield, and the odd new game on other people's comps.

My favourite games of late have been Portal, Wolfenstein:Enemy Territory (long term favourite which I still play) and CoD4.

I'm not that bothered about single player modes in games, unless they're very short or pick-up-and-play type games.

Shoot!?


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## Sunray (Feb 26, 2009)

kabbes said:


> I can never quite be bothered to play stuff on my PC.  I got about 1/3 of the way through Bioshock and couldn't be bothered with the loading times any more.  I generally can't be bothered with trying to figure out if the new release will run well on my set-up.  I can't be bothered with the faffing about with installing older games that never seem to be compatible with Windows Vista (which I had no choice about installing, because it came with the computer).
> 
> Basically, I appreciate that the game I buy for a console will just be a case of stick it in and run it.  Perfect.
> 
> The exception are games by Valve.  Steam is a joy on PC.  The various Orange Box games were the best games I've played on anything ever.  So all hail Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2 and the mighty Portal.  But other than that, the PC can mostly fuck right off.



Unless forced to, you'll never see me play a FPS on a console.


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## _float_ (Feb 27, 2009)

kabbes said:


> The exception are games by Valve.  Steam is a joy on PC.


Valve now sell a lot of other companies games via Steam. There are also similar services such as:
"direct-2-drive" http://www.direct2drive.co.uk/
"good-old-games" http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/
"metaboli" http://www.metaboli.co.uk/

Personally I am kind of old fashioned and apart from Valve games I prefer having an installation disk, and being able to decide for myself about which patches, mods and tweaks to install and change. I get a bit annoyed with games that go online and "auto-patch" by themselves, without giving you the choice - sometimes the 'update' actually screws stuff up and there is no way of rolling it back again without a whole refresh re-install.

Ultimately its all about having fun, so pc-v-console=whichever you find most fun. There is no "right" answer.


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## _float_ (Feb 27, 2009)

Fez909 said:


> My favourite games of late have been Portal, Wolfenstein:Enemy Territory (long term favourite which I still play) and CoD4.


If you like online multiplayer shooters then it has to be "Team Fortress 2". It comes as part of The Orange Box = HL2 + Episode1 + Episode2 + TF2 + Portal


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## _float_ (Feb 27, 2009)

This reminds me...

Here is a list of PC-exclusive titles, for the years 2006-2010:

http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2009/


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## Fez909 (Mar 1, 2009)

Is Team Fortress 2 still played by lots of people online? Don't want to buy it and find there's no one to play with!


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## kabbes (Mar 1, 2009)

TF2 was still insanely popular last time I looked, which was last month.


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## Stigmata (Mar 1, 2009)

TF2 is still popular. I often play in big 16-a-side public barneys.


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## Lazy Llama (Mar 1, 2009)

PC games? They'll be in the "gaming and consoles", so I'll move this thread closer to them


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## dlx1 (Mar 1, 2009)

TF2 was still insanely popular last time I looked, yesterday


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## Cloud (Mar 1, 2009)

Don't underestimate the power of the WoW! 

A huge chunk of the PC gaming fraternity have turned to Warcraft and a few other MMORPG's. These games are effectively never ending and suprisingly enough cheaper to play than buying lots of games. You also don't need to spend a load of money on hardware upgrades, I'd say playing wow has actually saved me money.

I think if you want action titles nowadays you simply buy an xbox but yeah I miss Counter Strike and mouse aiming but with consoles at £100 almost outperforming a grands worth of gaming rig it makes sense to go the console route. Plus you have uniformity in hardware which is a good thing. You don't need that so much in Warcraft, ping and FPS are not as important.


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## purplex (Mar 2, 2009)

Cloud said:


> I think if you want action titles nowadays you simply buy an xbox but yeah I miss Counter Strike and mouse aiming but with consoles at £100 almost outperforming a grands worth of gaming rig it makes sense to go the console route. Plus you have uniformity in hardware which is a good thing. You don't need that so much in Warcraft, ping and FPS are not as important.



Consoles contain 3-4 year old technology. 
The SLI/Crossfire multiple graphics card technologies is where its at these days, they are the only two graphics technologies left to consider, and the decision is pretty much already taken with the motherboard you use. 
PhysX physical modelling can now run off a spare nvidia graphics card.
PC Graphics will always outshine any console for those reasons.
You can pick up decent graphics cards for about £50 these days, memory is also dead cheap. 
A Quad Processor PC with multiple graphic cards is easily achievable for a lot less than a grand.


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## _float_ (Mar 2, 2009)

Horses for courses...

...some people want/need to play sitting at a desk and at their PC. They might not have a TV or a lounge. They might already use their PC for lots of things anyway, so adding a decent graphics card isn't that much more expense. 

...some people save a lot of money by illegal downloads, or even just waiting a while till the price falls to £15, or £10 or £5 - in fact most dedicated PC gamers have a backlog of very good - yet dirt cheap - games to play from the past few years.

...some people like certain types of games which are simply not available on consoles, or where they are available, have a very different play experience on the consoles.

The whole "console versus PC" argument is pointless - each has its advantages and disadvantages, and everyone has their own preferences and reasons. People who are into games will typically play and enjoy both, if they can. If not they will just enjoy what they have.

...what is a bit more constructive is to offer suggestions about some kick-arse PC games for people to play, of which there are plenty around.

For example, Empire:Total War is just coming out and it is "PC-only".






If you are into this kind of game then its probably a "must-buy".

"This is the grandest, most spectacular work of strategy gaming on the PC ... This is one of the most playable, and therefore important and accomplished, games ever created." Jim Rossignol / PC Gamer 

"In some ways, it's the closest we've come to the enormous social novel from the period after that which Empire chronicles: it's a Tolstoy-esque War and Peace of a game." Kieron Gillen / Eurogamer

But like I said - horses for courses (or for towing round light field artillery)...


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## _float_ (Mar 2, 2009)

Scheduled for 2009 PC-only release, just to pick some examples

...you've got two completely free "play-in-a-browser" games (when they finally arrive): "Battlefield Heroes" and "Quake Live"

...you've got a couple of Valve/Source games: "Alien Swarm: Infested" and "Zeno Clash"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And then multi-platform:

another Call of Juarez
another Deus Ex
another Chronicles of Riddick
another Wolfenstein
Alan Wake (from the Max Payne people)
another Armed Assault
another Operation Flashpoint
another Splinter Cell
another Beyond Good & Evil
another Resident Evil
another Mafia
Dragon Age (from Bioware who did Baldur's Gate, NWN, Mass Effect etc etc) 

Many of which were "originally" PC games.

Erm... anyone feeling left out still? Any genres I haven't touched upon?

eta: The problem isn't having enough (hopefully!) good games to play, or the money to play them - its actually having enough *time*! I played Fallout 3 for over 100 hours in total for example, and I still unintentionally missed out some areas/missions because the game is so big.


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## PacificOcean (Mar 2, 2009)

purplex said:


> Consoles contain 3-4 year old technology.
> The SLI/Crossfire multiple graphics card technologies is where its at these days, they are the only two graphics technologies left to consider, and the decision is pretty much already taken with the motherboard you use.
> PhysX physical modelling can now run off a spare nvidia graphics card.
> PC Graphics will always outshine any console for those reasons.
> ...



But what is the point of having all this umph if there are no games being released for it and those that are are ports such as GTA IV and Saints Row 2 which are worse on the PC than on a £100 console?


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## Kid_Eternity (Mar 2, 2009)

Cloud said:


> Don't underestimate the power of the WoW!
> 
> A huge chunk of the PC gaming fraternity have turned to Warcraft and a few other MMORPG's. These games are effectively never ending and suprisingly enough cheaper to play than buying lots of games. You also don't need to spend a load of money on hardware upgrades, I'd say playing wow has actually saved me money.
> 
> I think if you want action titles nowadays you simply buy an xbox but yeah I miss Counter Strike and mouse aiming but with consoles at £100 almost outperforming a grands worth of gaming rig it makes sense to go the console route. Plus you have uniformity in hardware which is a good thing. You don't need that so much in Warcraft, ping and FPS are not as important.



Yep this is a real point I reckon. I've read over the years dev teams complaining they're competing against each other and the WoW effect. WoW sucks players in and that's all they play I've found...


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## _float_ (Mar 3, 2009)

PacificOcean said:


> But what is the point of having all this umph if there are no games being released for it


Have you read my last two posts? There are lots of games being released for PC and plenty that run very well indeed.

Most decent gaming forums actually ban "PC versus console" threads because they are so pathetic and attract immature 'fanboys' endlessly arguing the toss on both sides - in the same way as "PC versus Mac" arguments do.

However, if you do want to pursue this - I have already provided a link to a vast list of PC-exclusive games. Do you feel like listing the exclusive "must have games" for various consoles? At least hen  we can focus on discussing actual *games* that people recommend playing.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Mar 3, 2009)

PacificOcean said:


> The last time I had a PC for gaming was in about 99/2000.
> 
> There where loads of PC games of every genre then.  Much better games graphics wise than the Dreamcast or Playstation 2.
> 
> ...



have you checked down the back of your sofa?


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## Pingu (Mar 4, 2009)

_float_ said:


> Have you read my last two posts? There are lots of games being released for PC and plenty that run very well indeed.
> 
> Most decent gaming forums actually ban "PC versus console" threads because they are so pathetic and attract immature 'fanboys' endlessly arguing the toss on both sides - in the same way as "PC versus Mac" arguments do.
> 
> However, if you do want to pursue this - I have already provided a link to a vast list of PC-exclusive games. Do you feel like listing the exclusive "must have games" for various consoles? At least hen  we can focus on discussing actual *games* that people recommend playing.



just to follow on from this

there are shed loads of great games for the PC.. dependng on what you want to play

fps wise nothing on a console comes close

ditto rts


ok tennis emulators are better on the wii


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