Is the spread of console gaming a good thing for PC games?

[SpecialKO]

Is the spread of console gaming a good thing?

Nah, i was just wandering about Fallout, which looks more like a hybrid

Wait, you haven't played it? Dude, you gotta, it's fantastic. Highly recommended.

 

[figmentPez]

Is the spread of console gaming a good thing?

Another good thing consoles did for PC, better gamepad support. Before the X-box 360 controllers were made compatible with Windows, gamepad support was poor for games, IMO. Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil and Prince of Persia Sands of Time are all games I've played where the gamepad support is problematic. None of them have a very good way of configuring the pad without having to look up where the buttons are mapped on the console. Complicating that PoPSoT has actions divided up that are combined in one button on consoles, and Psychonauts doesn't allow the analog triggers to be mapped as buttons. I never did get BG&E to work with my gamepad, but that might not be the games fault. I don't think any of them support rumble. All this despite various gamepads being available for years on the PC. Granted, these are all console ports, but I had similar problems with Mr. Robot, a PC-only game. So much trouble that I gave up trying to play it.

Compare that to more recent games like Trine and Overlord. Trine works so well with a 360 pad that I thought it was originally an XBLA title (to my surprise, it's on PS3 but not yet on Xbox). Overlord works similarly well, and both games support rumble.

 

[Bowielee]

Is the spread of console gaming a good thing?

Another good thing consoles did for PC, better gamepad support. Before the X-box 360 controllers were made compatible with Windows, gamepad support was poor for games, IMO. Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil and Prince of Persia Sands of Time are all games I've played where the gamepad support is problematic. None of them have a very good way of configuring the pad without having to look up where the buttons are mapped on the console. Complicating that PoPSoT has actions divided up that are combined in one button on consoles, and Psychonauts doesn't allow the analog triggers to be mapped as buttons. I never did get BG&E to work with my gamepad, but that might not be the games fault. I don't think any of them support rumble. All this despite various gamepads being available for years on the PC. Granted, these are all console ports, but I had similar problems with Mr. Robot, a PC-only game. So much trouble that I gave up trying to play it.

Compare that to more recent games like Trine and Overlord. Trine works so well with a 360 pad that I thought it was originally an XBLA title (to my surprise, it's on PS3 but not yet on Xbox). Overlord works similarly well, and both games support rumble.

I'll definitely agree to this, and add to the list of games that I played on PC that had excellent 360 controller support: Spiderman web of shadows, Xmen Origins Wolverine, Braid, Gears of War, Fallout 3.

I wish they had done a direct port of controls for Oblivion as it seems like it would be less awkward for some reason if it were with a controller.

 

[@Li3n]

Is the spread of console gaming a good thing?

Nah, i was just wandering about Fallout, which looks more like a hybrid

Wait, you haven't played it? Dude, you gotta, it's fantastic. Highly recommended.[/QUOTE]


I'm planning to, but i still haven't managed to finish all the games i installed when i got the new PC a year and some change ago. Work sucks.

 

[Necronic]

Is the spred of console gaming a good thing?

Yes and no.

It lead to more acceptance of the gaming subculture and showed that we weren't really the stereotype the media and such made us out to be. It lead to more profits and thus more investments in the gaming industry, which leads to more and/or better games.

However, bad ports are a pain. Developers leaving PC development and making consoles priority is hurting the quality of games somewhat, due to console games still being more of a jump in, jump out kind of gaming, rather then long intense and immersed gaming sessions.

Good way to say it. Much better than my long speech that I deleted.

However the "more profits/better investments" argument is questionable. Since consoles drove a lot of that profit then developers will focus their time on consoles. How many people here can remember a time where an FPS on a console was a complete and utter joke. Now developers develop FPSs for the consoles then port it to PC. That is completely insane from a perspective less than a decade old.

Also, I'm willing to bet that the damage consoles have done to PC gaming has been severely heightened by piracy, or vice versa. Its a synergistic thing. Why develop on a PC where some 15 year old shit head will just steal from you when you can develop on a console where it is much much more secure?

In the end the PC is starting to go back more towards its roots, the one thing you can do on a PC that you will never do on a console is homebrew. Oblivion plays good on a 360, but it pales in comparison to what you get with mods. Same goes for tons of games. The freeware realm is awesome too. Yeah, you can buy some 5$ quicky game on arcade but I can get that and thousands other freeware games for nothing on a PC.

ah...I just don't know where I'm going with this. I was listening to a gaming podcast the other day, Rebel.FM, and one of their hosts Tyler Barber (a published games journalist) said that he had never plaid an FPS on a keyboard/mouse combo (just controllers).

There is something so fucking wrong with that. Someone who is supposed to be an expert. Never played an FPS with a keyboard/mouse.

That's like saying you are an expert carpenter and then you bust out this:

To be fair, when someone starts playing Tekken or GTA on a computer it makes me cringe just as bad. Something is just not right about that.

 

[SpecialKO]

Is the spred of console gaming a good thing?

There is something so fucking wrong with that. Someone who is supposed to be an expert. Never played an FPS with a keyboard/mouse.

That's like saying you are an expert carpenter and then you bust out this:

To be fair, when someone starts playing Tekken or GTA on a computer it makes me cringe just as bad. Something is just not right about that.

It was more than a little weird for me to play CoD4 on my 360 when I had all the previous ones on my PC, but I got used to it.

I buy most games now for my consoles if there is a choice, except for WoW, and the average RTS.

Much as I miss modding potential, I don't miss needing to regularly upgrade my PC, and most of my friends prefer to play online games on Xbox Live (with the exception of WoW, of course).

And as folks have pointed out, a lot of FPS games are designed for consoles then ported anyways....

 

[@Li3n]

Why would you need to upgrade your PC to play a game that works on a 4 year old console?!

 

[SpecialKO]

Why would you need to upgrade your PC to play a game that works on a 4 year old console?!

My PC is also four years old, and much worse for gaming than my consoles.

 

[Shannow]

Oh noes, console games are tep popularz! I cannot feelz special to all those other jocks and peepz anymorez! But at least I haz my PC!! ALWAYZ BETTUH, AND U'Z GUYZ'LL NEVR UZE IT!! HAHahhaAHAHAhA!!

---------- Post added at 03:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 PM ----------

I am just fuckin with ya.

 

[Necronic]

Oh noes, console games are tep popularz! I cannot feelz special to all those other jocks and peepz anymorez! But at least I haz my PC!! ALWAYZ BETTUH, AND U'Z GUYZ'LL NEVR UZE IT!! HAHahhaAHAHAhA!!

---------- Post added at 03:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 PM ----------

I am just fuckin with ya.

Oh, I know, you little scamp.

anywho...

Anyone played the halo wars game? That little bitch popped the last cherry (RTS). I was playing it and, honestly, its kind of fun, but its not nearly as good as a more complex RTS like DoW or C&C.

Also, to clarify, I love consoles. I think that they are the bees knees. Shit I grew up on consoles. Compared to computers they are so massively economically superior. I just think that they have gotten "too good" if you will, as devs are devoting so much more time for them.

At least we still have blizzard...

 

[GeneralOrder24]

Is the spred of console gaming a good thing?

Quake and Red Alert was what we played at the internet café (which at the time didn't have internet)

When you play Red Alert 3 or Quake 4, they're sad mockeries of the originals. RA3 tries so desperatley to capture westwood's old magic, but falls flat and just feels empty. I think the issue is that consoles have made games accessible enough that everybody's playing now, so they're bleeding out things that made games great in order to make them more presentable/playable. Even in the short span from KOTOR to Mass effect/Dragon Age, it seems like something's been lost.

Name the most harcore console games... unles they're jRPG's chances are they would be considered casual games on the PC 5 years ago.

Someone missed the glory days of the NES, which had such wonderful hurdles as "die in one hit" "always 100 bullets on the screen" and "three lives, no continues"

 

[Bowielee]

Oh noes, console games are tep popularz! I cannot feelz special to all those other jocks and peepz anymorez! But at least I haz my PC!! ALWAYZ BETTUH, AND U'Z GUYZ'LL NEVR UZE IT!! HAHahhaAHAHAhA!!

---------- Post added at 03:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 PM ----------

I am just fuckin with ya.

Oh, I know, you little scamp.

anywho...

Anyone played the halo wars game? That little bitch popped the last cherry (RTS). I was playing it and, honestly, its kind of fun, but its not nearly as good as a more complex RTS like DoW or C&C.

Also, to clarify, I love consoles. I think that they are the bees knees. Shit I grew up on consoles. Compared to computers they are so massively economically superior. I just think that they have gotten "too good" if you will, as devs are devoting so much more time for them.

At least we still have blizzard...[/QUOTE]

Halo Wars wasn't even close to the first RTS released on consoles, FYI.

 

[@Li3n]

Is the spred of console gaming a good thing?

@Bowielee

I think he meant it was the 1st one he knows of not to suck...

Quake and Red Alert was what we played at the internet café (which at the time didn't have internet)

When you play Red Alert 3 or Quake 4, they're sad mockeries of the originals. RA3 tries so desperatley to capture westwood's old magic, but falls flat and just feels empty. I think the issue is that consoles have made games accessible enough that everybody's playing now, so they're bleeding out things that made games great in order to make them more presentable/playable. Even in the short span from KOTOR to Mass effect/Dragon Age, it seems like something's been lost.

Tell me about it.

Actually i disliked RA2 when it first came out too, but after i played it for real it grew on me, even if it never felt "better" then RA1.

Someone missed the glory days of the NES, which had such wonderful hurdles as \"die in one hit\" \"always 100 bullets on the screen\" and \"three lives, no continues\"

That was back in the day when the line between arcade/console/PC was more blurry in terms of games (no mouse or many keys to use etc.)

Never experienced it 1st hand though (we did get a lot of 80's games and hardware here in the early 90's after communism fell so i do remember some stuff, but not that well).

 

[Necronic]

actually I would argue that back then the line was very clear. No games would show up on both a console and a PC. Maybe console and arcade, but PC was a very distinct gaming world.

 

[@Li3n]

I didn't mean in the "exclusivity" kinda way. Back then all games had simple control schemes and where hard so you'd have to play them longer to finish.

 

[GeneralOrder24]

Is the spred of console gaming a good thing?

Actually i disliked RA2 when it first came out too, but after i played it for real it grew on me, even if it never felt "better" then RA1.

I think I can see where you're coming from. The use of the tiberian sun engine making more complex units/gameplay, and the omission of Kane, (original RA soviet ending seemed to be setting up the GDI/NOD thing.) was initially a bit of a bummer. RA2 was fun overall (much better than tiberium sun was!) and it's a damn shame that westwood was dissolved by EA so soon after.

 

[AshburnerX]

actually I would argue that back then the line was very clear. No games would show up on both a console and a PC. Maybe console and arcade, but PC was a very distinct gaming world.

This is actually wrong. I still have my PC copy of Castlevania 1, so it clearly wasn't a matter of not wanting to port. It just didn't happen very often because fewer people had PCs than Consoles back then.

 

[Bowielee]

actually I would argue that back then the line was very clear. No games would show up on both a console and a PC. Maybe console and arcade, but PC was a very distinct gaming world.

This is actually wrong. I still have my PC copy of Castlevania 1, so it clearly wasn't a matter of not wanting to port. It just didn't happen very often because fewer people had PCs than Consoles back then.[/QUOTE]

I remember playing Pitfall on the comadore 64, so, yeah, PC ports of console games have been around since the beginning.

 

[@Li3n]

Is the spred of console gaming a good thing?

Actually i disliked RA2 when it first came out too, but after i played it for real it grew on me, even if it never felt "better" then RA1.

I think I can see where you're coming from. The use of the tiberian sun engine making more complex units/gameplay, and the omission of Kane, was initially a bit of a bummer. RA2 was fun overall (much better than tiberium sun was!) and it's a damn shame that westwood was dissolved by EA so soon after.[/QUOTE]

It was just that RA2 just didn't feel the same, and they embraced the cheese too much... the first one was more like they tried to be more serious, but they all knew it was rather ridiculous, and that made for some well matured cheese, while RA2 had cheese right out of the barrel.

(original RA soviet ending seemed to be setting up the GDI/NOD thing.)

Except that the timeline makes no sense if the Soviets had control of Europe, i always took it that Kane being there was more of a hint to why Nod comes from Africa in C&C1 (coz Russia was a failure). And the Allied ending hints at the forming of the GDI as i recall.

 

[Necronic]

actually I would argue that back then the line was very clear. No games would show up on both a console and a PC. Maybe console and arcade, but PC was a very distinct gaming world.

This is actually wrong. I still have my PC copy of Castlevania 1, so it clearly wasn't a matter of not wanting to port. It just didn't happen very often because fewer people had PCs than Consoles back then.[/QUOTE]

I remember playing Pitfall on the comadore 64, so, yeah, PC ports of console games have been around since the beginning.[/QUOTE]

Commadore 64 isn't a fair example, as its almost a console. However, I concede that I was wrong in saying "no games", instead I will say "very very few games"

 

[@Li3n]

Commodore 64 isn't a fair example, as its almost a console. However, I concede that I was wrong in saying "no games", instead I will say "very very few games"

And that's another thing... back then hardware wise the PC was also limited almost as much as a console.

 

[@Li3n]

Stolen from here (posted the day after this thread got created): http://www.halforums.com/forum/blog.php?b=71