Lately I have been noticing the trend of releasing games for consoles before PC. Game consoles are also becoming more mainstream and with the aid of releasing games for the consoles first this can increase sales numbers.
Some of the games released for the console first:
- Halo series
- Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
- Rainbow Six: Vegas series
- GTA 3
- Mass Effect
- Colin McRae DiRT
- Assassin’s Creed
Just to name a few, the time between console to PC release ranges from days to years. Last year was when I started to notice this. The advancement of consoles may have shifted gaming from PC to consoles. There are still games exclusive for each system but that’s a different topic.
Today’s consoles have caught up to the PC in terms of hardware power, with advance processor and graphic chips they can pump out eye candy visuals that almost match the PC. It is easy to operate a console, simply turn it on, put a game in and you’re ready to play in minutes. The down side is that you can’t upgrade the hardware, expensive peripherals, pay to play online.
PC is more versatile, you can do other things besides using it to play games. You can upgrade the hardware to save money without buying a entirely new system, free online play, can use the same peripherals as consoles. The bad for the PC is that softwares can conflict and bog down the system, too big to carry around, not multiplayer friendly on one machine, easier to hack up cheats for.
Back in the day consoles couldn’t access the Internet, if you want to play a game with a friend you would have to physically go to their house. Games were in cartridges, 8-bits, plug it in, turn it on and BAM! you’re playing instantly. Now games are in hi-def DVDs with gigabytes of storage, the console is more powerful than your mom’s computer, have Internet access so you can play against anyone in the world, the graphics are so real your grandma thinks you’re watching a movie.
Consoles has come a long way, always lagging behind the PC but now it has caught up and every kid on the block have one. Games look just as good on a console as it is on a PC. Developers are turning their focus on making games for consoles. Could this year be the era of console gaming? If the trend of releasing games first for the console audience continues it just might make it more desirable to own a console.
