April 19, 2008
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The beginning of the console era?
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.
Comments (11)
It very well could be. But then what would PC brag to Mac about? PC has feelings too…
mmorpgs will probly be on a pc and stay on pcs. as in they wiil thrive on it.
@awth44 - a pc is a pc regardless of which os it operates with.
interesting thoughts… i don’t think consoles will overtake the pc though but i do hope they become more web-browsing friendly (e.g. meeting browser standards and such) .. either that or websites begin catering to console browsers. i hear people complaining about browsing experience on their consoles all the time
Gosh! How young are you? This isn’t new. Why back in the day, we were lucky to see some titles ever come out on PC. I say this tongue in cheek; it hasn’t been that long ago. Has it?
I prefer PC…but only have a PS2 console, which is only played on occassion….oh well…
(I’m still waiting for a quality Robotech video game…)
I’m lazy, so I prefer consoles – I don’t have to configure anything to
get a game to run (hopefully.) For example, even Guitar Hero III for the PC requires
a GeForce 8800 or there’s a lag between button presses and on-screen
reaction that makes it unplayable. Running Crysis on full-specs is a
dream for most people. But there are those hardcore gamers for the PC that will always tell me that FPS is always better on the PC, that MMORPG for the console is a joke, etc., etc.
But the truth is, the reason you see this trend is because game console companies are smart and try to appeal to the everyman. Xbox tells you to “play together” (and seems like it appeals to the average fratboy.) The Wii’s entire selling point (other than Zelda and Brawl, or whatever) is that it’s for the whole family. I think maybe that’s why the PS3 is lagging behind in sales (that, and a lack of good games…)
Bwahaha, 8 bits! Haha, love it. Too bad consoles cost so much!!
Haa! Reading this made me consider to get one for my self. Hehe. What would you recommend?
Thanks for dropping by my page and leaving a comment at my cosplay post. Really appreciate it. (^_^)v
@chenmeicai - It largely depends on the games you like to play. For casual and fun for everyone, get the Wii. You will have more fun with your friends on the Wii. If you take your games seriously you can either go for the Xbox 360 or PS3, I predict that the PS3 will get pretty popular by the end of this year. Right now the PS3 just doesn’t have a lot of games but you can use it as a Blu-Ray DVD player for now since HD-DVD lost the battle.
P.S. If I ever do cosplay I think I would dress up as Rock Lee
Less support staff needed for the console version as you are not dealing with 1,000,001 different hardware and OS configurations.
However, the same will hold true as always, as the power within PC’s doubles or triples that of the current console breed, the PC shall win again and so the cycle continues.
@Tigster - it’s an ongoing battle but console sales have been strong lately.