"PC Games Need Love Too, Yo..."

Kunikos

Kunikos

CAGiversary!
Hey CheapyD or Wombat... have you guys ever thought about having more extensive coverage of PC gaming? I know that you guys complain about having a terrible computer every so often, and although Cheapy just got a new one it is a Mac.

It might be interesting to hear about Cheapy trying to use either Parallels and/or BootCamp on his new Mac laptop in order to try out some Windows games (I would suggest downloading game demos if you can't justify buying a full game).

Or perhaps add someone for a spot every so often who is a PC game fan to talk about new releases and cheap deals.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']This topic came up a few weeks ago and I think Cheapy was planning to look into getting a PC.[/quote]

he was planning to look? that's funny
 
Cheapy, if you need any help at all with figuring out what kinda specs you need for a new PC, let me know. (Or you can use one of the nice Ars Technica guides to figure it out-- I would suggest their Hot Rod build guide)

However, I was under the assumption that his new purchase of the Mac lappy was instead of getting a PC.

I really think that Wombat should be very excited about Fallout 3, since not only will it be on the consoles (and PC) but it is made by Bethesda and using an hyper-extended version of the Oblivion engine.

Teaser trailer:
http://fallout.bethsoft.com

Given that Wombat is obsessed enough to purchase Oblivion more than once, this may be a good candidate for the Next Big Thing for him.
 
Really, honestly, if you have a 360, probably not worth to spend the cash to get a gaming PC, unless you really love MMORPG's or FPS's with tons of people on at a time like Battlefield or Quake Wars.

I went the PC route, I don't regret it, but honestly, it's not really worth the cash to invest in a PC if you're a big 360 fan.

IIRC, Cheapy is a big 360 fan, and I don't think there is anything on the PC over the 360 that is worth throwing down the big bucks. Yea, there is Crysis, Quake Wars, and some other games, but I think someone who has been using Live for a long time will find it hard to switch over to the non streamlined way of playing online. I also don't think it's worth dropping $1K plus just for 3 or 4 games, either.

CAG as a whole is really out of touch with the PC Gaming community so I wouldn't expect any sort of amazing conversation to come out of it on the CAGcast - there is plenty of other PC gaming podcasts to sastisfy those requirements. I don't see either Cheapy or Wombat buying a PC version of a game over a 360 version, ever, even if they had an awesome PC.
 
Or if you like Western style CRPGs, such as those based on D&D 3.5E. One example: the Neverwinter Nights series is not coming out to any console for the forseeable future due to content distribution issues.

Games like Hellgate will not be coming out either, and have had their share of controversy in the past months during announcements of payment tiers (free vs 1337) for multiplayer, all of which the CAGCast has missed out on talking about. Games like Guild Wars, which are similar in nature, are others.

Also, any game that comes out for the 360 and supports modding on the PC will be interesting on the PC despite having played the 360 version because modding can seriously change gameplay and give spice and longevity to a title. (I'm thinking of Oblivion specifically here)

Anyway, my idea was not that he should drop a bunch of cash to buy a computer but rather:

A) Get someone who is already a PC gamer to chime in on specific topics as needed.

AND/OR

B) Try playing some PC games on his new spiffy Mac laptop using Parallels hardware virtualization or BootCamp dual-booting.
 
What's there to talk about? Just about every game that is being released on the PC is also going on the 360. Perhaps Cheapy can talk about Spore when it's released in 2025.
 
Christ, you guys are so console-centric it isn't even funny. You do realize that there ARE lots of games that never, ever come out on the consoles? Oh, wait of course you don't since you never bother to look at the PC release list.

This is exactly the shit I'm talking about, the fact that there is a willful ignorance of exclusive platform titles for the PC. You guys cover both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 but there are about 1/100th less titles that are exclusive to one and not appearing on the other than there are for the PC versus consoles.

Yeesh.

Let's make a little list of things coming out:

Lord of the Rings Online (Everdim free expansion)
Sword of the New World: Granado Espada
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
Two Worlds
Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms
Guild Wars: Eye of the North
Settlers: Rise of an Empire
HOMM V: Tribes
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Hellgate
Crysis
Warhammer Age of Reckoning
Age of Conan
Tabula Rasa
Spore
World in Conflict
Fury
Unreal Tournament 2007
The Witcher
Empire Earth III
EQ2: Rise of Kunark
Sim City Societies
Alan Wake
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. II
Dungeon Runners
Mythos
Starcraft II
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Team Fortress 2
Half-Life 2: Portal
The Agency
Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood
Trackmania United
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Free Realms
Sins of a Solar Empire
Sacred 2
EVE: Revelations II
FreeStyle Street Basketball

That's not even including smaller indy or foreign titles similar to Star Wolves 2, Space Rangers 2, etc:

Tarr Chronicles
 
I'm a big 360 fan, but I'm huge PC fan. :p



[quote name='Roufuss']Really, honestly, if you have a 360, probably not worth to spend the cash to get a gaming PC, unless you really love MMORPG's or FPS's with tons of people on at a time like Battlefield or Quake Wars.

I went the PC route, I don't regret it, but honestly, it's not really worth the cash to invest in a PC if you're a big 360 fan.

IIRC, Cheapy is a big 360 fan, and I don't think there is anything on the PC over the 360 that is worth throwing down the big bucks. Yea, there is Crysis, Quake Wars, and some other games, but I think someone who has been using Live for a long time will find it hard to switch over to the non streamlined way of playing online. I also don't think it's worth dropping $1K plus just for 3 or 4 games, either.

CAG as a whole is really out of touch with the PC Gaming community so I wouldn't expect any sort of amazing conversation to come out of it on the CAGcast - there is plenty of other PC gaming podcasts to sastisfy those requirements. I don't see either Cheapy or Wombat buying a PC version of a game over a 360 version, ever, even if they had an awesome PC.[/quote]
 
It does seem like the people here are more focused on consoles. That's how I've been for the last couple of years. I tend to go through cycles. I've spent the last few years playing mainly consoles, except for when HL2 came out. I'm getting at the end of a console cycle and I'm looking at getting back into PC games. We got a ton of great stuff coming up and I've managed to build up a large backlog of classic PC games from two years of garage saling.

As for the issue of a gaming pc vs. a 360, I'd rather have a pc. It doesn't take too much to build one and you can usually recycle parts from previous machines. I usually buy decent parts and make them last. I was on a 1 gig P3, with a 9800 Pro, up untill a year ago.
I like that the pc versions usually have mods and I'm not quite certain I want to buy a 360 from the issues I've heard about them. I'm also so cheap that I don't think I would pay for Live.
 
A good portion of that list are not PC exclusives. Don't complain about us being console-only if you're going to include console-released games on your megaton list to prove how vibrant PC gaming is. :)
 
[quote name='Kunikos']Christ, you guys are so console-centric it isn't even funny. You do realize that there ARE lots of games that never, ever come out on the consoles? Oh, wait of course you don't since you never bother to look at the PC release list.

This is exactly the shit I'm talking about, the fact that there is a willful ignorance of exclusive platform titles for the PC. You guys cover both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 but there are about 1/100th less titles that are exclusive to one and not appearing on the other than there are for the PC versus consoles.

Yeesh.

Let's make a little list of things coming out:

Lord of the Rings Online (Everdim free expansion)
Sword of the New World: Granado Espada
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
Two Worlds
Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms
Guild Wars: Eye of the North
Settlers: Rise of an Empire
HOMM V: Tribes
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Hellgate
Crysis
Warhammer Age of Reckoning
Age of Conan
Tabula Rasa
Spore
World in Conflict
Fury
Unreal Tournament 2007
The Witcher
Empire Earth III
EQ2: Rise of Kunark
Sim City Societies
Alan Wake
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. II
Dungeon Runners
Mythos
Starcraft II
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Team Fortress 2
Half-Life 2: Portal
The Agency
Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood
Trackmania United
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Free Realms
Sins of a Solar Empire
Sacred 2
EVE: Revelations II
FreeStyle Street Basketball

That's not even including smaller indy or foreign titles similar to Star Wolves 2, Space Rangers 2, etc:

Tarr Chronicles[/quote]
...most of which are expansions, maybe all two of you would be interested in Cheapy discussing them, but I think the majority of us would be fast forwarding. Of course, I wouldn't mind hearing about Starcraft II, and Crysis.

Also, these are not PC exclusives:

Half-Life 2: Episode Two (Xbox 360)
Half-Life 2: Team Fortress 2 (Xbox 360)
Half-Life 2: Portal (Xbox 360)
The Agency (PS3)
Sacred 2
Free Realms (PS3)
Alan Wake (Xbox 360)
Unreal Tournament 2007 (Xbox 360, PS3)
World in Conflict (Xbox 360)
Age of Conan (Xbox 360)
Two Worlds (Xbox 360)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Xbox 360, PS3)
 
So what if they're on 360 or PS3. There are still shitloads of PS3 or 360 games that are not exclusive to one platform and appear on all. Does that make it not worth discussing the pros and cons of the games on different platforms?

Also, since when do expansions not merit discussion? Many expansions greatly change games for the better, such as in the case of the Lord of Destruction expansion for Diablo 2. The Civ 4 expansion for one offers a boatload of new changes that will offer better gameplay options for those who found them lacking in the original game.

Console players like to hear about new downloadable content for their favorite games, so why be down on expansions just on the PC?
 
Yeah, so what? It's worth discussing between the various consoles, but the PC is an entirely different beast. On consoles everyone has the same hardware, where as on the PC side your performance is based on what you have under the hood. My point is, consoles are more universal and it makes more sense for Cheapy/Wombat to discuss the console version of a game.

What about PC exclusives? I'm all for it, like I said I'd love to hear Cheapy or Wombat's opinions of Starcraft II, Crysis and a couple of the other ones that could prove interesting. But I still stand by my original post, there's really not that much to talk about, especially when the majority of us are console gamers and would not be interested in some expansion, or another random MMORPG.

Perhaps it sounds like I'm devaluing expansions, I'm not. Yes, they can sometimes change the game quite a bit. But what's the point of discussing expansions to games most of us are not playing?

You know, I think it'd be interesting to see the percentage of CAGcast listeners that play PC games and who would also like to hear them mentioned more on the CAGcast. I'm guessing it's low, as you and maybe one other person has ever complained about it. But I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.
 
Shipwreck and the Mrs. made their own podcast highlighting new releases...why don't one of you big-brained PC aficionados make your own PC podcast and post it here on CAG? Everyone seems to have their own podcast these days, why not fill the void yourself? Make a pilot, if the feedback is good, keep it going.
 
Guys, also don't forget that for all those casual games on consoles, they were likely done by small developers on the PC first. All the console maketplaces do is repackage and advertise them.

It's also an open platform, with less, albiet still some, corporate politics influencing things. For example, you won't see cross console gameplay between the same game ported on the PS3 and 360. Whereas you buy a PC game you play with anyone else that can run it.
 
[quote name='Kunikos']Hey CheapyD or Wombat... have you guys ever thought about having more extensive coverage of PC gaming?[/QUOTE]It's been asked before, Cheapy and Wombat simply aren't PC guys, for many reasons.
 
Yeah, I'm all for hearing about AAA type releases for the PC, but those seem to be very few and far between on the PC these days...also, between the 3 consoles and 2 portables, I think that throwing B-Level PC games into the mix on a regular basis would be overkill.

Also I find that I don't have the time to play a lot of the AAA releases on the consoles anymore, let alone those on the PC (many of which take up much more time). Is this just me getting older? Or are there more AAA titles coming out on consoles than there were say 4 or 5 years ago?
 
Being older has two effects. Firstly, you have more money than when you were a kid, so you're able to buy any game you want. This immediately makes it seem like more things are available because you can afford them. Secondly, you have adult shit to take care of so you do lose fun time.


[quote name='zzl365']Yeah, I'm all for hearing about AAA type releases for the PC, but those seem to be very few and far between on the PC these days...also, between the 3 consoles and 2 portables, I think that throwing B-Level PC games into the mix on a regular basis would be overkill.

Also I find that I don't have the time to play a lot of the AAA releases on the consoles anymore, let alone those on the PC (many of which take up much more time). Is this just me getting older? Or are there more AAA titles coming out on consoles than there were say 4 or 5 years ago?[/quote]
 
Alright what about the pc games that end up on consoles...That's always interesting. I mean there are some good pc games. It would be nice to see some more about pc games and just mmorpgs.
 
I find it interesting that Cheapy mentions he is seriously considering building a new PC to play Crysis. I didn't really even have this game on my chart of "must buys" for this fall, so I find it interesting that a console-player is thinking of taking the plunge for it. It must have looked very, very good! :)

Also, I love the new CPU prices! The E6750 is such a good deal!
 
[quote name='WhipSmartBanky']Shipwreck and the Mrs. made their own podcast highlighting new releases...why don't one of you big-brained PC aficionados make your own PC podcast and post it here on CAG? Everyone seems to have their own podcast these days, why not fill the void yourself? Make a pilot, if the feedback is good, keep it going.[/quote] I really think this is what should be done. After all PC is the king of cheap games ( just look at the mod scene).

PC games I really think should be brought up more. And with the the new steam update you have something that is remarkably similar to Xbox Live and its for free, and it has some of the best pc deals out there on Steam. There is not enough to love about PC gaming.

Kojima, Mikami & Suda51 even stat that the PC is the best platform out there( although it is not well accepted).

The PC stereotype is that we must all have the best looking games when almost every game will run on a mid-end pc. But in fact you can have a cheap PC and run almost anything on it.
 
I would like to see PC gaming get some air time on the CAGcast even if it is only discussing some of the big games every once in a while. Crysis, Hellgate London, StarCraft II, the new expansion for Company of Heroes, exclusive Gears of War content, there are some big games coming for the PC.
 
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