PC Gaming: Death and Rebirth“I remember PC gaming.” That simple statement might elicit a variety of responses depending on whom you're talking to. Some people might solemnly nod their head and agree with the sentiment. Some may fervently repudiate any remark that referred to PC gaming in the past tense. Others might simply remark “... wait, haven't people always played games on their PCs? And I play World of Warcraft now, what's the big deal?” All of the responses are correct... from a certain point of few.
As I see it, the first definition of PC gaming refers to a very specific and hardcore set of gamers. These are the guys who build their own systems, do so with some regularity and know how to get the most out of them. They have strong opinions on ATI vs. Nvidia and Intel vs. AMD and keep up with the latest technology changes. These are the sort of gamers who were particularly stung by the release of Rage on PC.
See, the "build system” at id Software created all versions of the game from one set of code, but it produced decidedly uneven results for the different platforms. "This system has led to incredibly solid and bug-free 360 and PS3 versions," said Rage creative director Tim Willits to Kotaku. "Unfortunately, we have had video driver issues that have caused problems and frustrations with our PC fans. Everyone at id Software is very upset by these issues which are mostly out of our control. We are working with both AMD/ATI and Nvidia to help them identify and fix the issues with their drivers. We've had assurances that these problems are being addressed and new drivers will be available soon."
"In short, most PC games have shifted towards this general PC consumer who doesn't want to worry about compatibility issues or drivers at all and probably doesn't care about bleeding edge graphics."
Rage is, if nothing else, a gorgeous looking game on PS3 and Xbox 360. Many players experienced these versions of the game first and assumed that the PC version (which many had expected to be the definitive version of the game) would be that much better – thanks to issues with various drivers, the game looked ugly at best and unplayable at worst.
"The driver issues at launch have been a real cluster !@#$," wrote id's John Carmack. "When launch day came around and the wrong driver got released, half of our PC customers got a product that basically didn't work. The fact that the working driver has incompatibilities with other titles doesn't help either. Issues with older / lower end /exotic setups are to be expected on a PC release, but we were not happy with the experience on what should be prime platforms."
There's still time to work these issues out and id is hurriedly releasing patches in an attempt to get the PC versions up to snuff. The issue is that, for the first time, it doesn't appear that the PC was the lead or even the most important platform to id Software – something that would have seemed preposterous a decade ago. Comments by Carmack on this subject were telling.
"We do not see the PC as the leading platform for games," noted Carmack. "That statement will enrage some people, but it is hard to characterize it otherwise; both console versions will have larger audiences than the PC version. A high end PC is nearly 10 times as powerful as a console, and we could unquestionably provide a better experience if we chose that as our design point and we were able to expend the same amount of resources on it. Nowadays most of the quality of a game comes from the development effort put into it, not the technology it runs on. A game built with a tenth the resources on a platform 10 times as powerful would be an inferior product in almost all cases."
For a man who helped define PC games with his products to say this, it's both sobering and a little sad. It's also a reflection of the reality becoming more and more obvious with every coming year – big publishers have their bread buttered primarily on PS3/Xbox 360, making the PC a secondary consideration at best. Triple-A PC games have been bitten by the bug that has affected all AAA releases – namely, it's not very feasible to release them exclusively on one platform, and the lack of a platform maker's fee is no longer incentive enough to make the biggest budget releases only for the PC market, save for certain isolated cases like StarCraft II.
The apathy of the AAA publishers has not, however, prevented a whole new set of games from flourishing on the PC. Generally fueled by the Internet, small indie outfits have emerged offering quirky games and finding success on platforms like Steam. There is a new emerging scene in competitive gaming for Dota games that is spreading like wildfire. There are new casual platforms that players can enjoy online, in a browser and on Facebook and other platforms. And then there's Minecraft. Tying many of these games together is an increased focus on free-to-play and micro-transactions.
The sorts of games listed above are certainly not what I remember as “PC games” when I was growing up. I remember when PC games came out that weren't possible to replicate on contemporary game consoles, often trying out detailed and involving gameplay elements that were equally revolutionary and sometimes too new for their own good... but were often immersive and influential in the long run (see Deus Ex). There were games that pushed graphical fidelity to the limit to “make your CPU bleed” that often would be a preview of the sort of graphical effects you'd see on consoles in a couple years. The last AAA title I can remember being even remotely like this was Crysis... and that was four years ago (and it's recently been ported to PS3 and Xbox 360).
While many PC games of years past were not possible on consoles when they released originally, that feels like a trend long gone. It's still true that the most powerful of gaming PCs these days might be several times more powerful than the PS3 or Xbox 360, but the argument has seemingly shifted for AAA titles; instead of being available only on PC, there are arguments over framerate or texture pop-in or loading times or even control method – mostly small stuff. The shift has happened in the developer community as well; I remember not too long ago the top level graphics were called “PC quality” because the best looking games came to powerful PC desktops. Now, a couple of developers have independently referred to the highest level of graphics as “console quality” graphics.
Some people might think that I'm pointing this out to rub it in the face of the core PC gaming community – not at all, I take no joy in this. I have no desire to hurt hardcore PC gamers because they've honestly been hurt enough – dealing with game delays, poorly supported releases and much demanded games like Red Dead Redemption simply not coming to the platform at all. It's just a stark reflection of a reality that, now with the disappointing release of Rage on PC, is more undeniable than ever.
What PC gaming used to be about...
The reasons for this change are manyfold. Part of it is AAA game publishers being gun-shy about their PC releases for everything from dealing with the above compatibility issues to piracy. Another change is that of PC consumers themselves. Ten years ago, a PC was still something of a luxury item for households, but now it's a mandatory fixture in homes with many households having one for each family member. With this shift from the enthusiast personal computer user to general consumers, attitudes towards PCs have changed. PCs are generally much cheaper to acquire, but they're also less customizable on the whole and often ship with GPUs that aren't terribly impressive. In short, most PC games have shifted towards this general PC consumer who doesn't want to worry about compatibility issues or drivers at all and probably doesn't care about bleeding edge graphics – they just want to log in and play with their machine that might be a few years old (or more).
So while we celebrate the new PC gaming, the CityVilles, the Dotas, the MapleStorys, let's not forget the first era of “PC Gamers”. It leaves me wondering whether terminology doesn't need to be reformed as to what a “PC gamer” indeed is... of course it may not matter in short order. With convergence happening towards online, the cloud and cross-platform play it may just be that specific platforms won't be as important - it will be all about situation and convenience. If and when that happens, it'll be advancements made on the PC platform that will have helped lead the way to a new era of gaming; at least some things don't change.
