What effect will next gen consoles have on PC gamers/devs?

[Deepak]

The fact that next gen consoles may (or rather will) turn out to be so powerful that they will continue to enjoy theoratical advantage for fair period of time over that time's PC. All games will have HD res/DD/DTS etc support. Also the fact that games will be optimised for respective consoles will negate the superior PC power in later part of console's life.

1. So will more hardcore PC gamers be attracted towards NG consoles? Will they dump PC as their primary gaming device?

2. Will top (or rather ALL) PC Pub/developers like ID/Valve/Epic etc jump into console arena? Will they release their titles for NG consoles and PC simultaneously? Infact we might see superior console versions than PC.

3. Will PC become (as a gaming platform) almost extinct by 2010?

 

[London Geezer]

Well, unless Cell is something that's really so extravagant and powerful that it blows everything away by doing things in a different way, i expect things to remain the same, consoles will have the best graphics for a while, then PC will catch up.

 

[Riddlewire]

Re: What effect will next gen consoles have on PC gamers/dev

1. So will more hardcore PC gamers be attracted towards NG consoles? Will they dump PC as their primary gaming device?

Nope.
Not unless the console makers include a keypad and mouse as part of the basic package. And I'm pretty sure that none of them are doing that this time around. So PC gaming is safe among the hardcore crowd until at least 2009.

Although I certainly expect PC-only titles to become an extreme rarity.

 

[a688]

Re: What effect will next gen consoles have on PC gamers/dev

The fact that next gen consoles may (or rather will) turn out to be so powerful that they will continue to enjoy theoratical advantage for fair period of time over that time's PC. All games will have HD res/DD/DTS etc support. Also the fact that games will be optimised for respective consoles will negate the superior PC power in later part of console's life.

1. So will more hardcore PC gamers be attracted towards NG consoles? Will they dump PC as their primary gaming device?

2. Will top (or rather ALL) PC Pub/developers like ID/Valve/Epic etc jump into console arena? Will they release their titles for NG consoles and PC simultaneously? Infact we might see superior console versions than PC.

3. Will PC become (as a gaming platform) almost extinct by 2010?

1) No. I enjoy gaming on my PC even though there are console games I play to.

2) No. Not everybody wants to pay or get permission from a company to produce a game.

3) No. Its 1999 all over again.

 

[wco81]

One thing which may take me back to PC gaming might be AOE3.

Now if MS was smart enough to allow keyboards and mice for Xenon and port AOE3...

 

[Lumine]

The genre distinction between console and PC may become more distict. Its nigh on impossible to find a good PC platform game anymore, simply because gameplay is almost always better on console. Alternatively, I don't think you'll ever see a successful RTS on a console. I, personally, am disappointed that the console is now a legitimate medium for FPS games, but things seem to be going that way, as well.

Also, PC as a gaming platform will never 'die' because it allows you a greater range of games. try www.addictinggames.com you could find that stuff on console, but its just easier to do it on PC. Just a few notches up, you'll never get Sid Meier stuff on console as a predominant medium. Thirdly, go check out the 10$ and 15$ video games section at your local wal*mart, those B grade games will never port to console, it just costs to much.