Yay for P.C Gaming

[Davros]

We have a sign of life from the PC Gaming Alliance, where they announce the release of a pair of reports they commissioned on the state of the PC gaming marketplace they are tasked with supporting, which may reflect on the objectivity of their findings. The reports are for their industry members, but GamePolitics has a summary:

The global PC gaming software market continues to show strong growth in 2012, reaching a record US$20 billion - overall growth of 8 percent over 2011 and 90 percent growth since the PCGA’s first report in 2008.
China continues to be the largest and fastest growing market for PC games with record 2012 revenue of US$6.8 billion, a growth of percent. Mature game markets in Korea, Japan, U.S., U.K. and Germany all showed growth in 2012. Together these markets also increased revenue by percent in 2012, to $8.4 billion.
There are over 1 billion PC gamers worldwide and that number is continuing to grow as more PCs are connected online. Over 250 million of those gamers play what are defined as "core games."
The growth of mobile is helping the PC game business. The combination of mobile and PC as platforms is helping drive the growth of small self-funded teams that can develop more targeted products on a modest budget.
The PC game business will continue to grow at a pace of 6 percent CAGR to $25.7 billion by 2016. This growth is driven by growing access to broadband connections and the increasing ease of digital distribution delivery solutions and payment methods on a global basis.

That makes P.C Gaming the worlds 4th most popular religion (tied with Hinduism)

 

[Silent_Buddha]

That makes P.C Gaming the worlds 4th most popular religion (tied with Hinduism)

Hahaha, thank you, that made my day.

Regards,
SB

 

[pjbliverpool]

That makes P.C Gaming the worlds 4th most popular religion (tied with Hinduism)

Ha, how about that, I am religious afterall!

 

[Davros]

I actually put P.C Gaming as my religion on the census a few years ago

 

[pjbliverpool]

Lol I did the same with star trek once.

 

[itsmydamnation]

at least we know what you worship

Guardian of the Most holy Two Terabytes of Gaming Goodness™

 

[Cartoon Corpse]

I wonder how many lives are ruined (changed) by PC gaming? You know, WAY too much time doing that and not enough time doing productive things like studying, family development, exercise.

I mean, I wonder is it similar to the ratio for skid row bums to alcohol drinkers?

 

[swaaye]

That's an unhappy thread resurrection right there. But I'm sure we all know people.

 

[Cartoon Corpse]

I suppose this applies to other forms of fanatics that give you no real productive opportunity. Maybe we could get the government to allocate some comfort dogs, so we don't have to worry too much?

 

[Malo]

My PC Gaming life has been ruined (changed) by work and family *shakes angry fist*

 

[Deleted member 13524]

It's not like all obsessive gamers would lead a normal, productive and healthy life if there were no games.

People with an affinity for obsession would always find something to be obsessed about.
Obsessed gamers would likely find something else to replace it.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

This is an interesting read: Paul Miller disconnects from the internet for a year.

One year ago I left the internet. I thought it was making me unproductive. I thought it lacked meaning. I thought it was "corrupting my soul."

It's a been a year now since I "surfed the web" or "checked my email" or "liked" anything with a figurative rather than literal thumbs up. I've managed to stay disconnected, just like I planned. I'm internet free.

And now I'm supposed to tell you how it solved all my problems. I'm supposed to be enlightened. I'm supposed to be more "real," now. More perfect.

 

[Arwin]

Good timing for this thread, at the even of where the whole PC gaming gets ready to experience a setback for a few years as consoles take over the spotlights again.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Fortunately for PC owners, the console makers have aimed really low.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Fortunately for PC owners, the console makers have aimed really low.

Really low and really PC-ish
Ports galore!

 

[Arwin]

Fortunately for PC owners, the console makers have aimed really low.

This wasn't so different last gens. Anyway, my PC has 8GB of DDR3, and 1GB of GDDR5. I don't expect to have a PC that will outperform the PS4 at least for a while. I'm particularly curious how much of an advantage the direct path from CPU to CU will be.

 

[AlphaWolf]

It's very different from last gen. The 360 had a top tier gpu a generation ahead of the desktop market. Current console (that wont be available for months) specs approach those of a good laptop that I could buy last year.

 

[joker454]

Yeah it's much different this time around. When the 360 came out I had to rebuild my entire pc to keep up with it. Now though the new consoles are so low spec that my 3 year old pc will be fine with just a video card swap.

 

[Arwin]

It's very different from last gen. The 360 had a top tier gpu a generation ahead of the desktop market. Current console (that wont be available for months) specs approach those of a good laptop that I could buy last year.

Well, maybe I remember things differently, but over here most PCs were already sporting 2GB of RAM, and PC ports to the 360 suffered from not translating all that well without some effort, so that framerates and resolution lagged, if not at launch, then certainly within the first year. That's at least how I remember it.

Conversely, go ahead and tell me where I can buy a GPU with 8GB of GDDR5. Or a laptop with an 8-core CPU-GPU that has a direct connection between CPU core and GPU. I call BS on being able to buy a laptop that can outperform or even match the PS4, as a total package, today, let alone last year. On the odd chance that you do manage, let me know the price, as well.

Specs may have been good last time, but practical use of those specs took a long time, making it almost irrelevant. This time however, PS4 should run PC ports better than most PCs right out of the gate, without much optimisation at all.

Being able to outperform 'just with a GPU swap' has always been pretty typical, partly because the PC's CPU-GPU connection is so weak that games mostly rely on GPU exclusively anyway, and certainly did for a large part during last gen's transition as well.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I've no doubt the ps4 will be cheaper, but that's about it. PC games are going to thrash it in performance.