Apple success if from them making 400$ profit from every ipad and iphone sold. And the lame ass people that just check email and go on the web but have to have a mac because there kid's told them its better, then a (PC). Witch that is all a mac is a PC. Hell 80% of the people could just use Linux and be just as happy. Apple is just rapping people. Yes, the ipod is great. But you would have to be out of your mind to buy one of there pc's.

 

Though its better now (Which is why I have a PC gaming rig again) when the first Xbox debuted there was way to much fluxuation in the PC gaming side, hardware constantly changed and cpu speeds hadnt really topped out. Now its a matter of how many FPS you can get more than can it play at all...it was a different story back then. Unfortunately I think it damaged PC gaming for good, it may recover some day but even so its rather complicated for the average user. Most prebuilt systems still dont ship with gaming in mind and most home users are afraid to even open their computers to dust them out much less add ram or a video card, so their default experience is usually less than what they get with a console. I think MS simply saw the writing on the wall and followed an opportunity, and frankly I think all gamers on all platforms benefited.

 

Personally, I think that Microsoft helped bridge PC and console gaming. DirectX is now an enforced standard on the 360 (this wasn't the case on the original Xbox and is part of the backward compatibility issues). I just don't understand how someone can blame Microsoft for developers leaving PC gaming behind to make money on consoles. It would have eventually happened anyway.

I also don't think there'd be a Nintendo console (besides portable perhaps) to speak of if Microsoft hadn't entered the fray. Nintendo had no idea how to deal with Sony's aggressive marketing campaign. The Gamecube didn't start getting back some third party support until after the Xbox was released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTi5EaocGaY

Crash Bandiwho? That's right.

 

What a load of crap

 

I guess some could see that bridging of the formats as part of the problem with PC gaming, but I think this is somthing that was inevitable once the 3D gaming became the standard on consoles, with the deal sealed by the runaway success of the PS2. Devs knew that consoles were where the money was, it ws just MS that made the transistion that bit smoother at the start. I'd say to a certain degree that MS have helped bring the console gaming to Pc as well. I still remember the bad old days of at best 4 button pads and having to make parallel adapters to use PS pads on the PC to play games better suited to joypads. That said there are still some ames that don't work well ont he opposite platforms, non driving simulators and RTS still don't seem at home on consoles (just adding mouse suport to RTS's would fix that problem, joypad and mouse would be a passable replacement for keybord and mouse), and party games like rockband, Guitar hero, singstar etc don't work that well on a small screen.

To blame MS tho for what is a much deeper issue is a bit daft tho, i know this much, for as long a top end gfx cards are priced at near double that of consoles (far far worse for tri sli/crossfire setups, along with games that can use them) just to play games at a very slight improvement over the console versions, PC gaming is going to stay a problem. if the publishing houses got together and said right, this is the standard hardware all games are to use and run at max detail at at least 25fps for the next few years for this versin of DirectX then I suspect PC gaming would improve. Everyone would know that they would be able to paly all the latest games for this generation of DX and not have to take out a second mortage to upgrade every 18 months. Until somthing like this happens, PC gaming will be just too expensive for many to keep up with.

 

Nope, they've EXPANDED the games console into MULTI-media stations, being a Multimedia centre + games console is just pure win.

Would you prefer to just put a game in... load it... play it... that's it?

No music? No movies? No media? God, you're boring.

 

Why do you think they did that? How did it benefit gaming? Use your brain. It's fine if they want a games console to have some secondary functions, but they made it a priority over gaming for a while.

How much have people complained that Sony was so focused on the PS3's "multimedia" capabilities in the beginning, that they forget it was a gaming platform. Pure win? A $600 console is pure win b/c it's now a multimedia center? I can put together a PC media center that'll do more than the PS3, or I can buy individual components.

 

Without the Xbox we'd probably all be playing PS2.5's a la Wii. MS has provided much needed competition in a market that would have gone stale, especially with the downfall of Sega, and as a gamer I'm thankful they decided to put a foot in. Not to mention all the nice new features we now expect as standard, custom soundtracks saved my sanity. There's only so much menu music a guy can take.

Developers have simply shifted to platforms that make them more money, this would have happened regardless.

 

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe Microsoft did kill PC gaming. If they hadn't built the Xbox, Sony probably would've killed console gaming.

 

I agree, apart from PC gaming being dead. I agree, high-end PC gaming has dwindled even further but browser-based and casual games have sky-rocketed. For example; I get approx 20 Farmville requests a day and every woman, not to be sexist but frank, with a PC owns a copy of The Sims. 10 Million + are subscribing to an MMO right now. PC gaming has only 'died' based on our 'hardcore' standards, Steam is an example of the PC being a very viable market for developers that dare.

 

Exactly. PC gaming isn't "dead." It's just not the cash cow that console gaming is.

 

what they fail to realise is that the xbox gaming division EXPANDED microsoft. its not like they took resources from anywhere else to run xbox. maybe at first just as things got up and running.. but really, does this site think microsoft is a team of like 50 employees and thats it?

microsoft still manages to support and develop one of the best operating systems out there. windows7 is nothing but an improvement over vista and xp and yet the xbox was there the whole time that was being developed.

as for xbox possibly being the reason to the decline of pc games? BAHAHAAHAHAAAHAHAAHAH. pc gamers NOT buying games was the reason for the decline. if pc games sold near as many millions as xbox games did maybe they'd concentrate more on it. either way, simply thinking xbox was the decline of anything else is retarded.

 

PC Gaming was dead years before the 360 came around. When the original Xbox came out I was a pc and PS2 gamer. I couldn't see the benefits of MS entering the console market......I thought it was pretty much stupid. I'm glad they pushed forward and set the standard for what a console should be. Everyone is tired of pc games because the hardware is never powerful enough for the software. Then when you finally get that new graphics card they launch a new game that makes your pc run slow. So you wait another six months for the new card then get a NEW GAME IN YO FACE.

Consoles......buy 1 console....buy games....set for 5 years
There is no stupid ass hardware race going on

 

competition is always good as long as they follow the rules.

 

Well they are kind of correct if you compare "Games for Windows Live" to "Xbox Live"....

GfWL is a joke, it could have been just as big as Steam years ago if MS would have pushed hard enough.

From where i stand PC gaming is very much alive and the Xbox 360 is getting old fast, it just has no appeal anymore, not if you have a decent PC AND an Xbox, 2 years ago i played mostly on the 360 and didn't touch my PC for gaming, now the roles are reversed, i play every day on my PC and the Xbox is maybe touched every 2 weaks or so... Xbox Live GOLD isn't worth the money for playing that little, so i care even less when i can not play online with it whenever i feel like it.

The only reason is that the Xbox has no exclusives anymore, no must haves and the games that would intrest me are all multiplatform and even look better on the PC.
The last MUST HAVE was Forza 3... and that was just a disapointing game that i didnt play very much because i did the same allready in Forza 2... same cars... same tracks... been there, done that.

 

wait, its the piracy on PCs!!
wait, no. its the piracy on the 360!!
wait, no. its just piss poor marketing, horrible rebranded games, and people who would rather spend $500 on something useful rather than something to waste time with. Firefox with java is more fun than most 360 games, and no need to shell out $60 for the game, $60 for the internet connection, and $60 for the subscription to play them with friends.

If games were $25 and consoles were $250 there may be a difference. but building a heavily DRM'd computer centered around a media experience and shafting everyone on the media isn't the way its played.

Apple got a brain and went mainstream with intel processors, and made a very nice upgrade from OS9 with OSX. Its a visually pleasing solid easy to use system. People are realizing that its better to get a PS3/360 and a mac, then a PC with windows you constantly got to update/upgrade/repair/replace. Maybe game dev's should drop the windows and develop for unix/macs/consoles.. Theres no reason a Mac cant use the latest and greatest video card.. and I bet the titles would run super-smooth.

 

^Who left the loony bin open?

 

Live Gold is $60? Everytime someone mentions it the price goes up. Although I guess that might depend on where you live. At least here in the US you can regularly find 12 month cards for $35. $35 for a whole year of Live is too much? I wish people would stop using that as a Con when mentioning the 360 because it really isn't.

Not to mention "$60 for the internet connection" are you serious? You're going to have that anyway.

 

Gaming console...one that would rival Sony's Playstation.

 

most cost less than a current joypad/remote/arc+cam/natal and surely a stereo (or a gfx card with tv out) didnt exactly require a big wallet either.

no now we have to buy hyper priced add ons and instead of buying complete games we buy partial ones then get fleeced again if want to buy the rest

not sure that makes sense, but sure i cant be the only one who thinks paying £50 for a partial game then more online to own the rest only to be unable to sell that additional stuff and getting a superlow trade in price for the hardcopy i bought because preowned games wont work online without paying almost full retail for a new online key (yes, thats happening now) i'd say that is depleting the value of games we buy, you shouldnt care if a multi million dollar company cant sell their overpriced products, but sadly too many people still opt to buy them and all their add ons that make their product even more expensive, if everyone refusd to buy any dlc or digital games, the companies would soon go back to selling us complete products.

my 2600 still works and everything forward pretty much, only stuff thats failed on me have been multiple ps1's and ps2's, my launch 360 and wii and ps3 all work as they should (other than the last ps3 firmware update killing the whats new on the xmb) so most companies do make them like they used to

maybe just a little, but you started it