The death of PC gaming

[YorkieBen]

lmao at the idea of steam helping stop piracy. I bought HL2, but I know of several places I could get a cracked version of it easily. And I wouldnt have to put up with the ****e that Steam creates (like right now its started to not let me play HL2 in offline mode for no reason).

Steam and things like it, if compulsory (as Steam is), will kill the PC games market, or at least move it back from the mainstream to where it used to be. What happened to ease of use? Hardware is getting more idiot proof (usb, plug and play etc) so Steam comes along and makes a GAME (i.e. to entertain) a pain in the bum

[Monty]

i wouldnt mind larger and faster media, and harddrives. Games these days just take far too long to install, must have took be over 10 mins to install farcry, and for ut2004, my hand was numb after changing to cd so many times, should'ove got the dvd.

and valve forcing u to install steam is the reason y i havnt bought hl2, and i wouldnt be surprised if they lost more profit due to people doing that than piracy.

[alterion]

The PS2 should exploit its... erm... nice blue packaging.

lol love it... ture though the ps2 is the worst console by loads and it is a crime it became that popular... The reason i don't think pc gaming will ever die is that unlike any no-nintendo console it has a really die-hard fan base.. Pc's conmstantly evovle and change and pc addicts will always stick to pc's but when the xbox 2 comes out it might walk all over the ps3 and all the sony fans will go and play halo ( clearly the revolution will own them both but not be appreciated) meanwhile everyone will still look to the pc as the mature console for the 1337 gamers.. and those of us mature enough not to buy a ps2 cause its kewl

[Bunjiweb]

PC Gaming will never die with games lie HL2 out, and games like Stalker, F.E.A.R & Battlefield 2 in the production line..

Ben

[fuddam]

I thnk this thread needs to be resurrected, if only to become the longest running thread on the forums

regarding the comment made about gaming LANs where you can go with a couple of mates etc: THAT is the future in the west, and currently the norm for any interested in gaming in Asia. Pop along to Japan, Taiwan, HK, Korea, Singapore, CHINA etc, and you'll see what I mean. With China presenting the biggest market ever, any savvy developer has their eyes fixed in that direction. All those reports you see of gaming deaths are all PC related - they take gaming addiction to another level. No matter what happens to the PC market over here in the UK / US / EU, the Asian gaming world will absolutely take the future cake in terms of profits. Sure there's a lot of piracy out east (duh!) but the PC market totally rules gaming there.

Many is the time I've walked into a LAN at 3am to find 50 machines going at full bore, 50 sets of speakers (no headphones) doing likewise, and peeps playing with an intensity that brings up the hairs on the back of my neck.

Am not worried. Though.......we might all have to tend towards the fantasy RPG - lol

[colincliff]

I agree with Fuddam - this man (i assume ) knows what he's talking about

[Deadlight]

Interesting (and long running!) thread this one! Just to add my two pence worth;

One thing that strikes me as an 'advantage' for the PC, and why, in some ways, it's uncomparable to the xbox et al. is that the PC isn't a games machine per se. What I mean is, it's a machine that PLAYS games, but wasn't originally designed for that purpose, unlike the PS2 etc. We all know that the PC can manipulate media files, do office stuff, print things out, burn media to CD/DVD, can act as a home recording studio, store and edit digital photos, and a billion othert things that a console can't. Yes, a PC plays games as well, but that's not it's rasion d'etre.

Now regarding online distribution. I would love to see how many customers use Steam to download games - I bought HL2 this way, but then I have a 2Mb connection. That's the point - personally I wouldn't want to download any big game with any less a connection. So then, it comes down to the number of broadbqand customers doesn't it? I don't mean yer 128K 'broadband' either; over 1Mb I'd say.

[Oakey]

Now take that small market, and consider the effect of piracy. All platforms suffer from piracy, but only the PC can do it with no extra kit, mods, etc. any moron with a net connection can pirate games, and start churning out copies for all his mates.

That was the case, but I believe this is starting to change. Have you seen the PC warez scene at the moment? It's pretty much dead.

Right now pretty much every release is a clone, rarely do you see a new release that has been cracked. It's also becoming a lot more difficult to run pirated games, look at some of the hoops people have to jump through in order to get their latest "omgz 0-day w4r3z!!11" to run. For example, having to disconnect IDE drives. There are some games that were released ages ago that people are still trying to crack, for example SC: Chaos Theory, and TOCA 2 was only recently cracked and that game has been out over a year.

However, I believe that the measures publishers are going to to prevent piracy are also responsible for turning people away from PC gaming. Legit PC gamers are getting frustrated and annoyed at the software that gets installed on their system (saferom, securom, etc) and the issues said software causes. Meanwhile those who are desperate to pirate will go to whatever lengths necessary and irritations like this won't matter to them, after all, they got it for free.

I would love to see how many customers use Steam to download games - I bought HL2 this way, but then I have a 2Mb connection. That's the point - personally I wouldn't want to download any big game with any less a connection

Steam makes me laugh. Before HL2, Steam was touted as the new, revolutionary distribution method. "Cut out the middleman" they said. "Cheaper games, more profit for developers" they cried. "It'll work out better for everyone this way" they insisted. Yeah, right, that's why HL2 still cost the same via Steam as it did in the shops.

And wtf at bringing this thread back up?

[Swafe]

PC Games are probably getting harder to crack, but its still happening, my mate had Quake 4 a week before it came out and also stuff like HL2, which was apparently uncrackable was made available online with a steam crack, allowing the single player be played without needing to authenticate with steam, hence a valid serial.

[fuddam]

And wtf at bringing this thread back up?

well, if it hadn't been resurrected, you wouldn't have been able to post your pearls of wisdom

[directhex]

Steam makes me laugh. Before HL2, Steam was touted as the new, revolutionary distribution method. "Cut out the middleman" they said. "Cheaper games, more profit for developers" they cried. "It'll work out better for everyone this way" they insisted. Yeah, right, that's why HL2 still cost the same via Steam as it did in the shops.

largely due to the... complex.. situation regarding ownership and publishing rights, with valve/ea/vivendi.

more interesting is that steam *finally* is getting used as intended - Ragdoll Kung Fu and Darwinia are small titles by tiny dev teams which can reach millions of people in a way they never could through normal means (RDKF is too zany for most publishers, Darwinia was published by a small UK company only)

[stirfry999]

could someone please help me playing half life 1 i am stuck on the level we have got hostiles i get into lift to go to next level but the lift sticks and i lose all my lifes should i be doing something before i go into lift hope i have put this in the right place been stuck on this level for two weeks hope someone can help

[directhex]

you resurrected a two and a half year old thread to ask about being stick in a nine year old game? O_o

[Bluecube]

Lol! Stirfry999, try googling for Half Life and walkthrough and you'll probably come up trumps.

[tehsucks]

The funny thing is it hardly had anything to do with the thread...

[Bluecube]

Everyone's a newbie at some point in their life