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General: Death of the Computer
Drew
Member Posts: 434
MMORPG.com's own Coyote Sharptongue is back at it again and this week, he's taking direct aim at something as simple as an overheard statement in an electronics store; "In a few years, no one will be using or even owning a home computer". See what Coyote's reaction looks like in this week's edition of Coyote's Howling.
"In a few years, no one will be using or even owning a home computer."
I overheard that statement while standing in line at an electronics store, and it frightened the living hell out of me.
Because for a half second, I almost agreed.
Think about it: Cell phones and tablets can do almost everything a PC can do in terms of internet, media, and work applications. They’re a bit too weak for true gaming, (playing Angry Birds does not make you a real gamer, it makes you my mother) but given enough time and technology, that could easily change. And if for some reason it doesn’t change, console systems are gobbling up the old computer gaming market faster than Amy Winehouse in an inappropriately-too-soon-analogy involving rampant drug use.
Which is the very thought that sparked one of my greatest fears – being forced to game solely on a console system. This is a horrifying thought, because...
...I kind of suck with a game controller.
Read more of Coyote's Howling: The Death of the Computer.
Comments
PC's are much more amenable to having content delivered over the interwebs. This is part of the reason why you are seeing 0 games in Gamestop. The other part is (if I am any indication) a 'computer' person is more likely to head over to Best Buy or someplace like that to buy a game. There are games, peripherals and big screen televisions to look at. A store isn't going to have stock for people who don't come in to their store.
I think PC gaming will be around for a good while yet.
* For indie developers, the PC is much easier to develop for. It's only the high end games that want to push the envelope that really have issues with system configuration. The indie market for the XBox360 and PS3 is virtually non-existent compared to the indie market for the PC.
* People want to have control over the stuff they buy. Cell phone manufacturers are starting to get this and they are starting to ship their phones 'unlocked'. Console developers are not ready to do that yet. A PC gives the user as close to full control as you can get.
** edit **
I do think that eventually, the PC will go away. Sort of. It'll still be a computer, it'll just look different. Like your little smart phone will be your PC. They're nearly up there with most business PCs right now anyway. You'll just dock your phone and it'll display on your big screen instead of your hand held screen.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
A console IS a PC, a handicapped one.
LMAO
I really liked this article. I also agree that there are "competitors" attempting to push the PC into obscurity. Those competitors and their other Tech may get their way if the Investor Elites get their way as usual.
I have tried many times console games (I have 6 kids and 4 grandkids, plenty of invitations to play) and I myself just don't "like", "enjoy", or "prefer" gaming consoles *or* the games designed for them. I am a sandbox MMOer and "MMO virtual world" lover at heart so this is no surprise to me... I have yet to see a sandbox MMO designed for console.
I agree with how the author put it..... no matter how many times I use "chopsticks"... a controller with a gaming console.... I secretly wish for my "%$@#*&;! fork back"...keyboard and mouse back...with my PC's abilities to go along with them.
My PC won't be hidden away in my "sanctuary" or "cave", it will be right in plain site in my home so all who visit can see what they lost when other tech pushed PC's into the shadows.
I too much prefer keyboard/mouse to controller. But in my case, it's the action games, like Batman AA, or Uncharted that I suck at with controller. The gymnastics I am asked to perform with my digits are beyond me. Firing a gun? Not so hard. Flipping in midair while hurling a batarang? Not gonna happen. And unfortunately, many of these games are console only, so although I would love to play them, alas I sucketh too hard to succeed.
[quote]Using a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard is the equivalent to learning how to use chopsticks. No matter how adept you become with them, you're only going to use them around friends that use them, and the entire time you do you're going to be secretly wishing for a goddamn fork.[/quote]
I love that quote so much
Why i prefer PC atm
1) Control, mouse and keyboard are simply unmatched in multiple gaming genres and as PC gamers we could easily use a 360ish type controller for the other stuff.
2) Graphics!! My games look amazing! You could slap two PS3s together and my rig will pump out the pixels much better than that dusty kids toy.
3) MOd communities, the guys/gals that mod games increase playtime big time for the gamer savy enough to know how to install them. a good example? Oblivion! With mobs running its probably the greatest rpg ever created... I consider it a gift from god her self lol
4) MMORPG, RTS, two gaming genres that suck balls on console thrive here.
5) Piracy, I know, its a bad thing to steal but come on!!!! if i wanted to i can get every new game, movie, album and program for free... I can demo anything i want before i buy and i can play old games through emulation when they are discountinued.
6) Im not looked down apon as a PC gamer. to the general public im only using my PC which everyone has for surfing the net and doing watever. Im a 30 something put a controller in my hand and everyone thinks im some big kid, loser living in my moms basement (even though i own businesses and my own home lol)
7) no wife aggro LOL! If i was sitting in the middle of my living room with a 360 remote in my hands 5+ hours a day my wife would chew me up and spit me out. With my PC its tucked away, i can avoid her and game for 10+ hours if i want and she would hardly notice!!!!
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
Oh you make me laugh...
PC's as we know it will disappear, we'll have a home entertainment system, powered by a... PC!
You can't eliminate the keyboard, sure you can put it on a touchscreen, but it is still a keyboard. The same with the mouse really, I don't think that will go away before it is still a better control system for most non-gaming operations than touchscreen.
At the end of the day, the PC is the only thing that will survive, because it already does everything that people will want a single machine to do, they'll just wrap it up in a fancy branded name and hide it away behind some shiny designer casing.
While I'm not a console hater like most PC gamers, I can't see giving up my computer for something like the ipad or phone. Until I can use software like CS5 suite or Reason on an ipad, that's never going to happen. Also, I can't imagine doing anything other than simple tasks on a tablet.
I would stick to consoles for games if there were more MMOs (and good ones), but that's not the case. I actually prefer controllers to the keyboard and mouse. It's just a lot more comfortable.
I can't understand the shortsightedness of these "consoles will replace computers" claims.
If you actually look at what's happening in the real world, you'll notice a trend . . . it's called convergence.
Computers are the only thing that have remained what they are - computers. Every other device is converging onto that point.
Phones/Tablets - miniature computers
Consoles - evolving into "media systems" and people have already modded them to carry an OS, in other words, they're becoming more computer like and less console like.
Will "home computers" be replaced? Yes, of course. By other computers. They might be smaller, but as technology advances more power will be available in smaller packages. If you look at the first gameboy vs a 3DS or PSP, there's a world of difference. Within the next decade, games like Crysis will be playable on a .5 inch thick tablet. So instead of a "home computer" you'll have a portable computer and a dock station at home with a nice big screen, and input devices.
The whole console argument is silly, because as consoles becomes more powerful, then what differentiates them from PC's? The closer they get to PC hardware, the more the games can cross platform . . . so . . .
Excellent article. Hats off to you, Coyote!
No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions
in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem.
-Glen Cook
i even prefer playing action hack and slash single player games on the pc then on a console
ever tried coding a game with a controler?
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
You are looking at this too narrow-mindedly. You work at the production level, as a lot of us on here do. PCs are production machines while tablets/phones/future devices are consumption devices. There will always be PCs because the developers need them to produce the content. The percentage of average people who have PCs will drop over time because most are just interested in watching videos, reading the news, checking email/facebook, browsing the net, etc. We, specifically those of use who work in the tech industry, tend to forget that most people don't care about using the CS suite or programming whatever latest homebrew project you are currently working on.
I see PC gaming becoming a niche market. It already is becoming one if you look at how focused the developers are on consoles.
Here's the key misunderstanding:
"They’re [phones/tablets] a bit too weak for true gaming, but given enough time and technology, that could easily change."
I find it REALLY odd that people think for some reason that phone/tablet technology will improve, but PC technology won't. They're probably the same people who see a game played on the best system with the best vid card of the time and say, "Man, graphics can't possibly get better than this!"... every year, year after year despite the fact that there are major differences in graphic quality between a modern game and a game that is 5-ish years old.
And yes, I know there's more to a game than gfx. And there's generally more to a modern game than there is one that's 5 years old. And if there isn't, then that's more on the developer than it is the technology.
And then, there's the ergonomics to consider. The idea of hunching over a smart phone/ tablet for hours and hours of gaming makes my neck and eyes hurt just thinking about it.
Smartphones are great for gaming while you're sitting around in a waiting room somewhere, or waiting for a flight. Tablets are great for sitting on your couch checking out blogs and news articles, and a bit of gaming between commercials while you watch TV. But neither is good for writing your own blogs/articles, writing term papers, press releases, letters to Octagenarian relatives, etc. When something requires your undivided attention, focus, and control, they just don't work. NOT because of the technology, but because of the ergonomic state you're in when you use such a thing.
Now, it IS possible, even likely, that in 10 years there will be fewer full on Desktop machines in use, but I suspect it will be more like a server/ wireless terminal access point based system. A system where you can have a "terminal" with a 30" monitor with "retina screen-like" resolution, where you game just like you always have; you just don't have a big box nearby making all kinds of noise. It's a big ol' server down in the basement, with every bit of power and customizability as you've always had.
ummm pc will not go any were you cant repair a phone yourself you cant upgrade it. there alot of things you can do to pc then phones and consles.... i know i been builing computers over 10 years i dont see pc going any were. pc will always get better and faster then plain phones. plus its bigger it can handle alot of software and hardware work and pcs are use to make video games and people who do grachic stuff so nope pc ant dieing:P
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I dont see it happening in the next 5 years at least
yes consumer tech is getting cheaper and cheaper and more portable
macs are still selling strong and I assume PCs are also
Mac sales have tripled in the last 5 years -- altho iphones are outselling them
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/21/strong_mac_sales/
EQ2 fan sites
Apple and Microsoft both are seeing a change in how we use PCs. Mac OS Lion is the start down the path to a touch-based operating system on a desktop computer and Windows 8 is supposed to increase the integration of touch control.
really you are wrong my friend alot of people own pcs man even at home even people who build them and sell them you cant determine the furture with this post you are wrong.
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Actually it's the other way around, Consoles are PC's with ZERO handicaps, a modern PC has tons of them, for a start they need to be running an OS thats bloated and not designed for gaming, they then need all kinds of abstraction layers and drivers all over the place.
If some smart geek could write and OS that turns a HOME PC into nothing more than a console, playing what ever game is in the drive and running only the drivers and code needed to make it execute the player would see a massive jump in their PC's performance, even though their hardware didnt change.
I agree that FPS games are a lot more difficult, for me, when trying to use a controller. I can't even imagine trying to use a controller for an RTS like Starcraft.
On another note, Personal Computers are a hobby in and of themselves. Many gamers who use PCs are hobbyists of both. You really can't sup up a console or change the parts around like you would in the engine of a hot rod. You just buy the next one when it comes out.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.