Feature: PC's versus Consoles

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McGonigle (continued): To add injury to insult, developers are now in a situation where they have to develop for several consoles, and the number is currently getting bigger as Nintendo launches a platform, Gizmondo is also starting to make a noise, the handheld PSP is introduced, and versions for mobile phones have to be considered as well.

Money will only be spent on what sells and games will be forced down your throat with hugely expensive and glitzy marketing campaigns.

There are no issues about hardware incompatibility, provided you don't try to play a title that is intended for one console, on a different platform. You don't have to worry about having to upgrade your software and hardware, but that also means that you are stuck with the same hardware and machineware for the entire longevity of the platform. How old is the PS2? or the Xbox? When will the next generation consoles become obsolete?

No user-made mods, and this is why there will never ever be a flight-sim like FS9 or any train-sims developed for console. Those titles are better suited for the PC user.

Console may be great for the kids and for sharing a bit of gaming with your kids, but I believe that the more adult and sim-oriented gamers will stick with the PC's for quite a while yet. Certainly I will stick with the PC even if I'm the last person playing GPL, BoB2, rFactor, FS9 etc. Too me, these sims, or games if you will contain more depth, will give me sensible challenges instead of just testing my reaction time, and they will hold my interest for a long long time to come.

Beach: Jens, my thoughts as well. I can't comment with much authority since I don't own a console, but I have played a few games on consoles that friends and family members have and the control issues, the gamepad, really frustrated me.

I figure the gaming world is just a microcosm of the rest of the world out there. When I look at the "normal" persons choices in movies, music and television it doesn't exactly surprise me that crap titles on consoles AND even PCs sell big . "The Sims 8 Big Daddy Rapper Edition." Just like some great films never make big bucks, I see the same thing happening with great simulation titles. I wonder how many units Dangerous Waters has sold? I wonder if it made a profit?

Chunx: Good points guys, reminds me of the dinner discussions we had at E3.

Like 20mm said, its not the platform, its the content. We should review sim titles as they appear on console. GR3 might be one of them. Don't associate all future console games with mindless trash. Adapt or die is the point.

PS3 and Xbox 360 are a whole new breed of console. Envison a sci-fi future coming where the evolution of PC and console and home entertainment center all merge into one. Consoles aren't eating PCs, they're growing together. Future consoles lack only more robust peripheral interfaces and a bit more processing oomph to be usable for our kind of game. That's coming.

As said before, adapt or die. Sim folks, developers, and the marketplace, need to see a way to make the leap and enter the new console market. Racing sims are the easiest first leap, my opinion, because the physics can be put in there and the "HOTAS" is easy — limited buttons required and Logitech already has a nice FF wheel for PS2. After that, more robust, less dumbed down tactical shooters could be there. If Saitek made a keypad that was more ergonomic for land shooters than a keyboard, yet many more buttons, wheels and hats than a game pad, you could run a full-up OFP2 on a console assuming the processing power was there. Last would be flight sims, especially modern jet sims, with huge HOTAS requirements to fully enjoy the game.

Guys, money talks, BS walks. Consoles are cheaper, and the kids all live there now. Reaching a younger market is where the hobby derives longevity with a new generation of players. We need to vote with our wallets to let the producers know that our market share is still viable for extra profits "in the margins" when the mindless zombie market hits a lull.

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