Any gamers around here?

[Nonsensei]

The price and the simplicity. A console lets you pop in a disc and play. A PC generally requires you to install the software and then find and open it.

Don't underestimate how much easier it is to get people to use something if it's a no-brainer. Most people don't want to think about it.

(And any move by console makers to make their console more pc-like by adding operating systems and other controls as such is a risky one. The simplicity of it all is definately a console selling point.)

Playing a game on PC has never been easier. In fact I would say its even easier than playing a game on a console, because you no longer have to go to the brick and mortar store and buy a physical copy of the game. Download the game. Launch the game. Never even have to leave your chair.

[Plu]

That's assuming you have already installed Steam, registered an account, have it running, figured out how to find the steam store on the web, ran the transaction to buy the game, and have all your drivers up to date.

It's simple for people who know how it's done and have everything set up. You'd be surprised how many don't want to deal with any of that setup though and would prefer to just pick up a game when buying groceries and then pop it in the device and play it.

[Hydra009]

I cant really agree. The only reason someone might say consoles excel at platforming and fighting games and the like is because the controller is most suited for those types of games.

And because the people who make platformers and fighting games primarily make 'em for consoles, not PCs.

I'm well aware that PC specs are better.  But all the specs in the world don't matter when the devs are making the game for some other system, which you must then port or emulate.

[Nonsensei]

I cant really agree. The only reason someone might say consoles excel at platforming and fighting games and the like is because the controller is most suited for those types of games.

And because the people who make platformers and fighting games primarily make 'em for consoles, not PCs.

I'm well aware that PC specs are better.  But all the specs in the world don't matter when the devs are making the game for some other system, which you must then port or emulate.

Thats circular. Consoles have a stranglehold on these genres because the devs develop for them because consoles have a stranglehold on these genres.

[Nonsensei]

That's assuming you have already installed Steam, registered an account, have it running, figured out how to find the steam store on the web, ran the transaction to buy the game, and have all your drivers up to date.

It's simple for people who know how it's done and have everything set up. You'd be surprised how many don't want to deal with any of that setup though and would prefer to just pick up a game when buying groceries and then pop it in the device and play it.

First of all, I'm pretty sure you have to register your console when you first start it up and connect it to the internet. If you get charged for the online service you need to enter in all your personal info too.  Anyone who can do that is capable of signing up for any account online.

I can't help but feel you're reaching. This isn't 1980 anymore where people 'just don't unnerstan them new fangld lektrnic doohickeys". Got a smartphone? Done anything with it ever? You have the technical baseline needed to download and install Steam. All the customers we are talking about are kids who have grown up around this technology, or adults who know it and have made a hobby out of it.

[Plu]

Circular, but true. If everyone plays fighting games on a console, and you want to make a fighting game, you make it for the console everyone plays fighting games on.

What the original reason for people playing on that console is, no longer matters. What matters is that they do and you will be more succesful if you also do it.

[Nonsensei]

Circular, but true. If everyone plays fighting games on a console, and you want to make a fighting game, you make it for the console everyone plays fighting games on.

What the original reason for people playing on that console is, no longer matters. What matters is that they do and you will be more succesful if you also do it.

But the original supposition is:

That's fine. Consoles excel at certain genres (platforming, fighting, etc) and PCs excel at certain other genres (strategy, sim, etc). It all depends on what you're into.

When in reality they don't excel at them. They are equal to or inferior platforms to PC's. The only reason games continue to be made for them is because they have traditionally been made for them. So its really the opposite of what you said. Its not that the original reason no longer matters. Its literally the only thing that matters because its the only reason that the game continue to appear on consoles more than PC's.

[Hydra009]

That's assuming you have already installed Steam, registered an account, have it running, figured out how to find the steam store on the web, ran the transaction to buy the game, and have all your drivers up to date.

It's simple for people who know how it's done and have everything set up. You'd be surprised how many don't want to deal with any of that setup though and would prefer to just pick up a game when buying groceries and then pop it in the device and play it.

And it's also pretty commonplace to have to troubleshoot PC games more than console games.  Games are designed around system specs, and console specs are uniform while PC specs vary wildly.

But on the plus side, we get...

[spoil:ao8b0d5k][/spoil:ao8b0d5k]

[Plu]

That's assuming you have already installed Steam, registered an account, have it running, figured out how to find the steam store on the web, ran the transaction to buy the game, and have all your drivers up to date.

It's simple for people who know how it's done and have everything set up. You'd be surprised how many don't want to deal with any of that setup though and would prefer to just pick up a game when buying groceries and then pop it in the device and play it.

First of all, I'm pretty sure you have to register your console when you first start it up and connect it to the internet. If you get charged for the online service you need to enter in all your personal info too.  Anyone who can do that is capable of signing up for any account online.

I can't help but feel you're reaching. This isn't 1980 anymore where people 'just don't unnerstan them new fangld lektrnic doohickeys". Got a smartphone? Done anything with it ever? You have the technical baseline needed to download and install Steam. All the customers we are talking about are kids who have grown up around this technology, or adults who know it and have made a hobby out of it.

I'm not actually one of these people, if that's what you're thinking. The only console I have it a PS2 and I never use it. But as much as it might suck (I wish consoles would just die out and be assimilated by PCs) it's how it is.

Even though the actual, physical steps for gaming on your pc aren't that hard, people still perceive them as hard, and they perceive them as easier on the console (which I think actually guides you through it better, but I can't be sure as I've never done it).

I agree that it's in large part just perception, but until we find a way to change that perception, nothing will change.

(That and the fact that the console is hooked up to the tv with a comfortable couch while the pc is usually hooked up to a monitor on a desk. Which of course is also just a matter of perception, but again, until you change that perception, it will remain.)

[Hydra009]

Thats circular. Consoles have a stranglehold on these genres because the devs develop for them because consoles have a stranglehold on these genres.

You're confusing circular logic with vicious cycle (aka feedback loop)

[Nonsensei]

That's assuming you have already installed Steam, registered an account, have it running, figured out how to find the steam store on the web, ran the transaction to buy the game, and have all your drivers up to date.

It's simple for people who know how it's done and have everything set up. You'd be surprised how many don't want to deal with any of that setup though and would prefer to just pick up a game when buying groceries and then pop it in the device and play it.

First of all, I'm pretty sure you have to register your console when you first start it up and connect it to the internet. If you get charged for the online service you need to enter in all your personal info too.  Anyone who can do that is capable of signing up for any account online.

I can't help but feel you're reaching. This isn't 1980 anymore where people 'just don't unnerstan them new fangld lektrnic doohickeys". Got a smartphone? Done anything with it ever? You have the technical baseline needed to download and install Steam. All the customers we are talking about are kids who have grown up around this technology, or adults who know it and have made a hobby out of it.

I'm not actually one of these people, if that's what you're thinking. The only console I have it a PS2 and I never use it. But as much as it might suck (I wish consoles would just die out and be assimilated by PCs) it's how it is.

Even though the actual, physical steps for gaming on your pc aren't that hard, people still perceive them as hard, and they perceive them as easier on the console (which I think actually guides you through it better, but I can't be sure as I've never done it).

I agree that it's in large part just perception, but until we find a way to change that perception, nothing will change.

(That and the fact that the console is hooked up to the tv with a comfortable couch while the pc is usually hooked up to a monitor on a desk. Which of course is also just a matter of perception, but again, until you change that perception, it will remain.)

Reducing your argument to a matter of perception feels a a bit unfair. Its too easy to assert and too hard to get the evidence needed to disprove.

[Plu]

The only evidence I can offer is the fact that you and I both agree that on a technical level a console is totally inferior to a pc, and yet they remain wildly popular with a lot of people, even though almost all the hardcore gaming happens on pcs.

In a world where everyone would invest the amount of thought and rationality into the purchase of a gaming device as we did, I'm pretty sure consoles would be dead. But they're not. And all console gamers I know (which aren't an awful lot because I mostly know hardcore gamers, none which even own a console) use the same reasoning; perceived simplicity.

[Nonsensei]

The only evidence I can offer is the fact that you and I both agree that on a technical level a console is totally inferior to a pc, and yet they remain wildly popular with a lot of people, even though almost all the hardcore gaming happens on pcs.

In a world where everyone would invest the amount of thought and rationality into the purchase of a gaming device as we did, I'm pretty sure consoles would be dead. But they're not. And all console gamers I know (which aren't an awful lot because I mostly know hardcore gamers, none which even own a console) use the same reasoning; perceived simplicity.

You and I agree on the technical inferiority of consoles, but as I explained, I feel the reason people continue to buy consoles they know are inferior to PC's is because of price. And I think its very hard to argue with that. If high end - or even moderately powerful- gaming PC's were the same price as consoles, consoles would be out of business by the end of the year.

[Plu]

In that case we should see the new consoles crash pretty badly, because they'll come in at around $500 which I'm pretty sure is more than you pay for a budget PC that has comparable specs. (Excluding the monitor, since we don't include the cost of the TV with the console as well, and the price of a new TV usually eclipses that of a new PC setup on its own)

[Nonsensei]

In that case we should see the new consoles crash pretty badly, because they'll come in at around $500 which I'm pretty sure is more than you pay for a budget PC that has comparable specs. (Excluding the monitor, since we don't include the cost of the TV with the console as well, and the price of a new TV usually eclipses that of a new PC setup on its own)

The only way you can get the specs of a next gen console in a PC for the same price is if you shopped for the parts yourself built it with your own two hands, and that actually is a level of tech savvy I don't expect everyone to have as a baseline. And even then $500 is really pushing it. You can buy a dell for $500, but you'll be lucky if it can open Excel in under 30 seconds.