What used to be cool about PC games is that there were genres on the platform that you couldn't get on consoles. I'm kind of out of the loop, but it feels like PC games nowadays are just graphically superior versions of stuff on Xbox 360. Or MMORPGS (and I have zero interest in those). Am I way off base here, as far as PC game trends?
As far as my current favorite game genre is concerned, yes you are wrong.
you can't get decent racing simulators on consoles, sorry folks, but GT5 and Forza4 are arcade racers.
At least when you compare it with the likes of GTR², Race07, Live for Speed, rFactor2, iRacing and pCars.
Motorracing is a passion of mine, and these kinda of games are exclusive for PCs.
Gotcha. Well, even then it's just a technically superior version (or different branch) of a genre that already exists.
Things I don't see on consoles: Dungeon crawlers, flight simulators, RTS (console attempts fall flat), sim-style game, Diablo-like action RPGs
which are all genres that have always been historically mostly shit on consoles, and great on PC's. other than maybe Diablo-like action RPG's, of which there's arguably been many on consoles aside from the Roguelike elements.
don't get me wrong with my poking fun at Bonkers' post of technological googab and narwhals. my reasons for poking fun aren't because i'm anti-PC gaming (i'm certainly not) but more because the posts strike me as being so silly. maybe it's because i paid so much attention to the hardware wars in the late 90's/early 00's 3Dfx era where
actually noticeable gigantic leaps and bounds were being made monthly in technology. since roughly when the 360 came out, graphical quality has pretty much hit a wall. what improvements in the PC market have been made mostly amount to a lot of bullshit buzzwords and barely perceptible flouncy nonsense that does little to actually improve the gameplay experience.
which is also why i love PC gaming so much right now- even a moderately low end machine like mine can play games like Skyrim and Arkham City at a
completely acceptable detail level and framerate. i had roughly the same level\age of machine when Doom 3 came out, and it pretty much just sputtered and died. some blame consoles for "holding back" what PC games are capable of looking like today, but what the fuck ever. the leap between the next generation of consoles is going to be absolutely miniscule compared to the leaps we've seen before.
the bloated high-risk financial juggernauts that AAA gee-whiz games have become seems to have finally reached their inevitable zenith and downfall, and that's inevitably going to be great news for PC gamers. the wealth of fucking amazing independent games on Steam has been awesome for the last couple years, and it's only going to get better. the best part? they're largely going to be completely accessible to anyone with a working semi-modern computer. so long, master race.
um, all that said, most of what i've been playing lately has been older adventure games and replaying Fallout 1/2.
has anyone else played Blade Runner? the game from 1997. if you're not familiar, it's a side-story to the movie and doesn't star Harrison Ford's character. my first playthrough of it was pretty recent, but also struck me as kind of boring. the game has a lot of random elements to help give a genre that's known for lacking replay value a bit of a boost in the department. that playthrough handed me what seemed to be the least exciting turns of events possible. this time, however, it's been a lot better AND has made a lot more sense plot-wise. it's definitely worth checking out by whatever means necessary, even if it isn't nearly as sharp as the source material it's related to.
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