Blizzcon has come and gone. If you were lucky enough to attend, I stand envious of your geek status! My inner geek needs to one day cosplay as a Gnome, but alas this was not the year for it. I spent the opening hours of Blizzcon, staring excitedly at the screen with multiple Twitter windows open. Reading comments, viewing pics and watching the occasional Youtube video posted. Thanks to the wonders of social media, I was 'almost' there - minus Ozzy Osbourne yelling at me.
All in all, a real spectacle. What is it about Blizzard? Carefully crafted games, attention to detail and an understanding of the 'x factor' of gameplay. These factors have seem them become the gold standard of game developers. And all of this mega-success currently built on the foundations of the PC, a gaming platform we are told is on the wane.
Im a PC gamer, first and foremost. Whilst I enjoy my 360, it is the PC that holds my gaming heart. Being floored the first time I saw Doom. Literally. Serving The Emperor in Tie Fighter. Trying to get the sound working on my "100% sound blaster compatible" card for Syndicate back in the early 90s. Ahh my x86 CPU, it was only you and me back then buddy. Consoles were for kids. We were adults!
But that was then. The present is somewhat different. Retail sales are down, and the PC is becoming the last port of call in relation to 'hot' console releases. The PC needs a gaming rescue package. Here goes...
1. Graphics card marketing hi-jinks. A few years back I was out of gaming for about a year. Upon my return , I set out to buy a new graphics card. What faced me was a bamboozling array of 9500 pro, x750 this and that. It took me a few weeks of solid research to get my head around this 'sub-culture' of graphics card confusion. I had a couple of hundred dollars ready to spend, but marketing got in the way of handing over my cash. Nvidia and Ati need to get back to basics in advertising their products.
2. Abandon Retail. There comes a time in any war, when the loser should just bow out. Its time for PC games publishers to wave the white flag and head to online distribution. The PC games section in the majority of retailers is defined by poor selection and bad placement. This sends the wrong message to new PC owners. Online services such as Steam and Impulse present the truth of PC games, that being good value and incredible diversity.
3. Integrated graphics cards need to die a death. A typical scenario is that people often purchase a PC for 'business and education - not silly games'. That is until Dad sees screen shots of Half Life 2, Mum sees the new Sims and Grandma wants to become a raid leader in World of Warcraft. The problem arises when the new PC's integrated graphics chip suddenly wimps out at the newly installed game demo. Developers and manufacturers need to get together and fix this. Sub-standard gaming PCs shuts out potential gamers from the start.
4. DRM hurts customers. Ive had more than one game that refused to install due to its 'disc copyright system' (aka pain in the backside), not being compatible with my DVD drive. Pirates will be pirates. Most of the time they dont even play the games they steal. Its about the thrill of getting something new, play for 5 minutes and onto the next torrent. PC gaming consumers want to play their games, and DRM just punishes the honest. Banish barriers.
Oh and bring back space flight sims. Ok, its my Blog and this is an indulgence. Where did these games go?!?! Wing Commander, X-Wing, Freespace how I miss thee! (well except escort missions, they are evil).
No comments:
Post a Comment