Blizzcon. The life and times of PC gaming.

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).

Games Shops. The end is nigh.

I often get asked, what is the biggest difference between gaming in the 80s and gaming now. Ok, I never get asked that question. Its just a subject I ponder to myself whilst mowing the lawn.

Better Graphics? Yeah. Maybe.

80s v Now*

The list of advancements from the 'good ol days' and now is endless. Truth be told gaming was not that hot back then, its mostly nostalgia. Nobody is giving up World of Warcraft or Call of Duty for Q-Bert on the ColecoVision. Nobody.

But I digress. As I type this, my Xbox 360 is downloading part 2 of the 'New User Experience'. Its basically a nip and tuck of an update, except for the ability to purchase full retail games online and digitally download them. This is the definition of the biggest change since gaming in the 80s. Our method of consuming games is undergoing a revolution. As a by-product, the local games shop is going bye-bye.

There is background to this move away from physical stores. The biggest sore-point for game publishers towards their retail 'partners' is the ever-growing 2nd hand market. Its no secret that games publishers detest the trade/buy scheme being advertised from every in-store banner. It cuts them out of a revenue stream, a stream that games retailers are happy to shower themselves in. Then we add in to the mix packaging and distribution costs. The icing on the cake are the retail price-wars that lower consumer expectations of how much games should cost. Publishers would love an exit-stage left from the world of bricks and mortar retailing, and thanks to approaching universality of broadband amongst gamers....its coming.

Ok, tumble weeds crossing your local games retailer is not going to happen tomorrow. The sign-posts are clear though. Sony is tipping their toe into the digital only pond with the PSP GO. Microsoft has made their intentions clear with this latest 360 Dashboard update. And the PC? Goodness me, Steam is the PC gamer's first stop these days. Ask any games retailer about PC sales, and you'll get a frown and a finger pointing to the dark and dusty back shelf. Where is it all heading? Look for the PS4 and the Xbox 720 to have huge hard disks and not an optical drive in sight.

Is this good or bad for we gamers? Buying any game we want, anytime we want whilst eating pizza in our underwear is obviously a positive evolution of human society. That angle has win all over it. There are though problems too long to discuss here, in regards to centralized pricing (ie games purchased from a single source = expensive) and the murky issues of digital ownership. For me though, it will be the loss of the local games store.

Now I know these are not what they used to be. Large chain stores were a dubious replacement of the old-school indie games shop, complete with 'game expert' guy. Chain stores are pressure-cooker environments filled with machine gun marketing techniques and sales staff that seem trained to annoy. Well that's the stereotype anyway. My local chain store is staffed with friendly, no-pressure fellow gamers. I certainly don't want to see them out of a job, and equally important the local games store is still a real-world social contact for gamers. If you haven't lined up for a midnight release of a World of Warcraft expansion, shame on you. Its an event!

So go down to your nearest games-store, scour the shelves for a special. Warn a parent that their teenage son really wont like the Wii. Argue with a clerk over the need for an extended disc warranty. The tide is changing, there's probably no stopping it.

*Screenshots sourced from the ET Atari 2600 and Crysis Wikipedia pages.