Play to win

Posted on 10 Mar 2009 at 12:43

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As well as anti-piracy protection and digital distribution services, Steam also offers many of the features provided by its console counterparts such as Xbox Live and Microsoft's Games for Windows - Live, as well as a host of extras. Steam's features include server browsing, which lets you view lists of games servers and filter out those you don't want. It also supports 'Achievements', a concept that allows players to gather points every time they achieve something in a game. These points amount to bragging rights. Steam also allows players to communicate with each other, sending messages to friends and even tracking what games they're playing. It has added a host of community features to PC gaming that have traditionally been associated with consoles.

The success of sites such as Steam and Microsoft's Games For Windows - Live, along with immersive games such as World of Warcraft, prove that PC gaming is still very much alive. It's a sentiment also held by many of the industry's leading developers and publishers.

"Stories that PC gaming is dead aren't worth the recycled newsprint upon which they're published," claims Doug Lombardi. "Take a good look at World of WarCraft revenues, the growth of Steam, the advent of core/casual games such as Garry's MOD and Audiosurf, the micro-transaction titles coming out of Asia (MapleStory, Crazyracing Kartrider and so on), and then tell me that you believe the PC is dead."

The market-leaders in video games are also fully aware that console gaming is the dominant market. "Consoles have overtaken PCs in many ways because of the set specification for each one, and the ease of use of online gaming," explains Miles Jacobson, studio director of UK developer Sports Interactive. Kieran Brigden, studio communications manager at The Creative Assembly, agrees. "Console gaming offers a consistent and stable gaming platform. You buy a console game and the performance and experience you get from it is assured. The problem is that you are at the mercy of the lifecycle of the hardware. If you can keep in the PC arms race you can always experience cutting-edge gaming with every new release."

Decision time

While a quality gaming PC remains more expensive than any of its three console rivals, year-on-year costs show that the gap between a mid-range PC setup and a console isn't necessarily as large as it may seem.

Ultimately, your decision as to which gaming system to choose when you next upgrade will come down to several factors, including your budget, your preferred gaming location - the living room or a spare room - your favourite controlling device (gamepad or mouse and keyboard), game genre preference and online gaming requirements.

Whichever type of machine you finally decide upon, the next few years look bright for all options. Perhaps one day there may come a time when PC gaming is officially declared dead, but in the current climate, and for the foreseeable future, there's still plenty of life in the old dog yet.

Author: Martin Korda