*snort* graphics, graphics, DX11, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda...and its still the same old FPS shooter gameplay mechanics that have been done and done and done over and over and over again. I tell you, PC gaming is dead.
Between Angry Bird mobile phone ports, and this console-shlocky (Only with prettier graphics so the whiners with specced-out rigs can have something to brag about or justify their purchases) and stupendously simple and brain-jarringly boring or pointless indie 'hits' like Minecraft (oh gee, its Legoland!, only for adults!) and the prevalence of all the free-to-play nickel and diming strategies (to lock in customers and keep them playing and paying thinner and less impactful content doled out over a longer period of time with the other 'needy' and 'safety-blanket'-generation, social-yaks?) and cheap downloadable games (So long as you can afford that non-quota'd broadband connection and you enjoy frappy mobile phone fare!) and ....well, let me shut up here. I'm sure I've lost about 75% of anyone who'd bother reading anyway.
*But the rant continues!
*
Sure, Deus Ex 3 looks like a decent *PC* game, Portal 2 was sorta good (though it doesn't go far enough or last long enough) and Skyrim can probably be fixed via the built-in modding tools (I'm sure it'll need it with the dumbed-down stats system), but I have no illusions that things will get better or that I haven't seen the best of what PC gaming has to offer to/for me.
Its not really that I look forward to new games anymore as it is, and maybe I shouldn't. I've got a backlog of games (PC *and* console) that stretches back into the 90's! I guess this is the next generation of PC gaming, where computer magazines (PC Magazine. there, I said it.) and computer and computer-tech-oriented sites cover smart phones, e-book readers and pseudo-interface devices (tablets) more than they do computer and laptop technology. Where pleasing technology is more about fashion, flash and flair than flexibility, function and features. And PC Gamer magazine is all for anything (MMORPGs, free-to-play, indie, tablet gaming, smartphone gaming, consoles, sub-par PC titles that sell very well) that keeps it from joining the likes of CGW/GfW.
Okay, sure maybe I *am* an old fogey wishing things were what they weren't, but I'd still love to see a Dungeon Keeper 3, a Magic Carpet 3 or a decently done Mechwarrior 5 with the latest eye-candy, but similar and solid play-content (before/if/when) the PC/console gaming market crashes from saturation. I know, I know..the sad thing is that they probably wouldn't sell very well. They'd have to be very simple and very brightly colored and look just like a smart phone app before anyone would bother *cry* *cry*. And where the hell is Half-life 3?! (I'm sure Valve is trying to find a way to tie it more tightly to Steam so that you have to pay for various in-game content 'upgrades'. Maybe instead of having Alex you can purchase various other 'companions' to try and save or maybe you can pay to call in airstrikes on a group of enemies...oh crap...I shouldn't put ideas into their heads, God knows they'd do it too.) I suppose they don't care really. They're making so much money off of Steam they don't really need to put in the effort and actually make good games which the gamers actually want. And they know that Half-life 2 was border-line anyways. More is expected from HL3 and they're probably not up to it.
Even with the changes I still prefer PC gaming. Not *because* of the changes of course, because even *with* the changes I can still play old games which played the way I enjoyed playing them and easily find other people who also still enjoy playing those games and even others who've made those games easier and better to play than they were. Not with the much-touted 'DLCs' and 'mods', but just with patches, fixes, FAQs, info and recommendations on running the game on whatever Os. You don't need a specific make of hardware to run a PC game either (Though it makes it easier sometimes). Oh yeah...and being able to play smile-inducing 'arcade' favorites and original 16-bit 'console' classics from gaming eras gone are pluses (Thank God! for growing up in the 80's and 90's when so many extinct, but original and great gaming platforms were alive and thriving!! Gamers today not in the know can never be in the know of what they've missed all because their expectations are so different.)
Anyways. Even when its dying. Even when it dies. PC gaming forever.
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