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+--- Thread: PC gaming has been really picking up these past few years (/showthread.php?tid=6918)
PC gaming has been really picking up these past few years - Dark Jaguar - 16th November 2015
I've been noticing that as of late, a LOT of what would traditionally be "console-only" games have been getting the PC port treatment. To be sure, there have been some pretty awful ports (the latest Batman game, for example), but more notably is just how many games are getting brought over. In fact, a number of "mobile remakes" of classic games have started moving onto Steam too. Whole series are getting this treatment, and we're seeing AAA games getting the PC carpet rolled out like Phantom Pain more often. I think the most notable ones, in fact, are from those Japanese developers who traditionally just ignore the PC. Well, Nintendo excluded. They do their own thing at all times.
I'm going out on a limb and saying that the PC is looking more attractive lately. I can't really figure out why that might be, but I'll suspect a few things.
For one, online stores are really taking off on the PC. Steam is getting preloaded on a LOT of prebuilt rigs, but that's not all. Steam is still dominate, but they aren't the effective monopoly they once were. GOG now has their "Galaxy" client, which has really streamlined their whole delivery and update system while still allowing the user full control (like being able to opt out of updates on a per-game basis, and not actually needing to use the client to launch any of the games). The big shift for GOG has to be Witcher 3, a big-name release exclusive to their store (and physical release). (Notably, while the physical release recommends installing the Galaxy, the user is allowed to just ignore it and install it without all that, as either way the game doesn't use any sort of DRM. This is presented to the user in such a way as to clearly advertise GOG's advantages.) There's still room for growth, such as an official "mod system" similar to Steam Workshop, but it's made a big splash. Also notably, since Windows 8, MS has put their own Microsoft Store front and center in their own OS. Now, perhaps it's a little TOO front and center (my upgrade to Windows 10 was accompanied by a repeated "notification" style advertisement for Office until I found the option to turn that off), and perhaps there's still significant privacy and security concerns for Windows 10 (I'm still finding ways to shut down all the data leaks the OS currently has), but what I'm focusing on here is the store itself. It's a good way for people to purchase new games that's included right out of the box, and that's not a bad thing. Good news is, while there's a risk it'll push out the existing markets, I'm going to go ahead and say it's slim just due to how entrenched stores like Steam already are at this point. Besides, if it really does have that effect, a little anti-trust lawsuit later and they'll be forced to offer "store options" on install. I think MS themselves are all too aware of that possibility. (Just a side tangent, but I really hate how they currently only let you "rent" games like Solitaire for a year, with no option to buy their games outright. As a result, I just kept my old versions of those Windows classics, and purchased new versions of Chip's Challenge (and it's previously unreleased sequel) on Steam.)
For another, PC OSes are very reliable these days. Presuming good driver support, anything using a Vista based OS (that's Vista to 10, they're all basically using the same kernel) will run stably with basically no issues. That first part is important, of course, but driver support is getting better and better these days, and Windows is doing a very good job of maintaining a very large driver database. Windows 10 has a whole new update system that basically doesn't give users a choice, and that's worrisome to me. On the one hand, no more need to ask someone to "update their drivers" since that's now standard. On the other hand, this requires that driver makers are doing their utmost to make sure the latest update isn't completely breaking some particular PC configuration of hardware. I'm paying close attention to my tech news sites to see the first widely reported instance of a mandatory driver update breaking a huge number of installs. Still, it's got the POTENTIAL to resolve such issues. Combine that with aspects like self-updating OS install programs and the steady standardization of things like network devices (to allow PCs to be online right out of the box with a generic driver instead of needing to install that using a disk before being able to get online for the rest of the drivers), and the PC environment is getting closer and closer to the stable console environment. Well, another big issue is viruses. Modern OSes are taking security more and more seriously too. While MS needs to once again focus efforts on their built-in antivirus program (it's lagged behind in features in the past two or three years), the fact that it IS built in at all is a major advancement, and it's still worth having. Browsers are as secure as they've ever been, leaving plugins as the biggest attack vector a PC has. The very latest OS and browser updates are closing those holes too though, with Java support soon leaving Flash entirely (it's already gone in Chrome). Flash too is dying, though it's been the slow death of an ancient god. Everyone, including Adobe themselves, are doing everything they can to kill this ancient and terrible thing, and the next steps are in place. Both Chrome and modern versions of IE (Edge) have no support for the installed version of the plugin and simply have coded the plugin directly into the browser itself, so that every browser update is also a Flash update. This is a stop-gap measure. Chrome has recently turned on "click to activate" for Flash for all users, rather than making it an opt-in feature, which goes a long way to preventing "drive by" attacks. Firefox is ditching MOST plugin support, but being the sort of company they are don't have the money to afford "building flash in" to Firefox. They intend to ditch the old plugin architecture entirely in 3 years time, so that should close up the last of those attack vectors. Flash (ah-ah) your days are numbered. The biggest hurdle is still teaching users not to click on every damned thing they see, even if the web site "needs it", because they don't need that web site, really they don't. Also stop searching for "free X" in your browser! It's ALWAYS a virus! That said, all this sandboxing goes a long way to preventing user's self-inflicted damage. Even a Windows 10 machine can be infected with way too much malware if the user bypasses every single one of the built in defense mechanisms, but many users really are starting to learn not to mess with what works. I'll tell you this, that's another win for the Windows Store. It'll be a much better "go to" store for users rather than google, and hopefully it'll cure that itchy need to get that certain application they are sure will finally fix their entire life. Windows 10 is taking an initial step in making external applications "opt-in", that is ONLY things from the store can be installed, unless one flips a switch in the control panel. It's not QUITE at that level yet, but I can seriously say that for everyone's grandparents, it'll be a good thing when it does.
One other big push that's come lately is how high-quality PC controllers now are. PC controllers used to SUCK. They just barely performed their function and broke more often than not. The "innovations" they attempted tended to be big problems themselves (things like square shaped holes for analog sticks, while allowing full joystick range, were very awkward to actually use). Further, button layout had no real standard, and the driver layer for PC controllers was extremely hard to map and work with (things like analog triggers confused the heck out of those systems, and telling a game to use an extra axis as a button command was almost impossible). What's changed? Well, MS is responsible for this one. The best PC controller is an XBox One controller. Many of my friends, who've got no interest in buying an XBox One, are still fully interested in buying a controller for that system. MS totally revised how the driver layer looks at the PC controller, so that analog triggers are seen as both a button and an axis, and the button layout is standardized as well. Even third party controllers are now built with those standards in mind. This is all for the good, though third party controllers still by and large are teh suck. Valve has it's own new controller. They're trying to innovate, but more importantly, that innovation is standardized, so anyone copying it will have a controller that works the same way.
Unix, that is Linux, that is Ubuntu, is also becoming as usable as it's ever been. Not much else to add to that, except that for those who want some options, it's there, and support for Unix, that is Linux, that is Ubuntu, is very high these days. A lot of it is being pushed from Valve themselves. This leads to my next point...
Steam Box is "consolidating" (you like that?) the PC experience. Now, it's still "open" in that anyone can make their own "steam box". They do at least have some basic hardware minimums, but it's still a bit too "wild west" to rely on every game working the same on every Steam Box. It's closer to Android than Nintendo, is what I'm saying. The most important thing is this is the biggest push yet to just shove your PC into your living room. They're decently affordable, comparable to modern new console prices. Along this line of thought, thanks to new standards like HDMI, HDTVs, and wireless keyboards and mice (a grammar teacher of mine in the 80's insisted that for a computer mouse, the proper plural was "mouses", which exactly no one today actually uses I'll note, so TAKE THAT), more and more gamers are plugging their PCs into their TV. It's just far more feasible. Combine that with Steam's controller-centric big-fonted "Big Picture" interface, and the general experience works very well now.
I'm not sure how much of any of those things are making PC game development more attractive, but the push has been pretty solid (snake) lately. The end result is that someone can be a PC gamer and not miss out on any major releases on the MS/Sony consoles (excepting first party releases). That leaves Nintendo. Even they are losing their few 3rd party exclusives to the PC, but their first party lineup is so extensive, as it's always been, that it just doesn't matter. Someone with a powerful PC can, for the first time in forever, safely ignore the XBones and the "Gay"stations (yikes, that term is worse now than it's ever been) and in actual reality not miss out. They'll still need a 3DS and Wii U though. Who knows though, perhaps the next-next gen will basically be a selection of MS and Sony labelled Steam Boxes? It'd mean that instead of consoles "dying", they just merged into and became PCs. We're halfway there, as the PS4 and XBox One are both x86 based devices (plus, the latest XBox One update has basically made the OS a modified version of Windows 10). The biggest difference would then be which OS the "consoles" were running, and which stores were built-in at launch. Nintendo themselves is always going to make their own hardware, but they might succumb to this change at least. I can already see their next handheld running a modified Android OS.