Consoles vs PCs --- stating the very obvious... but from an interesting source.....

From an Asssociate Press Technology article published today:-

Chris Donahue, group manager of Microsoft's Games for Windows unit,
admits that DX10 is an example of the PC surpassing the consoles. The
company's own Xbox 360, for example, uses a custom version of the
older DX9 standard that can't be upgraded.

"Consoles are a snapshot of where the PC is at the time they were
made," he said. "The consoles are a step that stays flat for five
years. The PC is basically a 45 degree angle."
============================================


I like the 45 degree angle analogy.............

Consoles..flat for 5 years......... unless, of course you decided to
buy a Xbox360 two years ago, then sell it on Ebay and buy a Xbox360
Elite, then sell it a year or so from now on Ebay and buy a Xbox720
(with a new Dx10-compatible GPU and integrated HD or BluRay drive).
And as for upgrade accessories instead of unit-swaps.......Add a
HD-DVD drive for $200, Swap out a wimpy 20Gbyte drive for a
slightly-less-wimpy $175 120Gbyte drive. Swap the HD-DVD drive for a
Blu-ray drive... $200. Nickel and dimed to death..held ransom to a
particular console family by the software purchases. At least
hopefully the hardware evolution in a particular console-family will
preserve software backward-compatibility....

Gets kinda expensive... comparable with upgrading PC graphics-cards
and CPUs, but without the wide range of functionality and
price-choices available to the PC upgrade purchaser... with Dx10
hardware now ranging from $99.99 to $599, and with comprehensive
video decoding silicon even on the least expensive graphics-cards.

John Lewis

Consoles..flat for 5 years......... unless, of course you decided to
buy a Xbox360 two years ago, then sell it on Ebay and buy a Xbox360
Elite, then sell it a year or so from now on Ebay and buy a Xbox720
(with a new Dx10-compatible GPU and integrated HD or BluRay drive).
And as for upgrade accessories instead of unit-swaps.......Add a
HD-DVD drive for $200, Swap out a wimpy 20Gbyte drive for a
slightly-less-wimpy $175 120Gbyte drive. Swap the HD-DVD drive for a
Blu-ray drive... $200. Nickel and dimed to death..held ransom to a
particular console family by the software purchases. At least
hopefully the hardware evolution in a particular console-family will
preserve software backward-compatibility....
Gets kinda expensive... comparable with upgrading PC graphics-cards
and CPUs, but without the wide range of functionality and
price-choices available to the PC upgrade purchaser... with Dx10
hardware now ranging from $99.99 to $599, and with comprehensive
video decoding silicon even on the least expensive graphics-cards.


I don't think the PC is better than consoles in terms of the cost. One, to
get the graphic quality of Xbox 360 games, you need a powerful, expensive
PC. Two, most console owners don't spend $$$ on upgrading their console.
Once you buy a $399 Xbox system, you are pretty much all set and you know
that all future 360 games will run well on your 360.

Having said that, I still prefer the PC for gaming and do not own a console
because I like to tweak and mod games. However, more & more game developers
do not bother to develop games for the PC any more. PC games do not sell
well. You are lucky if you can sell 10,000 copies, whereas it is not
uncommon for a console game to sell more than 500,000 copies.

Why don't they take the obvious next step, and make the
console games pc-compatible ?

johns

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...


From an Asssociate Press Technology article published today:-

Chris Donahue, group manager of Microsoft's Games for Windows unit,
admits that DX10 is an example of the PC surpassing the consoles. The
company's own Xbox 360, for example, uses a custom version of the
older DX9 standard that can't be upgraded.

"Consoles are a snapshot of where the PC is at the time they were
made," he said. "The consoles are a step that stays flat for five
years. The PC is basically a 45 degree angle."
============================================


I like the 45 degree angle analogy.............

Consoles..flat for 5 years......... unless, of course you decided to
buy a Xbox360 two years ago, then sell it on Ebay and buy a Xbox360
Elite, then sell it a year or so from now on Ebay and buy a Xbox720
(with a new Dx10-compatible GPU and integrated HD or BluRay drive).
And as for upgrade accessories instead of unit-swaps.......Add a
HD-DVD drive for $200, Swap out a wimpy 20Gbyte drive for a
slightly-less-wimpy $175 120Gbyte drive. Swap the HD-DVD drive for a
Blu-ray drive... $200. Nickel and dimed to death..held ransom to a
particular console family by the software purchases. At least
hopefully the hardware evolution in a particular console-family will
preserve software backward-compatibility....

Gets kinda expensive... comparable with upgrading PC graphics-cards
and CPUs, but without the wide range of functionality and
price-choices available to the PC upgrade purchaser... with Dx10
hardware now ranging from $99.99 to $599, and with comprehensive
video decoding silicon even on the least expensive graphics-cards.

John Lewis

Consoles are cheaper and more easily accesible. Parents can have thier PC
and buy thier kiddo a console and don't have the cost of buying two pc's.
It's unfortunate In the fact that PC games do suffer. That being said the
subject of this topic Is no surprise. In my opinion pc games have ALWAYS
been ahead of consoles for many reasons.

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...

"Consoles are a snapshot of where the PC is at the time they were
made," he said.

*snip*

Gets kinda expensive... comparable with upgrading PC graphics-cards
and CPUs, but without the wide range of functionality and
price-choices available to the PC upgrade purchaser... with Dx10
hardware now ranging from $99.99 to $599, and with comprehensive
video decoding silicon even on the least expensive graphics-cards.

This whole argument is meaningless unless you feel you *must* have the most
power.

The PC's constant need to upgrade is part of the reason you see interest in
PC games waning. I don't know about you, but I feel the majority of PC
gamers would be perfectly fine with that same "5 year snapshot" if the games
were fun and worked well. Who *cares* about the latest and greatest DX10
bloom pixel shaders in realtime or whatnot... I'd MUCH rather see some more
fun games at "Far Cry" or HL2-level graphics. No need to go bigger.

I've played PC games for twenty years. I also own an x-box 360 and a Wii,
and, quite frankly, currently find myself spending MUCH more time with the
two consoles than the PC (in terms of gaming.)

"johns" wrote in message
oups.com...
Why don't they take the obvious next step, and make the
console games pc-compatible ?

johns


When programming a game for a console, you know exactly the hardware & OS
you are dealing with. When programming a game for a PC, you have to deal
with thousands of different PC configurations. It's too much hassle.

I was never interested in consoles and don't own one, but I am seriously
thinking about buying an xbox 360 because some really good games are not
available on the PC (gears of war, call of duty 3, etc).

I've been playing PC games since 1990, but if I were a game developer in
2007, I would not even consider the PC platform.

"FKS" writes:

"johns" wrote in message
oups.com...
Why don't they take the obvious next step, and make the
console games pc-compatible ?

johns


When programming a game for a console, you know exactly the hardware & OS
you are dealing with. When programming a game for a PC, you have to deal
with thousands of different PC configurations. It's too much hassle.

No you dont.

Its called programming to an API.

Sure, there might be some glitches, but less & less likely with
something like XP.


I was never interested in consoles and don't own one, but I am seriously
thinking about buying an xbox 360 because some really good games are not
available on the PC (gears of war, call of duty 3, etc).

I've been playing PC games since 1990, but if I were a game developer in
2007, I would not even consider the PC platform.

Because you had the incorrect impressions that you have to code for the
myriad of potential variations of the theme?

"FKS" wrote in message ...

I was never interested in consoles and don't own one, but I am seriously
thinking about buying an xbox 360 because some really good games are not
available on the PC (gears of war, call of duty 3, etc).

I've been playing PC games for a long time, but I have to say, I love my
360, and don't regret buying it for a second.

I would have no problem in making my PC console compatible
if the games were compatible on both. Frankly I think the
consoles could be used as a benchmark requirement for
my gaming PC, and the coders would only have to meet
that standard. They could protect the console market by
making the console standard fairly high ... and the PC
market for game PCs would have to meet a minimum
standard too. I don't see a big problem with that.

johns

On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:20:44 -0400, "jwb" wrote:

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...

"Consoles are a snapshot of where the PC is at the time they were
made," he said.

*snip*

Gets kinda expensive... comparable with upgrading PC graphics-cards
and CPUs, but without the wide range of functionality and
price-choices available to the PC upgrade purchaser... with Dx10
hardware now ranging from $99.99 to $599, and with comprehensive
video decoding silicon even on the least expensive graphics-cards.

This whole argument is meaningless unless you feel you *must* have the most
power.

The PC's constant need to upgrade is part of the reason you see interest in
PC games waning. I don't know about you, but I feel the majority of PC
gamers would be perfectly fine with that same "5 year snapshot" if the games
were fun and worked well. Who *cares* about the latest and greatest DX10
bloom pixel shaders in realtime or whatnot... I'd MUCH rather see some more
fun games at "Far Cry" or HL2-level graphics. No need to go bigger.

I've played PC games for twenty years. I also own an x-box 360 and a Wii,
and, quite frankly, currently find myself spending MUCH more time with the
two consoles than the PC (in terms of gaming.)

I've played games a long time too (over 25 yrs now). And I agree with
you in that I'd rather see fun games at HL2 graphics than to have
great eye candy and miss out on gameplay, there is still MUCH more
available on the PC in terms of sheer fun than there is on all the
consoles combined if you have a reasonably fast PC, the games are
cheaper, they load faster, can be played with a mouse/keyboard giving
you much better control (and much more realistic aiming in shooter
games), and you can use your PC to do a gazillion other things that
exercise your brain more than gaming.

Consoles are for small kids, people who can't afford real PCs, and
the brain-dead.