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Leaderboard: Which platform would you prefer for The Division?
I'm really conflicted about The Division. On the one hand, it was one of the more interesting MMOish developments that I saw at this year's E3. On the other hand, it's disappointing that Ubisoft initially positioned it as a console-only title. It's also a little off-putting that the company is waffling with a maybe-we-will-and-maybe-we-won't attitude when it comes to bringing the game to the PC. Maybe Ubisoft truly hasn't decided how -- or whether -- to allocate its dev resources to cover multiple platforms. Or maybe it has decided and it's just milking the controversy for PR reasons, but either way it's pretty crappy from a PC customer's perspective. Assuming that The Division does make it to all three major platforms, and assuming you're interested in the title to begin with, which would you prefer to play it on? Vote after the cut!
Bungie would apparently love to bring Destiny to the PC
What's that, you say Bungie's new Destiny shooter is going to be console-only? Well, not so fast, according to the Penny Arcade Report. Bungie COO Pete Parsons was asked point-blank if there was a PC version in the works, and while he didn't say yes, exactly, he also didn't nip it in the bud with a no-comment or a PR-soaked non-answer. "The interesting part is we, from the ground up, from the very beginning, we have made sure that [Destiny] can be on multiple platforms," Parsons said. "It's one thing to say it, it's another to design and actually architect for it, which we've absolutely done." This jibes with a similar report at Eurogamer that quoted Parsons as saying that Bungie "would absolutely love to be on the PC."
HP's Rahul Sood says Microsoft killed Xbox vs PC online gaming due to keyboard-mouse superiority
Once upon a time in 2007, there was a little-known game called Shadowrun, that let gamers on both Xbox 360 and PC destroy one another for sport. Such is the environment that Microsoft facilitated, but alas, it wasn't for long, as the moment Shadowrun flopped the cross-platform feature was dropped, though it resurfaced once or twice in third-party titles as the years shot by. Outspoken HP exec Rahul Sood (of Voodoo fame) spins a slightly more complex yarn, however: he says Microsoft killed the project when it found that "mediocre" PC gamers could wipe the floors with the very best players on Xbox. Now, we're not confirming his story, and there are plenty of other possible explanations if you follow the money, of course, but we can't help but feel a hint of admiration for the longevity of gaming mouse and keyboard. Here's hoping we can all leave our predilections at the door as developers pit Android vs. iPhone.
MMOGology: The price to play pt. 2
Why do people continue to game on the PC? There are many reasons; some of them obvious. I'm going to mention what I feel are the three most important. The first reason is one I alluded to earlier: versatility. You can do so many other things with a PC besides game. You can surf the web, you can email your friends, you can edit your photographs and mix your own music, you can edit your goofy home movies and upload them to YouTube. These are all things that you can't currently do with a console. For many families, buying a gaming console isn't an affordable option. These folks want one device that does as much as possible. The fact that computers can play games is a nice bonus. There will always be gamers out there that game on the PC because that's the only option they have. As we've seen with the recent boom of cell phone games, people will play games on anything capable of gameplay. The second reason is that consoles don't provide the intimate gaming experience that is only possible through the mouse/keyboard control format. Not only are a computer's controls fluid and pin-point accurate, but using them requires the gamer to sit up close with his computer. It's a very different experience than laying on the couch with a control pad far from the TV. The mouse and keyboard are the ideal control inputs for controlling first person shooters, strategy games and MMOGs. For MMOGs in particular, the PC is really the only option – for now. Some MMOGs like Age of Conan have already decided to release console versions, and other MMOGs have attempted the same in the past with limited success. In any case, the MMOG, FPS and RTS are the few genres that continue to keep PC games on store shelves. They succeed primarily because of their input interface.
Financial analysis looks at PC vs. console costs
Even the most diehard PC gamer has to admit that their console gaming brethren get the better end of the deal as far as costs are concerned. But exactly how much does a console gamer save over the system'ss lifespan? A poster over at TechConsumer crunched the numbers and found that, when everything is added up, the savings aren't necessarily that great.When all is said and done, the full Xbox 360 gaming setup (including TV, accessories and Xbox Live subscription) costs $3,152 over six years, about $350 less than a basic gaming PC for the same period. Of course that cost includes a 42" 1080p TV, while the comparable PC uses a relatively paltry 22 inch display. When a comparable screen is used on the PC, the savings on the console side balloon to near $1,200.The real killer for the PC, of course, is the upgrades (estimated in this study at $250 every other year) and recommended full-on replacements (every three years) that come much more frequently than the console equivalents (one replacement every six years). So, PC gamers, is it worth the extra money?
