PC piracy levels are "astounding" says Call of Duty 4 Developer

[Gryph]

I'd like to discuss this tomorrow after my test so keep this thread alive.

[Exp44]

Will do, sir! As far as consoles go, I agree with Davis, although I won't be getting any HD game console any time soon.

[Fatal Rose]

Gaming PCs cost too much. Its that simple. Take whatever you'd shell out for the hardware to play CoD4, and then factor the cost of the game itself... I think with PCs people are trying to cut costs wherever they can- the software side being the easiest to.

 

Another thing for me is this: I could pay the same $99AUD and buy a game, say Gears of War (bad example- old game, but whatever), for my Xbox 360 or for my PC. If I buy it for my Xbox, I know I'm getting the exact same game as everyone else gets. If I get it for the PC though, I know Im going to get dodgier graphics and sh!ttier framerates, and overall more sluggishness than all the guys out there with better computers than I have. In terms of value, I wouldn't get the sense that I'm getting the game as it was meant to be played, even if it has the potential to run better and at higher resolutions on the PC, simply because I won't get that kind of performance on my machine. I think this is an issue in the back of the minds of everyone who doesn't have the latest hardware.

 

Quote FTW!

 

Ok a little off topic here, is piracy what killed the DC?

[fumanchu]

Well PC Gaming is more expensive than console gaming on a small TV and I can agree to that, HD console gaming is only worth playing if you got a 42" TV with HDMI which totals roughly £1,300 (including the Xbox 360 ) and that amount can get a decent graphics card (~£250, OEM), a decent motherboard (~£80) with a couple of ram (~£30 2GB), a decent hard drive (~£60, 500GB), a decent DVD-RW drive (~£50), a decent CPU (~£100) with a decent cooler (~£10), keyboard & mouse (~£10), 22" monitor (~£200), a decent case (~£40) and a decent power supply (~£50) which totals at (~£880). The PC games are a lot cheaper than the console games.

 

Anyway I don't think it is piracy that killing PC Games, I think it's all down to lack of motivation and innovation!

a phillips 32" hdlcd=£400

360 premium=£250

hdmi cable=£12

flashing drive=nothing

total=£662.

id take the 360 option anyday.

 

 

 

edit/i think it was lack of sells and piracy and quite simply the ps2,that killed the dc fatal.

Edited January 21, 2008 by fumanchu

[Lucandrake]

I didn't really have internet during the dc era but I didn't begin hearing that cd's can run on dc till after the discontinue.

 

I know that the people around my area that wanted a dc couldn't get it because they were dishing out money for a PS2.

[OverlordMondo]

I'm personally going to upgrade my computer to "decent" levels in the next couple of months in preparation for Warhammer Online. It's not going to run things on high settings or anything, though, like a console would, it's going to run things at medium, maybe even low settings, because running it on high is going to cost you about $1K a part.

[ken_cinder]

All these ever so intrusive game protections are a HUGE turn-off to me. I read alot on just what protections are in use these days, and I will outright refuse to pay money for any game with an intrusive protection; ie Starforce.

 

I do pirate, and I often do not purchase. But you know what? The gaming market as a whole, not just PC has become so watered down with absolute CRAP that you have to. You can't trust reviewers anymore, you can't walk into a store and look at the package for a game and think "'I'll like this at least" because what's shown is highly misrepresentative of the content as a whole (See - Blacksite: Area 51 please).

 

It's come down to these days, me pirating EVERYTHING I want to play, and only buying what isn't garbage (Which is very little).

 

And as for the excuse of pirating because gaming PCs cost too much. If you can afford to buy some ridiculously priced system rather than use your damn brain and build it yourself, you can afford to pay for games you like. That, or don't be a PC Gamer at all. If you can't afford bullets.....don't buy a damn gun!

[CJ Jackson]

Well PC Gaming is more expensive than console gaming on a small TV and I can agree to that, HD console gaming is only worth playing if you got a 42" TV with HDMI which totals roughly £1,300 (including the Xbox 360 ) and that amount can get a decent graphics card (~£250, OEM), a decent motherboard (~£80) with a couple of ram (~£30 2GB), a decent hard drive (~£60, 500GB), a decent DVD-RW drive (~£50), a decent CPU (~£100) with a decent cooler (~£10), keyboard & mouse (~£10), 22" monitor (~£200), a decent case (~£40) and a decent power supply (~£50) which totals at (~£880). The PC games are a lot cheaper than the console games.

 

Anyway I don't think it is piracy that killing PC Games, I think it's all down to lack of motivation and innovation!

a phillips 32" hdlcd=£400

360 premium=£250

hdmi cable=£12

flashing drive=nothing

total=£662.

id take the 360 option anyday.

 

Don't forget that Microsoft expects to make more money from the Xbox 360 games, each Xbox 360 new releases would cost around £35-£50, if I multiple the minimum cost by 25 that would be £875 then I would add onto your total (£662) then that would make it £1537. As PC new releases would range between £25-£35, again I'll multiple the minimum by 25 then that would be £625 then I'll add that onto my total (~£880) which make it ~£1505.

 

Note: I have estimated both the XBox 360 and PC Games ranges from Amazon.co.uk game charts to make sure that it is a fair calculation.

[fumanchu]

you can buy preowned,have you seen the amount of games lately that have just been out for a month or 2,going for around £15-£20(360 games that is).

[Shoma]

Buy a bloody 360 PS3! DOnt even bother buying new video cards!

A cpu tech at the store tole me himself, "I may know alotta crap about computers but I would never waste my money on upgrading it!" Nvidia can come out with 3 new cards in 1 year and now you're stages behind! Crysis main example, your top tier card can barely handle it! SO now you borught he lastest card that will be "under minmimum" in a year! ITs seroius BS and I dont plan on updating my graphics at all, since my console can handle it.

 

*BTW, next-gen consoles are just overatted/overpowered gaming cpus lol*

Edited January 22, 2008 by Shoma

[Sybarite Paladin AxL]

The real reason your PC can't handle the newest games but a console can is because those moronic, freakin lazy ass developers will always not bother to optimize the damn games they release... What, you guys think a 360 or a PS3 is some sorta revolutionary piece of hardware? My ass, they're probably as good a really high end PC two years ago. But they're freakin forced to create the game around a certain setup that's always constant and will, and should never change. The moment you start upgrading your console, is the moment it's going to go down the same road as PC gaming.

 

With PC games it's different, they have all that computing power to wallow in and don't bother wasting any more money paying their developers to actually optimize the damn things.

[BlackKnight]

Ok a little off topic here, is piracy what killed the DC?

 

No. The Saturn, the PS2 and gay support is what killed the DC.

[Shibathedog]

I don't think people realize that PC gaming isn't really that much more expensive than console gaming.

 

Seriously, Start running your games at 640X480 like your console does, I bet even your 5 year old PC can instantly handle anything again.

 

Even now with HD games, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, That isn't crap as far as PC games are concerned. No crap a machine playing the game at 2560X1600 is going to require more hardware and money. Even 1600X1200 is a decent jump over 1080p (not that p and i even matter in the PC world!)

 

I agree with what was said before though, There is next to no good games coming out anymore, and I don't pay for crap. I DO buy good games though (especially if I want to play online, I'm not going to deal with all the cracking/risks of playing pirated stuff online)

[fumanchu]

ok so what are we saying here?

a top of the range pc with the most up to date graphics cards and all the rest of the bells and whistles blows over anything a 360/ps3 can do graphically and processer wise.

[Wizard]

ok so what are we saying here?

a top of the range pc with the most up to date graphics cards and all the rest of the bells and whistles blows over anything a 360/ps3 can do graphically and processer wise.

Yes.

 

PC's are infinitly more better in all fields compared to consoles when it comes to it. The only problem with PCes is, while there is a standard, there isn't a set standard (aka, Minimum requirements VS Recommended requirements). There are alot of different veriables to consider when there's a PC version of game, because not everyone is running the same hardware obviously. Developers can push any console to the limit while they can nearly do it on PC. Every few months, something better and bigger comes along in the PC market and developers adopt to those. It's easier making a game then dumbing it down than building it from low spec to high spec mentality.

 

I also agree with Axl, to a degree. Yes, developers don't optimize their games enough for certain computers, but, computer generations last 2-3 years at best compared to a 5-6 console year life span. To add to that, what is expensive today, could be $50 to $100+ cheaper tomorrow in the PC market. It's with the PC market that consoles in the first place get their spur from, as the advances in the PC market, the console market builds itself upon tried and tested hardware from the PC generation. Espeically this console generation.