Will a PC comeback include Apple?
I've been as guilty as any doom and gloomer over the noticeable downtrend of the PC gaming market in the past few years, but there's no doubt to me that PC games are about to make a comeback.
Hello Spore, Left4Dead and Dragon Age. There are significant PC games on the horizon. The MMORPG market has exploded, thanks to WoW's high subscriber rate and I believe WAR will hit big and expand this even further. Plus digital distribution is finally poised to push brick-and-mortars into irrelevance.
The question is how much Microsoft will continue to botch it up and will Apple grow some PC gaming balls to take advantage of the missteps of Vista + DirectX 10?
Apple's PC marketshare is on the rise again. They've got some gaming fanbois despite themselves, thanks to Blizzard's stubbornness to give triple-A quality to their treasured platform. If they just tried a little, they could capitalize on the discomfort PC gamers are feeling from Microsoft's squeeze to push Windows Live.
Apple needs to do what Microsoft did once-upon-a-time and support PC game developers in a big way, flat out cater to them. This isn't Apple's strong suit, I think they like absolute control even more than the Redmond giant, but if they're going to do it, they should skip their usual tendencies and wrest the steering wheel away now before Microsoft realizes what they've screwed up.
They just need to convince one man really: Gabe Newell. He may not like Apple much, but he's an opportunist too. Partner with Valve, let them take the reins of a new gaming initiative for the Mac. If Apple was smart they'd realize these are the PC gaming savvy guys, they're the ones that get stuff done.
If Apple doesn't clue in quick, they'll still trickle in more marketshare, but they'll be missing out on an opportunity to grab the whole shebang while it's sitting right on the table being neglected.
Do we need another OS?
Update: It looks like Windows 7 will be going modular. Whether that's just to sell extra features or to solve the bloat problem remains to be seen.
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There's an en masse revolt per se against the bloatware of Vista. People who intend to stick with Windows XP, at least for now. Sooner or later, most of them will feel forced to upgrade, whether it be for new software, games, or lack of support.
This begs the question: What is being added to the basic OS that we really need?
The Home Analogy
OSes are often compared to cars, but I'd liken them more to a house. A house has a foundation, walls, a roof, entrances and windows to the outside, plus a bunch of plumbing and wiring to make things work inside of it. Once you move into your home, you settle in and deal more with your stuff inside than the home itself.
You notice your home most when it has problems, like a leaky roof or fire hazards. You should feel relatively safe within your home, although you may install smoke detectors and/or an alarm system.
A great home should make you feel comfortable, need little maintenance and has enough room for your daily activities. You should be able to paint and decorate it as you wish, choosing gaudy or subtle furnishings on your own whims. Sooner or later, after the thrill of moving in is gone, it becomes the sturdy backdrop and you pay more attention to you HDTV and other toys.
Just One More OS?
What I'm trying to say is your OS should take a background, desktop role. There hasn't been any revolutionary OS developments for about a decade, so the OS makers are trying to sell you on flashy new looks and features you rarely need, want or even use. Some people do treat their OS like a toy and they may be happy with the new gloss, but for most of us it's just bloat.
What we need is a lean, mean OS that has the underlying features so we can forget about it and just enjoy using our PCs. An OS that does away with the old cruft and stops trying to reinvent the wheel. Or perhaps reinvents it one last time to get rid of those ugly square corners that were added because someone thought they looked cool.
It's very unlikely that OS will get made.
Microsoft and Apple wouldn't see real money in it, profit from upgrading the OS is much easier than creating new and clever applications. And the open source crowd loves fiddling with software toys more than anyone: Linux (and the various BSD flavours to a lesser extent) will forever be in flux.
There are some smaller OS projects out there trying to achieve this very idea, but the two main barriers are device drivers and the various APIs for existing software (IE: DirectX) which Microsoft has a virtual lockdown on.
Stick with XP
It's nice to dream, but the perfect subtle OS isn't likely to be made. Maybe, just maybe Microsoft will come to their senses with Windows 7. Meanwhile XP will be the standby version that most of us will continue to use.
Long live PC gaming
Not only has Penny Arcade sussed the whole Portal as Game of the Year thing, but Tycho's end of the year musings have me floored.
It's not that Tycho is saying anything I didn't already understand, in fact we're so much on the same page his words have stamped all over me like tattoos. He says it so perfectly: elegant and foot stomping (slamdance steel toe boot style, not a hokey cowboy dance) at the same time.
I'm gonna yank out and dissect quotes like a madman, but summing it up is kinda overkill, because you could just read the whole article in a more linear fashion to get the picture correctly.
The transfer of PC gaming's richest, most vital blood to the console is almost complete. Where our best hopes have not died out completely, they've directed their vigor at a platform that has rewarded them with riches beyond imagining. If you told me that Pandemic, Irrational, Bioware, Raven, and Infinity Ward would be devoted to creating console entertainment years ago, I'd have pressed a button that sent you down to a kind of subterranean foyer where you could better acquaint yourself with my Rancor
Yeah, that's pretty much half the paragraph, but if you count yourself as faithful to me in any sort of way, whether it be as a casual reader to this blog, or in some sort of more intimate scenario, then you'll grok what's there.
Now some good old fashioned bold for emphasis:
More than anything else, I think it was installing Vista that made me hate PC gaming. The constant, system-level interruptions, the impaired compatibility, and most of all the savage kick to my framerate's exposed groin made me wonder what precisely in the fucking fuck I was doing screwing around with this onyx monolith. I knew I was just going to have to upgrade eventually (no), and I wanted to see if there was anything to this DirectX 10 thing (no), and I wanted to see what the Windows version of Live was like (a warcrime) so I bit the bullet.
And the final sad truth and reiterated conclusion:
For mainstream games, I don't think you can beat today's consoles
I'm one of the diehards, I'm not giving up on my PC. I may not want to be one of those out-of-touch dinosaurs stubbornly refusing to move forward, but I'm feeling trapped in a corner. I want to move forward, but the future of gaming on the PC has been looking steadily bleak since 2003 or so. 2007 has been a harsh kick in the teeth. I can play games on consoles, but I don't get the same visceral fun that I've gotten from my PC.
the proximity of the monitor and the fluid, richly analog pointing device
A key part of why I'm stuck away from the transition: I love my desk, I love my mouse, I love my ability to multitask my music-listening, web-browser, etc. while I'm playing my games. I love going to Fragapalooza and sharing that experience with a few hundred other PC boxes under the same roof.
I do NOT want to give that up. I have more than a few friends who don't want to either. I've been a computer gamer since the day I unwrapped my C=64 (and threw my 2600 & Coleco in the closet).
I'm not about to stop now.
Valve Steam Survey 2007
Valve has released their latest version of their Steam survey, with revealing results. Overall, this is the most real-world and realistic sampling of stats from current gamers. Steam has a potential base of over 13 million players. The survey, restarted for May 30th, already has stats from over 390,000 unique gamer's PCs.
The number that has commanded everyone's attention of course, is the abysmal ~1% showing for DirectX 10 capable systems.
DirectX 10 is tied to Vista, which skews this number. More than three times that amount have the capable videocards, but have not moved to Vista. That will probably change over time, but of course the cynic in me is still unimpressed with Microsoft milking PC gamers for OS sales. They could have done the PC games market a great service by allowing DirectX 10 on Windows XP.
Other notable stats: Most gamers still have less than a gig of RAM, but own a near-current videocard. For me, that means high-end videocards have truly become mass-market: I can't imagine a 'hardcore' gamer that would upgrade one without the other. Developers should adjust their expectations accordingly.
