I believe I have found the reason why console games sell better then PC.
For a while now, there is an undying belief among hard-coded PC players (however true or not it actually is), that a flood of simple, undemanding casual games and dumb gamers is an inevitable consequence of PS3 and Xbox 360, that console games suck and are “just moneymakers”. That however, is and will be wrong.
I won’t get any more further into that argument, because frankly, I don’t give a damn who’s in the right there. I just want to point out why I would prefer to pop in the disc to my 360 rather than computer, and why “PC Exclusive” is a moot point. Okay, maybe except the latter point, it just sounded impressive.
See, back in the day, when somebody made a game, they made sure it was done. It was released either as a finished product that was either a success or a failure, or was bugged and a failure. Things like patches appeared years after game was released – because most of the time you simply didn’t need them. The retarded copy-protection wasn’t though about back then either, though Big Bad Lobby, being Big Bad Lobby already had ideas.
The point is this – that back then I could have smoothly installed a game and it ran, various gameplay inconsistencies hardcoded notwithstanding.
Today, we have products that get patches already a few days after release, DRMs, Internet connections etc. etc. etc…the list goes on. The installation itself went from somewhat time-consuming but easy to nerve-wrecking procedure where as much as a sneeze will bring wrath of God himself upon you.
The fact that game downloads a 1GB patch off the bat is an indication that developers are doing something wrong, regardless of how awesome the game turns out to be.
PC products we get today have amazing concepts but end up unstable, horrific mish-mash that needs dozens of patches to fix.
That may be an exaggeration, but c’mon, when was the last time you played a game that didn’t urgently need a patch days after release? That was a stable program that run smoothly, and whose copy protection didn’t try to rape you in your sleep?
I recently got myself re-acquainted with process of buying PC games, and the unpleasant experience of actually installing them.
First was Shogun 2, whom I went as far as to pre-order. When I started the installation, everything went nice and dandy…until the game started to download itself from internet, while a physical disc was sitting useless in the player. It was utterly retarded and annoying – since I received the game on eve of release day, every server for it was jammed. I did eventually managed to force it to install from disk. The point is, I shouldn’t have to.
Then, there’s Witcher 2. Awesome game an all, but for its installation alone I’d have it’s lead designer shot. The process in lengthy and required constant access to internet to run – and when program was installed, it needed immediately to download a patch. A patch. 10 days after a game was released. All would be well, except servers for it were down, so I couldn’t finish the installation, let alone run the game.
Now, let’s contrast this with a console game. I open the tray. I put in the disc. The game runs. There are no codes, no permanent installation on hard-drive unless you specifically do it later on, and even then it’s a simple and efficient process. I don’t recall having to download twelve patches when running a slightly older game I bough just now. There is no uneven performance, crashes are absolutely minimal. And above all, I don’t need to spent a small bag of cash to upgrade my console. I don’t need a Windows for it either.
Maybe that is why so many people play on consoles. It’s just more efficient that way. You don’t wreck your nerves over a tedious and retarded installation procedure.
When presented with a choice of an identical game for a console or PC, most of the time I’ll pick the console.
Thankfully for PC, there are still game that make sense only on it, and are worth the trouble.
And now excuse me while I take my leave, because my internet needs extra space to speed up that patch download.
