The End of the Era of Speed: The Video Game

This article rings so true to me.I see myself gaming almost exclusively on consoles soon.
How bout you guys?

Consoles will hit the same barrier soon as well. Only a matter of time.

I don't see why we need more powerful graphic cards and more graphics engine tech demos. How about releasing some games for a change?

Pong doesn't need a 200w GPU to be a damned fun game. We already have some seriously impressive graphics. I think if the end of pure graphic processing power is coming, they should start competing in innovative and fun gameplay instead. There has been far too much focus on polycounts and pixel shaders for years now, but the games have all be identical.

Bad Maniac said:

How about releasing some games for a change?

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Amen.

Bad Maniac said:

I don't see why we need more powerful graphic cards and more graphics engine tech demos.

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Nor does Nintendo! IMHO That's why the DS is miles ahead of the PSP. I also expect the Wii to trounce the ps3 in units sold and much more importantly have many, many more decent games instead of just eye-candy demos.

I think the real killer of PC gaming is going to come from the Wii controller, finally a better input method than keyboard and mouse for fps games?


thingi

Personally I don't see it as better. There is no way I can use that controller for 5 hours straight and not have my arms killing me, with a mouse though I have gone 10 hours straight and arm is fine. Anyway I think just as all walls it will eventually fall, though I do think people care to much about graphics and not gameplay. To be a hyped up game these days you basically have to either look better then every other game, or just be a straight out crazy game from Asia.

I'm getting a Wii, but I'm also getting a Gamecube controller to plug in.
I agree, Wii will have better GAMES than the other consoles. And as for graphics, who cares? (the entire world except me aparently but.. err)

After reading that article this morning, I was anxiously waiting for Fedex to come by with my parts I ordered for my Conroe build I'm getting together. In that order was an eVGA 7900GTX-512, which is my first pci-e graphics card I've bought. My present rig is running an X800XT-PE in it, and I remember looking at the hsf that came on that card and being impressed and surprised at the size of the hsf on it being as big as it is. Well, when I saw the hsf on the new vid card, I was freaking shocked at how much bigger it is than my old vid card's hsf. And we aren't talking multiple years worth of difference in between cards either, maybe 2 generations max. And that is telling me that like the article said, the pgu manufacturers are right against the thermal wall now, like Intel got to be with netburst. And if a high end DX10-compliant vid card is going to require 175-200 watts power to run it, then I guess that I will have to skip upgrading from my present vid card until both ATI and Nvidia can come up with new ideas that reduce power consumption, because that's just too much power draw and heat generation for me.

Can you imagine what kind of psu you will need and what kind of cooling you would need to power and cool 2 of those in SLI/CF? I imagine nothing less than a psu like the 1kw PC P&C will be necessary, along with watercooling with a very big radiator in the loop.

stratcatprowlin said:

I see myself gaming almost exclusively on consoles soon.
How bout you guys?

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Not likely. I can't stand the controllers.

Isn't the PS3 the one having heat issues? (Maybe I'm totally thinking wrong)

Actually its my xbox 360 that fried itelf.
As for consoles. If they can let me use a mouse and a keyboard, maybe I'll use them again. If they can let me mod games, maybe I'll use them.
Consoles are for jocks who plan Madden and Tony Hawk.
PC>ALL

muddocktor said:

Can you imagine what kind of psu you will need and what kind of cooling you would need to power and cool 2 of those in SLI/CF?

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PSU check
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S75EPS

icemanstryka said:

Actually its my xbox 360 that fried itelf.
As for consoles. If they can let me use a mouse and a keyboard, maybe I'll use them again. If they can let me mod games, maybe I'll use them.
Consoles are for jocks who plan Madden and Tony Hawk.
PC>ALL

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First off, WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!! We're glad your here!

As for "PC>ALL", I disagree because nothing is ever that simple, else consoles wouldn't sell. Secondarily, I'm not a "jock" and I doubt that you were either when you bought your xbox 360. There are many game genres that are for PC and consoles and I eventually had to get some consoles (PS2, Nintendo DS Lite) to enjoy games that I would never see on the PC (God of War, Burnout, Animal Crossing Wild Kingdom). However, both consoles and PCs might be missing the point.

I have just bought a whole bunch of older games (for cheap, mind you) on Amazon and I can't wait for them to arrive. Right now, next to me, a friend is playing Red Alert 2... not Generals... Red Alert 2. I know people who still play Starcraft and Total Anihalation and I am currently hooked to Startopia... all older games, all very fun to play, all having fast framerates and good enough graphics.

"Good enough graphics"? Essentially, I like playing games where the characters don't look real, where the scene looks like a game, and where I can get in a gaming mood. Better graphics can make things worse... For example, if Nintendo was going the PS3 route then Mario would look like a vintage New York Plumber as in one you would literally see on the street. Realism here is not a good thing.

When in a first person shooter you "shoot" a person and they "disappear" (well, keel over and then disappear). This is similar to paintball or alike except that you have weapon variety. I don't want to see LITERAL guts flying when I shoot somebody because I don't LITERALLY want to shoot anybody. In past games, "guts" were animated blood but in the future I'm sure that realism will come into play. With technology trying to redefine the gaming atmosphere and make it even more indistinguishable from reality we have to suffer with sagging performance and a lack of snappy gameplay.

Our PCs are barely keeping up (as the parent article of this thread was saying), some consoles are barely keeping up as well... yet there is some hope. There is a LOT of people playing older games which is further supported by the backwards compatability of consoles as of late as well as nostalgic gaming on PCs. Despite the newer graphics of newer games, the graphics in the older games were certainly good enough to let the game shine through, games which were fun. Newer games can be fun as well but often the focus on gameplay is lost... in the glory of making an even more realistic looking game.

The Nintendo DS has a 100 Mhz or so processor yet it can still deliver some pretty neat games. While the graphics are dated on the PS2 with its' 300 Mhz processor and equivalent hardware the games released for that platform are still nice to play and show some pretty cool effects. With the next generation multi-gigahertz consoles I'm not surprised at how everything costs a ton more yet the gameplay isn't much better if even better. The Nintendo Wii is an exception being less than a Ghz (correct me if I am wrong), cheaper, and perhaps innovative too. Maybe Nintendo understands...

Irregardless, newer video games are not my focus at the moment.

Just ask yourself:

What would you rather be playing?

This




or this




I don't know about you, but I'd take the first choice. As far as graphics go, if a game is high production value, then graphics will most likely be great. Visuals don't make a great game as you guys say, but name me one game in the last few years or so that had awesome graphics, but wasn't a good game

Let's not forget that these days it's not all about the graphics anymore, it's about game mechanics; AI, physics, environment...

Sure it's getting expensive to keep up, but you get what you paid for!

Prime example; two pics above.

I've always said... if you're looking for realism, you can play a game called "reality" =p

Max0r said:

I've always said... if you're looking for realism, you can play a game called "reality" =p

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Yea, but can you shoot people in the head with a .50cal sniper or drive a $500,000 stolen car?

Technically you could, but few days latter you'd be living in 5'x5' room with a guy named Buba and that's no fun.

RedDragonXXX said:

Technically you could, but few days latter you'd be living in 5'x5' room with a guy named Buba and that's no fun.

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Only if you're a newb

RedDragonXXX said:

Just ask yourself:
What would you rather be playing? Crysis or Mario Galaxy

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What an odd comparison, two completely different types of games so they really can't be compared, however both make me drool when thinking of playing them. Now if the comparison was say between Crysis and Metroid Prime 3..... now that really would be a difficult one to answer!

RedDragonXXX said:

Name me one game in the last few years or so that had awesome graphics, but wasn't a good game

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hmmmnnn ok,

1. DOOM III
2. QUAKE IV
3. X3
4. Madden / Fifa 2097 or whatever year they are on now


There's always going to be a place in my heart for games which push the gfx envelope and satisfy in the playing dept too. I love eyecandy as much as anyone else.

I will be splurging out on a top notch rig to play Crysis, but I ain't exactly skint ;-) However how many poeple in these forums will actually be able to afford a top end DX10 based SLI/Crossfire Kentsfield/ 4x4 rig?

Hell people thought I was nuts buying an xbox just to play Halo (90% of my 'last gen' games are GC).

Anyways I digress, the most fun I've had playing games for the past few months has been on my DSLite, not amazing graphics but WOW real gameplay, makes me feel like I'm 14 again when playing.

After the SNES era ended 3D graphics began to rule the world - the cost was gameplay 90% of the time. I really think we were conned by the publishers.

All the signs point to the console & PC gaming market going into meltdown just like it did when the Atari 2600 was nearing the end of it's life, at least Wii owners should be sheltered from the crash due to real gameplay and dev costs being much lower than 360 and PS3.

thingi

I feel like in a certain way... PC gaming peaked around Q3A...

That is semi true Max0r, I do know that alot of the games from that era (Q3 Arena, Homeworld, AOE2, Half Life/CS/DoD/etc.) are all very very solid games, and it's alot easier to name the solid games from that time period, than it is for say, now.

Yes, and in addition... the people have changed as well...

tenchi86 said:

Personally I don't see it as better. There is no way I can use that controller for 5 hours straight and not have my arms killing me, with a mouse though I have gone 10 hours straight and arm is fine.

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icemanstryka said:

Actually its my xbox 360 that fried itelf. As for consoles. If they can let me use a mouse and a keyboard, maybe I'll use them again. If they can let me mod games, maybe I'll use them. Consoles are for jocks who plan Madden and Tony Hawk.
PC>ALL

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The PS3 is going to support keyboard and mouse for UT2007 at least, and hopefully if this sells well (as it probably will) it may prompt other developers to enable keyboard and mouse support on 360 and PS3 games. My Xbox 360 is currently hooked up to my monitor, so with configurable keyboard and mouse support, gameplay itself would be little different to on a PC. There were a number of mods made for xbox games, most were just reskins and config tweaks, but I think there were one or two 'REAL' mods for the Halo games.

damarble said:

Isn't the PS3 the one having heat issues? (Maybe I'm totally thinking wrong)

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AFAIK it is a mixture of BluRay problems and bad processor yields, there may be some heat issues though. Xbox 360 had them, but that seemed to be because of inadequate TIM on the heatsinks.

Max0r said:

Yes, and in addition... the people have changed as well...

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Yes, the devs all work for EA now, and don't bother to optimise their code or fix bugs, and a lot of the gamers are jock-ish idiots who can't even handle using gamespy, but demand an overpriced, rubbish multiplayer service that only requires you to press the A button a couple of times.