2012: The Year The PC Showed Everyone Who’s Boss

Kotaku: For years it slumbered in darkness, deep within the earth. An Old God, maybe even the First God, its hibernation marked by rattling breaths reverberating in the deep like cinderblocks dragged across wet asphalt. Sleeping… resting. One day to wake.

And in the year 2012, the day of awakening arrived, and the great PC Gaming God rose from the depths and wreaked terrible destruction across the world of console gaming.

Yes, 2012 was likely the year we'll think back on as The Year The PC Returned. While of course, PC gaming never "went anywhere," not really, there was a definite sense that it got backburnered for a few years there. No longer.

[Bladesfist]

PC will always be my primary platform because of the huge number of exclusives. Not only are there exclusive games but exclusive genres and a strong community. My steam library is valued at $3200 and I have paid a fraction of that price to get them all. Value and exclusives.

[Mariusmssj]

It obviously has it's good sides and bad sides. So do consoles. Until next gen comes PC is more preferable choice for me.

[LocutusEstBorg]

Wrong. There are no disadvantages to PC. Anything that affects a PC, effects every other device, except a PC can have quick workarounds.

[nukeitall]

@KurianOfBorg:

Wrong!

I there are plenty of issues not affecting consoles, such as poor performance due to wrong settings, inconvenient patching, drivers and so on.

PC does have a lot of advantages, but it isn't the be all of gaming. If it was, there would never be the rise of consoles and their continued emergence.

[MikeMyers]

Judging by all the disagrees it seems to me people are just either console gamer slaves or don't know much about PC gaming. The two can and will co-exist so there is no reason to disagree when both have their pros and cons. One is not better than the other because every consumer is different.

The consoles have the marketing and ease of use. The PC's have the flexibility and the technology while not being hampered by corporations running the show.

KurianOfBorg, There are many disadvantages to PC gaming. One is there are many console exclusives that never make it to the PC. Two is the price. It's impossible to build a PC for $300 that comes with a controller and is ready to go. Some games require Windows for example. Try playing Far Cry 3 on a $300 PC that is 720p and runs at 30fps. Another issue for some is the lack of physical media. Most games now can only be bought digitally.

PC gaming takes more effort from the consumer. I love PC gaming but to say it has no disadvantages is wrong. Obviously the big 3 (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) have managed to sell hundreds of millions of consoles, so there is a void the PC hasn't been able to tap into yet.

[decrypt]

"My steam library is valued at $3200"

Good thing is you get to keep it next gen :P no question about the next box not running those games lol, niether will there be any question of companies trying to sell you LOL remakes.

My own Steam library consists of about 150 games ;-)

[-MD-]

I have 314 games on my Steam account, they'll always be there too.

[TitanUp]

pc gaming is awesome and im very happy with it

http://steamcommunity.com/i...

[onandonandon]

Didn't know u could sell your steam games when you've finished them

[hulk_bash1987]

Yeah but buted games are what is hurting console games the most. The game developers and publishers dont see any profit from used games sales. Which hurt their bottom line and in turn affect the companies and franchises we love. That is why I always do my best to avoid used games. The video game industry is a business and we as video game consumers should support the people that make these games that we love.

[ravinash]

Besides, how much money do you get back once you sell them.
Is it as much as you would save if you got the game for PC?
I got X com from Steam for £20 not to long after it had came out.
If I got it for my PS3 it would have cost me £36 at the time.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I don't think PC gaming was "sleeping". Not at all. The only people who think that are people who haven't been PC gamers for very long.

What has happened (and it happens EVERY SINGLE gaming generation) is that as the current consoles get older and begin to show their age, the high-end PC games (that have been coming out each year, every year) get noticed more because people can see the massive difference between console and PC. Remember a game called Half Life 2? It was on the original Xbox (terrible port, btw) and barely any console gamers paid attention to it, BUT when 360/PS3 launched and The Orange Box came out, everyone went ga-ga over a game that was nearly 3 years old.

Or what about Elder Scrolls? The franchise has been on PC for years and years (not to mention predecessors like Ultima), but as soon as Morrowind and Oblivion come out on consoles, everyone goes "OMG! FIRST PERSON OPEN WORLD FANTASY RPG? WAT IS THISSSSS??!" and PC gamers went "Ummmm, yeah, welcome to the club".

It's nothing new. Wait for a year or two when Xbox720/PS4 launch and we'll have yet another wave of "is PC gaming dead?" articles.

[Somebody]

"Wait for a year or two when Xbox720/PS4 launch and we'll have yet another wave of "is PC gaming dead?" articles. "

I think they (gaming sites and console fans) will be a little bit careful next time around with such grand claim.

I remembered half a decade ago how PC gamers either desperately defend the PC or just huddled in the corner taking all the crap thrown at them during the PC is Dead Era. Now, I chuckled when earlier this year when the first "Console is Dead?" articles appeared and the fanboys came rushing in to defend their beloved consoles. The funny is that it's not the PC that's causing those "Dead" articles but mobile gaming.

[ravinash]

I would say if anything that causes these article about PCs are dying and the consoles have had their day. It's just the media trying to get attention.
I play of PC for a while, went to PS2 then to PS3 and then back to PC recently.
Basically different people like different things. I enjoy sitting on the couch playing a game which is what makes a console great, but I also enjoy playing strategy games which are better plays on the PC. so these days I play on PS3 and PC.

This thing about one of the other dying is a waste of time because as each console gets out dated and starts to show against the latest model PCs (Or middle of the range PCs) then the newest model comes out and the cycle starts again.

[ATi_Elite]

Kidnapping in DayZ is turning into big business as well as paying for Security Escorts. Also Eve Online has seen a up tick in Kidnapping and Ransom demands but in Eve Online it's usually for real money by way of ISK!!!

Nothing and I mean nothing is like this anywhere but on the Glorious PC.

Why did I become a PC Gamer? The PC Exclusives and wanting to have complete control over my Gaming Experience!

PC Gaming and Windows: As Valve makes a move towards Linux....Microsoft will finally take their head outta their arse and embrace PC Gaming but by then it will be too late.

Valve is gonna some how make is so that Microsoft is NOT needed to play PC Games (Eliminating DirectX in favor of OpenGL) thus removing Microsoft and it's greedy decisions from PC Gaming.

[AKS]

Cool it with the Master Race stuff. That just pisses people off, and that term has a pretty repugnant history. It's a joke that has long been overplayed and overused.

[chukamachine]

I game on many platforms.

But other then graphics in some area's, pc owns nothing.

Many top titles do not appear on PC.

Metro is overrate rubbish/
Crysis is ZZzzzz these days

There are still some great games on PC.

KurianOfBorg there are issues with drivers on both NVidia and amd that still have no fix. You only need to look in forums for that.

PC is still the best place for BF3 though:)

[Bladesfist]

PC owns the indie scene, modding, RTS, Simulation, Stratergy, MMO, Multiplayer (more players, dedicated servers, less lag)

Console owns JRPG and ???

[Imalwaysright]

TPS, Beat'em up, hack n' slash and sports games. Everything else is superior on the PC including multiplatforms. Exclusives are personal preferences. Next year the game i want to play the most is TLoU. That is why i couldn't live without my PC/PS3 combo.

[Ddouble]

Fighting games also do much better on consoles than PC. SF4 and SFXT are on it but it's still missing a lot of others.

PC/PS3 combo like imalwaysright said ensures you don't miss anything.

[Theo1130]

It's been a great year for PC gaming, the gaming industrys zombie. Hopefully the new consoles give me a reason to get one next year or I'm upgrading my pc again( even though I dont' need too)

[bikar]

who is boss ?

Brand new PC vs 6 years old consoles
LOL

It was about time

[onandonandon]

I know it's like comparing PS3 to PS2 or XBOX 360 to XBOX!

[dirthurts]

A good 6 year old pc still beat the modern console.
A bonus, a modern PC will still beat next gen consoles.
Catching up just to still be behind.

[bikar]

A good 6 years old pc that was better than consoles at lounch was 3x more expensive

[Bladesfist]

@bikar And it could do more than 3x the amount of things, PC is more than just gaming.

[Somebody]

The majority the game developers in this year's E3 used the PC to showcase their latest game engines for their upcoming games.

[VonBraunschweigg]

And in the year 2012, the day of awakening arrived, and the great PC Gaming God rose from the depths and wreaked terrible destruction across the world of console gaming untill spring 2013 when console gaming wreaks terrible destruction across the world of Los Santos.

PC may be God but Heaven will be on console.

[Zha1tan]

but then it will release on PC later with mod support and it will become a better heaven.

patience child.

[VonBraunschweigg]

Patience:)

[paddystan]

I got a new PSU and a GTX 690 graphics card for christmas, so Im ready for everything. :)

[Perjoss]

That's a serious card! and from what I've seen from benchmarks yes you will be ready for pretty much anything for the next 2 years, excluding games that are terribly optimised (which can happen on ANY platform not just PC)

[SPAM-FRITTER-123]

"you will be ready for pretty much anything for the next 2 years"

WHAT? i have had a radeon 6870 for 3 years and it still max out 95% of games. a GTX690 will last another 10 years.

Where you get your PC knowledge from? the back of a milk carton?

[OmniSlashPT]

But if you don't like RTS/MMOs, there is no point in turning into pc gaming. Perhaps the indie market, but PSN and XBL have far more quality titles now as well. However, some multi-plats may play better and look better in the PC, but the overall experience remains the same.

Even in a year PC 'showed everyone who's boss', a PSN downloadable title is winning all the awards lmao diablo 3? guild wars 2? bitch please

[CGI-Quality]

Seems fairly obvious you've not spent much time gaming on a PC.

OT: 2012 was definitely a big year for the PC. I built my first custom rig (which includes the GTX 690, i7 3770K, and 32GB of RAM), and I feel like I'm late to the party. Should have done this years ago.

[InTheLab]

Not sure what PC did differently from any other year but ok. At least this isn't another PC gaming is dead piece.

The best thing about PC is if you have the money, you pretty much can get away with anything.

I have a great rig AND and pretty decent laptop that strong enough to run all but a few games on Console level...so I sit there at the airport playing Dishonored or Borderlands on my laptop with a 360 controller while all the douches playing fruit ninja on their phones and tablets look salty.

I find PC gaming much more convenient. Every game I own and all of it's DLC is available on all of the PCs in my house and once they iron out the issues with big picture mode, I'll probably spend even less time on my PS3 and sell off my Xbox.

[aquamala]

Because the gap between pc and consoles just keeps getting bigger and bigger, once you've seen far cry 3,ac3, bf3 on pc why would you ever play these games on consoles. I do have consoles too, but pc is my preferred platform. And no need to worry about backward compatibility, my pc 5 years from now can play all my 300+ games on steam

[MadMen]

LOL PC - LAME

[Hassassin]

Your PC might be lame...

[MadMen]

Lame Response

[chaldo]

@MadMen
Someone here is jealous.. no money?

[MadMen]

Cute, but plenty my child

[iamgoatman]

So just stupid then?