Opinion: “Next-gen console architecture good for PC gaming”? No. It’s vice versa.

HUGG writes:Both Alienware and Nvidia have been making bold claims that the architecture of the next-generation consoles is only going to benefit PC gaming, but could it hinder more than help?

[hiredhelp]

Now all consoles are powerd by AMD it means for PC Gamers and myself that hopfully will now be seeing AMD logos instead Nvidia on most Games thoe im sure wont go down to well with Nvidia players.

Also the expanded memory yes it's differnt setup to normal PC but lets forget that Its 8GB most pc games barely reach 4GB So i can see a big change there benifit PC Gamers with 8Gb or more better more open games perhaps great.

As stated easyer ported games or as i think better quality ported games.

Lastly most for me importantly we see DX9 in the bin DX11 as standard.

[wishingW3L]

Nvidia and Intel will still be better on PC, you'll see. For consoles it doesn't matter which brand because developers will always fully optimize for it but is not the same on the PC. Developers don't take the same time developing for PC like they do with consoles but now that they all have the same architecture the PC will be the one to benefit the most from this because it's the most powerful.

[ProjectVulcan]

I don't think that the consoles being AMD based is particularly relevant to PC gaming, more simply that they have an x86 CPU and more modern DX11 GPU.

Intel and Nvidia are by far and away the largest market on PC. Intel having something like 73 percent CPU share, and Nvidia 52 percent to AMD's 33 percent GPU share on the steam hardware survey.

The consoles being AMD won't really effect a change there significantly, they never have really because PC takes its own path forward in hardware and the consoles merely use that advancement when its time for new ones.

All that matters for PC gamers is that new consoles raise the level of games and take advantage of superior PC hardware better than they have been, with most games being designed for now old consoles.

[starchild]

It's not either/or. Both PCs and consoles will benefit from the unified architecture across PCs and consoles.

Developers will get to spend less time on problems and quirky hardware and more time on making great games. Porting will be easier in some ways. But mostly it won't be porting in the traditional sense, but rather making one game that can adapt and scale across three systems with similar architecture.

DirectX 11, 64bit, more RAM and better multi-core utilization will finally be taken advantage of more fully on the PC.

[starchild]

You know, I've never really cared if a PC exclusive goes to the consoles. If more of them do, it won't bother me. Especially if more console exclusives continue to show up on the PC.

All I care about is that I can play the games I love on my PC with fantastic visual fidelity and smooth framerates, with the control methods I want, and taking advantage of the mods that are available for some of them.

[wallis]

To be totally honest the relationship between consoles and PC's is largely based on AAA releases. Games that are totally multiplatform or willing to port tend to be games that are large in scope or financially successful but the thing is that's not what makes PC gaming great. I don't really care too much about the "big" releases coming up when it's been titles like Mount and Blade, Hotline Miami, Gunpoint, DayZ, Space pirates and zombies, Dear Esther and Amnesia that have left me in awe of the PC market. These games don't really give that much of a sh*t about graphics.

So yes the PC platform is ridiculously good looking *poses blue steel* but what actually makes it worth my time is the open market where any two nerds with some programming experience have a damn good chance of making a splash. To this extent the xbox one and ps4 will have to commit a spree killing in my town with a hedgehog/cactus launcher to really catch my eye. Yeah I'll enjoy the occasional port of a game like Watch Dogs or GTA V and for that I guess architecture does matter but I don't think PC has THAT much to be concerned about.

[Salooh]

All developers are praising how easy to develop for the ps4. This means that developers can make games on pc then port it easily to ps4. So yes , it's a great thing for pc so stop complaining and enjoy the Next generation..

[Somebody]

And yet Blizzard find it's hard to give Diablo 3's PC fans the same treatment as the console versions. Specifically the direct control scheme thanks to the controller. They could just easily adjust those codes for the PC fans but instead they don't. We see Blizzard telling everyone that the direct controls are much more fun than the PC's click fest while in contrast Bastion and Torchlight developers can make their games use multiple types of control scheme across several platforms from day one.

Game platforms are sharing similar architecture so porting shouldn't be a big problem and yet I do fear it's(what Blizzard is doing) just the beginning of a new type of exclusivity.

[Salooh]

It's just marketing ^^ , It will be the same game with just different way of playing it . What's great about the pc is that it gives you both options . You may be able to use the controller on pc in the future . Then you will get these small new features...

[Somebody]

Yes, it's obviously a marketing ploy. Still, Crysis was released for the 360 and the console fans get to play with Crysuit 2.0 control while the original PC Crysis fans got nothing.

If this tactic is lucrative enough for Blizzard then it might not want to give PC fans the same treatment. What happens if this control based exclusivity (controller only for console versions, click fest only for PC version) become Blizzard's next gen way of doing business? No one successfully challenged them for the always online Diablo 3 and no is questioning them now for not letting in the PC fans with the direct control so who's to stop them to enforce this for all their future titles?

[Software_Lover]

Next Gen, Microsoft and/or Sony, will make it where pc games can be installed on the console.

[die_fiend]

Are u currently dreaming? Wake up

[secretcode]

It doesn't really matter. Both sides of gaming will benefit from this on equal levels.

[sorane]

It's good for the developers for sure. They'll be able to create the PC version and basically just scale em back to the other platforms.