At the Develop in Brighton conference some of the gaming industry's biggest developers are banging their heads together.
Mark Rein of Epic (they make games like Unreal Tournament) rail against Intel's dangerous influence over the PC market - and in the most extraordinary manner.
"I'm concerned about the level of growth in the PC games business," he told the audience, pointing particularly to the strategy of rolling out integrated graphics in computers rather than dedicated ones. "A $900 PC is nowhere near as capable as a $299 XBox 360 console: we're losing PC gamers in record numbers."
Rein placed the blame firmly at Intel's door, for an approach to the computer market that tended to go for the lowest common denominator . He suggested that the lack of graphical power was holding back further developments in all kinds of software, not just games, and claimed Microsoft had "capitulated" to Intel by not enforcing 3D power on the desktop. Such a change would cost very little - he suggested between $5 and $8 - but the result is that the gaming industry is now thinking of abandoning PCs completely in favour of consoles.
Games Asylum: "Well, this is uncanny. This school management sim bears a startling resemblance to Two Point Campus, especially when it comes to planning and decorating rooms. Be sure to add a window and a radiator, along with a plant or rubbish bin. Indeed, certain aspects are almost identical – it’s just like revisiting Two Point Campus, only something is…off. It’s the visual style that leads to the uncanny valley feeling, using a low-poly PlayStation/Saturn aesthetic. An odd choice, considering the 32-bit consoles didn’t have a great amount of management sims. The PS1 did have Theme Hospital though – with Two Point Hospital being Campus’ predecessor, so we guess we can give it a pass on its artistic intent."
After being forced under the map with no way to escape, Helldivers 2 was an option added to force respawn so they can get back to action.
EvilVEvil Review - A fast co-op vampire experience that sadly doesn't have enough bite to keep players entertained for long.
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more console gamers the better for the community
Intel isn't killing PC gaming, technology is killing PC gaming. We have reached a point where you can get a great looking game system for a fraction of what it costs to purchase and upgrade a PC. Sure the PC looks better but since most gamers are casual several thousand dollars over a five year period spent on purchasing and upgrading a gaming rig seem considerably less attractive then a $150 to $400 console.
Even if the PC was the same price as the xbox 360, I would still choose the xbox 360 because; 1) perfer TV and surround sound, perfer controller and the biggest reason is ease of use. I hate trying to install a PC then an error pops up and you need some new driver and then you spend half a dat installing and rebooting and get the same error. Then there is also an issue of the game performing like crap on my computers, nomatter what computer I had the games looked like ass. With my xbox 360 I pop in the game and nomatter what it looks how it's meant to on my HDTV. No settings to mess with, in a matter of seconds I'm enjoying my games and playing with others over live. Yesterday I spend a good 3 hours trying to play worms armegeddon on my PC over the internet and in the end I still couldn't get it. I'm starting to think me and PC gaming are not destined. Now if some developer were to release worms armeggedon onto xbox live arcade I will be one happy gamer. :)