The Problem with PC Gaming - One Example

PC gaming is one of those sore subjects that keeps coming up; whether it's the death of PC gaming or it's resurrection, the topic is always ready to jump out somewhere. I'm not going into that here because it's been beaten to death and to sum it up, reports of PC gaming's death have been greatly exaggerated. What I'd like to point out is the perception problem with PC gaming.

I've got an example of this perception problem on the right. What you see is an email I got from Newegg this morning pimping out an Aion pre-order with some computer parts. The title is the problem. "Play it the way it was meant to be played." OK, how? Oh wait, I see, if I buy that $299 monitor, the $269 motherboard, the $144.99 video card and the $104.99 power supply I can play the game "the way it was meant to be played." Funny they left out the big ticket CPU but I think you get the point. The quick take-away from this is that Aion needs a more powerful computer than you have so you have to upgrade in order to play the game. It's that simple. Now if we were to take a look at that statement we would quickly discover it's just not true.

Here's the minimum system requirement for the game:

CPU : Pentium 4 2.0GHz
RAM :1GB
VGA :GeForec FX 5600(128MB), DirectX 9 or higher
OS :Windows XP
Hmm, seems like any computer made now would meet these requirements. Actually, it seems like any computer made in the past couple of years would meet this. So, do you need all the new PC parts to play Aion? The answer is decidedly no.

One of the common complaints leveled against PC gaming is that it's too expensive because you have to keep upgrading in order to play. This is of course a falsehood but you can see where this is coming from - the retailers. Well, it's not just them but the video card makers and CPU folks are also to blame for the arms race but not as much as the retailers. With a decent PC rig you can play games for a couple of years without having to upgrade. Will you get a 10 year life-cycle like the consoles? I'd have to say no way but the 10-year cycle for consoles hasn't been done yet and I don't think it will either because the pace of technology is so fast that they will be forced to release new consoles before they get close to 10 years.

If you're on the fence about getting a new gaming rig or a new video card because you think you won't be able to play the next generation of games - get off the fence and buy the card because you'll likely be able to play games for years on your current system. Don't believe the hype, just because you can get more frames with a new system doesn't mean its better and it certainly won't make a crap game a good game. Long live PC gaming!

Fonte: AltplusF4