What changed in the 7th Gen that made you prefer being a PC gamer?
For me, this was the opposite situation. I lost a lot of my momentum as once being a near total PC gamer. Basically from 1997-2007, I was a hardcore PC gamer. Sure I played the occasional GBA or PS1 game, but I was really all about PC.
Over time though, I started seeing less and less PC games that specifically catered to the strengths of the PC. Instead I started seeing more and more ports of console games to PC. And then it got to be where nearly every PC game was also a console game, and the only reason to buy the PC version was for the higher res graphics. By the time the 360 and PS3 were in full swing, there was a real dearth of quality PC exclusive games IMO.
So it was in 2007 I bought my first PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. I started trying to catch up on what I missed on those platforms during their era. And I'm still playing catch up, because there's so many games. I also got my first DS in 2007, and I spent a lot of time playing it (still do). So while people were loving it up on the 360/PS3/PC, I was just now getting into Xbox/PS2. And now I'm just starting to get into 360/PS3 and folks are on the One/PS4/PC train. Just my slow roll I guess. Though to be fair, I got into Wii gaming around 2009 and played a lot of that too. I still got mad love for the Wii.
Anyway, what with all the console and handheld gaming, my PC gaming really fell behind. However that doesn't mean I didn't do
any PC gaming during the Seventh Generation. So I have some things to say after all...
Which PC game do you think had the best graphics during this time?
I'll have to give it to
Trine 2. Holy hell that game is beautiful, amazing aesthetics and technical competency. I mean yeah
Crisis looks ultra realistic, but ultra realistic isn't necessary
good art direction.
Trine 2 had awesome graphics
and awesome art direction.
What was your overall favorite PC game(s) during this era?
I'd probably have to hand that one to the original
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I bought and played it in 2008 and I was really blown away. The combo of survival horror/FPS/RPG and the amount of sheer exploration in the game was just a perfect combo for me. (I still need to play its sequels though.) I even enjoyed
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. more than
Fallout 3, and that says a lot because I was a big fan of that one too.
What do you think was the most overrated PC game(s) during this era?
Portal by a mile. It was a one trick pony ride that lasted all of three hours. Its best ideas were stolen from other games. THE CAKE IS A LIE! and so is this game's Metacritic score.
I also found
Legend of Grimrock,
Pyschonauts,
Beyond Good & Evil and
Indigo Prophecy to all be grossly inappropriately lauded.
Psychonauts was a fine game until its final two levels, in which the gameplay deteriorated dramatically. Most critics never played it that far before slapping a 9/10 on it and calling it a day.
What do you think was the most underrated PC game(s) during this era?
Probably everything that Wadjet Eye Games put out. They produced a bunch of high quality thought provoking adventure games, but most folks didn't even know they even existed. Thankfully most of their stuff has been relisted on GOG now, so folks can find them finally.
What are some of your fondest memories of PC gaming during this era?
Just about shitting my pants while exploring underground labs in
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. In
Fallout 3, blowing up Megaton and laughing like a maniac. Being a sneaky sneaker ninja in
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Being a vicious bastard in
Hitman: Blood Money. Running my little capitalist extremism shop in
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale.
I have a lot of great local co-op memories from this gen of PC gaming. Beating
Bionic Commando: ReArmed with an old friend. Playing through
Trine and
Trine 2 with my daughter and wife. Beating
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and
Guacamelee! with my wife as well. Those are just a few examples.
What was your favorite PC OS and hardware setup during this era?
I haven't upgraded my desktop in years. It's got a Pentium 4 3ghz and a Radeon X850-XT in it for Pete's sake. But it still plays all my PC games from 2008 and back just fine. I have a laptop that plays most indie PC games fine as well, but it's only a Core i3.
I plan to buy a really nice laptop in the future when I can muster up enough give a shit.
What changes do you think the Seventh Generation made to PC gaming overall?
Good stuff...
Obviously digital downloads really took off. Now, being an old curmudgeon the idea of getting new PC games from the net is nothing new to
me. I mean, I remember when
Rusty n Edie's BBS was taken down. After that shareware/indie games were still a thing on the internet, there just wasn't a conglomerate space for it like Steam and GOG are.
So yeah it's safe to say Steam revolutionized the concept because it made downloading PC games from the internet a much more streamlined and focused affair. And that's great except for their DRM policies, which thankfully GOG doesn't have. More and more people are starting to realized how amazing GOG is though, and I couldn't be happier about that.
Steam in combination with really great
RAD kits and easy to use cross platform game engines, really allowed the indie community to take off. Now let's be clear, indie PC games have been a thing since the invention of the PC. It's nothing new as a concept. But rather it was the new delivery methods and easy to use tools that evolved the genre into the behemoth it is today. I mean, even I made my
own indie PC game. We see a lot of innovation come from the indie sector now, and sometimes it trickles up to the AAA sector where the ideas are bolstered by huge budgets.
Also, the 360 controller. Because you can use the 360 controller with a PC easily, it really helped to standardize PC gaming controls in huge way. Before the 360 controller any random PC game was going to have what-the-hell-ever controls and it was always a crapshoot if your own gamepad would work with it or not. The 360 controller combined with copious console-to-PC ports really changed all that, and for the better. Most folks never have to mess with the controls settings with PC games at all these days, and that's something that only became possible during the 7th Gen.
PC gaming is cheap is hell. This is great for a lot of poorer folks. Once you get past the initial financial hurdle of building a PC, or buying one, getting the games costs much less versus console gaming. What with copious bundle sales and deep discounts happening all the time on digital storefronts. And let's be honest here, huge swaths of PC gamers are pirates and just torrent their PC games anyway, and that's about as cheap as it can get. Not saying anyone HERE does that, but it's a thing. A big ol' ubiquitous elephant in the room.
Japanese developers suddenly realized that even though Japan doesn't care about PC gaming (in a mainstream way), the rest of the world does. So now we are seeing more and more Japanese console games being ported or cross developed for PC. Not bad, not bad at all.
Bad stuff...
Because of risk averse publishers and a toxic marketplace, it's rare to see big budget games developed specifically for PC anymore. It's more common that the PC gets a port of the console game. Or even if that's not the case, the PC version is hobbled in ways because the game was developed with cross platform in mind. Graphics aren't what they might have been, control options aren't what they might have been, overall game complexity is not what it might have been, if the game in question had been specifically designed with PC in mind first and foremost. This is a problem that started in the 6th Gen though to be fair. It only became exacerbated in the 7th Gen.
Constant bundle sales and the ease of piracy for PC means an ever growing toxicity of risk averse publisher mindsets. It's like people think AAA PC games ought to be $15 dollars and indie PC games should be $2 or $1. And they are willing to wait until those prices happen, wait until those bundles happen, and most importantly save their pennies for Steam seasonal sales. The problem with this super cheapskate mindset is that while it's good for consumers' checking accounts, it's bad for publishers' willingness to invest in PC exclusive games, or to take chances on expensive new ideas. Why make a big budget innovative PC-only game, when 50% of the demographic's going to wait until it's on a Steam sale, and 25% more will just pirate it anyway?
While indie PC games did EXPLODE during the 7th Gen, that's not necessarily a good thing overall. Yes we definitely got some real super duper winners. But the problem is, we got a whole lotta stinkers too. That means the signal-to-noise-ratio in that market is out of whack. Combine that with most people's cheap mindset who won't buy an indie game until it's a $1 in a bundle, and you've got a seriously overcrowded and undervalued marketplace. That lethal combination crippled the piss out of the GooglePlay store (it's a wasteland honestly) and it can happen to the PC indie gaming space eventually. Some would argue it's already happened. Thankfully a lot of the better PC indie games trickle onto console digital storefronts, so they get some financial bolstering there. If you care about indie PC games, buy them for their full price when they release. Being a super cheapskate isn't doing the developer any favors.
Overall...
I've been a PC gamer since the late 80s and I've never seen PC gaming as widespread as it is now. But at the same time, PC gaming these days doesn't feel like what PC gaming used to be. There used to be a tangible divide between how PC game genres, complexity, and controls functioned versus how console games were in relation. Both formats had their strengths and weaknesses.
But nowadays due to publishers focusing on cross platform PC/console development and the gamepad as default primary input versus PC/keyboard, I think the PC lost most of its unique identity during the 7th Gen. The PC's library feels so homogenized nowadays compared to how it used to be.
Honestly I think a lot of folks who are so proud of being a modern PC gamer today don't even realize they are essentially still console gamers. They've got their PC plugged into the living room HDTV, controlling it with a gamepad, and are playing cross platform console/PC games. Granted, they are playing those self-same console games at higher resolutions and at better framerates on PC. But that's NOT what PC gaming used to be about. It's just not what PC gaming's unique identity used to be about, before the 7th Gen came along and devolved it.
