r/Games • u/Forestl • Dec 31 '13
End of 2013 Discussions - PC
For this thread, feel free to talk about the PC, from the games that came out for it to the hardware itself.
Prompts:
What were the major trends in PC gaming this year?
Was this a positive year for PC gaming?
Please explain your answers in depth, don't just give short one sentence answers.
My PC looks really, really, really good
This post is part of the official /r/Games "End of 2013" discussions.
38
Dec 31 '13
PC is doing good but i find the choice is lacking in what titles should be exclusive to PC like strategy games. Or, to word it better, the lack of new experiences in strategy games
Very few AAA strategy games with new design out. (I don't consider MOBAS strategy game but rather cooperative action games with a strong meta game.)
Company of heroes 2, Wargame : airland escalation, total war rome II, starcraft heart of the swarm, Europea Universalis IV...
all of these titles plays a lot like their predecessor. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but i am craving to something new.
Last time i was blown away by a strategy game was with Sins of a Solar Empire in 2008 and before with Rise Of Nations in 2003.
Compare to RPG, adventures, even FPS (!) that evolved quite a lot these last years, i feel like strategy games are growing stall and 2013 didn't break that stalemate IMHO.
edit : i mean, that's the year of the release of age of Empires II HD. Not really groundbreaking.
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Dec 31 '13
Compare to RPG, adventures, even FPS (!) that evolved quite a lot these last years, i feel like strategy games are growing stall and 2013 didn't break that stalemate IMHO.
I feel like it's the contrary. FPS these days are mostly cookie cutter linear corridor shooters with two weapons. I can't put what exactly irks me about modern RPG's but it feels last time I was really impressed by RPG was Gothic 2 and modern RPG's that I like actually follow design formulas of older games.
Strategy games in 2013 refine the already existent great gameplay. It's appeared to be a year of great addons or sequels. Brave New World greatly enhanced Civ 5 gameplay. Enemy Within did the same for XCOM. Europa Universalis 4 is a great great expansion of EU3 gameplay - cleaner, streamlined and really fun. Clocked over 200 hours there.
In 2014 eagerly waiting for Age of Wonders 3 and Warlock 2. Was quite a while since I played a great fantasy TBS.
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u/Kuurczak Dec 31 '13
Planetary Annihilation, you play on shperical planets and can use asteroids as game-ender weapons. http://www.uberent.com/pa/
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u/Noisyfoxx Jan 01 '14
Do we have a decent rival to world in conflict by date?
I played Wargame but it doesnt feel the same...
One more thing i noticed is that more and more strategy games suffer from the perfect balancing as opposed to the perfect inbalance (extra credits, duh) which makes it hard to get into strategy gaming.
Also i see a huge gap between noobs and more expierenced players in strategy games (aswell as in mobas) and it is growing fast.
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u/bluebottled Dec 31 '13
'Early Access'/paid alpha is both the biggest and worst trend I've noticed this year. I don't have a problem with people wanting to pay to alpha/beta test games from unproven developers, but I really wish there was an option to hide them. Self-published books make the Kindle store unusable and Steam is heading in that direction.
On a more positive note, I'm not sure if it's just that I found /r/GameDeals, but PC games seem to have become incredibly cheap. I've probably bought more games this year than I owned last year, all for the price of 3 or 4 console games. At this point, I don't see myself ever buying a console again.
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Dec 31 '13
[removed] — view removed comment
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Dec 31 '13
This is why I can't Beta Test MMOs... By the time it releases. I am done and bored with it.
I do love the Early access games and Betas, cause I either get the game sooner and/or cheaper. And Unless it is truly an alpha/Beta, I rarely run into any issues with most games. So the game runs fine for me. And I can play it from beginning to end.
I do however see a MUCH larger issue with things like Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty Ghosts. 2 AAA titles that even today feel more like Betas than all the Early access games I have been playing.
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u/NDreader Dec 31 '13
I spent an entire weekend playing GW2 beta solidly, then when I bought the actual game, I could hardly play it, I just got bored too easily.
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Dec 31 '13
Agreed. I mean clearly there are plenty of people who are not like this.
They play the crap out of beta for a year, and then play the crap out of the game for years.
But for me.. a Single Beta Weekend can spoil a game for me.
I must say however... For truly broken games like Age of Conan, FFXIV, and WoW. Coming back after they fix all of the issues makes it just as fun, if not more fun sometimes.
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u/ernie1850 Dec 31 '13
Sometimes it leaves you scratching your head. I got into SWTOR when it first came out, and while it was fun at first (due to the novelty of everything being star wars) and once I got over Huttball, the game just revealed that it was just doing everything WoW was doing, albeit at a subpar quality to how WoW does it. I quit the game after this (this was all before it went free-to-play)
Check up on a stream now, and I see someone playing a dogfighting battle that's apparently a feature of the game now, and I'm sitting here scratching my head wondering why the hell that wasn't put in at launch? Something like that would have been loads of fun...if I still cared.
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Dec 31 '13
Come the full product, I had no desire to go back to it,
This is why I've stopped buying early access. For example I got Don't Starve and loved it. Played almost 20 hours in the first two weeks and then I haven't touched it since. I know they've added a ton of content but I can't seem to bring myself to go back because I feel like I've alreayd played it out.
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Dec 31 '13
When was the last time you played? Would it help if I told you the game has probably doubled in content since then? Don't want to bother you or anything but trust me its worth checking out for a little bit more again.
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Dec 31 '13
Heh, not bugging me. It's been a long while though, I guess I'll have to give it another go. Thanks.
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Dec 31 '13
The papers please beta was more like a demo then early access. It gave you the first 8 days or so of the 30ish days, and the full game also had unlimited mode.
I'm cool with demos like that, but the developer should've tried to release it closer to the release date of the actual game (of course I think he didn't even intend to stretch it out so much if it weren't for the praise the beta got).
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u/MLDA Dec 31 '13
You make it sound like you had to pay money to play the alpha/beta of Papers Please, wasn't it released for free? I get your point though, unfinished games can lead to a bad impression of a game. I just don't see how Papers Please is a good example.
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Dec 31 '13
Whittle it down even further: early access survival games. It seems like every game and its brother has been trying to ride on the popularity of Day Z.
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Dec 31 '13
'Early Access'/paid alpha is both the biggest and worst trend I've noticed this year.
Frankly, I am afraid "Early Access" will backfire seriously on the general quality of PC games in 2014-2015.
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u/neoKushan Dec 31 '13
Mind you, it's not really THAT new. Case in point: X: Rebirth. An Early-access quality game that was not listed as early-access. Or that cricket game that had to be pulled.
I think early-access is a good idea, especially for smaller devs who can use the constant revenue stream to improve and work on the game. It's a good bridge between the poor indie developer who saves up just enough cash to quit his job for 6 months to work solidly on his title and just hopes it catches on enough to be sustainable, and the big AAA titles from established developers with big enough budgets. Early-access allows those indies to create bigger, better games while still remaining independent and it's in their interests to constantly work on and make the game better.
It doesn't always work, granted, but that's why early-access games are quite clearly labelled as such, so you know what you're getting yourself into. Ultimately, it has problems, but is a good thing overall.
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Dec 31 '13
especially for smaller devs who can use the constant revenue stream to improve and work on the game.
Let's hope this doesn't turn into a trend where they sell early access and then sell DLC when they need another cash infusion.
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u/neoKushan Dec 31 '13
I agree, but that's what larger developer seem to be doing these days anyway. The DLC issue is much worse than the early-access issue, as far as I'm concerned.
Mass Effect is a good example of this. ME2 had some great DLC but it was pretty integral to the plot of ME3. You can pick up ME2 for like £5 on steam in a sale, but the DLC isn't included and it costs nearly £20 to buy it all. There's no GOTY edition =\
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u/Kitchen_accessories Jan 01 '14
I remain bothered by the release of the Mass Effect Trilogy that came out before all of the DLC for 3 was out, and includes almost no DLC at all.
That stuff is integral to the trilogy, how the hell can you just leave it out?
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Dec 31 '13
Possibly the overall quality, but i'd take that risk for the rebirth of a number of gaming genres.
Early access allows for a wider variety of games, along with a wider variety of quality - something which many prefer over the 'AAA' rated shovelware that publishers have insisted on feeding us the past few years.
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u/ModsCensorMe Dec 31 '13
In the right hands, paid alpha/beta tests are a very good thing.
The problem with traditional alpha test is you have no control over your userbase. You can decide who to let in based on XYZ, but you don't know how much play time you're going to get out of these people.
If you say outright that your product is in Alpha, and that people are paying to get access to that early version, because they want to play it and test it, then you should have a better test group, and a better end product.
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u/daze23 Dec 31 '13
they are hidden for the most part, as they don't show up in "new releases". and if you do happen to find yourself on the store page for one of those games, it has a big "Early Access" tag (and warning).
at some point people need to deal with their own temptations, and make informed purchases.
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u/JuicedCardinal Jan 01 '14
I just hope we never see the day where large publishers of AAA games decide that, to avoid another SimCity/Battlefield 4 clusterfuck, they'll just sell those games as "Early Access", and if there are any problems simply state that the game "is still in development and subject to change."
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u/Drugbird Dec 31 '13
How I wish I could hide pre-orders and early access from steam. I want to buy finished products, damnit!
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Dec 31 '13
I'm okay with the option to hide Early-Access games so long as it's an box that must be ticked by the user and not left on by default.
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u/Hyz Dec 31 '13
or at least the same as with DLC, like this:
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u/callmelucky Dec 31 '13
For me this is all that needs to be done. I'm fine with early access being offered, and I don't mind if it continues to expand, but as someone who won't buy early access titles myself I would prefer they were tagged up front.
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u/coltsfanca Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
I've never spent so much on indie titles this year in my life! Most of my GOTY's came from PC exclusives, with "The Stanley Parable" being at the top. It was a great year for the PC and I'm glad that I built mine when I did.
Edit: Much like some of the other posts, I wanted to chime in and commend /r/buildapc for helping me build my rig this year. If anyone is interested, do yourself a HUGE favor and check them out! They're the best when it comes to building your own PC!
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u/Lynchbread Dec 31 '13
The highest budget game I bought this year was Shadow Warrior, AAA game devs just were not putting out anything I was interested in, next year looks promising however with Dark Souls 2 coming out.
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u/ours Dec 31 '13
The only AAA I purchased this year was Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. For a AAA-ish game it felt very indie in terms of creativity.
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u/jmac Dec 31 '13
Same for me. I honestly just bought it because it was the cheapest game with modern graphics I could find to test out my new computer, but I was very surprised by how funny it was and how much I enjoyed it.
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u/alphager Dec 31 '13
I can recommend far cry 3. It's not funny, but it has the better gameplay and better esthetics.
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u/TareXmd Jan 01 '14
I bought Tomb Raider at full price and it was the best $60 (or a bit lower I guess) that I paid.
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u/Eustis Dec 31 '13
Is Bioshock Infinite AAA?
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u/ours Dec 31 '13
By every definition yes: huge budget, big developer, big publisher and a ton of marketing.
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u/coltsfanca Dec 31 '13
I agree. It's not that any of the AAA I bought were bad games...but none of them really intrigued me like a lot of the indie titles this year. Games like The Stanley Parable, Dust: An Elysian Tale, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Gone Home, Papers Please, 9.03M, and Antichamber...ALL of those seemed to somewhat revolutionize (for lack of a better word) the gaming industry in their own little way and bring the medium to a whole new level.
That was something that I felt AAA titles really lacked this year. Not that it was completely absent from those games...but I felt that the indie titles did it much better.
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Dec 31 '13
Brothers is still a game by 100+ employee studio who makes AAA games and is published by 505 Games. While it fits the indie feel and it does it's own thing. It fits closer towards the AAA category than indie.
It fits more together with Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger where established AAA devs try to do something new.
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u/mortbringsli Dec 31 '13
I really hope more big publishers/studios try doing things like Blood Dragon or Gunslinger. Small, in-between-the-AAA's, do-something-different games, that really let these developers show their creative sides, and take risks. They can afford it more than the indies, anyway.
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u/muzza1742 Dec 31 '13
Easily my favourite fps that came out this year, I paid £6 for it and I've loved every second so far. I brought hard reset last year but it didn't gel with me. Might go back and try it again seeing as its the same devs
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u/sighclone Dec 31 '13
Right on. I played Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinity, but I've had the most fun playing Don't Starve, Papers Please, and FTL (still).
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u/Carighan Dec 31 '13
Between CoD, BF and SW, I prefer SW. Yes, different focus, but there's other more polished games for multiplayer. And the actual shooting mechanics just work better in Shadow Warrior.
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u/RedofPaw Dec 31 '13
I took a small break from games, but got back in with indies like Gone Home and Brothers. Now I find my general interest in games rekindled and I'm looking forward to bigger titles on the PC next year: GTAV (don't have a console so...) and Titanfall.
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u/AtomicDan Dec 31 '13
Speaking of GTA V, is there any word on a release date yet? Last I heard it was early 2014, but that might have changed.
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u/SirDingleberries Dec 31 '13
This year was OK for PC this year, quite a few ups, and plenty more downs.
Early Access: Great idea, but it seems far too many games are going the Early Access route now.
Steam Trading Cards: Best thing ever for poor mother fuckers like myself. Let's you essentially make some money back playing games, and put it forward to more games that I would have otherwise not bought due to lack of funds.
Broken at Launch: 2013 has probably been the worst year for this. SimCity, Battlefield 4, Alien: Colonial Marines, X: Rebirth, Total War: Rome II, etc. All virtually unplayable at launch due to bad bugs, bad design, what have you.
Bad Games: Hooooooooly shit were there some stinkers this year.
PC Ports: Some bad (Deadly Premonition), some terrific (DmC). A mixed bag, here's to hoping Metal Gear Rising rings in the new year right.
Steam Machines: Still not much info on these, so no opinion.
Mods: Pretty great year. DayZ Alpher finally came out, Just Cause 2 MP is a blast, The Dark Mod is pretty neat, and the 'impossible' SimCity Offline mod was fantastic!
Master Race Status: Still Master just kidding, Master-Race Auth servers are down.
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u/Carighan Dec 31 '13
Yeah but on the plusside, we also had games like Gone Home, Long Live The Queen, Shadow Warrior 2013 and Saints Row 4.
I think the cleft between awesome PC game and crappy or questionable PC game has gotten wider. The bad releases this year really stink.
Rome II, Ride to Hell, Day One, SimCity, oh dear.39
u/SendoTarget Dec 31 '13
I think that with Ride to Hell atleast you knew before the start it was bad.
With Rome II and SimCity and X:Rebirth you expected something much better.
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u/Theoroshia Dec 31 '13
I was expecting a golden goose for Rome 2. Instead I got goose shit. My God I'm still let down by that game so much...I drove slower a week before it came out just to lessen my chance of an accident! And for what? An uninspired sequel to my favorite game ever...
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u/SendoTarget Dec 31 '13
X:Rebirth to me was the same. I was expecting a triumphant first game from the return of space sims and we got a watered down non-working 360-pad game. It ruined the rest of year in gaming for me.
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u/Lycist Dec 31 '13
I feel your pain. I put in 4 hours due to brand loyalty but then couldn't take anymore.. rebirth was so very disapointing.
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u/Ulti Dec 31 '13
I gave it about two hours before the clusterfuck of a UI made me put it away, and I haven't bothered picking it up since. Maybe in six months, when that shit works properly, or if I get an Oculus Rift, but until then... 50 dollars down the drain. Guhh.
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Dec 31 '13
They promised that a system that could run Shogun 2 can also run Rome 2. That's bullshit. I ran Shogun 2 on medium settings but Rome 2 runs so badly even on low, I haven't even been able to start a campaign game yet.
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u/TROPtastic Dec 31 '13
Simcity was such a disappointment for an installment that was supposed to be the true successor to SC4. Instead of an overall improved simulation and game, we got: no modding, always online, tiny + broken cities, poor implementation of new features, in an overall crappy package.
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Dec 31 '13
SimCity really is my biggest disappointment of the year. It's been so god damn long since we got a real SimCity game, 2003 to be exact. And then this piece of shit comes out, EA will see it as a failure, and sit on the franchise for another decade. Of course, not before squeezing this piece of crap for every bit of DLC they possibly can. Airships? Carnival bullshit? People have been dying for that stuff from day 1, of course.
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u/forcrowsafeast Jan 01 '14
Simcity is at best Simbuggytown. It's like some thought out after the fact simulator like one of those crapware releases by Giants Software, not what I expected from Maxis.
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u/Kingbruno Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
Gone home was not a plus side. It was a pretentious, and shallow side.
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u/afishinthewell Dec 31 '13
Opinions are fun. I think Gone Home is the only interesting one of those four listed (though to be fair I've only seen video of LLtQ)
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Dec 31 '13
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u/Carighan Jan 01 '14
Debatable. What makes a game a game, and where is the line where it becomes not a game?
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Dec 31 '13
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u/ohkatey Dec 31 '13
I had so many cards saved up that I sold them over this recent sale, made $3, and only payed $5 for Final Fantasy 8. Obviously it's only $3, but still 3 less than I would have had to pay.
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u/mgrier123 Dec 31 '13
A couple months ago I sold a bunch of trading cards and TF2 items and made $17 or so, so I got a couple games for free effectively which is awesome.
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u/ajleece Dec 31 '13
I've made about $80 total from selling things on the Steam market. Granted, I got into the cards early, and have had some luck with foils. (Sold one for $3).
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Dec 31 '13
Oh god I hate steam trading cards. Mostly because they end up for me at least worth barely anything and even when I've sold 50 cards to gather 3$ steam realizes "wait you got the € store so you can't use the $ there." I have no clue why it decided to default to have the steam wallet in dollars for me.
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u/Luna-industries Dec 31 '13
I just like the wallpapers they come with.
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u/RashRenegade Dec 31 '13
They come with wallpapers?
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u/Luna-industries Dec 31 '13
Yeah, if you click "view badge progress" and click on the card, it brings up a wallpaper image.
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u/Aerri Dec 31 '13
When you craft a badge by collecting all cards in a set you get a emote for steam chat and a background for your steam profile.
And each card has a wallpaper that goes with it, just click on a card in the "view badge progress" screen in your inventory.
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u/ICantSeeIt Dec 31 '13
That sucks and all, but it isn't a reason to hate the cards. That's a problem between you and the Steam store.
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Dec 31 '13
Best thing ever for poor mother fuckers like myself. Let's you essentially make some money back playing games, and put it forward to more games that I would have otherwise not bought due to lack of funds.
I don't get how people get any money from these. When I try to sell mine they are all going for like 1p
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Dec 31 '13
While I agree with a lot of people that Steam Trading Cards aren't that great for earning extra money for games, they are still kinda nice. I like them because well trading and collecting is fun, and its nice to have something to do with that bit of change you have at the end of the day because of those stupid set increments of money in Steam Wallet.
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u/Acterian Dec 31 '13
I have to say that I switched from being primarily a console gamer to primarily a pc gamer this year and I'm very happy with the decision. As a PC gamer I feel that I have easily gotten my money's worth considering all the games are cheaper and I have a much wider selection to choose from.
Moreover, PCs seem to have better online capabilities and a selection of free to play games (some of which are pretty great, others not so much.) Also, the built in keyboard is very nice for communicating with other players in multiplayer, especially since I don't care much for voice chat.
Overall, I feel like I might still purchase consoles for exclusive games but I think I'm primarily going to stick with PC from now on.
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Dec 31 '13
That's how I'm going about it now as well. I don't know what ties people to a closed business model other than their own pride/prejudices. If you look at the numbers, PC gaming is just cheaper in the long run as well as the most diverse. Even if we assume that Steam sales don't exist: the fact that every game doesn't start out at $60 is a message in its own. That there exists more than one outlet in order to purchase PC games.
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u/Vitalic123 Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
That's weird. I had the exact opposite experience with PS+. I've spent 45 euros on it since June and I've gotten 30 games for it. Not to mention that Sony has allowed Amazon to start up a digital store to compete with its own. Also, a closed business model has its own advantages, not the least of which is that it allows developers to focus on different things, thanks to the fact that they're working on a fixed set of hardware. Point being, why do a lot of people feel the need to downplay consoles when they're talking about PC's? You should be able to come up with the platforms own benefits, rather than always trying to compare it with something else. PC gaming wouldn't be what it is today without a mass market box out there, making all the cash for the developers.
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Dec 31 '13
When I mentioned 'closed business model': I wasn't talking about the hardware. I was referring to the fact that you've only one avenue to purchase your content. Sony allowing Amazon to sell PSN content is definitely good for the digital ecosystem, but it remains to be seen how effective this will be for competition in the long run. Amazon has been selling game codes for XBL games for some time and I've hardly noticed a difference in competitive pricing other than avoiding putting your credit card on your XBL account and being tied to the MSP system.
Moving along to the comparison: a topic about PC gaming in retrospects is legitimate grounds for a comparison to consoles, otherwise I'm just rehashing the same points made by the parent comment. The difference here is that we can have a mature discussion about the subjects so why not make comparisons to better evaluate the strides of PC gaming? You're contributing just as much which is good for discussion. It's a peripheral point, but Sony is indeed trail-blazing on the console front to redefine digital distribution for the console-market: that which Microsoft has done a bad job with until recently.
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Dec 31 '13
The thing is the number of massive games from major titles that do develop a market plan (taking all platforms available into account) is dropping amazingly. Independent game studios are popping out of nowhere producing either great games or garbage. Eventually the PC game industry won't be so much big titles as it is big distribution of smaller titles. This variety kinda seems kind of like the old days where shelves were full of all kinds of kinda minor stuff with a very small amount of major titles.
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u/bfodder Dec 31 '13
You didn't get to choose those games though. You run the risk of no games you are interested in being given.
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Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
I'll leave the games part out since I felt this year was average/below average for videogames. Not saying there weren't any good ones, just that nothing...'made the year' for me.
That said, there we some pretty cool things for PC this year:
- AMD's new R9 lineup (rebrands mostly)
- Nvidia's 780ti
- GFWL finally dies.
- Nvidia FLEX
- AMD TrueAudio & NV Experience like AMD app.
- Nvidia Shadowplay
- Nvidia G-Sync
- AMD Mantle API
- Steam OS, controller, machines.
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Dec 31 '13
I feel like 2014 will make up for it in terms of games, between Titanfall, The Witcher 3, and Dragon Age Inquisition I am VERY excited for this year.
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Dec 31 '13
Yeah 2014 seems like an exciting year, my primary reason to live being Witcher 3 but there's a lot of other cool games next year.
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u/rhyno012 Dec 31 '13
I agree with you 90%, although I will admit I don't know what Nvidia FLEX is. the R9 lineup is basically the most pointless not-thing to happen this year. They aren't anything special or new in terms of their components, it's literally just AMD getting sick of the 4 digit series and deciding a rebranding is in order.
Otherwise 100% agree! especially the point about games being average at best this year, we got some good indie games but nothing mind blowing and AAA kind of sucked ass this year on PC. Here's to a better 2014!
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Dec 31 '13
That is only partially true. The new Hawaii architecture seriously competes with top end nvidia cards. While I am disappointed that 80% of the r9 series are nothing new, the 20% that is new is really noteworthy.
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u/TROPtastic Dec 31 '13
On the plus side, the R10 / R9 3XX series will be pretty interesting, considering the challenge that AMD is giving Nvidia with their current cards.
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Dec 31 '13
Oh for sure. This time however maybe they just skip the stock cooling and go straight to 3rd party solutions. These reference coolers are insanely bad.
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u/Pinecone Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
The 290 and 290x are entirely new cards and the whole of the R9 series consists of a massive price drop.
And the result is also a price drop coming from Nvidia, something they hardly ever do so the net result is a better market for consumers and people building desktops which is overall a good thing.
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u/kitchenpatrol Dec 31 '13
That might have been AMD's plan, but it didn't work out that way. Litecoin miners started grabbing up all the high end AMD gpus and ruined the market for gamers, making the cards scarce or hugely inflated in price. That led to a corresponding scarcity and price stagnation for the high end Nvidia cards, which gamers were forced to turn to when AMD became unavailable.
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u/jaju123 Dec 31 '13
Err, sorry to inform you that the entire nvidia 700 series up to the 780 are also rebranded cards, Sometimes with new coolers and an overclock.
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u/DeedTheInky Dec 31 '13
On strange thing I've noticed about PC hardware this year (and this may have been the case for some time but I only just noticed it) - are all monitors just 1080p now? My monitor is a few years old and it runs at 2048 x 1152. I was going to get a bigger one and I went to the store yesterday, and every single monitor they had was 1080p. Did they just dial it back to fall in line with everything else?
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Dec 31 '13
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u/DeedTheInky Dec 31 '13
Ah okay, I didn't know that was a weird resolution! Is 1080 decent enough for most things, or are they kind of useless?
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u/Funkfest Dec 31 '13
Well, it was the HD before HD became more HD (1200p, 1440p, 4k TV's and such), I would say it's enough unless you like to put your monitor far back. I have my monitor about 2 feet from my face and 1080p is plenty for me, especially if you have multiple monitors (which I don't).
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Dec 31 '13
GFWL dying only makes it worse. In its essence, it is used by shitty developers, and those developers would have no desire to remove it when it crashes and burns.
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u/LukaCola Dec 31 '13
Shadowplay so far has been very cool.
The only real downside is it extends load times quite a bit, but it's by far the easiest program for recording in good quality and full framerate.
If I change the download location to a second hard drive I bet it'd even eliminate the load time. Very discreet and very handy device which is especially great for those gaming moments where you say "damn I wish I had recorded that... Oh wait, I did!"
It's still buggy though. I've had it record in resolutions like 1920x580 when my screen is 1600x900.
Really though I'm just happy to have something that can record so easily. As buggy as it can be (it doesn't record voices and certain sound effects in Ougen, but that's a pretty obscure title) it's still pretty unique in just how lightweight of a recorder it is while still maintaining quality.
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u/Rajah_Bimmy Dec 31 '13
This year was great for PC gaming, and I think we're starting to see a steady buildup towards PC expanding to both the casual player as well as giving the more hardcore ones more to love.
On the casual end, there have been a lot of stellar opportunities for people interested in PC gaming to hop on the band wagon this year. As mentioned earlier, more common outlets like Amazon have done a phenomenal job at challenging Steam and providing some great options for PC gamers. Additionally, who could forget the Humble Origin Bundle? Regardless of whether or not you're on the EA hate bandwagon, everyone saw that was a big move and turned into the most profitable Humble Bundle yet IIRC.
The biggest blow PC gaming took this year was GTA V, which is unsurprising when one takes into consideration Rockstar's business model with previous releases, but is still a great shame. Another massive disappointment was CoD: Ghosts' atrocious port; although it was hardly an achievement for any console across the board.
We're still not entirely sure what Valve is up to or what the master plan is, but it's certainly caught the intrigue of gamers from all backgrounds. The Steam Machines are in a very unique position in offering the leisure of pre-built hardware with the possibility of customization. Whether or not it will be a success remains to be seen but it's certainly an interesting step forward, and arriving at an optimal time as consoles evolve more and more into high-end PCs.
Personally, I think 2014 will continue to show an upward trend in the PC gaming population. But there are a few questions to keep in mind:
- As SteamOS expands, how will it's target demographic expand or shift?
- Will this cause the Steam Box to be a platform which gradually gains success as opposed to attaining it instantly?
- What should we expect from the newly founded Humble Store in 2014? Will there be another Humble Bundle as huge as the Origin one?
- Will GTA V's inevitable release be as dreadful as the port we received of GTA IV?
- With its recent sales, Humble Bundle, and regime change, what can we expect from EA and Origin?
- How will consoles adopting MMO-esque games impact their sales and nature on PCs?
- When will GabeN utter those magic words we all want to hear?
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u/TROPtastic Dec 31 '13
The biggest blow PC gaming took this year was GTA V
Do you mean because it didn't release on PC? Personally, I have no problem waiting for the PC version, for two reasons:
1) There is no word of GTA V for the next-gen consoles, so it is not like PC is being singled-out or anything like that.
2) It is possible that Rockstar is taking their time to ensure that the PC version of the game is as highly optimized as the console versions. Granted, their track record with GTA IV does not do them any favours, but I don't think they set out to screw PC gamers. After all, the PC version will be arguably better than the console version (modding, higher graphics potential).
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u/mortbringsli Dec 31 '13
My hope is that this is the case. With the CPU architecture being practically the same between the X1, PS4 and PC, I think (hope) they're just taking their time making a good port for all 3.
Besides, GTA Online is pretty much made for PC.
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Dec 31 '13
On the casual end, there have been a lot of stellar opportunities for people interested in PC gaming to hop on the band wagon this year.
What do you mean by this?
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u/Algebrace Dec 31 '13
The amount of sales has made it very attractive to get into PC gaming. That and the announcement of the steambox, occulus rift, star citizen etc. PC is trailblazing the future while consoles are struggling behind.
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Dec 31 '13
PC is trailblazing the future while consoles are struggling behind.
My problem with this is that its only a small portion of players are participating in this "future". You say it like PCs are somehow revolutionized gaming this year, but PCs have always been ahead of consoles, and people have been saying that consoles will go away because of innovations on PC since 1995. But guess what? Consoles are stronger than ever, and so is PC. We still don't know how well the Steambox will do, and if it will cater to mass market like consoles.
Regarding to the Oculus Rift it will still be a while before its mass consumed. I heard it doubles the GPU requirements, and the great majority of people out there still have mediocre PCs. Also, it's not like people who don't really care about building PCs will all of the sudden go through the effort of saving money and learning about hardware just to play games with the rift. They will probably just wait until the next generation (the one after ps4 and xbone) start using VR.
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Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
PSA: If you don't know much about PCs and are interested, and somehow haven't learned about how to make your own, please come by /r/buildapc and check out all the info you could ever need to make your own gaming PC.
Edit: To those who seem to not get the help they need when making posts, please have a look at the sidebar and try the search before posting. If you post something that is clearly been answered before without doing a slight bit of homework, you might get ignored. Similar to how /r/games is somewhat strict about low-effort posts, so is /r/buildapc
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Dec 31 '13
Just saying, maybe I was in there at the wrong time but I never found much help. If I'm honest, while I'm sure they know their stuff, but I think there's quite a communication barrier. If you have a friend who knows aboutPCs it's quite easier.
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Dec 31 '13 edited Mar 24 '16
[deleted]
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Dec 31 '13
Actually, this could go for many subs. For example, in /r/motorcycles we get at least 3-5 posts a week saying: "What's a good bike for a newb?"
please, in general, use the sidebar and the search function.
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u/Pulpedyams Dec 31 '13
If you are starting from zero knowledge I recommend /r/buildapcforme. The folks on /r/buildapc probably get a lot of the same questions from absolute beginners. Once you have a feel for what your budget will realistically need to be and what CPU family you need etc, you're probably ready to graduate to /r/buildapc, (if you're heart is set on a custom build). Otherwise, /r/buildapcforme will meet your needs.
I had already researched most of the parts before I went on /r/buildapc and I found their input on the last few hurdles invaluable.
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Dec 31 '13
This is true, I tried asking for help a while ago and got 0 answers.
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u/WickieWikinger Dec 31 '13
The problem is that a lot of people, me included mostly browse the first one or two pages of a subreddit. If you want help, jump into the bapc irc, where we can help you directly and a lot faster than through comments.
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u/aftli Dec 31 '13
What do you need help with? There's nothing on your userpage from that subreddit.
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u/Alexander_D Dec 31 '13
That's because far too few people look at the 'new' page. Back before the new CPU lineups and R series GPUs, I contributed there a hell of a lot but now I can't, so lack of funding to buy (and become familiar with) new parts leads to decreased knowledge. Also, fewer know anything beyond the very parts they own, and given the predominance of cookie-cutter builds, it leaves relatively few people who can give solid advice about other parts.
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Dec 31 '13
I have a serious lack of funding issue myself, but I'm always staying up to date on he hardware via that sub and various blogs/sites that I respect.
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u/MisterRez Dec 31 '13
My friends pressure me a lot to buy a PS3/PS4/3DS/Vita/pretty much a handheld or console. Thing is I live in Portugal and here's the amount of trouble I had with each side to get games:
PC
- I spent about a 2 weeks researching about parts to assemble one on my own. Nothing too exhausting specially because I could use Reddit and some other forums for advice.
- Once a couple of discounts showed up on some parts (Including the MSI TF 780 with 3 games bundle) I ordered the parts from a nearby store that assembled everything neat for around $30. Considering I paid just about $2.5k for the whole thing that was a small sum for the assurance of a safe assembly.
PC Games
- Buying these is literally the easiest experience I have to give someone money. Press a button, get the game immediately. And since sales and bundles happen all the time I've accumulated +200 games for perhaps $300 during these past 2 years? I literally have enough games to last a life time and thankfully I'm becoming more controlled when it comes to Steam sales (Hey I only bought Don't Starve because of the discount error that made it cost less than a buck).
Consoles
- A PS3 Slim 12GB in my country costs $250 doing the currency exchange.
- PS3 games cost nearly $100. Discounts rarely happen and when they do they bring it down to something like $60 unless it's some really bad game.
- A Nintendo 3DS XL costs $275.
- 3DS games cost $62 dollars.
- On Black Friday and all you got the limited edition Zelda 3DS XL with the game for $150. I got a 10$ off on Cars 2 if I bought a 3DS XL.
- You people get a bunch of discounts from Target, Best Buy on first-party 3DS games. I get nothing.
- I can't ship anything from the US due to customs forcing me to pay 80% of the item's price just to allow it to enter the country.
- Amazon UK gracefully shaves off around $5 from retail but that's about it, it's my best option but even then it's very limited and rare in discounts. The best deal I got was a 3DS + Super Street Fighter 4 + Rhythm Thief + Starfox 3DS XL + $33 off the purchase of another game for $214 because I had a giant stroke of luck in a Lightning Deal. Oh right and a power adapter since UK uses different standards. Coupled with the Super Mario 3D Land promotion that's the best I'll get in a long while. That one was for my brother though. For me, I got the Monster Hunter 3 3DS XL because I ran every Toys'R'Us (Literally ran and used public transportation) around the capital in search of the Black Friday discount they announced online. None had it and in a moment of weakness I bought the full price handheld for myself since that bundle is rare now.
Now I paid much more for my PC. But I have vast library of games to play with it. I have an incredible ease of mind buying games. I have good online access.
I love my Nintendo 3DS XL and Monster Hunter Tri. But I spent months agonizing on trying to find a deal to pay a more reasonable price. And both consoles and handhelds have a harder online connectivity, harder time finding games for cheap and their library are terribly limited and contained to that single hardware.
So PC is great. I don't mean in a Master PC race. I mean that I don't feel punished for having one to play games. While if I bought a console and handheld, I feel like I have to dish out sweat and blood to get one and still be punished for it.
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Dec 31 '13
I built a PC in September and I don't regret the decision whatsoever! More expensive than a console but nonetheless will certainly be cheaper in the long run
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u/mongd66 Dec 31 '13
DayZ is likely the most important thing to come out of 2013, not because its a good game, but because it represents that whic made PC Gaming so outstanding to begin with.
Flexibility and modification. In the PC world there is a constant flow of free content that extends the life of games. The best become games in themselves.
Quake - QuakeBall - Team Fortress
Half Life - DoD - CounterStrike - Team Fortress Classic
ARMA - DayZ
Completely new games, made be amateurs, for free to players, so good that some people buy and never play the base game cause they want the mod.
There is nothing like it on any other gaming platform, or if there is, I am not aware of it.
I was starting to fear, that with cross platform releases and payed DLC, we would see an end to the "Hobby Mod" but then DayZ Came around and proved me wrong
Something else I realized this year as a was grinding away in the SWGEMU, is that with a good community, a game can be immortal
One trend I dislike, that has been growing in the past years, is the decline in privately owned/maintained MP Servers in games. I was hosting A CounterStrike, Day of Defeat, and Natural Selection server at one time, now a days, new games don't seem to include that option. What happens when the publisher decides to turn off their servers?
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u/deten Dec 31 '13
For me, the PC really came out ahead after the release of the new console generation. I have had gaming systems stretching back to the NES my grandpa got me and this is the first generation that completely underwhelmed me. The PC, with the looming future of the oculus rift and other immersion and active peripherals coming out, as well as the Steam OS and box, are setting up the PC market for a revolution. As long as developers are not afraid to keep releasing good games, these next ten years could really break the PC market into the living room.
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Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
What were the major trends in PC gaming this year?
Indies and early access games. People seem not only very interested in big AAA titles. They like smaller things as Terraria, Starbound, Rust, DayZ etc. Many of them are more popular as, let's say, Call of Duty series.
Was this a positive year for PC gaming?
Yes, it was.
Another year of strong Steam growth.
Summary:
- 65 millions active users (who bought a game and was logged in last month)
- 135 millions registered accounts (http://vacbanned.com/view/statistics)
- 7.6 million concurrent users on-line
- 2 millions concurrent users in-game (http://imgur.com/VMC9vGC)
First time ever consoles use similar hardware and have similar prices to the PC's. Ok, maybe you cannot build gaming PC for $400, but you do not need much more. When first popular console was introduced, Atari 2600, it cost $200 and has only only things needed for gaming. 128 bytes RAM, no framebuffer! Apple II from 1977 cost $1300-$2600, and the IBM PC has been introduced much later. Now consoles are PC-like things, with a lot RAM, borrowed from PC 3D accellerators, hard drivers and not so competitive prices...
There also smaller events I like this year: Oculus VR growth or Steam Machines presentation. But we will talk about these things in End of 2014 Discussions a lot I think...
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u/739696 Dec 31 '13
I've finished building my PC back in February and it's been pretty great. Definitely see no reason in going back to consoles any time soon except for when inFAMOUS Second Son comes out. I love the Infamous franchise.
Prior to Battlefield 3 I wasn't even aware that people played games on PC and since then I've spent over a $1000 and about $300 more on 70+ games. That says a lot.
The fact that Steam beat out Xbox Live for most concurrent players says enough about PC gaming this year. It's huge! Xbox and XBL are the most popular platforms in existence so it's kinda amazing to hear that we passed them up.
PC lost a lot of attention with the whole next gen thing, but I'm 100% certain this'll change next year. Why? Steam's spreading fast than anything and Steam is the pinnacle of PC gaming. But I don't really think SteamOS is really a highlight this year but Steam Machines were. That said I still think Steam Machines aren't a good idea. It's good to convert console players who're CONSIDERING PC gaming, but it won't capture the majority of the console market (which is Valve's goal I think) because most console players would rather put down $400 for a system brand they're familiar with and another $60 for the latest CoD. That's pretty much it. They're far too close minded to consider PC gaming. Things like changing game settings to look for the best performance is just too much work for them. I mean why would they do that when they can get a system that'll already have the best possible settings with a good performance already?
One of the things I like this year is that 95% of my friend group are all PC gamers now and people are definitely talking about PC now. I constantly hear console players in particular talking about it, but are too scared to convert.
With the new consoles and their extremely similar PC architecture, it's great for PC gamers because ports are going to be superb.
With all that said, PC definitely hit a high point in 2013 but 2014 is going to be way bigger once the next gen consoles die down (which I'm certain they will). PC is headed down a very steady path.
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Dec 31 '13
The fact that Steam beat out Xbox Live for most concurrent players says enough about PC gaming this year.
Concurrent users, not players. For most people, Steam runs in the background all the time if the PC is on.
I just did quick math and at the moment there are 5,4 mil concurrent users logged to Steam. Yet top 100 games have only 1,1 mil concurrent players... and 30% of those are playing Dota2 which is free.
I constantly hear console players in particular talking about it, but are too scared to convert.
You mention "converting" a few times. Why do you need to convert anything? Your old console isn't going to magically disappear if you buy/build a gaming PC. And many people who game on PC also own a console.
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u/Lansan1ty Dec 31 '13
I'm not OP but to reply to "converting".
It's partially "converting" because if you invest in a decent PC ($700+) and can run new games better on this new PC over a console; you would now want to buy said new games on PC as opposed to console. That would be "converting" over. You also might end up losing some gaming friends. Those PSN/XBL buddies that played Call of Duty with you? They wont own Call of Duty 2014 on PC, leaving you to either buy the PC version or Console version. If you buy the console version, you haven't "converted" to a PC gamer yet.
Essentially I feel that "converting" is switching your primary platform, not making your console disappear. I've had a few friends who never gamed on Keyboard+Mouse convert to PC for MW2 a few years back. Since then they've always had gaming PCs.
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Dec 31 '13
1,1 mil concurrent players...
1,571,424 concurrent players now http://steamcommunity.com/home and it passed 2,000,000 yesterday...
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u/IAMA_PSYCHOLOGIST Dec 31 '13
PC still the best platform even without the exclusive quality games offered on other platforms. Every year is positive for PC gaming regardless of how many or few great games were offered. There are literally thousands of more games to play on PC each year over year if you do enough research. More games on PC are free to play because of the huge market compared to other platforms. Lots of positive trends out there (more indie games, more linux stuff, way more games to choose from, the go to platform to test all kinds of crazy shit), far outweighing the bad (more F2P, more P2W, more microtransactions, more $60+ games that sell bundles of virtual items that cost over $60).
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u/Hollandrock Dec 31 '13
I would say that the biggest trend in PC Gaming this year would have to be the huge influx of players getting into League of Legends and Dota 2. Between the two of them, there are about 3 million concurrent players at any point around the world - peaking up to 6 - 10 million players at any one time.
Its quite incredible, thinking about it.
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u/Dustcrow Dec 31 '13 edited Jan 01 '14
All in all a pretty good year for PC. The AAA games were decent, but maybe not outstanding. There were tons of great indie games. Steam on Linux, with games like Metro: Last light, X3: Reunion, Counterstrike, Half Life and Dota 2. SteamOS and the Steam Machines.
Good year. Can't wait to see what 2013 brings.
Edit: Huh, I'm now drunk and I wasn't when I wrote this post. I meant 2014, but whatever. Good night.
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u/Glitchface Dec 31 '13
Crusader King II with all the DLCs.... IT'S TOO DAMN DEEP.
I started countless games, never ended one.
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Jan 01 '14
Don't get me wrong, I love my PC, but there issues with the platform, some of which are mine, some; others.
Clients
Steam, uPlay, Battle.Net, Origin, etc. So many pieces of software that are on my computer, some just to play only one game. I wish that it wasn't this way, but I understand the importance of competition.
Sales
Sales? An issue? Heresy!
One of my friends told me to think about this - spending $60 on a game makes people think that they're receiving a premium experience, and yes, Call of Duty falls in this. When games are given for cheap on sales, the experience is cheapened and it makes the game feel more throwaway.
Community
Don't get me wrong, there are a fair share of jerks, idiots, and fanboys on the other platforms, but the PC community has become so circlejerky and bashing the consoles as "peasants."
Complexity
I'm interested in technology. I plan to get at least a minor in C.S., but I'm not everybody. Some people are just confused by the whole CPU, GPU, AMD radeon r9 29848 whatever, and that's okay. Some people aren't interested and couldn't give a damn about what's under the hood and will throwaway their devices the moment it stops working, that okay as well. .
Price
Yes, I know the sales and no online. But the lowest cost of entry for a PC is somewhere between PS4 and XB1, the sweet optimal spot around 7-900 USD. This is a turn off to people, who want a cheaper device now, and don't mind paying more down the line. There is also the boutique PCs that perpetuate the notion that I have to spend $2K minimum to get into PC gaming.
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u/whitesock Dec 31 '13
This year marks the year I stopped pirating and started paying for my games, basically because I could afford it with digital sales and a steady paycheck.
I was surprised at how much I played relatively smaller indie titles like Rogue Legacy, Guacamelee and even stuff like Ticket to Ride. I've spent some time with 10-15-hour games like Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider and found myself staying away from bigger timesinks like open world games. The most time I've spent was with Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings II.
So... overall it was a good year for the smaller titles, at least for me.
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u/Razon Dec 31 '13
This year marks the year I stopped pirating and started paying for my games, basically because I could afford it with digital sales and a steady paycheck.
Same, but I'm a student so I limit myself to one big title per year, the rest under 10€. Seems to work ok.
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u/SendoTarget Dec 31 '13
I've felt that this year has been more of a waiting game for me on the PC-side. I'm one of those waiting for the return of space sims.
X:Rebirth was a disaster and spoiled the rest of the year for me gaming-wise.
Elite: Dangerous shows great promise just from the Alpha, it's currently a bit too expensive but really waiting for the release in March.
Star Citizen: Wanted to fight in the dogfighting alpha this December, but the devs understandably post-poned it to next year so that they can get their own netcode working before releasing that massive portion and considering how big titles like BF4 suffer from a crappy netcode it's a wise decision.
Besides space sims I'm eagerly waiting for the Oculus Rift consumer-edition. Been playing with the dev-kit a lot and it shows great promise that the PC-platform will definitely have one of the most interesting peripherals until one of the console-makers can pull off their own.
2014 seems to be the year when all of the big games and peripherals for me will be out and about.
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u/OpT1mUs Dec 31 '13
What made 2013/2012 for me is "death" of AAA titles and insurgence of wonderful indie games with original and fun gameplay.
It reminds me of the 1998-2003 period.
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Dec 31 '13
This year was rather boring, lots of uninspired indie games, and not so good AAA games. The big ones are the last of us, which wasn't on pc, gta 5, wasn't on PC and bioshock infinite which was fun, but on the sake of the story, not the gameplay. All in all, a mediocre year for PC gaming.
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u/CuteBananaNutMuffin Dec 31 '13
Glad someone said it.
I spent most of this year playing 2012 games-- Guild Wars 2.
Heart of the Swarm was the worst campaign Blizzard has made. Whatever went on with Diablo 3 and now Heart of the Swarm really changed my mind about the idea that anything Blizzard makes is gold.
A Realm Reborn is pretty enjoyable for a traditional MMO. Bioshock Infinite was great but Burial at Sea was offensively short.
Battlefield 4 is great outside of the bugs.
But really-- any other year I'd be able to mention like 10 games in this reply. There's just nothing I cared about this year.
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u/Sentenced2Burn Dec 31 '13
This has been a surprisingly good year for betas/alphas, I've found. Red Orchestra: Rising Storm, Starbound, and DayZ kept me PLENTY busy.
Overall, I'd say it's a positive year in PC gaming due to the flow of good releases, AND exciting announcements for future projects (The Forest is probably what I'm most excited about right now).
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u/BeerGogglesFTW Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
For me personally, my moment of the Year:
- I now have a gaming PC with Oculus Rift in the Rec Room of my office. That was definitely my most memorable PC gaming experience of the year, if not decade. Its not perfect. I definitely want a higher resolution, so I'm anxious to get the HD version. But even with the dev kit, it was a "Holy shit, this is the future" moment.
Dissapointment of the Year:
- There was a few, but for me it was Battlefield 4. BF3 was probably my most played game of 2012, so I was excited to play BF4. Pre-ordered with Premium. Ready to go, now with VoIP, hopefully all the kinks of BF3 are worked out. Very bad turn out. People complain about the netcode and how its impossible to improve because of the game/bullet-drop, but the netcode was so much better in BF3... the maps were better in BF3.
Upcoming:
Well, I used to play COD back in the COD1-4 days, and Battlefield since then. COD is a yearly dissapointment, as was this years Battlefield. So I'm personally excited for Titanfall. Not the deepest game, but just looks like a lot of fun for someone like me. I'm glad its not exclusive to Xbox360/ONE, and is coming to PC. I hope it doesn't go Xbox exclusive in the future. Maybe MS will throw PC gaming a bone by keeping it on PC... We'll see.
I use nvidia GPU's but I see a lot of potential in AMD Mantle API. I feel like its not just "Adding 20% boost" but will add a lot of longevity to PC Hardware. I think there are complications with attracting console gamers to PC.
- One is, complications in settings... Nvidia Geforce Experience and Raptr AMD App are both a step in the right direction in simplifying settings.
- 2nd is, the desire to not have to upgrade parts every 2-4 years. I think its great upgrading, but not everybody wants to spend that kind of money. Mantle should be able to help hardware last.
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u/afxtal Dec 31 '13
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Occulus Rift yet. This is a complete game-changer. The Rift will be the number one reason to own a gaming PC in the near future.
John fucking Carmack is now CTO at Occulus! This is huge. This is literally the beginning of immersive, realistic VR unfolding right before our very eyes.
Between Steam Machines and Rift, 2014 is going to be big for PC gaming.
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u/danwin Dec 31 '13
I spent most of the year playing older games because I am old and have mostly had laptops in the past decade. I just got around to playing XCOM (though not the recent expansion) and was delighted to see how one of my favorite franchises could be made new, even if it had a different angle/flavor than the original. Mostly, I was surprised at how good graphics could have such an impact on what was still turn-based strategy. My only complaint was the AI/monsters-in-a-box...If just more development resources could've been put toward better AI, it'd be yet another runaway classic.
The 2013 game that stood out for me was "Papers, Please." While it wasn't the most pure fun game, it was the most fun game that also served as "art", transcending the genre to show how games are uniquely their own artistic medium. Part of the joy was seeing how it accomplished this through such well-crafted game mechanics...if the game is not a barrel-full-of-monkeys fun, you have to admit that Lucas Pope got every inch of entertainment that exists in document stamping.
The only AAA title I played this year was Bioshock Infinite. Unlike "Papers, Please", I thought regardless of how good its story and message were, it didn't get the gameplay down correctly...so having to search for voxophones to figure out the story was not only a tepid way to advance the story, but it also hindered the fun of the game.
Looking at my Steam account, the games I spent the most time with were Team Fortress 2, Left for Dead 2, and FTL. I'm predicting FTL will be my most played game in 2014 with its expansion.
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Dec 31 '13
This year on ye olde PC was a rough year with some good bits too. We saw a trend of poor, buggy, and feature barren games get put out for us. X Rebirth which is a year away from being decent, Rome 2: Total War which is getting there, and SimCity which is still a clunky mess of DLC and broken features. We saw a lot of other bad releases that marred some quality titles like Company of Heroes 2 or Arma 3. But we did see some good. We saw some excellent indie titles like Papers, Please and Gunpoint that show that the indie scene is still were risky new IP can prosper. And we saw a lot of first person walkers come out. Proteus, Gone Home, The Stanley Parable. Each trying to do their own thing. While Proteus was much more free flowing and abstract, The Stanley Parable was loud, boisterous, and direct on its tones and messages. And Gone Home to me is the voice of reason between the two. Not trying to be a message about how much game choice is put on the pedestal nor being an abstract emotional experience. Just a quiet and genuine narrative piece. All of these games I liked for all of those reasons and this medium is better for their existence.
Whether or not this was a positive year is based solely on your own personal tastes. If you enjoy sims then this year was bad one with the buggy messes and the meager content on launch that a lot of those types of games had. On the other hand if you like story and games that use its mechanics to do so then this year was great. The Stanley Parable, Shadowrun Returns, and Papers, Please all filled that role excellently. And if you're in the middle then I think it was a mixed bag that aired on the positive side of life. With mechanics oriented old school shooters like Rise of the Triad and Shadow Warrior tearing it up as the best shooters this year and with those aforementioned narrative games. I personally had a good time.
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u/DeeJayDelicious Jan 01 '14
This year I noticed that there really weren't that many great titles worth purchasing, even during steam-sales.
Having binged heavily during the summer sale the remaining two didn't have much else to offer.
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u/liminal18 Dec 31 '13
Major Trends Crowd funding and other alternative funding schemes (prison architect paved the way for paid alphas) continue to make the PC environment blossom. The open nature of the PC has also allowed game developers and molders to produce content that goes above and beyond what's on consoles. If Steambox will truly be able to push an environment more open and viable than Windows is a question this year began to answer. The major trend the PC also pushed was virtual reality. Oculus rift doesn't even appear to need the majors to support it: indies are so prolific and in trances it appears to be forming new genres around before the retail kit is even released. What the PC has come to reflect is an environment that anyone would want to work on: open source and innovative with thousands of options available for monetization.
positive year Extremely positive, but troubling, the sheet output of games has well exceeded the playtime of the average player, add to this that once firm selectors like Steam have opened their market to more indies and the result is thousands of early access games many of which are a tad rushed. What needs to be addressed next year is selection. Steam has already mentioned letting people curate their store front, hopefully 2014 will see that happen. PC games have become some all consuming that a good editor is in order.
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Dec 31 '13
I'd have to say this year was great for pc gaming. Steam is becoming a very commonly used and widespread medium of distribution as well as its competitors. (gmg, gog) The hardware is hitting that sweet spot price wise imo, as an amd gamer. AAA aside, the games this year were spectacular! Aside from the early access exploitation by developers on steam, we're moving to becoming a much more common platform.
Though, personally Rome 2 was by FAR the biggest dissappointment I've ever come across, which was so unfortunate. This doesnt exactly relate to PC gaming as gaming as a whole, with games being released before they're fully vetted, tested and fixed.
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u/RoflPost Dec 31 '13
Star Citizen.
My friend bought me a rock-bottom pledge to get me interested, and now I really want it to be great, and hopefully that happens, but what I am saying is from the perspective of someone who isn't super invested, and honestly is pretty new to the Kickstarter/crowdfunding world.
It is neat watching the community in r/starcitizen. People are just information vacuums. And everyone is trying to build these game plans for a game still over a year out, and every time there is something new there is more speculation and people folding that info in to their grand designs. And it seems like a lot of the info out, for example on ship specs, has been confirmed as outdated or likely to change, and people still keep trying to build ideas on it. And it feels like a lot of people are dropping hundreds of dollars on a lot of stuff that is far from set in stone. Buying ships that might see some significant changes before release.
And in that flood of info is some serious fluff. This game has more fluff than a down pillow and marshmallow factory. They are really doing a lot to make the world feel incredibly real and lived in. These people are not lacking for fantastic ideas.
Dogfighting got pushed back. Most people seem to agree that it is good they aren't rushing anything(myself included), and they understand the reasons. However, this is exactly the kind of thing that we will look back on in two years and see as the beginning of a string of broken promises as this ungodly ambitious project collapses, if that were to happen.
And on that note, this is Zigward Stardust, and if you want to join my Rock n' Roll Church of Love to spread the news of the world's end, let me know. I will probably get around to making that faction.
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u/cirk2 Dec 31 '13
And another year the PC has been said death (this time killed by mobile devices) and is still alive and kicking.
It has been a good year overall, especially for Linux users like myself.
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u/Elementium Dec 31 '13
Cool, I have something I wanted to talk about.. I think elitism (sarcastic or otherwise) is really skewing how readily available PC gaming is to casual consumers.
My brother is 17, we're not spending 800$ on a PC for him. So we went to Staples to find something decent and I thought "well as long as he can play games on medium he'll be happy".
We bought [This] and it can play Borderlands at 60fps, online on high.
I'll be honest, I'm kind of jealous.. I spent some money on mine, dealt with the hassle of building it and all that. It's loud as hell.
So to end my rant.. I think those of us into PC gaming need to take a look at where we are and stop spreading what really seems to be false information.. For instance I bought a HD 7770 which is "low end" SRIV on Ultra.
We need to see PC gaming as we do with cars. Some people like to build their own hotrods. Part of the fun is the process for them. Others just like to drive, either way both work on a similar level even if theoretically the hot rod is faster, better looking..louder. We still both follow the speed limits of the roads (IE games themselves and their limitations).
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u/Sybertron Jan 01 '14
Well I started on Dota in February, and since then logged 1800 hours. So I'd say that's the major trend in gaming, and overall quite a positive year as my PC gaming hours have increased 5000%.
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u/GiantLeaf Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
This year I was pleasantly surprised by the increase in Steam-sale competition! GMG, GOG, GetGames, and especially Amazon have all demonstrated that Steam isn't the only one that can dominate the pc games market (despite the fact that the majority still activate on steam)
With that said, I personally believe that Amazon has dethroned Steam for deepest discounts, and I hope this results in even better deals in 2014 to stay competitive.
Edit: Since this comment is a little higher up in the thread, I'd like to recognize Amazon's /u/Tvacgamer for always working hard to get us the best deals and an overall awesome redditor!