Meant to be Seen

This is a special editorial written for MTBS by Dr. Jon Peddie!

With all the talk of expected S-3D console support, Jon reminds of the value of PC gamers and blasts some leading myths that falsely take the luster off the PC gaming market.

Share your thoughts!

Regards,
Neil

Dr Peddie's research looks very good and the numbers don't surprise me.

PC's have been gaining ground since the Commodore 64 and Amiga showed how you could have the best of both worlds by offering top notch gaming with the versatility only a computer could offer. It was an easy transition for most serious gamers that started out on the Atari 2600, Colecovision or Vectrex to computer gaming.

If the gaming consoles of the early 80's only wet people's appetites for the computer gaming of the 90's and beyond then computer gaming should continue to gain ground for a long time to come.

When I debate a console gamer in a forum that tries to defend how inexpensive his console is to game on compared to my PC, I usually have to ask him if he is typing on the forum using a computer. If someone has a computer anyway, it doesn't cost much more to make it a performance system.

Being primarily a fan of simulations and First Person Shooters, I would never be satisfied on even the best of the consoles. They simply don't offer the flexibilty of the PC in terms of controls and customization with innovative attachements being created by small companies as well as large.

The pieces missing from the article would be the apples to apples (no pun intended) comparison between those numbers and console numbers. It would also be nice to know something about how those numbers were obtained so we don't feel they are derived to achieve a self serving goal.

PC gaming is huge and isn't going anywhere. I can't stand the whole "PC gaming is dying" bit. Just look at the numbers.