http://store.steampowered.com/news/4502/ That's pretty impressive. For reference, I believe there are (or were) ~23 millions XBL subscribers. So Steam pretty much sports a userbase the size of one of the consoles. Pretty hard for publishers to ignore. Maybe PC gaming isn't dead...
PC Gaming is awesome, I can run every game that a console can but with higher settings thus making a better gaming experience. And first person shooters are far superior on a PC than console. I really don't see how a game both made for console and PC can ever be better on console unless they just completely screw it over when importing it to the PC. Which does happen on occasion. Not to mention I can play any game I want for free. Unless I want to play multi-player, which in that case I will just buy the game.
Why even bother when Steam ends up with deals for games at around $4.50 sometimes? Not like that's very much money to support the developer that made the game you wanted to play. Plus that could help the developer make more games you'd like to play. Not to mention doing stuff like this leads sort of explains this part of your post: Part of the reason publishers have ignored or not supported PC games is because of piracy. Steam is helping a bit in that regard fortunately. The more people that play games legitimately, the better support the PC platform will get.
I love the set up steam has. There are a lot of games to choose from and like RC said, they have great deals sometimes. I've really gotten hooked on Global Agenda whenever I get a chance to play. Multiplayer FPS are always entertaining and allow you to jump on and off whenever, without any commitments...and they have a TON to choose from. Their RPGs and old school games are pretty good too. I use to think logging into a server just to play a single player game was ridiculous, but I can see how it would help with piracy. As long as the interface keeps improving and the games get better, I'm all for it.
Building a halfway decent gaming computer is just way too much cash. A video card alone will cost as much as a console. That does not even include the need to upgrade cooling, motherboard and power supply.
Not really, I would say if you do your normal computer upgrades (a $600-ish system every few years) and get a new second tier Video Card every two, you will stay way ahead of the curve with a gaming PC. A $170 video card (gtx 460) blows away current gen consoles already.
That thing draws 160 watts which will require a pretty nice power supply so put an additional 150-200 on your computer build when compared to a non gaming system. So your 170 x 3 plus 150 is quite a bit more than a console. Also some games are very CPU or RAM dependent. I built a system in 2007 or so and even with a car that cost more than 170 bucks MS Flight Sim X ran like crap because I only had a AthlonX2 Dual Core and 2 gig of RAM.
Love me some Steam. I play PC games 95% of my gaming time, and my PS3 the other 5%. Enjoy games far more on my PC than I ever have on consoles. Have owned both a 360 and a PS3 and neither has sucked me in. I think I'm just too used to keyboard/mouse to ever fully convert.
fps gamer here... valve/steam is great. only reason i like consoles is because its something fun to do when hanging out with friends. the whole you have to upgrade your pc every year argument is BS. you do have to put a bit more effort in it though.
About as good as consoles. Better graphics and performance (plus mods), but missing a few things I guess (different menus, probably crappy/buggy online). But also half price. Probably the best version if you just go with My Player, Association, etc. (i.e., not online). Though I haven't really checked to see if there are any PC-specific bugs. Any bugs I've seen seem to affect all versions (or even console versions but not PC?). If this is about the 30M account number, they only included active accounts. Basically those that were used within the last 30 days, and I think each also must have one purchased game. The number of total Steam accounts is apparently MUCH larger. But yeah, kind of pointless if the accounts are rarely (if ever) used. Though don't tell that to the console guys. The whole "Gaming PCs cost $3000+ and you have to buy new stuff every 6 months!" argument doesn't have much merit IMO (exaggerating a bit, but I always think of that when I see that argument). A decent gaming PC doesn't really cost that much more than a console (especially now, 5+ years into the generation), and of course you can do a lot more than you could on a console. Even at the premium, you'll probably make it up on the cheaper game prices. Steam has had deals where you save like $500. Yeah, that's probably because they threw in some crappy $20-$30 games you won't play, but the savings do add up. Though certainly true that this wouldn't be much of a factor if you didn't play a lot of games.
Steam is the way to go. Playing a game with a controller just feels so clumsy and awkward to me now after PC gaming for the last 4+ years.
It will certainly cost more though. You will also have to do some major upgrades if you keep it for 5 years or so. This will reward you in more capability than the current gen console but the cost will be greater.
What would you typically have to upgrade on a gaming PC every 5 years? RAM, Video Card? How much would that run, 500 bucks? (Assuming you don't go SUPER high end) Seems like with the amount of money you save on games and equipment (controllers, add-ons, etc), it's either a wash or you end up saving some bucks.
5 years will include a new CPU generation, MB to support it, the faster speed RAM, and Video card. If you bought a high quality PSU you could probably re use it. And 2.5 years in you would probably want a new vid card with no other upgrades.
A decent PSU, Case, and Heatsink is something you buy once and almost never have to upgrade again. Also you can get a damn good PSU for $100. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...e=modular_power_supply-_-17-139-001-_-Product Also keep in mind 170 every two years is only if you want consistently do minor upgrades. My friends are still using the 8800 GTX (5+ year old techs) and that card still will crush Xbox 360 on most game. Given that you only truly need to upgrade processors, mobo, and ram outside of the the video card, you're really looking at about $800 every 6 years which is maybe $300 more than getting a next gen console every cycle (~6 years). Now think of all the "peripherals" that cost money on the console and I don't see how you can see that PC gaming is THAT more expensive than an console games. Also for your build, one upgrade to 8 gigs of DDR2 RANM in 2007 wasn't that expensive and I bet you would've been fine with the game and vastly superior PC performance in general. Two gigs of RAM running Vista (assuming since it's 2007) isn't adequate for even normal PC tasks.
I love Steam. I was skeptical when I was first introduced to it with Half Life 2.....I was forced to install it IIRC. But since then, it's been a gods end. At first I was like why buy games with out the disks and booklets. (I preferred having them) but now, I don't see the reason of going to the store to buy games. Buying them online, not having to worry about disks etc. It's fantastic. I used to use Xfire etc... until Steam got big with the in game interfaces etc. Steam sales kick ass too, I don't buy many video games full price anymore. Most are from the sales. Like wizkid said, lots of the hardware in your computer doesn't need to be replaced as often as the other stuff. I've been using the same case (antec 900) and 700watt PS through 3 builds now. Currently powering and housing my I-7 system.
Except if you bought the same level 100 dollar PSU in 2005 (5 years ago) it would likely not have a the current connections that you need. The 8800 GTX is not even 4 years old and it cost $599 when it was released. It was the baddest card ever at that time and top of the line. It destroyed my 7950GT and that thing cost 285.99 exactly 4 year ago. So yeah if you time your build perfectly and jump in at a time when a large leap is made in video cards you can still have a nice system 4 years later. I never ran Vista. Mine was on XP and I upgraded to 3 gigs at one point. But the Flight Sim would only run with like basically wire frame graphics on a 1600x1200 monitor.
