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Do Computer Games Drive the PC Industry?

Do Video Games Drive the PC Industry?

  • Yes

    Votes: 47 67.1%

  • No

    Votes: 23 32.9%
  • Total voters
    70
S

Sharpe

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 6, 2004
Messages
82
Do computer games drive the personal computer industry? Moreover, was the personal computer industry founded on computer games?

Around the late 90's it seemed like there was little reason to have a high end computer on your desk unless it was to play Quake 2/3.
 
i remember the only thing i used to use my Commadore64 for was to play Spyhunter :D
 
Aside from having more storage space, the only reason I have ever bought an upgraded piece of hardware is for games.

I'm sure some people use photoshop and rendering software enough to need top of the line, but for me, games is it.

I think the pc industry was not founded on games, however, but universal accesss to office applications like word processing, spreadsheet, and email, which then fostered a game industry to give people more to do on their pc's and it just ran away from there.
 
the really high end is not driven by gaming but the lower high end and mid are gaming driven.
 
Development of new technology is games-driven, but most sales are not.
 
obviously businesses and the low end are where the money is, and workstations for the best technology, but as for all these high end consumer video cards that come out time after time, they are driven by gaming.
 
businesses drive the market. especcially with the explosion of the internet. large companies need large servers that do alot. then it all trickles down to the researching then mass market and military
 
Certainly for home PC's they do. Nobody needs anything much faster then a Pentium II or Pentium III for surfing and running office apps... ;)
 
Sharpe said:
Around the late 90's it seemed like there was little reason to have a high end computer on your desk unless it was to play Quake 2/3.
Click to expand...

You didn't want to use a high-end desktop for ASIC or FPLD design? Or website design, or multimedia content development? Or CAD/CAM? Biology research?

.B ekiM
 
When I upgraded to an Athlon, it was because of my games, but once I got the faster system, I liked how much better performance for windows and apps was, and I kept upgrading my computer.

However, games IMO are a big reason why newer hardware (esp Video Cards) keep coming out. Also, having a fast CPU matters a lot as well.

You can NEVER have too much speed.
 
Games drive graphics card portion of the industry. Sort of. What really drives it, is human nature. "I want something better than my neighbors got" And also ,of course, cash and competition. "If I don't make something better than the other guy, why would anyone bother to buy another piece of hardware from me." "I want to make bestest and baddest"..
And as always is a part of human nature, those silicon valley boys and all others, advance and invent new tech simply because " they can.."
 
He said "Let there be DX9", and lo how the apostles nVidia an ATi strove to please Him.
 
if u would ask any chip designer i would believe they would say that its more computer power in the area of graphic design that they focus on especially intel. Its console games that really drive the market such is the example with the playstation and nintendo. Console games until recently have also been the reason that pc game developers try to boost their overall product. When nintendo was released in 1986/88 no system could match its graphic detail that it presented, a supermario type game would never be released on a commodore system the best i saw on a commodore was gi joe, and ghostbusters. This forced pc game makers to make greater steps to push its product. EA sports was on pc way before it was ever on console, when they went to nintendo and genesis it was a big step in computing power and bigger overall market, the easy setup and go approach. Now today switching in roles PC's have become much more powerful then consoles and are pushing them into new heights but chipmakers frankly do not care, they will never base there production of a chip for a game such as farcry, it will always be graphic design and a faster processor so guys like us will just have to wait and wait and games will just keep pushing the cpu farther and farther requiring more purchases, thats the biggest problem i have with pc's, very little staying power in gaming over a year's time.
 
cerwinvega said:
Microsoft is the Creator, and shall evolve the industry as He sees fit.
Click to expand...

Actually billy got into the business well after personal computers where available.

I dont quite recall the dates but the only thing (a really big thing though) that Gates did was to stop the compatibility issues by creating a standard OS.
 
It most certainly drives the development of expensive video cards. There are many many times more gamers as there are professional 3d artists (and many of them are there to work on video games).
 
mikeblas said:
You didn't want to use a high-end desktop for ASIC or FPLD design? Or website design, or multimedia content development? Or CAD/CAM? Biology research?
Click to expand...

Nope. Didn't do any of that (other than website design in Notepad) on my personal computer...

...But I played a lot of Quake and Unreal and before that Doom. Can I hear a Hell yeah?
 
Here is what drives the PC industry

Profits. (notice the period)

If releasing the 15000 XT Ultra Pro will earn a company $$, then they will do it.

Beating a compeditor to market with the newest piece of Technology earns a company bragging rights and higher profits.

If anything, I would say that games and the PC industry have a sybiotic relationship. One drives the other and everybody wins because in the end we get newer, faster tech for less money than ever before.
 
I think the games drive the the pc industry in a technological way... as long as games continue to require more memory, processor power and more graphics then there will always be a reason to upgrade them...

you dont need better memory or a better graphics card or processor to surf the web or do word processing, the only thing you would use it for is something like maya or photoshop (mostly businesses, a small percent of the computer population)

then you have your tons and tons of home users who have their computers...
 
blackrino9 said:
Here is what drives the PC industry

Profits. (notice the period)

If releasing the 15000 XT Ultra Pro will earn a company $$, then they will do it.
Click to expand...

Especially since people are willing to pay MSRP or above without hesitation...lol.

You may be right, but keep in mind innovation costs money as well.

I honestly don't think gaming is really that big of a factor, though. In my opinion, the competition between Ati->nVidia, intel->AMD, is what pushes tech forward.

One always trying to stay one up on the other, etc.

This of course leads to profit, but, say AMD didn't exist...intel would still profit, and have no reason to push new technology, until they felt it was neccessary.

I say great, let 'em have at it over who can provide me with the best product at the lowest price. If we push tech along in the process, well, bonus.
 
sniper991122 said:
you dont need better memory or a better graphics card or processor to surf the web or do word processing, the only thing you would use it for is something like maya or photoshop (mostly businesses, a small percent of the computer population)
Click to expand...

The only thing you would use the extra memory for is Photoshop or Maya? Seriously?

No other PC-application is memory intensive, or improved by a better graphics card? None, at all?

.B ekiM
 
mikeblas said:
The only thing you would use the extra memory for is Photoshop or Maya? Seriously?

No other PC-application is memory intensive, or improved by a better graphics card? None, at all?

.B ekiM
Click to expand...

Well there are some Simulation programs that could requiere heavy memory load. But I think a good swapfile would more than absorbe the blow...
 
chinoquezada said:
But I think a good swapfile would more than absorbe the blow...
Click to expand...

That depends on the algorithm behind the simluation, and the size of the data set.

.B ekiM
 
mikeblas said:
The only thing you would use the extra memory for is Photoshop or Maya? Seriously?

No other PC-application is memory intensive, or improved by a better graphics card? None, at all?

.B ekiM
Click to expand...

*sigh* I was saying the only thing you would need memory, as well as graphics card and processor (as i stated) was for business like things.... for example, maya, photoshop...

why would you need extra memory (granted swap file, but if you didn't play games why would you need a big hard drive in the first place?)

for the people who browse the internet... type of documents and stuff... and non-gaming, non-business related people there are few instances when you would need a present day top of the line computer
 
cerwinvega said:
He said "Let there be DX9", and lo how the apostles nVidia an ATi strove to please Him.
Click to expand...

bahahah I laughed so hard at that....
 
This is like saying that racing drives the automobile industry ...
 
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