Is it me or are all the stores...

Outamyhead

Supreme [H]ardness
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Trying to phase out PC games from their shelves, I went to a Gamestop over the weekend and it had one one small CD/DVD style shelf of recent PC games, stuck in a corner, Best buy have got rid of one whole double sided shelf, and when I was watching G4 gaming network they did a pole on Dead Space: what system are you buying it for?

14% said the PC, the rest was split between the 360 and PS3. I'm getting the impression that the retailers as well as some of the software publishers are trying to kill the PC gaming market off, Lucas Arts seem keen on forgetting the platform that essentially made them what they are.

Anyone else feeling like they are being forced into buying a console (I can't stand them and 1st person/3rd person shooters suck on consoles), or suddenly feel like a minority of the gaming market?
 
not suddenly. it's been like this for a while, and its just now becoming more apparent to many people after this years E3.

times are changing. the most antipicated PC games right now are games that will run on weak computers.
 
Sure, the smaller stores with limited shelve space are going to want to place the games that move the most. Best Buy, Circuit City and of course Frys Electronics have a couple aisles devoted to PC games.
 
Trying to phase out PC games from their shelves, I went to a Gamestop over the weekend and it had one one small CD/DVD style shelf of recent PC games, stuck in a corner, Best buy have got rid of one whole double sided shelf, and when I was watching G4 gaming network they did a pole on Dead Space: what system are you buying it for?

14% said the PC, the rest was split between the 360 and PS3. I'm getting the impression that the retailers as well as some of the software publishers are trying to kill the PC gaming market off, Lucas Arts seem keen on forgetting the platform that essentially made them what they are.

Anyone else feeling like they are being forced into buying a console (I can't stand them and 1st person/3rd person shooters suck on consoles), or suddenly feel like a minority of the gaming market?

I think you have missed the current trend. Many people are buying their PC games digitally. Currently, there is no real way to track these sales easily. So while console gamers still need a physical medium for their games, PCs have moved to the digital realm due to our having 1TB harddrives.
 
That's something I've noticed happening over the years, especially at stores like Gamestop. I've seen walls of PC games reduced to like a store shelf, maybe two. This essentially makes the idea of digital distribution being the future along with buying games online in general through places like Gogamer or Amazon a self-fulfilling prophecy, which I have no problem with but am still slightly irked that it's being pushed to me in this manner.
 
Considering the lineup of games you can purchase off of steam who really needs to goto gamestop or ebgames anyway. There are games that i do want their boxes and such.. ie special editions..etc. But I just bought Civ IV off of steam and older games that you can't really find anywhere else, it's pretty nice.

Still too bad ebgames and gamestop don't sell much pc stuff, like peripherals either though.
 
long live the monthly subscription MMO and leave the rest for console.
 
I read the first post, skimmed the rest.

I think it is because of online purchases.
Example: You are looking for a new game to play. Option A: Go to a few stores and see if they have it. Best Buy might, Target might, Gamestop might have it.. no guarantee. The only place that will have it will be Amazon.com and other such sites. Purchase, select appropriate shipping, done and done.
 
I didn't see that comment in the thread... yeah seriously, I'd play a FPS and RPG on a computer anyday.

there hasn't been a good MMO ever...lol.. i tried WoW and it bored me to death...
 
I think you have missed the current trend. Many people are buying their PC games digitally. Currently, there is no real way to track these sales easily. So while console gamers still need a physical medium for their games, PCs have moved to the digital realm due to our having 1TB harddrives.

Oh I know that purchases through Steam, and Amazon are becoming the norm (a few of my games have been bought through the Amazon route), it just feels like some of the developers aren't catching onto this trend, and for that reason are ditching their support of the PC games market?

Lucas Arts seems to be getting anti-PC, which is ironic for a company that built itself on the support of the PC gaming community (and Star Wars fans), now with The Force Unleashed coming out, Blackman (the project lead) has been quoted saying "that only 5 geeks on the internet will have a system capable of running the game", and "you would need to spend out about $4k on a system spec for this game" (which doesn't take much work to figure out that both claims are BS).

Is it a case of some publishers developers getting their figures and facts from outdated methods of sales figures, like the NDP who only supply figures from store sales, and purely from the American retail stores?
 
I read the first post, skimmed the rest.

I think it is because of online purchases.
Example: You are looking for a new game to play. Option A: Go to a few stores and see if they have it. Best Buy might, Target might, Gamestop might have it.. no guarantee. The only place that will have it will be Amazon.com and other such sites. Purchase, select appropriate shipping, done and done.


I skipped your post entirely!
 
The bestbuy around here has a massive collection of PC games. gamestop is so pointless unless you dont have a bestbuy around.
 
Oh I know that purchases through Steam, and Amazon are becoming the norm (a few of my games have been bought through the Amazon route), it just feels like some of the developers aren't catching onto this trend, and for that reason are ditching their support of the PC games market?

Lucas Arts seems to be getting anti-PC, which is ironic for a company that built itself on the support of the PC gaming community (and Star Wars fans), now with The Force Unleashed coming out, Blackman (the project lead) has been quoted saying "that only 5 geeks on the internet will have a system capable of running the game", and "you would need to spend out about $4k on a system spec for this game" (which doesn't take much work to figure out that both claims are BS).

Is it a case of some publishers developers getting their figures and facts from outdated methods of sales figures, like the NDP who only supply figures from store sales, and purely from the American retail stores?

Lucasarts hasn't developed a game worth a rats ass in more a decade. They're dead to me.
 
Lucas Arts seems to be getting anti-PC, which is ironic for a company that built itself on the support of the PC gaming community (and Star Wars fans), now with The Force Unleashed coming out, Blackman (the project lead) has been quoted saying "that only 5 geeks on the internet will have a system capable of running the game", and "you would need to spend out about $4k on a system spec for this game" (which doesn't take much work to figure out that both claims are BS).

BS is right... A game on the Wii that cannot be played on a majority of gamer's PCs... That is laughable. He probably tried to port it to PC and didn't even optimize it. Yeah, N64 emulators run like crap on even the newest PCs, but not because the N64 was a powerhouse.
 
I say good, I'd rather get my games digitally through a system like Steam.

As we've seen from Steam, there are tons of unique games(like Audiosurf) that wouldn't see the light of day on a physical distribution system. Not to mention the bonuses such as "forever backup"(download over and over again), automatic patching, more incremental patches, persistent saves.

Digital is just getting started, between Steam and XboxLive I think we can see a very good future for gaming in general, and PC gaming more specific.
 
One reason why Gamestop and EB is phasing out PC titles is because they generate little money for them.

Gamestop's bread and butter is selling used games. They only make some odd 50 cents selling new games, because most of the money for new games goes to the publishers and developers. Where as they'll make $20 bucks selling a used game.

You can't really sell used PC titles because of CD keys and whatnot. So therefore Gamestop is gonna phase them out. Which is cool because I haven't bought anything from Gamestop in a long time.
 
Same here, two gmaestops near where I live have crappy collection of pc titles. There all in back of the storre like its a porn section or something, except no one ever looks at them :(. But my bestbuy and frys have an amazing collection of games at great prices :D.
 
my local BB has an assload of pc games.They also normally have good sales on games too.I would rather have the actual disc for the game instead of some download but maybe I am one of the few who prefers this
 
Most people have little understanding of specs and dont know what they need to play games. That turns into lots of people either not buying games, or buying them, having them play like crap, then ranting about how crappy they are and trying to return them.

Sadly the whole console thing is easier and cheaper. All you need to know is what console they/you have and you know instantly what works with it and that it will be to its full potential.
 
Consoles take all the fun out of it. It would be nice if one could oc/upgrade consoles.
 
I was at a Microcenter store the other day and they had quite a massive selection of PC games. There aren't many of them, but I wish there were more; it's such a quick and easy alternative to ordering PC components online.
 
What I do not understand is that people look at the PS3 and Xbox and think, "OK, its a gaming system AND it does ALL this other stuff too, WOW, I'll get a console".

But whats really happening is they are buying a "dumbed down" version of a cheap computer, heh.

PC's are not being taking over by consoles IMO, its quite the opposite. Consoles are becoming PC's, so in turn, PC's are absorbing the consoles.

Then we can be one big happy family.....with the PC being GOD!!!!
 
I don't think that's true, but I do feel like the PC shelves are being neglected. The console games are laid flatly across the shelf, each taking a lot of space. The PC games, however, are put on the shelves like books. I don't think the amount of PC games is less than console games, just the way they display it makes seem that way.

But it's understandable. Console games are all put in the same box, having the same size and looks very uniform when laid flat across the shelves. PC games all have different design to their boxes, and definitely a big difference in size.
 
It would be nice of pc and consoles could game together online. That would be awsome and funny at the same time.
 
my bestbuy seems to have at least more pc games than any of the single consoles, not altogether however. I don't like how Lucas Art's is not developing on the pc. I remember all the great times I had with Dark Forces, and mostly, Rebel Assault 2. Damn I really feel like playing that game right now. Anyone know if it can run on xp? I'm not sure if they have a combo mac/pc version or if they split up the discs, but I definitively either have the mac one, or the mac/pc.
 
Good...the retail shops can die, between digital distribution like Steam being more convenient, and online retailers like play.com being cheaper, I can't remember the last game I bought from a "store", or why I'd even want to.

If we can finally kick retail PC games in the nuts it might even be the UK can have PC game releases in line with the rest of the world rather than having to wait so our stores can be stocked just to play a game we've already pre-loaded on steam (that others have been playing for days)

Fuck the UK retail market anyway, I hope it dies, we get everything late and for twice the price, it's time for something better to take its place.
 
One thing I miss was the bigger boxes that PC games used to come in. Games were easier to browse through at the stores and you usually got a big manual and occasionally extra goodies. I remember buying 10 or more games every month, too.;) Fun times!:D

As was already said, Steam and other digital download services have pretty much killed PC games in the retail market. It's easier and a bit cheaper than driving out to Best Buy, Gamestop, Walmart, etc. to buy games. It has nothing to do with the PC gaming market shrinking, though it's not what it once was.
 
I haven't bough a game psychically in store for PC in years.
All the ones i buy are either digital distribution or from internet shops and delivered to my home/work.
 
i recently got into LOTR online and right now you can download the game for 10 bucks
were as in the store you can get a severly outdated box copy and spend all your time updating it for 19.99. I chose the first one and it only took me about 2 hrs to download close to 8gigs hi res verison.
 
Gamestop sucks ass for PC games. I refuse to set foot in that store!

Console games are better money makers because of resale value. Its harder to resell a PC game thanks to the licensing issues that are presented with them. One can merely put the console game back in the case it was bought in, take it to Gamestop and sell it back for a small amount.

I had a Gamestop manager tell me once, when you buy a PC game, the value drops roughly 40% when you walk out the door.
 
It would be nice of pc and consoles could game together online. That would be awsome and funny at the same time.

Would never happen, the console fanboys would cry foul, esp in any FPS game, it would be a new level of onesidedness.

Kinda sucks, I don't need to goto a store to buy a PC game, I just pay some money (or sometimes not ;) ) and click download, and I get the same thing that was on the disk that the store sells, and its not a problem because I got all the HD space in the world. But NPD sales are hella skewed because of this. And because of those skewed sales we get game developers saying they cant make a dime off the PC when they produce some of the most successful PC games ever, and we get console fanboys in this subsection posting "x reason why pc gaming is dead thread # 178741" while neglecting that the sales of PC games has gone up around 14% last year.

To recap, PC games are moving off the store shelves because there are much cheaper methods of distribution which cut out the middlemen, sales remain largely unaffected because of strong D2D sales, console gamers think we are cool and will try to copy our advancements in the next generation of consoles no doubt.
 
There was hacked PC clients that could play Quake against the dreamcast guys or somehting like that ages ago, and the console guys got completely raped.

Technically it's not that hard to do, it's just it would be so unbalanced all the console users would stop playing :>
 
One thing I miss was the bigger boxes that PC games used to come in. Games were easier to browse through at the stores and you usually got a big manual and occasionally extra goodies.
Those were the days, huh? I remember buying a Giant Box copy of Fallout, and the manual was this hefty ring-bound, beautifully laid out thing with more info than you could shake a stick at. Just...fantastic.

Plastic DVD cases don't have anywhere near the appeal of the Giant Box, even if not much comes in the Giant Box. I think that's a pretty universal truth.

I'd be willing to stab someone for a mint Quake Giant Box, by the way...
 
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