Cascade-Gaming's Thought on How to Save PC Gaming
A Standard download system for online game transfers. We all know and use Steam but more funds need to be put into Steam and more publishers need to join the program to make it the only choice gamers will need. The steam system should open up an API to provide 3rd party application developers to be able to create custom interfaces for the software. For Digital Downloads to survive however users must be able to edit and mod the games provided and DRM should be as little interference as humanly possible.
The download service should enable as much of the action to be done without using a lot of CPU resources, at current the steam service is doing this to an acceptable degree, but more optimization will be required as time goes on. The integration of award systems and higher community features is paramount. The player should be able to access the server and chat to his friend’s then setup a game without having to use 3rd party programs such as Live Messenger.
The gamer should also be aided in the download software by warning them and downloading new drivers for the player’s hardware. This could be done by an open API system hosted by one of the big players; the hardware companies could update the database when they release a new driver version. It would save a lot of time, stop a lot of problems and be a hell of lot easier.
A Shift in attitude regarding the PC will also be required. As much as hardcore gamers love to talk about specs and over clocking the everyday gamer will need a simple system to judge how well a game will run on their setup. This will involve a community wide ranting system in which PC’s are rated and games are rated. This will need to be at hardware level instead of the sometimes confusion Windows Vista Game Score system.
A Market for preowned games will have to build up once again. There is nothing stopping a user from copying a game then selling it again, so after a game has been resold once it should then not be able to sold again. This can be done using a system in the game stores tracking the games sales. It’s very feasible and easy enough to do, and would please both Publishers and the players who want to get some cheaper copies of games.
The Industry will need to start taking the PC Seriously again and stop releasing half finished buggy games that no one can play without downloading a few hundred megabytes of patches. This means extra costs for the studios, but with the additional faith in the PC market gamers will start to buy more games and thus offset the cost the studios incurs when making better quality games. The studios will also need to start listening to the community, when the large percentage of a community thinks a certain feature is a flaw they should study what could be done about it.
DRM will need to be phased out of improved dramatically. Gamers are not willing to stand for DRM and that has been proven with the release of Spore. Online play serial keys will stop the majority of pirates and pirates don’t have any problems getting around the DRM so it’s only hurting PC customers. Although the consoles have a form of DRM because of the seamless integration it’s not noticeable and thus as a result people are willing to accept it. This is what the PC will have to focus on, having DRM which the user does not notice and will not cause problems.
Better more PC Centric games are required. Just like the Wii has games especially made for it, the PC should have games that work with its controls without the studio always thinking about how they will port over the game to consoles. The RTS Genre is strong in the PC market but if the current trend of studios switching the consoles continues we may end up seeing more and more simplistic RTS games, deeply crushing the current market. We should see more games using the power of USB weather that is more publicity for games such as Guitar hero on PC, or more exciting games using the internet and external USB functions.
Overall the one thing that can save the PC Gaming market is the studios not treating every customer like a criminal and releasing the power of the PC platform. The PC market is far from dead, in fact it’s doing very well it’s just the style of gaming on the system is changing very fast. Let us know at cascade how you think the PC market can be saved!
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