Xbox One vs PS4 vs PC

edited in General
Hears something which perplexes me at the moment.

Originally when consoles first came out or at least when I first got a console (Trusty old PS1). One of the main attractions of buying a console was to have a device in which I could just pop a CD into and play again without having to Patch anything or do any downloads (as we had 56K LOL). But as internet has gotten better and more and more things have become digital console games need to be patched just as much and so one.

Consoles also used to supply a different gaming experience to PC's which was part of the attraction, but now days most AAA games are so similar that if they are or aren't ported to PC just makes the user have to buy a console or not >.< An example of this is Call of Duty which is actually arguably better on PC.

Now we've established that consoles now need downloads with their games and aren't supplying essentially different experience but are making devs port games to multiple pieces of hardware.

So what I'm wondering is this, why doesn't steam or some other digital distributer make a 20$ controller which is like a console controller and lets people play games on their TV using their computers hardware?

Just wondering >.<

Comments

  • edited
    Um.

    From how I understand you, I believe this already exists. You can plug your PS4 or XBox360 controller into your PC. And provided you have the right graphics card or the right adapter you can use TV-out anyway.

    Steam actually had a promotion several months ago for that, from what I remember, where games that were controller- and TV-friendly (i.e. they had menus that you could easily navigate without a mouse) were on sale.

    [edit] Here: http://store.steampowered.com/bigpicture
  • @Elyaradine yes! That's exactly what I'm talking about!

    Hmm, console market is in an interesting place atm, going to be exciting to see what develops of the industry.
  • Yeah, thats my argument as well. I recently bought my own flat, and I installed an HDMI cable from my office to my lounge. I bought a wireless adapter for my xbox controller, and ended up playing some of my PC games on the TV.

    Smoother framerates and better graphics, while still using the xbox controller = win! I played the new Tomb Raider solely on my xbox controller and it was great!

    I even tried to look for an emulators for xbox so I could get smoother framerates on some games, but alas, that is dodgy territory.

    Steam big picture is pretty damn awesome, I for one vouch for it. Provided you have a powerful gaming machine.
  • The gaming industry is already thinking that way. Google the rise of the micro console for considered opinion piece by Tadhg Kelly. What you're talking about is essentially the proposition behind the steam box, which I'm super excited for.

    Controller into pc into tv is already possible. I do it sometimes, though seeing as my laptop doesn't live by my tv and ps controllers are always shaky to get working right, this becomes a huge ball ache every time to set up. I want to sit down and play. That is still the marketing story that keeps me a fan of consoles. Update hell currently found on consoles makes me very sad, to say the least. Right now my iPad does a much better job of providing gaming immediacy. Unfortunately most content here is either very shallow or very short lived or freemium horribleness.

    Basically, I want a steam box in my life.
  • edited
    Also there's been tons of rumors about the Steam Box, Valve's console. For me, that's pretty perfect. Yes you can hook your PC directly to a TV to play stuff but the technicalities mean (for me anyway, anecdotally) that I'd have to get a wireless TV out connection to my TV that's a room away from my computer, and that's a pain.

    For many people playing games on the tv means not having to worry about anything, and the Steam Box is something I really look forward to :)

    http://www.ign.com/wikis/steam/Steam_Box

    Edit: Oh I see Funtastic's mentioned Steam box. Ninja'ed XD
  • I felt GabeN's talk about the future of PC at DICE was pretty insightful. You just need to watch the first 5 minutes.



  • That first bit about the living room is one thing, but the later bits about games as an economy is amazing. Definitely something I can buy into. It's VERY big.
  • First time I've seen the notion of in home streaming. Count me in!
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