The Experiances of a newbie

[jimmyshand]

Interesting discussion. PC gaming has definitely gone underground from when I first started out. When you go into a high street games store today then PC games are all but confined to one shelf in the corner. The surge of the console has all but killed off the mainstream PC gaming market and it's not surprising really. PC's have done and continue to, advance at an alarming rate. I remember just 3 years ago beaming with excitement as I forked out £600 buying a "Top Gaming PC" from a major PC retailer. 3 years later it's practically obsolete and has but a fraction of the specs some people are quoting on here. It can just about handle RW3 after dozens of hours of trial and error and complex understanding of the inner workings but that's about it.
With consoles on the other hand, there is no issue of specs, if you buy an XBox 360 game it will work on your Xbox 360 because they're all the same. What's more an Xbox 360 will set you back about £150 or £200 for one with bells and whistles, a fraction of the cost of a games PC which will set you back a minimum of £600 if bought off the shelf but regularly will cost £1,500 plus for a bells and whistles job!!!

The outrageous cost of PC's and the outrageous pace of development has had the unfortunate side-effect of killing off the PC games market as a mainstream force. Advanced PC's are incredible and cutting edge etc but they are primarily the toy of the lucky few that have the oodles of spare cash to be able to afford one and more importantly the oodles of spare cash to be able to afford a new one every year or 2 or at least expensive upgrades.

If it weren't for the fact I was a simmer, I'd have given up on PC Gaming a long time ago. If I were an FPS man or a racing car gamer etc then I'd have gone over to Xbox many moons ago. The cheapness and the convenience of consoles makes them king in the games world.

If the console industry started making proper simulators then I'd gladly drop the PC in a hearbeat. I'm sick to death of wrestling with specs and being constantly outpaced by development.

[SquidvT]

Well the inherent problems you mention with the PC as a gaming platform can also be its biggest strengths.

The reason the PC continues to still be around is that it can be upgraded. Of course that requires more money and a bit of know how but it means that if wish you can upgrade components to try and keep up with developments or requirements of the latest games. You are quite right of course of the fast pace required to keep up. Basically if its in the shops, then its already obscelencent .

Years ago I used to work for PC World, and even then most powerful "Gaming" machines on offer could only be described as current. Give it 6 months and they would begin to struggle. But thats the price of progress.
These days high street PC retailers make such a low margin on PCs due to competition from internet based companies its tough. At the time I used to get good commisions for selling PCs. Having talked to a collegue not so long ago, he reported that due to low margins, commisons were a thing of the past.

Anyway, one thing that does annoy me is minimum requirements posted by PC games. Ill use RWs as an example here because its relevant to the discussion, but I certainly are not singling them out. Practically all publishers seem to be very optimistic about the requirements needed to run their games. According to Steam the system requirements are:-

System Requirements
OS: Windows XP / Vista/ Windows 7
Processor: 2.8 GHz or faster
Memory: 2.0 GB RAM
Graphics: Video 256 MB with Pixel Shader 3.0*
DirectX®: Version 9.0c (Included)
Hard Drive: 6 GB of free space + 3 GB for DLC
Sound: Direct X 9.0c compatible
*Downloadable content available from RailSimulator.com and third parties. Extra content may be subject to additional charges.

**Supported chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 or greater; ATI Radeon 9500 Pro or greater. Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required.System Requirements
OS: Windows XP / Vista/ Windows 7
Processor: 2.8 GHz or faster
Memory: 2.0 GB RAM
Graphics: Video 256 MB with Pixel Shader 3.0*
DirectX®: Version 9.0c (Included)
Hard Drive: 6 GB of free space + 3 GB for DLC
Sound: Direct X 9.0c compatible
*Downloadable content available from RailSimulator.com and third parties. Extra content may be subject to additional charges.

**Supported chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 or greater; ATI Radeon 9500 Pro or greater. Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required.

Now in its self there is nothing wrong with the above. You could run RW3 on a system with the above specs. But the issue is just how good an experiance you will get. Certainly you will have to turn down the eye candy, also when you throw 3rd Party addons into the mix, you could suffer even more. RW3 does a nice job of offering us many options to allow us to run it on a variety of systems, but there is still a minimum overhead. Screen shots and preview videos of course are always shown on a system far in excess of a minimum required system. The upshot can be that a user can be dissapointed when they check if their system can run the game only to be presented with poor graphics and performance even though they meet the requirements.

What I think is fairer is for publishers to post not only minimum requirements but also recommended specs. i.e what you need to run the game so it looks like the publicity screenshots etc. Even better is to release a limited demo so people can try before buying.

As mentioned part of the appeal of consoles is their simplicity. A game for an Xbox will work just as well and look just as good as the publicity shots. It takes the guesswork out of it.

However I dont think we will really see hardcore sims appear on consoles for a couple of reasons. Firstly the lack of keyboard. The PC keyboard is the ultimate games controller. It allows hundreds of different inputs that are required for serious sims. Secondly the majority of gamers dont want to spend hours reading manuals or learning the game. They want immediate access without spending much time or effort. Hardcore sims are not of appeal to the mass market. Thirdly consoles often dont have the ability to run complex sims. Yes FPS graphics may look stunning but the lack the processing power and memory to do complex stuff. This is due to the need to keep the cost of the actual console low by using cheap components.

If you tried to create a sim capable console you would just end up building a high end PC.

[glowball]

Hi, ...snip...
Also,
There is a new core update due in a week or so, and maybe 1 or 2 more before Christmas.

Any issues you come across do report it to RS.com (support@railsimulator.com)

best regards

Derek

Morning Derek, are there any further updates on the above?

[briyeo1950]

Talking of PC World (other retailers are available) reminds me of the number of times I have been in the store at this time of year and overheard the sales patter. There will be a family with a young son, and an eager salesperson extolling the virtues of a low spec computer package. " and we will include a pack of A4 paper for the included printer". Knowing full well it would struggle to provide any kind of good gaming experience. I felt for those youngsters knowing the disapointment they will soon be suffering. At least they would still be able to do their homework on it

Have you noticed that if you go into these large electronic retailers wanting to buy something, you just can't find a member of staff. But if you just go in to browse because its raining or to kill a bit of time, you are having to beat them off