The PC Burden

Its seems like publishers for the PC are reluctant to push the resource power the PC has to offer. I guess I can't blame them. Ever since I read about all the problems publishers are having because consumers were buying the DVD versions of software, just to find out they only have a CD-Rom in their system. Truth of the matter, the console market will always beat the PC on this. Consoles are all conclusive. No customization, no confusing setup screens. Just buy and play. Developers are all about only having to create for one type of style. Saves them money too.

I see 2 types of categories that can create the burden for PC community. Additions and Limitations.

Additions are the easiest of the two for the consumer because if you don't have it, its generally a simple add-on-card buy. Then when you have it, you can simply turn it on in the setup. These are elements that can make the PC gaming experience even better, but because of time, resources, and lack of function on a console port, we generally don't see them. They are:

SLI support - the use of multiple video cards as one output.
PhysX Chip - chip designed to remove the burden of physic processing from the CPU and video.
Wide aspect monitors - What's good for the movies.
Dual/multi monitor support - think of RPGs where your inventory/status are on the other screen, while the game world is on the primary.

The other type is Limitations. I can't say I like this word, but its killing the PC market. These are the limitation we see when you mix a older PC market with a new one. Even some newer system will still have these limitations because they were meant to be in an office environment. The only way around them would be to by a new computer or even a new OS. They are:

64-Bit Processors - They've been out forever, and their cheap. But developers are still writing in the 32-bit environment.
CD vs DVD vs HDVD ROMS- The more letter in your acronym, the larger the file capacity.
Memory Limits - Games don't really use more then a GB of memory, yet most can store way more then that in their system
Operating System - The OS can add to the above limitations. Bring on Vista or games for LINUX.

Publisher and developers need to make the jump to high end systems, and let go of the flailing older PC (3+ years) market. Dell, Alienware and other companies are marketing gaming specific computer systems to help kick the PC gaming community into the next generation. With the next generation consoles hitting the market this year, publishers that wish to port will probably only port to the newer generation PCs, as they should.

A PC gamer needs to be an educated gamer. And with everything changing all the time, that's a tough task for people that aren't techies. Perhaps a rating system should be created to help the consumer know if they can run the game on their system. Say I buy a Dell system that has a rating G3. It would mean I'm guaranteed I can run games that are G1-3. Buy a G4 game though, and your on your own. Hmm, I'll have to write more on this.