General gaming discussion

22-05-2022 8:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099438#Comment_119099438

I have a desktop gaming PC hooked up to my TV.

pixelburp · 22-05-2022 8:32pm

Man, when I gave up on the PC arms race, my bank account thanked me.

22-05-2022 8:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099476#Comment_119099476

I'll also need to do normal boring PC stuff on it, so would want option to move it from tv to a desk or kitchen table. Main point being though that I don't see the value in upgrading components. You can sell the laptop while it still has value and upgrade that way.

Retr0gamer · 22-05-2022 9:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099287#Comment_119099287

Steam hardware survey is the best indication you will get but you'll have to do your own stats and make assumptions.

A PC build used to make sense. In the long run you are saving a lot of money since there's no need for a subscription, sales are great and there's so much stuff that is basically free in the mods and just plain free games.

This gen of consoles offer some serious power at a very competitive price unlike the relatively under powered PS4 gen. But PC innovation has come on so much now that a modern build is basically replacing absolutely everything and it wasn't helped by GPU prices. CPU requirements have gone up now that there's actual competition for intel, you really need faster RAM and also NVME storage is absolutely essential with direct storage on PC now a thing and consoles taking advantage of direct SSD access before the PC offered it.

Usually you'd have to factor in benefits like having 60 FPS and games that ran a lot smoother but developers have been very good at offering 60 FPS modes and consistent 30 FPS.

Also PC has by far the best back catalogue of games by default :D

johnny_ultimate · 22-05-2022 10:37pm

TBH after using it for a few weeks a Steam Deck is a really great option for those who don’t want to go too deep into the PC gaming money pit but are intrigued by the games on offer. You get much of the library of games (still the best PC feature) and also realise a lot of games run and look great without the need to turn up graphics to high or ultra.

I don’t think it’ll replace a desktop for me personally, but it’s a damn fine machine as either a portable device alongside a desktop or a brilliant way to enter the PC waters.

pixelburp · 23-05-2022 6:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119100045#Comment_119100045

Isn't just getting one next to impossible ATM?

Markitron · 23-05-2022 7:05am

Yea a steam deck + next gen console is a seriously good combo atm. Been playing the steam deck non stop since I got it last month, so many games that cost so little. An emulation beast as well.

Markitron · 23-05-2022 7:13am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119100575#Comment_119100575

Apparently they are massively ramping up production so the wait times should go down. If you want one I recommend you get in the queue, at least its first come first served unlike the PS5 debacle.

Grumpypants · 23-05-2022 9:30am

The best bang for buck has to be Stadia. Lots on here got the premier edition for €21. The fast charger that comes with the controller is usually more than that. And you got a Chrome cast Ultra worth €70, a controller worth €79, a free month of Pro worth €9.99, and a tenner off your first game!

You can run everything on the highest settings. 4K 60fps without any effort. It is such a shame Google dropped the ball on marketing this and more don't use it. The technology is outstanding.

23-05-2022 9:55am

https://www.techgamingreport.com/google-stadia-soon-story-the-games-tab-in-the-store-is-no-longer/

Seems like a waste of money to invest into this.

CatInABox · 23-05-2022 9:56am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119100994#Comment_119100994

Stadia is essentially done now though. I, and most others, think that it's only a matter of time before they shut it down or sell it off.

Penn · 23-05-2022 10:04am

I think no matter how good a system it may be, they just didn't properly sell it to gamers and didn't give enough people the confidence in it that it needed.

pixelburp · 23-05-2022 10:13am

Yeah you couldn't persuade me to get a Stadia. Even before the lag in interest and support, Google have notoriety when it comes to keeping their larger projects alive.

johnny_ultimate · 23-05-2022 10:16am

Stadia's technology might work, but the library is by far the most limited of any current platform and even those publishers that were on board have largely lost interest. It'd be a silly investment at this stage, especially when Google is likely to kill it off sooner rather than later. It's a doomed platform, at least from the consumer side of things.

I'm not particularly interested in cloud gaming, but something like GeForce Now seems like a vastly preferable option as at least you can still buy your PC games as normal and play them there. And on the Xbox side, Microsoft at least seems committed to cloud gaming in a way Google absolutely is not.

23-05-2022 10:23am

Cloud gaming on Game Pass has been useful for trying out a game before I download it.

But I have to say I increasingly wonder why I bother downloading when I don't notice any difference in performance.

Grumpypants · 23-05-2022 11:06am

They did a piss poor job of selling Stadia to gamers alright.

They made a few key errors. One was launching with only Pro, and without a batch of free games. Now you do get a nice chunk of decent enough games for your monthly tenner. But on day one, it was basically Tomb Raider and then you had to buy games for full price.

By the time the free offering came it had lost momentum.

It is far from dead though. They have put in a ton of investment this year and it is very well integrated into the Goole suite. They have also just made porting PC games now very simple with the compatibility layer means it will pretty much run the PC build.

Retr0gamer · 23-05-2022 4:10pm

Analogue Pocket > Steam Deck

pixelburp · 23-05-2022 4:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119101417#Comment_119101417

It may not be dead but IMO you'd have to do a bang up job persuading anyone with some nous of Google's past behaviour with its own tech to take the plunge with Stadia. Nevermind the integrations - how has the game library expanded? Ease of porting means nothing if nobody's taking Google up on the offer.

RobertFoster · 23-05-2022 5:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119103221#Comment_119103221

You sure? 🤔😜

https://www.protondb.com/app/502500

23-05-2022 5:29pm

Can't wait for Steam Deck. Looking forward to owning a portable console that has a good library of games. 👍

Mr.Saturn · 23-05-2022 6:06pm

Stadia 2 year anniversary deal last December had the air of a fire sale - its biggest release this year has been the next gen version of Overcooked, which launched with the Gen 9 systems anyways.

johnny_ultimate · 23-05-2022 6:28pm

Buying Stadia now feels like that brief period where you could buy Xbox 360 HD-DVD players at a massive discount after Blu-Ray had won.

_CreeD_ · 23-05-2022 6:55pm

Has Stadia improved the number of games that are really rendered in 4K as opposed to upsampled and streamed at it? That and a number of releases really running at medium settings rather than high were a bit of a misnomer when all they used was the 4K end render as the quality mark early on.

wotzgoingon · 23-05-2022 7:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119103826#Comment_119103826

And Blu-Ray is nearly dead too. I know I have a few films on BR but I bought them years ago and I also have a few Xbox games on BR too but I also bought them years ago. I am all digital now and have been for a fair few years.

SuperBowserWorld · 23-05-2022 8:03pm

I get my XBox Series X games on Vinyl. The package includes a free digital download that I can actually use. 😆

Seriously though, I'll still buy the physical version on Xbox if I see it cheap. And with Nintendo, the cartridge is always cheaper than digital for their first party games.

I like the physical copy for games I love and hate it for games I hate. 😆

Same with digital, I wish I could trade in the digital games I hated or never want to play again towards another digital game.

It's all going to go subscription, and eventually cloud mostly processing.

I hate any kind of online logging in, registering, monitoring, analysis, monetization of my time.

I notice with Fenyx Rising, the default option on the home screen is to go to the store, rather than continue your last game..😞

Also, even if your hardware is ok and you have all the software locally, will these single player non networked games run locally when the server is not available to "log in" to, in e.g. 20 years time.

So, I guess emulators will be required to run games locally and fake the server side stuff.

24-05-2022 11:14am

Xbox are working on letting you stream all your owned games on game pass. Thats gor to be the last group to be converted, the group who like to own all their games.

24-05-2022 11:27am

I think there will always be people who want to own the box, just to have the physical collection in a shelf. Much like vinyl collectors.

Most people like me just want to access the media, however it's delivered.

awec · 24-05-2022 11:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099735#Comment_119099735

I have a PC and a PS5.

I could never go back to playing shooters on console, the PC just blows it away. But for pretty much every single other genre there is no real benefit of PC. I wouldn't be buying a PC to play RPGs etc. There are niche markets where PC provides a much better experience, that's for games like Flight Sim, Civ, XCom etc, basically point and click things.

Obviously if you want the absolute best performance and the best fidelity then PC is the only show in town but it will cost you, otherwise consoles will provide a good experience for a lot less money.

24-05-2022 12:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119106287#Comment_119106287

Hopefully that includes owners of physical discs and not just digitally owned games. But maybe I'm making a wrong assumption there.

It Shows how Microsoft and Xbox have improved in recent years when the automatic assumption is that they're going to deliver exactly what everyone wants.

24-05-2022 12:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119106626#Comment_119106626

I think so long as a market exists for physical games, even if it is niche, it will be catered for, just like vinyl is today.

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