Recently, I got back into PC gaming after getting Starcraft 2. I replayed Crysis and a couple of the Total War games. Back in the day, I was a moderate PC gamer. PC games, in my mind, were secondary to ‘console’ games but there were some fun games made exclusively for PCs such as Deus Ex 2 and Crysis. Well guess what’s shaking in the game world now? The sequels to Deus Ex 2 and Crysis will be coming out to Xbox360 and PS3. These games are moving directly to game consoles and I can see why. By expanding to more gamers, the game companies will bring in more revenue and make newer fans.

The PC stood out from consoles with certain exclusivities that the consoles didn’t have. By seemingly ignoring its working/computing side and focusing on the PC as a gaming machine, some of the earliest of exclusivity for the PC was Online Play. Unreal Tournament, Quake, Counter-Strike and Starcraft are examples of a few games that were known for their online play. Instead of playing a party game on a console with 4 friends, you could go nuts and play with dozens of people online. Actually, online play is still rampant and strong on the PC due to the MMO games.

Another PC exclusive angle is graphics. Independent or commercial developers who wanted to create high-end graphics chose to work with the PC since it’s more powerful and easier to develop for than the console. But as years progressed, more commercial developers were willing to move to the console. And even though they have pushed the graphics of the PC beyond the console, it won’t be too much trouble to port it over.

Some PC gamers suggest using the computer mouse for genres such as FPS or RTS is better than using the gaming controller on a console. I can understand that. it’s easier to move to exactly what you’re aiming at by passing a cursor over the target than manipulating a controller or having to manage several units scattered on a map.

It might just boil down to gameplay instead of graphics now. But as long as computers are around, developers will still create games for them – either to jump start their companies or just to entertain a certain demographic of gamers. The PCs graphics will still be impressive even with the graphics of the consoles now catching up. But, in the end, it will always be the gameplay that will rope people in.

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