Are PC Games dying? Is OpenGl doomed?

Yes I could name several (10-easy) console games that I’ve played over the years that have had bugs in them, however I haven’t really played console games much over the past three years or so (I have a playstation collecting dust right now).

But Eric is right, don’t blame the PC game makers for bugs. Hardware is the key. I’d venture to bet that most developers do not even know a bug exists until a bug report comes in from the world, because they simply can not have every configuration of hardware/software available to them to test.

Same thing applies to app programming. You program the best you can on what you have, and test it on whatever you can.

Have fun with it!

Eric/Sebastian:

Well, thing are expensive in Sweden. But of course you can get it cheeper than this … but, yeah, it’s expensive …
But this cigarette thing … well, i do not smoke (and i really think noone should, i’ve never understood why people do this … you smell, it costs, you die …), but i think they do not cost more the £3.

Humus, well I am not sure if it was Sweden or Finland or Denmark but it is for sure one the european northern countries ! (well anyway we are not here to talk about fags !).

Regards.

Eric

Another swede entering!

I don’t think that either Consoles or PC’s will win the computergame market.
When it comes to OpenGL I think it will be long lived. The developers that are using OpenGL are only increasing.

By the way, wait a few years and Macintosh computers will win the game market

(excuse my bad english)

Originally posted by UserDisconnected:
By the way, wait a few years and Macintosh computers will win the game market

BwahahahahahahahahaHAHAhAHAHA!!!

Thanks for the laugh!

grrrrrr!!!

No way, consoles are trying to reach where the PC is today in reference to multiplayer titles because they offer more replay value.
However a big joke to me was when sega swore that they have new technology in the new network which will work with the dreamcast to allow users to play complicated games such as Marvel Vs Capcom 2 ONLINE and with NO lagg thats right people 0% lagg. Well if this is true then i might consider that PC games will die.

No lag my arse… You can’t get rid of lag over TCP/IP It’s simply IMPOSSIBLE. You can reduce it, but never eliminate it

IMHO consoles are NOT the wave of the future… the PC may not last too much longer, what with appliances and all (yeah, right, that’s all happening), but consoles will never rule the game market IMHO… PCs are just more flexible… Plenty of people are willing to pay more for a GeForce2 than for a DC…

Just wanted do say a few words in this interesting thread.

When we are talking about games, what kind of games are we talking about? Personaly, I would never (as it seems today atleast) buy a console. Have you ever thought of how a strategy game would look like on a console? Or maybe an adventure game a la Monkey Island. Im a big fan of strategy and adventure games, and can’t see how it’s going to be to play something like Warcraft on a console with pads. Of course, you can add a mouse and a keyboard, but we almost have a new computer then.

There are strategy games in 3D comming today, just look at Homeworld. An upcomming adventure game (don’t remember what) a la Diablo is going to use OpenGL for special effects (like spells). There sure is a place for OpenGL (and other 3D APIs aswell) in PC computergames too.

I would say consoles are never going to take over the gamingmarket.

Good point, Bob… RTSs on consoles just don’t work. Most console games are 1 of 3 things :
FPS
Racing game
Adventure/RPG

And some people (A.K.A. ME) aren’t into those kinds of things

FPS with a joypad urgh, how can anyone play an FPS properly with one of those things. Console games are usually quite different to PC games less depth,more arcadey. They are aimed at a different market, usually a younger market with shorter attention spans. As far as technology goes when they are first released they are ahead of the current PC’s but they quickly fall behind and dont get replaced for a few years. As long as people need PC’s to do things other than play games there will be a market for PC games.

[This message has been edited by Adrian (edited 05-29-2000).]

Some more things I forgot to say

Car games is supposed to play with a wheel, not a pad. Flightsimulators is supposed to be played with a stick. Maybe there are wheels and sticks for consoles, but I don’t think the sticks, kind of, fits on a console.

BUT, there is one reason why I should buy a console, and it’s fighting games. Fighting games is the perfect game to play on a console with pads, but since I don’t like those (fighting games), I don’t care .

Bob, just a remark : you mention Monkey Island as an example of a game that could not work on a console… Well, I quite agree with you for the graphics resolution (never forget that consoles are limited by the TV resolution itself !). But, for anything else, it would be possible : you just need a mouse (and the PSX has one ! Although it is not as good as my Intellimouse Explorer !).
Moreover, Monkey Island is not quite demanding on power…

Regards.

Eric

That’s true Eric, Monkey Island is not that demanding, but I could have said Baldur’s Gate, or Fallout instead. Still adventure, and still not a kind of game I would play on a console. And the resolution on a TV is no direct problem. It’s abit less sharp (doesn’t matter that mush since you are sitting further away from the TV) though, but sharpness mainly matters when you are writing and stuff like that.

I learned 3D programming with OpenGL 3 years ago.
6 Month ago I moved my 3D engine to Direct3D…it was easy and now it runs pretty well…
I love OpenGL but I hate going out for a demo and not be able to show that on a Matrox G200…which is ( in italy ) still the most popular video card…

Move to Direct3D if you plan to support only PC market…there will be no new card out there without a compatible driver…

Umm, the G200 HAS openGL support. Only like the first few releases had no support. and now, at least in the US, which is the big market, EVERYTHING supports it. OpenGL rules!

But the G200 aswell as the G400 has bad OpenGL drivers.

Is there any such thing as NON-bad drivers? I mean, all drivers have SOME problems, and it’s not just OpenGL drivers either…

Yes, but at Matrox cards the suckiness of the OpenGL drivers far exceed the DX drivers.

Most new cards for windows support OpenGL, so I can’t see it dieing out.

If you want to support more then Windows then using OpenGL is your best option.