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by
Joe - jgand@pcfootball.net
10-18-04
Well,
we did it!
We
pulled it off and we were able to change servers. We now not
only have more room to grow in total storage but we now have
more bandwidth per month so that we could accommodate more
postings on the boards.
We
also have some new partners in the PC Sports realm than
before. We are now affiliated with the gang at SportPlanet.com
which is part of the GameSpy Network. They have all sorts of
sites over there for games like EA’s NHL series, MVP
Baseball, Tiger Woods Golf, Colin McRae Rally games, and so
on. So we are now in some very good company, and I for one am
glad to be a part of this community. This is what I was
talking about in one of my previous columns when I said that I
wanted to ally this site with other sites out there in order
to change the way that we as gamers are perceived. This is an
important step in the future of this site and I am proud to
see it happen.
Now
having said all of that, I would like to ask all of you a
favor…
If
I ever, and I mean EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVERRRRRRRRRRRRR
decide to change hosts again, please, somebody slap me in the
head!!!
You
can’t imagine the panic I was going through when at one
point the forum boards stopped working altogether. Since I was
pretty new at this I didn’t know that the database didn’t
transfer over along with the rest of the site, that you had to
back it up and re-load it yourself. Problem being that our
database is huge, and no matter what I tried I just couldn’t
get it loaded onto the new server. That’s where Ray came in.
He was able to get the database loaded onto the server and got
us up and working again. My eternal thanks to Ray and everyone
else over at WebSpace Depot for all of their assistance.
Now
comes the topic of this month’s column: the prospect of more
and more console publishers making the jump to PC’s.
In
the new issue of Computer
Gaming World, there is a story detailing how some console
publishers like Midway, Namco and Sega just might be making a
push to get into the PC arena.
This
can’t be good news for all of those console fanboy’s out
there who cross their arms and form their fingers into some
kind of gangsta symbol whenever they chant their mantra
“Console’s rule, pc’s suck!”
Well
I hate to tell those fanboy’s this (actually, no I don’t)
but the PC has never sucked. In fact, the PC market has never
been stronger than it is right now.
But
what has taken the console publishers so long? What were they
waiting for all of this time when they could have been taking
advantage of the PC’s strengths when it came to sound and
video? And why are they changing their minds now?
Several
reasons:
-
The
PS3, NeXtBox and next generation Nintendo consoles are not
due to hit the market until late 2005 or early 2006. This
means that console publishers are either going to have to
produce new titles for the current generation of consoles,
or wait until the next generation comes out to capitalize
on their release. Since they don’t want to have to wait
that long to try to make some profit, they will be going
into an arena that many console players claim is dead: the
PC.
-
Some
of the biggest-selling games of all time are played on the
PC. The Sims 2, Unreal Tournament, Doom 3, Half-Life,
Battlefield 1942, Star Wars: KOTOR and Everquest have
shown that the PC is still relevant in the gaming circles.
Once Half-Life 2 comes out then there will be a lot for PC
gamers to choose from, and some console players might be
looking at the new adventures of Gordon Freeman and going
“hmmmmmmm”.
-
The
development of newer and better hardware that is able to
make the games look and sound like they never have before.
Having the latest nVidia or ATI graphics card in your rig
while you pump out all the crunches, steam bursts and
demon attacks on a Creative card that handles 7.1 or THX
sound while playing Doom 3 with all the lights turned out
is a lot scarier than playing the same title on the XBox.
-
Companies
like Alienware, Falcon Northwest and VooDoo that
specialize in creating rigs made especially for gaming.
These three companies have set the bar as far as
performance goes, and also as far as playability goes.
These are frequently the three most reviewed companies in PC
Gamer Magazine, and Alienware is the computer of
choice for g4TechTV’s show Arena,
where the capabilities of the PC are shown for all the
world to see.
So
some of these console publishers are looking to take advantage
of the fact that the PC has not only not gone away, but has
gotten better as a gaming platform.
So
does this mean that we might see more sports titles for the PC
in the near future? One would hope so. Now it is true that
sports titles for the PC nowadays are limited to non-graphics
games and whatever comes out of EA Sports. But with the news
that some of these publishers are willing to come over to the
PC one would hope that they would bring their sports titles
with them.
After
all, man cannot live by Madden alone.
Unfortunately
I don't think we should hold our breath waiting for it to
happen. After all the console publishers have come to the
conclusion that they can make more money by putting their
products out for the consoles rather than the PC.
However,
if the new influx of games for the PC sell well enough, then
maybe they will reconsider their anti-sports for the PC
stance.
Stay
tuned.
Until
next time…
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