First off, while Sierra and Origin - on the PC side - catered at times to systems that DIDN'T even exist yet in some cases, it was not necessarily good for gamers. I remember having no end of frustration getting Ultima VII to work on my PC and essentially had to settle for PC speaker sound because I couldn't free enough low memory because Origin used their own setup that was incompatible with low memory optimizers like QEMM that solved the issue for most other company's games. This scenario was not good for gamers and not good for companies like Sierra or Origin because it meant less people could play these amazing game that they created. If they scaled back on the ambition just a bit and tried to utilize existing hardware more practically, more people could actually play their games and both companies might still exist in their original forms today.
I know you're baiting for fun, Matt, but it sounds foolish to say things like "too poor or ignorant to enjoy PC gaming". I'm baiting for fun too when I say dedicated PC gamers are masochists (though PC gamers do take a beating with getting things to work and stability at times). In either case, though, the reality is it's hard to argue with the merits of either depending upon your particular situation. Console games work and they're every bit as good as PC games and often times superior. That's just a fact. Locked in 1920x1080p visuals, surround sound, large screens, standardized controls, consistent online experience, etc. That's just not available on the PC. On the PC though, there are many more options, but there's the rub, with so many options come compatibility issues, lack of standards, hit or miss support for features, etc. Developers developing to 1% of the PC user population wouldn't change any of those issues and it wouldn't make better games. It's been proven time and again that technology does not make better games, though unique technology can make DIFFERENT games.
And so what if consoles are PC like in that they do man things now. The TV is the home entertainment center, not the PC monitor, so it only makes sense to use a device optimized for a TV, something the PC never will be because it's not a standardized platform. Again, in some ways that's an advantage, surely, but in other ways in not. In fact, it's easy enough to argue that PC's are inferior gaming platforms. Very easy. But then we've all already picked sides, haven't we, so ultimately it doesn't matter, right? Nothing either side says will change the fact that THIS group games how they want. Heck, even I PC game now, but I still find the console experience so much better it's stupid. ;-)
First off, while Sierra and Origin - on the PC side - catered at times to systems that DIDN'T even exist yet in some cases, it was not necessarily good for gamers. I remember having no end of frustration getting Ultima VII to work on my PC and essentially had to settle for PC speaker sound because I couldn't free enough low memory because Origin used their own setup that was incompatible with low memory optimizers like QEMM that solved the issue for most other company's games. This scenario was not good for gamers and not good for companies like Sierra or Origin because it meant less people could play these amazing game that they created. If they scaled back on the ambition just a bit and tried to utilize existing hardware more practically, more people could actually play their games and both companies might still exist in their original forms today.
I know you're baiting for fun, Matt, but it sounds foolish to say things like "too poor or ignorant to enjoy PC gaming". I'm baiting for fun too when I say dedicated PC gamers are masochists (though PC gamers do take a beating with getting things to work and stability at times). In either case, though, the reality is it's hard to argue with the merits of either depending upon your particular situation. Console games work and they're every bit as good as PC games and often times superior. That's just a fact. Locked in 1920x1080p visuals, surround sound, large screens, standardized controls, consistent online experience, etc. That's just not available on the PC. On the PC though, there are many more options, but there's the rub, with so many options come compatibility issues, lack of standards, hit or miss support for features, etc. Developers developing to 1% of the PC user population wouldn't change any of those issues and it wouldn't make better games. It's been proven time and again that technology does not make better games, though unique technology can make DIFFERENT games.
And so what if consoles are PC like in that they do man things now. The TV is the home entertainment center, not the PC monitor, so it only makes sense to use a device optimized for a TV, something the PC never will be because it's not a standardized platform. Again, in some ways that's an advantage, surely, but in other ways in not. In fact, it's easy enough to argue that PC's are inferior gaming platforms. Very easy. But then we've all already picked sides, haven't we, so ultimately it doesn't matter, right? Nothing either side says will change the fact that THIS group games how they want. Heck, even I PC game now, but I still find the console experience so much better it's stupid. ;-)