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You may call it the master race, but I call it a rapid decline in quality.
So with the console generation facing an unsure future, there's only one platform where we
can truly game on. And of course, I'm talking about the #MasterRace - Supposedly.
Before I aimlessly talk about how the supposed master race is declining in quality, let me
just say straight off the bat - Yes, I am a PC gamer. What you need to actually qualify
yourself to be one is a mystery as big as the bermuda triangle, as seemingly any five
year old burrowing their Dad's computer can log on to play Roblox and brag about how they've
joined the craze.
So let's get onto the actual matter at hand. You want to know why on earth I would claim
that PC gaming sucks. Everything's great, right?
Wrong, wrong wrong wrong and wrong again. You know, I can actually give you the exact
date PC gaming began to decline and where quality suddenly took a backseat. July 9th
2012. I doubt that date will mean anything to you - Googling the day itself won't reveal
any more information - so just wait for me to tell you. On July 9th a certain company,
which could be regarded the backbone of PC gaming released a statement announcing the
arrival of something pretty darn amazing (well, at the time). Of course I'm talking about
Valve and their PC platform (or should I say Linux) Steam gaining Greenlight. For those
unaware, Greenlight introduces the opportunity to get your game on Steam and for it to subsequently
be seen by millions. As long as you have an audience willing to press a big fat green
thumbs up. Notice how I didn't say good game?
Now of course you could argue "yes, but that is just one part of PC gaming" and you're
right. You have various other options to play games, but the fact that horrible, unfinished
and frankly unplayable games can make it onto a supposed premium platform with just a few
clicks of a button.
Let's take the argument away from Valve's superior platform for PC Gaming and take a
look at what actually matters: the games. We're certainly experienced one of the slowest
months for gaming since the dawn of 2014 and with the release of Titanfall, it doesn't
look like it's going to get any better within the next few months.
The growing list of games we're expected to wait for is still a way off and don't forget,
we're still waiting for a GTA V announcement. But even then: that will be a port. And with
that, we touch the real issue with PC gaming. For whatever reason, when it comes to game
releases, the PC pulls the short one and ends up at the back of the line. There is a disturbing
trend of just not giving a crap when it comes to opening up your game on PC; a trend that
spans over so many games, over so many years - so many that no one seemingly learns from
their mistakes.
Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, Borderlands 1, Dark Souls, BULLY and unfortunately GTA IV.
Yes in most of the cases, the core game itself is fine - obviously. But there are fundamental
issues that are desperately obvious.
I could easily sit here and quite easily claim console gaming is the future, but that in
of itself would be obnoxious and irrational. As technology makes game development far easier
than it should be, we'll always be faced with monstrosities barely playable on any platform;
be it Xbox Live, PSN or even the Android Market. But maybe it's that side of gaming we've come
to see and laugh at, maybe the countless unfinished games with the proposition of helping a developer
spurs us on.
No? Ah well, that's early access for you. While PC's may reign supreme, they're certainly
no master race. Was it ever? Debatable. But we've certainly got a way to go to clean up
PC gaming.