PC Gaming: E3's Dirty Little Secret
 

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has an article about the number of multiplatform games at E3 being showcased on PCs.

You can read the rest of the article here.

This article is stating all the reasons I have been telling myself to finally build my ultimate gaming PC rig this year.

Don't get too excited and splurge on that Cray computer just yet.

It is very common in game development to use PC builds in early and mid development. You can have a bazillion gigs of ram and super-computer desktops which mean you don't have to waste time optimizing to the console constraits (or even mainstream PC constraits) while your content creators are going wild. Then you get it running on the target platform. Then you get it to run all the way from beginning to end on the target platform without crashing due to running out of resources. Then you worry about getting 30/60 FPS.

Once things settle down around feature or content complete milestones (which many of these games are far from) you start working on getting the game to run on the console. Performance is one of the LAST "feature" areas that generally sees a lot of work.

All the demos I saw look too good to be on a current gen console

I still remember Gencon 97, the Sierra booth across from the Blizzard booth and while everyone was going nuts for starcraft, here I was chatting it up with Dynamix and playing such a raw alpha build of half-life the dev had to issue console commands just to put weapons into my hands. I honestly can't remember if gabe was there because just the experience of playing something that tingled all of my spider senses kept me entirely focused on the game and not giving a fuck who made it. It was a magical time.

Oh, and yeah everything at conventions runs off a PC more or less. The real reason is they are easier to debug and fix on the fly if you have issues as oppose to swapping out the hardware you brought if a console dies on the floor. Also more secure unless some idiot leaves his flash key in the usb port. (lawl)

Most of these games will end up being labelled "crap console ports" in the Steam forums within the next 6 - 12 months.

PCs are just SO much more powerful now, demoing on anything other than a PC would be like saying: "Look at our blurry popin textures!"

A YEAR ago AMD said PCs are 10 times more powerful than current consoles?
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...than-consoles/
Probably a lot higher now.

Read this article earlier today. Good read.

Power doesn't get the industry's attention. Control does.

Someone's surprised as this? They've been doing this for a looooong, long time at E3. It's practically standard practice. There've been stories about 'what's behind the curtain' for as long as I can recall.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. It's not like the things are built with an Xbox, and generally these games are mid-development. Plus, showcasing a game on a high end PC, using its graphic superiority as a highlight is a no-brainer.
At the end of the day, as long as we don't have Killzone 2 level bullshittery happening, I'm okay with this.
Besides, I'm far more interested in the game than the system running it. I'm in my 30's. I can afford any system I want

Here are some other dirty secrets:

1. Several major publishers refuse to appear at E3
2. Other conventions throughout the year, such as PAX and Blizzcon are diluting the significance of the Expo
3. After years of feminist columnists decrying "Booth Babes," the fans now show up dressed like the skimpily-clad characters--also, models present every product at every other show and commercial endeavor in the world but I can rant on self-important crusaders for hours
4. If you do not have a buyer or press pass, you're better off sitting at home watching the event on the internet
5.

5 was supposed to be "At least its not in Atlanta anymore," but I dropped my keyboard.

That hardly counts as a secret.

Yup. My only real gripe with consoles are the annual releases and the decline of online communities for said games. Add to that the DLC craze and I'm just largely turned off. But my prerence doesn't make me hate or feel superior. There are some amazing titles in the pipe for consoles, and that's where the focus is.

not news, whenever anyone shows off any game, it is either on a PC or photoshoped to look better (in print and websites). They need to have rules about this type of thing...

But but then beer commercials won't be able to have hot women in bikinis fighting for a piece of your manly beer swilling manliness.

Except, of course, PAX and ChinaJoy Expo. Damn booth babe hating bastards. *shakes fist in anger and quickly goes back to counting how many more days until TGS*

I guess Nintendo and MS got you covered then:
http://imageshack.us/a/img594/2669/mpvrk.gif

http://gifs.gifbin.com/112010/128938...ing-kinect.gif