Now I don't game as much anymore, with the exception of a possible Fallout 4 announcement impending, so I have been out of the loop on games that are on Xbox One/PS4 but get a PC port. I have been considering shifting to Xbox One/PS4 once a Fallout/TES title is announced as PC is becoming too expensive and headache inducing for me lately. Looking at titles I could get for either console, I take a look at the PC ports out of curiosity. I couldn't help but notice that some current and coming soon PC games at the moment have some pretty demanding requirements. Please don't turn this into a PC/console war, I am just curious if next gen is making PC requirements high (Like calling for 2 GB of Vram now).

Here are a few, for example (If I miss one that has a beefy requirement, feel free to post):

The Evil Within:

Witcher 3-Wild Hunt (Minimum is a tad high IMO):

Dying Light (Luckily, they edited the 16 GB of RAM requirement but I still think the Recommended is still high. Minimum is ok):

Dragon Age-Inquisition (Minimum is very reasonable, the Recommended is pretty high IMO):

Wolfenstien-The New Order (I know it is reasonable but I found it odd it calls for a Intel i7 along with the other low specs):

GTA V (Minimum is ok, but still...):

As gaming advances so must the technology that runs the games...

Its just natural progression... i remember when might and magic 8 came out i thought the requirements were rediculous, but these days my first gen iPod is more powerful

I think PC players have been lucky that games have been developed for console hardware that came out around 2005. That has kept PC requirements down for years. With the release of the new generation of consoles those days are over.

I have dual core, so I know this laptop's time is up if I want to keep playing most AAA games. Although to be honest I'm buying the majority of games on my Ps4/360, no hassle there.

My laptop is seeing more indie games recently, that and it can play the Bethesda games that are out. Also the MMOs I play...the GoG games...other older games..

It's going to be interesting to see what system requirements Bethesda will target for their next big release (Fallout or TES).

Being a college student, a laptop is most convenient for me, but also precludes upgrading without buying an entirely new laptop. So I'm hoping that at least the next Elder Scrolls game doesn't have absurd requirements -- the launcher said I could play at high settings but while that may have been true of the card it certainly was not true of the CPU.

This is also a concern for other Unofficial Patch Project members, as even our head isn't in a position right now to run out and upgrade.

I'd take playability over graphics anyday. Otherwise, may as well go buy a Matisse.

I think GTA V's recommended specs are very reasonable. Whether they're accurate this time remains to be seen. The Witcher 3's minimum specs are pretty high.

Some of these specs are hot air, e.g. not mentioning an i3 when four threads are required and saying four cores is minumum: dunno why, maybe the publishers want their games to seem more 'manly', which is ironic when most of the CPU overhead is just GPU draw calls to make the game prettier. Maybe DX12 can alleviate some of this CPU overhead as Mantle has started to do a bit, and once again your graphics are determined by your card and the CPU can be left to deal with AI and other non-pretties.

And damn if specs don't start to go up just as prices in the UK rocket: go on partpicker chances are a rig that would have cost ￡750 last week will cost you ￡800+ now.

As I will keep recycling Oblivion/Morrowind/Arena/Fallout 3 without any interest in getting a new PC game since I′m clearly not done with these, I rest easy

And seeing as I′m done with Bioshock 1 and 2 with no interest in the third, I rest even easier

Agreed. The unusually long lifespan of 360 and PS3 kept the requirements very low. Sure devs could have made better use of constantly advancing PC tech but that would have given unfair advantage for PC, the devs however usually want platforms to be equal.

Now X1 and PS4 are out and that has kicked the requirements significantly up. If one buys a decent rig now, it should be enough for several years at least. Note: "decent" doesn't mean agonizingly expensive, that's annoyingly common misconception.

Welcome to the new console generation when developers aren't required to optimize like crazy for a while yet and PC hardware hasn't developed too far ahead.

Yep, my current pc is 6 years old and it wasn't a high-powered "gaming rig" either.

My PC is 6 years too but that actually is a pure gaming rig. Don′t know how well it would play new games though but for the ones I do play it′s cranking up the settings time, baby!

Well mine plays Beyond Earth fine which is new but basically a revamped Civ V. I suspect when Fallout 4 or TES VI comes out I'll have to upgrade since a new pc looks unlikely in the near future.

I built my PC in December, 2006. Thanks to consoles I have been able to play all the new games that have been released until now. But that's changed forever. I can't play any of the new games coming out this year.

I'll be restricted to playing my existing 360-era PC games for a long time to come. But I'm okay with that. I've got my imagination and I've got mods. Both make Bethesda's games eternally fresh.

It never gets boring wandering the woods in Cyrodiil and it never gets boring running around shooting Talons, muties and other stuff in Fallout 3

I just reinstalled Fallout 3 yesterday. Been so long since I played it ieven enjoyed getting out of Vault 101.

I adhere to what is likely a decidedly minority viewpoint in that I miss the days when any PC I assembled needed replacing NLT the three year mark....and pretty much HAD to be replaced at four years....assuming one wanted to play new high-end games. It seems to me that this is necessary if games are to grow in sophistication...which demands ever more powerful hardware. Yes, the way it works now is easier on our pocketbooks, but how in the world will we reach the Holodeck in a reasonable amount of time if we don't push the envelop?