I believe Todd said that Skyrim is the last game they'll make for this generation of consoles, after Skyrim is released they will focus on the next gen

Honestly, the main thing holding consoles back is simply their gimped RAM. The PS3 is the biggest offender, as at least the 360 has unified RAM (hence why so many multiplatform games have a much better frame rate on the 360). Being stuck with only 256 mb of useable video RAM is crazy in this day and age, and even with the 360 you've still got less than 512.

That said, I don't really feel that consoles are "holding PC games back". If anything, optimizing for weaker systems should allow devs to squeeze that much more juice out of genuinely powerful ones. The problem strikes me more as one of design philosophy. Heck, just look at Oblivion. Some of the most glaring flaws in the PC version were things like a direct-from-consoles UI - things that had less to do with horse power and more to do with ignoring the basic differences of the PC platform.

I thought this game has an entirely new engine so why then would they have the same problems that the Oblivion engine had? It would make sense to me that if they wanted open cities in Skyrim that they could do it by designing the engine so that consoles can handle it....

Multiplatform games look bette on xbox because they are developed on xbox first then ported to ps3. This is done because most devs think the 360 is easier and they dont want to exceed 360's limits. Crisis 2 on 360 had to be cut down to maintain the same frame rate as ps3 version. Also ps3 has better looking exclusives than 360 that run at high frame rates. Its not the ram the ps3 has that causes games to drop fps its the developers.

im not a technology guy so numbers mean very little to me but real world performance i can see... ive played Oblivion on both the 360 (friends) and i have it on the PS3.... maybe somebody else can back me up on this but it seemed to run smoother on my ps3 then the 360.

you computer people are missing the point though... with a console you pay $300 and hook it up to a TV (most likely that you already have)... the prices you guys are throwing around for a PC are for the comp nerds who know where to look and what they are looking for and then know how to put it together and then load the Ops system and get all of that set up... the normal consumer (which makes up a way bigger piece of the pie) doesnt know how to do all that... for them to get a comparable computer to what you guys are listing they would have to spend like $800 on like the Alienware base model... thats more than twice the money for a console right now.

Also, unlike elder scrolls those games only allowed you to have one active quest at a time.

You are right about that, PS3 does run the game better because Bethesda made improvements to the PS3 version.

That's actually the argument I'm making. I'm pretty much trying to say it's not solely the consoles fault.


Like I said before, Beth wants to maximize the amount of people who will be able to enjoy their games, so they are still trying to make them compatible with lower end PC's and X-Box 360s. Now whether they want to spend time adding graphical enhancements for the PC users that have higher end machines is a work vs. payoff argument. So no, it doesn't immediately lock it out, and I wasn't suggesting that it absolutely does. But what it does do, in the end, is shift the focus.

im assuming your not an idiot so your console component prices are what those pieces cost now? in December of 08 it costs Sony around $450 to make a ps3 the year before that is was a whopping $690 and at launch each unit cost Sony $850....

I actually own a pretty decent gaming rig, but I just honestly prefer my 360 for my gaming needs. Not for the sake of convenience, just because it's more comfortable to play.

The 360 is just the most widely used console right now. It only makes financial sense. As much as I hate to say it, videogames are a business. And profits are needed to continue making them. The 360 is the way to make the money. Which really isn't a bad thing. Being cheap, the 360 allowed gamers to continue to play, even through some tough economic times. It really lets anyone in the world be a hardcoe gamer.

A few more years, and next gen will arrive. Be patient!

thank you somebody gets it.... you better believe both company's are heavily working on the next gen consoles but are keeping them completely under wraps because both current consoles are still selling like crazy... it would be a huge marketing blunder if either of them announced they next gens were coming very soon consumers would hold onto their money and wait... why would either company wnat that when they can get people to double dip in a couple years.

It is a well known fact among us "nerds" that the "Alienware" name costs atleast $200 extra Building a PC really isn't that difficult, physically you just connect parts where they fit, and when selecting parts just make sure that the numbers after the same letters match :hehe:

I for one have a nice quality PC (4x2.6GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, GTS450 1GB), and a PS3. I have some multiplatform games for both of them, and they all look much better on PC. RE5 for example supports DX10 on PC and can run on 1920x1080 (Full HD), where as on PS3 it's just an upscaled 1280x768, looks much worse on the same HDTV i use with both systems. However graphics aren't everything, and i prefer playing some games on the PS3 instead of my PC. For example i got Dead Space 2 for my PS3 instead of PC since IMO the first one plays better on it.

Modern PCs just have more raw power and better graphical trick available than consoles do, and games designed to be multiplatform have to take limitations of the consoles into account. Game built only for PC would be superior, but given the size of the console market that just isn't feasible for most developers. Us PC games just have to be happy with the little perks we get with our system, such as mods, and some developers do include extra features for PC like the aforementioned DX10 support for RE5, and DX11 support for the soon to be released DA2.

So in conclusion, yes consoles are holding PC back, but still it's better to play on PC Most of the time

I think the reason Dead Space 2 is better on PS3 is because PS3 was the lead platform for them game. I'd also like to throw out their piracy is also holding back PCs, most game devs are going to focus on console simply because its easier to pirate PC games. Hmm... I wonder how many times Skyrim will be pirated on release date?

Likely similar to the number pirated on 360, and maybe PS3 depending on how things unfold.
Piracy isn't much easier on PC, you need a little technical knowledge to pirate games on every platform, and every platform suffers from heavy piracy.

FYI computer nerds is a term of endearment, i have a couple friends who are computer nerds (and half of them are normal...lol...and the other half are your typical comic-con types...haha) im just saying that consoles are way more convenient and cheaper and when buying a console you know you got a good 5 years (at least) of gaming on this thing and game developers will be optimizing games for your console. with PC's its differnt if your making a budget gaming PC... your graphics card might only be great for 1 year, then be just above average the 2nd year, by year 3 you need a new card to make the the PC worth it.

Your argument boils down to what I said in my post. It really, really isn't hard to go out and learn all you need to know to custom buy a pc. Building it is another matter but you don't need to go that far to get a load off of the price. It's an issue of people not being willing to spend the time, and that's perfectly fine but that doesn't mean that you can use the inflated prices for your argument against pc, saying that getting an equivalent pc costs substantially more money is a myth.

A better way of putting it would be
'I can't be arsed to spend time getting a good pc cheap and i like my console'
as opposed to
'Pc's are too expensive'

I had some friends who had xbox's chipped etc.
I hate that sort of thing,and told them they would pay for it.
And guess what,they did!
They got banned from xbox live.
What people also don't realize is coping games etc,will eventually effect games development.
And i do NOT want that to happen.

If a console can handle this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kvl31g77Z8

and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D9oINHI11E

... Then I think consoles can handle pretty much. The consoles have limited resources, yes. But I think what's more important is how well you use those resources. How "optimized" the game is technologically.
Personally, I think that the comments "The consoles can't handle it!" is partly true, but mostly ignorance; because of what I mentioed above.

It is much easier on PC and you don't need to buy any jailbreaking software.

Normal, Morrowind is a PC ported to Console.
Diferent from Oblivion and skyrim the are console ported to PC.

That because its a console indistry mandate that that PC games on Console can t be better on PC.
Also interface wise PC has more options than PC so when we got Oblivion we have a unfriendly interface and crippled control programation for example.

The big Console holder now is DX 11 console can handle without falling on their knees due to processor limitation.
Its sad for console users because DX11 is lighter, allow much more feature than DX9 (DX10 is a fluke, nothing but DX9 marketing to sell stuff) and in a less complex way.

Thats the main reason consoles hold PC back in matter of quality.
There s also the fact that you won t have rack ir like features, but some console could do that i guess. Its just a program/hardware IR that track your head movement so you can look around without switching direction while walking or running for example.
For skyrim its would be just a nice gimmick to apreciate the environment. For flight sim and race sims its the new wheel.

you clearly dont know people then, there are young people i know that can do stuff on computers that i cant do but if something goes wrong they are clueless on what to do, they know how to take advantage of technology that i couldnt but have no idea how it works or what to buy to make it work... also my dad likes playing video games and hes only 48 (yea im 23) but if i told him to go online and build a gaming computer he wouldnt know what to buy or what works with what , he would go to newegg or tigerdirect and fumble around for days then finally get the stuff he needed probaby google searching what to get... then when it arrives he would just stare at it until he finaly figured it out and got it together... then he has to get it to work. Also alot of game consoles are purchased as presents to kids and spouses and stuff... your not going to go out and buy computer parts and tell him good luck making it work..

lol i think i forgot my original point so i am going to stop now,,, wheres my skooma! MAW SKOOMA!

Huh, didn't know that. I only bought it for PS3 due to the controls being more comfortable with the PS3 version of Dead Space. IT is a huge improvement, though.

Pc games are easy to pirate, but piracy does not always equal lost sales. For example some people pirate to demo a game, some people pirate to play the game while waiting for their ordered one to arrive. Out of these, one case may generate sales, and one of them was not a lost sale



I tke being called a nerd as a compliment Consoles are definetly easier to use and maintain, but the upgrade requirements of PC are often greatly exaggarated. I upgraded this three year old system before christmas with a new processor and a videocard. Not because i needed, but because i could afford it. Previously it had 2x2.6GHz processor and an old GF9600GT 512MB video card, still played all games on high settings, i just wanted a DX11 capable card. Which, apart from Aliens vs. Predator, hasn't seen any use yet :blush:

I have to say ,that is a great example of what consoles can still do,it's impressive,considering how long they have been out.
It just goes to show what can be done with new tools and techniques.
Consoles are behind a little,but the cap is'nt as big as most people think.
It's memory,more than anything,that effects consoles.
I'm glad you posted that.
It just shows we can all have a good game no matter what platform.
We are all here for one reason,and that reason is,we love the elder scrolls. Why shouldn't everyone get to enjoy such a great series.
We all need a piece of the pie :thumbsup:

Pretty much every EA game now has PS3 as the lead platform but Battlefield 3 has PC as lead platform.