Console / PC Gaming Rant

There has been an annoying trend over the past while. Because of a large portion of the market taken up by consoles, PC games have been plagued by consolitis. Yes, that IS a made up word. What does it mean? It's a word invented to describe the impact designing games for the console has on their PC counterparts. This whole article will detail some of these and contain rants about some of the worst offenses. I will also mention a few of the more seamless transitions.

Many games are developed for a console, and later ported over to the PC. Other games are developed for the console and the PC at the same time, and some games are designed for the PC, and later ported over to consoles. This article will focus only on the games coming from the console to the PC, or games developed for both resulting in negative impact on the PC version.

Controls play a huge role in how a game performs for the player. Without good controls, a good game can become unplayable. Controls for racing, or sports games on the PC and the console are greatly the same because, for the most part, they are both going to be using the same hand held controller. That is why the console and PC versions of the Need for Speed games, the Madden series, NHL, and FIFA games transitioned well between the two factions. I find it baffling that sports games have migrated away from the PC. There hasn't been a new release for NHL hockey on the PC from either EA, or 2K Sports for years. At one point I recall saying that it was a bit of a shame that there was so little difference between different year revisions of the NHL games from EA. Now I would just like to have one I could actually play that meets with moderns standards. While this isn't a problem with a game it IS a problem with the industry. It saddens me that games I enjoyed in my youth can still be enjoyed, but not in the format I like the most.

The other side of the control topic, is the more frustrating one for PC gamers. When a game is released for a console, the controls are designed to work with a controller. I enjoy a controller for sports, and racing games, but for most other games I prefer the precise control and feel of the keyboard + mouse interface. Too often when a game makes it's way over to the PC the controls for the PC aren't well thought out, or designed to work properly with a keyboard + mouse interface. A few examples of games that did this poorly include some big name releases, like the Assassin's Creed series and the original Dead Space. In Assassin's Creed the controls are given to you in the training session, so that you learn how to use certain actions and when they are effective. Because buttons are associated to different actions at different times depending on situations, and they are only labeled with a picture of the action, you have to memorize where they are on the keyboard. It's easier for the console because the buttons are arranged how they appear on the controller. In the PC version the keys aren't laid out in such a way. This is made worse by the training session not telling you what button is associated to what action. For each stage of training you had to go into your controls menu to see what you had assigned to the action they were looking for. This is such an easy thing to correct, that it's insulting that it's not in place. A small label beside the action indicating which keyboard button is currently assigned to each action would have easily made it simple to remember and understand. With Dead Space the problem was much simpler. Mouse controls in a game like this can work fantastically well. On a console with a small joystick, movements aren't as precise or controlled. Dead Space designed it's whole game play around this and the result was a frantic attempt of moving your thumb on the joystick of the controller to make a well placed shot. Because that would be easier with a mouse, the PC version of Dead Space took a terrible way out and made mouse controls feel clunky and imprecise. This is the easy way out so that you don't have to tweak the game and re-balance difficulty for the PC controls.

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