The Future Of PC Gaming
There is no denying that the world of electronic gaming has been around for a long time. The history of computer gaming can be traced back many decades, even well before the world’s first commercially available games console.
Nowadays, one has an abundance of platform choices when it comes to consoles. It’s no secret that today’s hottest platforms are the Xbox and PlayStation. Even Nintendo still has a significant market share which is expected to increase with the new Switch.
Of course, consoles aren’t the only platforms that one can play games on. There is still a large (and growing) cult following of people that use their PCs for computer gaming. In fact, many of us have dedicated gaming “rigs” using the latest CPU and GPU technology for an even smoother experience.
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You would think that the market share of PCs for gaming purposes would decline. After all; it’s easier to play a game on a console, right? However, there is no sign that PC gaming will die out anytime soon!
While the newest consoles might incorporate new technologies, they will still never trump that of what you can do to a PC. And don’t forget that PCs can easily be upgraded with extra RAM, storage space, or GPUs. You can seldom update anything internally in a games console!
So, just what does the future hold for the world of PC gaming? Well, it turns out the future is going to be bright and even more exciting than it is today! Here is a small snapshot at some of the things we can expect to be “the norm” in the next few years:
Faster CPUs at lower prices
One of the downsides of being a technology junkie is that you end up having an expensive hobby. It’s sadly the case when you keep your gaming rig up-to-date with the latest hardware. As you can imagine, processors aren’t always cheap to buy. In general, the newer the architecture and the more cores it has, the higher the price you’ll have to pay.
As with most things in life, the price you pay for a CPU is, in part, down to the forces of supply and demand. The market share for PC gaming will never falter, and so more of us will be demanding the latest and greatest processors. As you may have guessed, the more that people buy the fastest and newest CPUs out there, the lower their prices will become!
That’s obviously good news for all gaming geeks, especially those of us that prefer to build rigs on a budget. And it’s even better news for those with a need to construct a gaming PC under 500. Now the idea of having a decent spec PC games rig is no longer a dream!
Better GPUs that occupy less case space
Perhaps one of the most annoying things about building a gaming PC is that the graphics cards take up so much space in your enclosure! Most of the latest GPUs are full-length cards, meaning you can’t fit them into small computer cases. As you can appreciate, this poses something of a problem if floor space in your home is at a premium.
Something that we’re likely to see shortly is how gaming video cards will take up less physical space inside of a PC case. Let’s face it; the evolution of technology has enabled us to cram more stuff into a smaller area. For example, you can now get 128GB USB flash stick drives. Just a few years ago, it would not have been possible to fit it in anything smaller than a 2.5-inch hard drive enclosure!
Another advantage of smaller but high-spec video cards is that the heat generated by them will be less. So, if you’re fed up with running several cooling fans in your gaming PC or even an open rig, you can reduce the number of them you have to run.
More games that natively run on open-source operating systems
There is no denying the fact that Microsoft dominates the PC operating system market with its line of Windows OSs. At the time of writing, the latest incarnation is Windows 10, with the cheapest offering available at around $120 for the “Home” version.
Let’s be honest; the need to spend such an amount on an operating system sucks and can annoy those building a gaming PC on a budget. What you may not know is that the future of PC gaming will include support for titles running on open-source operating systems.
In fact, if you head over to the Steam store, you’ll see several games that already run on Linux! It’s possible to play titles like Saints Row IV, Civilization V, Tomb Raider, and XCOM 2 directly on an OS such as Ubuntu Linux. You could even play many Windows-based titles on a Linux OS using an emulator like Wine.
Easier remote play
Let’s say that your gaming rig is at home, but you’re about 3,000 miles away on vacation somewhere. You’re itching to play a new game that you bought just before leaving for your vacation, but all you’ve got with you is your iPad or some other kind of tablet. What do you do? Well, you could just wait until your vacation is over and continue where you left off.
But, if your inner gaming geek is commanding you to spend a few hours playing that new title you bought, doing so could be easier for you in the future. Sure, some solutions allow you to remotely connect to a desktop environment. But, what happens if your PC is off and you need to turn it on before you can remotely connect to it and start gaming again?
Right now, you can configure your PC using the “wake on LAN” feature in your BIOS. In the future, you wouldn’t have to spend any time doing tedious BIOS or Windows configuration changes. Instead, the remote access app that you use could do the work for you! You might even have a LAN-connected device that the app “talks to” and that, in turn, can connect you to any of your gaming PCs at home. Yes, folks; many gamers have more than one rig!
Virtual reality gaming
You will have no doubt seen products that allow you to turn your smartphone into a VR headset. There are even some (expensive) products that do this with your PC. The thing is; virtual reality gaming is still in its infancy. However, the future of PC gaming will include more accessible and affordable VR play.
What’s more, the future of virtual reality gaming will also negate the need to have long wires connected to your PC or a controller unit. And with battery technology evolving at such a rapid pace, you won’t need to worry about flat batteries in your VR headset after 30 minutes of gameplay!
Games that take up less storage space
One fact that also applies to console games is the vast amount of storage space games take up! These days, you can’t buy the latest titles on anything smaller than a DVD or Blu-ray disc! As you can probably appreciate, games have a high amount of graphics and sounds in them nowadays. And for even the smallest change in display or sound, your game will often need to “read” a file with that data into it as you progress.
The future of PC gaming (and probably console gaming too) is that we’ll no longer need to store several gigabytes of gaming engine data. There are two options that we’re likely to see in the next five to ten years.
The first is cloud-based gaming. In a nutshell, this is where you store nothing on your PC apart from perhaps some client software that only takes up a few megabytes of space. Everything else, including any saved game data, gets stored on servers over the Internet. We’re already starting to see this technology in use today; for instance, you can play games on an Amazon Fire TV box or USB stick.
That leads us to the second option: universal games engines. Put simply, this is where you only need one set of gaming software installed on your PC. Graphics and sounds, along with saved game data, could fit on something like a CD or even streamed online over an Internet connection.
Final thoughts
The above is just a small subset of the shifts in PC gaming technology we are likely to see. As gadgets evolve, so too will the way we play games on our computers. We will also see a change in the way we buy hardware and software for our gaming rigs.
While many hardcore gamers have a plethora of games consoles, their games rigs will still be the number one choice for a variety of titles. There is just no denying that PC gaming offers better graphics and sound quality than even the best consoles on the market today. And while that continues to be the case, the PC gaming market share will be alive and kicking for many years to come.