Is the sim genre dead?

[Egan]

Silent Hunter might or might not be dead but I don't think sims are. What I think will happen more and more is that simulation titles will move to smaller, specialist developers and publishers who sell entirely on-line and charge higher prices than a standard triple A title would cost. Look at Steal Beasts for a good example. I expect far more of that type of business plan in the future. I think developers like Battlefront, Matrix and others will move in to fill the void left by the major labels and we will get some great sims out of all the changes. I am actually quite optimistic about the way things might go and I suspect we might see a new 'golden age' of hard core study sims somewhere along the line.

I think Oleg's 'Storm of War: Battle of Britain,' might be the last sim we see done the way it is currently. I have a real feeling that this is less the beginning of the end and more the end of the beginning. The likely higher prices is a trade off I'm willing to live with. beside, I only buy a title or two a year now and have no problem with spending the money on a sim I know I'm going to get years of play out of.

As for sub sims, well, I just don't know. I am willing, however, to get Aces of the Deep 2 into production. All I need is about a million bucks and 12 good men.....

[Badger Finn]

Originally Posted by Egan

As for sub sims, well, I just don't know. I am willing, however, to get Aces of the Deep 2 into production. All I need is about a million bucks and 12 good men.....

Would gladly pay 150+ $ ...

couple of cavets

its a finished product as orig AoD was at release

it actually tweaks and improves the original, if thats possible?

The physics - sim/game play in AoD *out of the box* were superb light years ahead of where sims appear to be today...

Time will tell on the DID for sim genre...

[elanaiba]

Originally Posted by Egan

As for sub sims, well, I just don't know. I am willing, however, to get Aces of the Deep 2 into production. All I need is about a million bucks and 12 good men.....

1 (good?) man here if you need me :P

[PL_Andrev]

Originally Posted by elanaiba

1 (good?) man here if you need me :P

Of course we need you...
Well...
When new patch for SH5?
When DC2 add-on?

[Destraex]

how about:

Rise of Flight
Black Shark and all of its modules
Steel Beasts Pro PE
Battle of Britain : Storm over Europe

And thats just for a start. Tootle over to simhq and take a look

[JU_88]

Its no suprise the PC game market is dwindling in gerneral.
10 years ago.....
PC games had the visual edge over consoles
Online gameing was PC exclusive.

Now in 2010 Consoles offer online play and match the PC in terms of visuals, couple that with the fact that they are:
a) A 1000 times more user freindly,
b) far more affordable
c) less prone to piracy
-and its really a no brainer.

As for sims, the average gamer is simply not willing to invest the time in to getting to grips with a sim, they want instant gratification.
And of course the cost of games production is in the millions!

So i guess modding is the last remaining ace up the PC gamers sleeve.

Yes, much has changed over the last 10 years.
Those expecting near perfect hardcore sims out of the box for a mere $50 are living in a fantasy world, not the real one.
Evolving sims with DLC (paid downloadable content) are perhaps more finacially viable, the trouble is that the 40 something year old stick in the muds, that buy simulators.....simply refuse to embrace it.

Ill bet that in another 10-20 years, optical media will virtually extinct - along with the phrase 'it is my game / movie / album'.
We will physically own nothing but a piece of 'play back' hardware.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by JU_88

Ill bet that in another 10 years, game DVDs & blueRay Discs will be history.

You know what ive been wondering, is how the decline of PC games will effect the computer industry in general. I don't think it's any sort of embellishment to say that gaming, has been the (edit: I should say, "A major" instead of "the ) driving force that has pushed technology standards and barriers. You don't need a bleeding edge video card and a quad core processor for word processors, spread sheets, web browsers, or power point presentations. I suppose its entirely possible that if PC games dies out completely the computer industry in general, while it won't disappear, it could experience a sharp decline, or stagnation.

[robbo180265]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

You know what ive been wondering, is how the decline of PC games will effect the computer industry in general. I don't think it's any sort of embellishment to say that gaming, has been the (edit: I should say, "A major" instead of "the ) driving force that has pushed technology standards and barriers. You don't need a bleeding edge video card and a quad core processor for word processors, spread sheets, web browsers, or power point presentations. I suppose its entirely possible that if PC games dies out completely the computer industry in general, while it won't disappear, it could experience a sharp decline, or stagnation.

Is right on the button. PC's will become nothing more than word processors without PC games.

[Arclight]

What, the whole "PC gaming is dying" thing? Again?

I think Ducimus nailed it, and that's exactly why it's here to stay. It's the PC gaming that drives the consoles, not the other way around.

Originally Posted by JU_88

Its no suprise the PC game market is dwindling in gerneral.
10 years ago.....
PC games had the visual edge over consoles
Online gameing was PC exclusive.

Now in 2010 Consoles offer online play and match the PC in terms of visuals, couple that with the fact that they are:
a) A 1000 times more user freindly,
b) far more affordable
c) less prone to piracy
-and its really a no brainer.

PC still holds the visual edge.

I can see the more user friendly point; that's pretty much the whole reason they are popular. Pop in a disc and play. But nowadays consoles deal with installations as well; they are moving closer and closer to becoming PCs.

Affordable? Only initially. Games are generally 33% more expensive, though Bobby Kotick is pushing really hard to screw PC gamers over in that regard.

Piracy is a bigger factor on PC because it's easier. If PC gaming would disappear, piracy would just become as big a problem on consoles.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by robbo180265

Is right on the button. PC's will become nothing more than word processors without PC games.

This presupposes that the only thing you can do on a PC is play games. There are thousands of real-world industries to which the personal computer is integral. If the PC gaming industry were to disappear overnight, the demand for big machines would remain.

[Frumpkis]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

You know what ive been wondering, is how the decline of PC games will effect the computer industry in general. I don't think it's any sort of embellishment to say that gaming, has been the (edit: I should say, "A major" instead of "the ) driving force that has pushed technology standards and barriers. You don't need a bleeding edge video card and a quad core processor for word processors, spread sheets, web browsers, or power point presentations. I suppose its entirely possible that if PC games dies out completely the computer industry in general, while it won't disappear, it could experience a sharp decline, or stagnation.

I don't think so. We're in the middle of a transition from traditional ways of delivering passive entertainment like music, video, and movies to computer-based ways of delivering this media. We have satellite TV in the house, but my family is already spending half its TV-watching time on streaming Netflix via computer. As soon as the selection improves enough, we'll probably ditch the Sat TV and go online-only.

Another thing... people now shoot camera stills and video on digital media, which is stored, edited, and displayed on PC's. Have you ever tried to edit an hour of HDTV-res digital video? I couldn't do it on my last PC. I can only do it on my new, much faster box with a blazing-fast GPU (which is also a great gaming machine).

As long as people want to view, store, and process HD-quality digital media on their computers, we'll have healthy platforms for running games. The main restriction on games developed for PC's will remain what they are now -- the ease-of-use in running games on consoles (no configuration hassles), and the built-in DRM advantage with console games.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Frumpkis

I don't think so. We're in the middle of a transition from traditional ways of delivering passive entertainment like music, video, and movies to computer-based ways of delivering this media. We have satellite TV in the house, but my family is already spending half its TV-watching time on streaming Netflix via computer. As soon as the selection improves enough, we'll probably ditch the Sat TV and go online-only.

Another thing... people now shoot camera stills and video on digital media, which is stored, edited, and displayed on PC's. Have you ever tried to edit an hour of HDTV-res digital video? I couldn't do it on my last PC. I can only do it on my new, much faster box with a blazing-fast GPU (which is also a great gaming machine).

As long as people want to view, store, and process HD-quality digital media on their computers, we'll have healthy platforms for running games. The main restriction on games developed for PC's will remain what they are now -- the ease-of-use in running games on consoles (no configuration hassles), and the built-in DRM advantage with console games.

I agree, and for the simple reason that the PC has become a fixture of daily modern life. You aren't going to email work from your Playstation. Because of that, everyone is going to continue to own and buy PCs. And so long as people continue to buy them, companies will continue to make games for them.

[THE_MASK]

Originally Posted by elanaiba

1 (good?) man here if you need me :P

No need for the ? Dan , your a good bloke .

[krashkart]

Sims won't die as long as we have computers to create and play them on. As for the Silent Hunter line, it's been less than a year since it (SH5) was released so... it might be too soon to write it off completely. Some games just bloom later than others. If there is no official word from the publisher that states very clearly that they no longer support the game, then who is to say for certain?

[Zedi]

Originally Posted by elanaiba

1 (good?) man here if you need me :P

Skip pls. Skip all who's related to Ubi and SH.