Suttree.com: Casual Games, Social Software by Duncan Gough

Paul Thurrot’s blog is always a good read, especially over the last few years as Windows and Vista in particular has ebbed away from the cutting edge, letting an OS with a growing number of niggly flaws, OS X, look better by the day.

In this entry, Paul informs us that ‘PC gaming is dead’, which is a shock.

Whilst I’m not blind to the rise in popularity of consoles and the way that most games are now developed for the PC, Xbox and PS2 at the same time, they do still have a very long way to go before they’re dead on the PC. The New Year has brought more bad news and this year doesn’t appear to have any blockbuster games lined up, other than the Half Life 2 sequel. Which, I think, is where the idea that PC gaming is dead takes hold.

So what is PC gaming doing that console games aren’t? Most shooters, puzzle games, RPGs and so on work just as well on the consoles as they do on PCs. Most FPS addicts mock the controls of a console FPS game but they are there and they do sell. Over on technovia, Ian has other ideas.

Which is spot on, if you’re World of Warcraft. If you’re not, then PC gaming is still stuck in a rut of sequels and feature-itis. With the notable exception of Spore, of course.

My personal bet for the next wave of popularity in PC (and Mac) gaming is a brand of MMORPGs without the monotonous levelling-up process. A coming together of the pick-up-and-go nature of casual games with the compelling nature of virtual worlds, namely MCOs, Massively Casual Online games.