SimCity's failed launch taught PC gamers to fear always online games and Sierra Entertainment's point-and-click adventure games proved to the world PC games tell tales as good as any other medium. It'd take a book to detail all of the big moments in PC gaming, but we'll settle for chronicling five of those moments for now.
For better or for worse, these turning points in PC gaming's history have changed the way the world consumes games on laptops and desktops. These aren't the top five moments, but any definitive list of watershed moments in PC gaming would be incomplete without them. So, in no particular order, we highlight five events that have had a marked impact on what PC gaming is today.
The GameSpy Shutdown
(Photo : GameSpy)
When PC gaming site GameSpy decommissioned its middleware software for online matchmaking, a trove of good ole games, home to some of the most resilient communities, saw their online components brought down. Companies like EA, which had more than 20 titles affected by the shuttering, have migrated games to other servers, but many of the communities died as they were being transplanted elsewhere.
The Console Wars
Yes, PC gamers have long been taking pot shots at one another based on the GPU or CPU they selected to power their rigs: Intel, AMD and Nvidia. But the generally benevolent population of PC gaming enthusiasts has seen itself dragged into posturing and flaming of the console wars, trading zingers with PlayStation loyalists and the Xbox faithful while often proclaiming itself the "master race."
File Sharing
The proliferation of broadband Internet obliterated optical discs, fattened music libraries, killed the album format, enraged the film industry and scared many a game developer into adopting digital rights management software. Games for Windows Live, a beloved digital distribution platform, proves the PC gaming industry can thrive when sensible mechanics are put in to place to prevent piracy.
Steam
Valve's answer to videogame piracy has been to sell games for such a low price that players would be too busy catching up on their backlogs to risk installing and using pirated content. Beyond bringing digital privateers to shore, Valve's Steam platform has helped to bring the PC gaming community into its federation.
Free to Play
The free-to-play model has been marred by games that slow players' progress to a grind of repetitive tasks and offers them a chance to pay for "shortcuts." But while the model can be a pretty much a bait and switch in some games, freemium games, when done right, can be used to introduce players during a title's progression to the official release. Players can vote with their wallets when the developers implement features that work and publishers can take more risks with games, thanks to the flexibility of the model.
