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1. A Letter from the Editor >>>
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Momento Mori

Not long after the turn of the millennium, predictions about the demise of PC gaming began to surface. Console gaming exploded, and retail stores that used to showcase their PC games in the front aisles of their stores now cram them in the 5% of floor space in the back normally reserved for skeletons too old to remain in a closet – if they carry them at all.

Sales of PC games steadily decline as those of console games steadily eclipse them. Many gamers are dreamily salivating as they read clippings about the next generations of console platforms. 

Worse is the trend toward the creation of games that function across platforms. Few large gaming publishers have the cajones to create a game that functions solely on one platform. Most big PC titles are created to work on both PCs and consoles. The results are generally a self-fulfilling prophecy, where the PC game is dumbed down so as to not be too much work – if not impossible – to shoehorn onto its anemic console cousin’s hardware. 

The Battleground

Hardware is where the crux of the PC vs Console wars are actually fought, even if most people who argue about them don’t realize it. Console games are essentially computers with uniform factory specifications. The dizzying variety of RAM, video cards, sound cards, hard drives and corresponding drivers that define the freedom of choice for PC gamers is absent. The benefit of this monochromatic world is that games run without worrying about things like video chipset compatibility. The downside is that once that next-gen console is purchased, you’re stuck with it. Sure, there are after-market manufacturers for console hardware, but their wares are mostly grandstanding for one of two audiences: competent techies who are looking to trick out their console just for kicks, or techie wannabies who lack the money and/or technical savvy to enter the pro league of PC hardware customization. 

Sure, the next-gen consoles are going to look cool and have all sorts of hardware that will elicit a “gee whiz” when it first splashes. They will probably boast hardware performance similar to that of the latest PCs being released at the time of their debuts. But then they will stagnate. Typically consoles have life cycles of about four years. While a console will generally provide satisfactory gaming over that lifespan, most of The Wargamer’s readers will stick with their PCs and upgrade at least something on it at least twice during that time frame. Personally, in the next four years I’ll build an entirely new PC, add RAM, replace the video card, add a second hard drive, and consider buying a new monitor, pick up a new mouse, buy some more RAM, probably buy a new motherboard... 

You get the point. There is a subtext to all this hardware joy: interface. Last month Nintendo announced its latest control device, the Revolution. Meant to sense motion as a kind of wireless point and click device, similar to a laser pointer, it is the first serious attempt to break from the thumb wars that have thus far characterized console gaming. I think they’re on to something: after two generations of gaming consoles they’ve realized that console controllers suck. 

More subtly hidden in this is another secret: change the interface to a console and you essentially have a computer. No, it won’t run spreadsheet or word processing software. Consoles are computers designed with a limited, specialized purpose. For years Microsoft has been trying to get its own platform into the living room. First it was Ultimate TV, a DVR that my family found superior to Tivo, but was blown away by brand marketing. Now it’s the Xbox series. They know that once they have enough of a market they can sell hardware and software add-ons to make it a mini computer to run an entire house of electronic gadgets. Whether and in what form this Jetsons-like world will take shape remains to be seen. But it’s coming, Elroy, and you can bet your stock in Spacely Sprockets on it.

Surfing the Tsunami

With a picture like that it’s no wonder people claim gaming on the PC is dying. I, however, am extremely optimistic about the PC’s future, and gaming’s survivability on it. Why? My list is quite long. Other than Microsoft, no other console manufacturer has demonstrated any interest in taking over the world with their hardware. Nintendo has started to figure out that the interface with the console sucks, but I don’t see a revolution in interface units on the horizon. Until console manufacturers and game developers revolutionize interface hardware – including display on the TV – they will find that strategy games, RPGs, shooters, and sims – in short, virtually all games – play better on the PC. That doesn’t mean I still don’t enjoy the heck out of racing my kids on Gamecube’s Mario Kart Double Dash, but it does mean that an Xbox is a poor choice to port Shrapnel Games’ The Falklands War: 1982. 

Let’s hypothesize for a moment that the next 12 months will bring about a dramatic improvement in the quality of games on consoles. With the launch of the Xbox 360 and the coming Playstation 3, it’s not a hypothesis. Other industries hold parallels where new products didn’t demolish the old industry, but merely forced a seat beside it. Fast food restaurants may have had an impact on the ma-and-pa diner, but sit-down restaurants continue to flourish, and even the local diner has continued to maintain a niche, though in greatly reduced numbers. Despite the improvement in consoles, PC gaming will continue to survive as part of the spectrum of gaming. 

Speaking of the spectrum of gaming, console gaming itself will soon be threatened by a new revolution. Handheld games are just getting started. Forget your kids’ GameBoy DS, I’m talking PDA and mobile phones. Nokia’s N-Gage flopped two years ago when it was launched with great hardware, great fanfare and sucky games. Nokia figured it out, though. They scaled back the hardware (the latest version won’t play MP3s, though in this respect Nokia may have been just a bit too far ahead of, and now behind, the curve) added some world-class games (like Pathway to Glory – an outstanding turn-based tactical wargame) and are simply biding their time until the market catches up to them. Speaking with a Nokia insider earlier this year I was told their vision: in two years no one will be arguing about whether games have a place on phones – the revolution will already have happened and everyone’s phone will have one. That vision is quite promising. The hardware is still fairly limited, and turn-based strategy games are already making a promising showing on some of these handheld platforms.

Soon gamers will be awash in gaming platforms. We will be able to play on our phones while we wait in line, in our living rooms on consoles as we wait for dinner, and after dinner when the house goes to bed we’ll sneak into the den and fire up the PC for a massive helping of dessert.  

Jim Zabek
Editor-in-Chief

REVIEWS, PREVIEWS, AND ARTICLES

You just can’t play them all. But that doesn’t seem to keep us from trying. Below are some recent reviews and articles for those readers who may have missed them:

Card Game Review: Hector & Achilles
by Brant Guillory
The Trojan War was a war of epic length, heroes, and proportions. Brant Guillory reviews one card game which squeezes the war into 30 minutes. 

Strategy and Tactics Article: Shattered Union Campaign Walkthrough
by Sean Drummy
Turn the cold plains of Montana into a red hot war for dominance as Sean Drummy makes a bid for mastery over America’s shattered union in his campaign walkthrough. Stick it to California, blast through Pacifica, and gear up for a Texan onslaught in this slugfest for hegemony.

Editorial: Desktop General #4: In the House of Heavy Metal
by Bill Trotter
This latest edition of the Desktop General, Bill Trotter journeys to The American Armor Foundation Museum to see a lot of tanks, models, and other cool stuff from the collection of one very lucky man.

Editorial: Raging Tiger - Battery, Counter-Battery
by Aaron McKenna and Jim Cobb
Aaron McKenna and Jim Cobb go tet-a-tet in a debate over the merits of Raging Tiger, the modern warfare simulation from ProSim and Shrapnel Games.

Strategy and Tactics Article: Shattered Union Unit Analysis
by Lloyd Sabin
Like so many other tactical warfare games, Shattered Union requires that players be well-versed in the various units that can be found on the battlefield. Whethery a player is looking for good research or tips and tracks, click through to read Greg Borisko's detailed analysis.

The Wargamer's 2005 Holiday Buying Guide
by Staff
This year, dozens upon dozens of war and strategy games were released. The Wargamer's annual holiday season buying guide helps our readers to make a perfect wishlist of terrific war, historical and strategy gaming products.

Miniatures Game Review: Axis & Allies Miniatures
by Jim Zabek
Axis & Allies for the Yi-Gi-Oh! generation? Step right in and find out how Wizards is moving a classic strategy game to a miniatures format.

PC Game Preview: Distant Guns: The Russo-Japanese War
by Oleg Mastruko
Distant Guns promises gorgeous graphics and grognard details. Find out how it's shaping up in this detailed preview.

Editorial: When Gaming Meets History #22: Lightning War!
by Bill Wilder
"Wild Bill" Wilder returns with his latest historical article, this time detailing the famed Blitzkrieg that tore apart Europe in 1939-1940.

War Story: The Fall
by Lloyd Sabin
Lloyd Sabin's work of fiction about a post-apocalyptic world is featured in this multi-part excerpt. Follow the story of a few young Americans as they make their way through a devastated U.S. along the Eastern seaboard.

PC Game Review: Panzer Campaigns - France '40
by Bill Trotter
The Wehrmacht is coming, the Wehrmacht is coming! Bill Trotter muses on the French defeat at the hands of the German blitzkrieg in his review of John Tiller's Panzer Campaigns wargame.

First Impressions: Civilization IV
by Chris Massey
Just one more turn is the calling card of Sid Meier's Civilization games. Chris Massey surfaces briefly to offer his first impressions of this stellar strategy game.

Editorial: Road to War #5
by Sean Drummy
Ten-hut! In this edition of Road to War, Sean Drummy commandeers some exclusive screenshots and gets the latest gossip buzzing around the mess hall. Read on to get inside intel on the up-and-coming titles in the world of wargaming.

Interview: World War II RTS
by Andrew Glenn
1C's wargame has been through a long, arduous development process and numerous name changes. Now the Russian developers promise the end is in sight. The Wargamer checks in to get the latest.

Screenshots Feature: Armed Assault
by Chris Abele
This successor to Operation Flashpoint is now set for an early 2006 release. Chris Abele introduces the title and highlights the planned features for this "ultimate military simulation."

PC Game Review: Worldwide Soccer Manager 2006
by Mike Dorn
It's not soccer it's football! Or is it soccer? Mike Dorn sidesteps cultural differences in his review of the latest game from Sports Interactive.

PC Game Review: Blitzkrieg 2
by Jim Cobb
Fire up the Panzers and get those bombers in the air as Jim Cobb smashes head-on into CDV's latest real time strategy title, Blitzkrieg 2. Is this a tank-rushing click-fest or a solid strategy title that will please the armchair general? Jim Cobb digs up the old combat boots and gets down and dirty to find out.

GAMING NEWS
News and Announcements from the Gaming World

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