Elitism, and how to Shut The Hell Up
Some people are idiots. While this is a certified fact, the specific people in question today are those who refer to themselves as 'die hard PC gamers', those currently occupied by posting angry negative user reviews of Portal 2 on Metacritic.
Their complaints with Valve's latest range from anything from the price (the same as every other major release videogame) the game's length (in line with pretty much every first-person blockbuster released in the last four years) to its 'sub-standard' graphics (it doesn't look quite as good as Crysis 2, but then the PC idiots screamed about Crysis 2 as well, so who knows what astonishing level of graphical fidelity is required to shut these fools up.)
Also in the firing line are the apparently aggressive and somehow outrageous ARG, something that I'm not entirely sure what it even is and something which I never encountered whilst acquiring my copy of Portal 2, and the completely optional in-game store that lets you purchase robot hats which actually has nothing to do with the game whatsoever.
Now I'm not claiming that everyone who styles themselves a 'PC gamer' is a complete dickhead. The ones that aren't are probably enjoying Portal 2 right now, quietly, while the entitled elitist assholes scream around on Metacritic using dreadful grammar to try and disparage Valve because Portal 2 doesn't require every ounce of power their £1000+ gaming PCs can throw out.
There are certain games that I definitely think are better played on a PC. There aren't that many of them anymore, but Portal 2 is definitely one of them. In fact, all of Valves games, despite now having pretty much perfect console ports, are designed specifically for the PC, and it shows in the gameplay.
It seems that what annoys the PC elitists most of all is that console versions of PC games are now no longer noticably inferior to their PC versions. This somehow means that PC gamers are losing out. It's as if the games industry is expected to cater specifically to the tiny minority of people who own £1000+ gaming rigs, specifically because they own £1000+ gaming rigs.
These people act like they are doing games companies a favour by purchasing these ludicrous machines, and that as such the industry owes them something. And when they don't feel they're getting what they want, they ungraciously kick off all over their forum of choice. Or a game's metacritic page. This now happens pretty much any time a game is released for PC.
What these idiots don't seem to realise is that they're biting the hand that feeds them. The big-budget PC market is dwindling, and has been for ages, and there's increasingly little incentive for developers to specifically target PC gamers.
Valve is one of the only developers still genuinely dedicated to producing first-class PC games. That these are then ported to console is incidental, and has been for about four years now. But what incentive do Valve have to continue to cater to this market if when they release a game, their supposed fans act like jackasses and slam that game all over review sites because it doesn't their person crazy high standard?
I genuinely think that PC gamers are a big reason that PC gaming is 'dying out'. They're bringing about their own demise by acting like ungracious assholes every time a developer takes a risk and actually makes a game with the PC as the lead platform.
How much longer is this going to continue before developers have had enough? With Steam now available on both PS3 and Mac, Valve have less of a tie to the PC platform than ever before; if their own fans on PC decide they hate the games that are supposed to have been made specifically for them, then maybe they don't deserve to play Half Life 2: Episode 3 after all.
As an end-note, I'd like to applaud the 700-or-so gamers behind the Metacritic 'back-backlash'; those posting positive reviews along the lines of 'these guys are idiots and the ARG has nothing to do with Portal 2 as a game.' It's good that the rational voices of PC gamers are being heard over the voices of those who seem hell-bent on spoiling everyone's fun, permanently.
