Gaming Roundup 8/19/08: For the PC Gaming Alliance!

With the Internet's collective knowledge at our fingertips, we generally know what we're in for when we purchase a game; even when reviews steer us wrong, exhaustively in-depth 75-page forum threads usually give us at least something to go on. But at some point or another, we've all found our more rational sides obscured, and due to a low, low price tag that just screams "Buy me," a movie license that would make a totally rad game, or what have you, we've retched up an all-too-clear "This game sucks."

So, what's the worst game you've ever played? What factor intoxicated your poor brain into giving the game a shot? Was it a friend's recommendation? A movie/comic book/TV show license? A kindhearted, but woefully uninformed birthday gift?

Well take some solace in the fact that today's Roundup won't steer you wrong. Between quantifiable proof that digital distribution is the future, Crysis' surprising success, and one man's dirge for console gaming, the Roundup tells it like it is. See it all after the break.

Epic and Crytek Expect Xbox 720, PS4 in 2012; WildTangent CEO Declares Consoles Dead

"There's not going to be an Xbox 720 or a PS4, I'll make that bet, not going to happen," WildTangent CEO Alex St. John told UK newspaper Telegraph. "The era of consoles defined by graphics and high-production values is over."

St. John went on to say that console gaming's unique advantages are now obsolete. Sure, they prevent piracy, but with online-centric games like WoW now hogging the top-ten PC sales charts, consoles aren't the only way to thwart the eye-patched menace.

Epic and Crytek, meanwhile, didn't get the memo. Both project that the next batch of consoles will be sitting pretty in our living rooms right around the time the two developers launch their new engines. Convenient, no?

That's not to say that St. John doesn't also have a personal stake in this. His company's Orb storefront is another avenue into the future that he could certainly see the industry taking -- PC only, of course.

Where do you think the industry is headed?

PC Gaming 'Far Stronger Than Anyone Has Reported,' Digital Distribution Neared $2 Billion in 2007

Well, whatever you said, you were wrong. Unless you answered "digital distribution," in which case, good job! According to a report by the PC Gaming Alliance, PC gaming raked in a total of $10.7 billion in 2007, with a whopping $2 billion coming from digital distribution.

But our side of the pond can't take all of the credit -- or even a majority of it. That honor goes to Asia, which "accounted for almost half of the total worldwide sales."

Even so, winning is winning, and as DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole said, "By pioneering new business models, the PC has quietly remained the single leading platform for games, not only in terms of consumer usage, but revenue generation."

Looks like it's all martinis and beautiful women* from here on.

Despite piracy, Crysis was still profitable

Seems that gamers with $5,000 rigs decided that another $50 wasn't too unreasonable, because Crysis managed to turn a profit.

During a speech at the Games Convention Developers Conference in Leipzig, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli confirmed the news, saying, "if it wasn't profitable I wouldn't be able to stand here."

Pretty nice for a game whose development apparently drained $22 million from Crytek.

Dyack Banned from NeoGAF, 'the Worst Forum Out There'  

Ealier today, Denis Dyack slung the penultimate volley in his war of words with gaming forum NeoGAF: "NeoGAF is considered to be the worst, and I would say is probably the worst forum. And so, you might as well pick the worst one. Why not? So, that was the idea of that," he told Videogaming247.

The final volley? All NeoGAF. The moderators, exercising the full extent of their powers, banned Dyack's forum account. Yeah, that'll show him.

Of course, not banning him would've had roughly the same effect.

Music Video Games Account for 32% of Industry Growth in '08

Rock Revolution? It's only the beginning of a healthy flow of GH/RB knock-offs. Music games are, er, booming -- having thus far been responsible for 32% of the gaming industry's growth this year.

Team Fortress 2 Video: Meet the Sandvich

Nom, nom, nom.

*Bring your own