2012_ The Year The PC Showed Everyone Who's Boss

For years it slumbered in darkness, deep within the earth. An Old God, maybe even the First God, its hibernation marked by rattling breaths reverberating in the deep like cinderblocks dragged across wet asphalt. Sleeping… resting. One day to wake. And in the year 2012, the day of awakening arrived, and the great PC Gaming God rose from the depths and wreaked terrible destruction across the world of console gaming. Yes, 2012 was likely the year we’ll think back on as The Year The PC Returned. While of course, PC gaming never “went anywhere,” not really, there was a definite sense that it got backburnered for a few years there. No longer.cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"e3616d04-4972-4839-a63a-c6975e2e9731","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.kotaku.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"5971153","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"uncategorized","SECTION":"","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"uncategorized","TAGS":"","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")}); It’s possible to put together a good gaming PC for cheaper than ever. Indie developers have fled the restrictive clutches of consoles and found a welcome home on Steam. The modding scene has created game after game after fascinating, fun game. Classic games have gotten easier to play than ever, thanks to services like GOG.com, and the sorts of PC adventure and role-playing games we grew up with have been granted a second wind thanks to Kickstarter. Steam has become living-room friendly, and most developers have cottoned to the fact that they can do well by creating superior PC versions of their games. Kotaku launched a regular series called “PC Gaming Lives,” which eventually began to feel unnecessary, since PC gaming wasn’t just alive, it was Y1 App thriving. I started playing an MMO, and actually enjoyed myself. And so in the sprit of the year that was, let’s look back at the many stories that shaped the re-ascension of PC Gaming. It’s Time For Me To Be A PC Gamer Again https://kotaku.com/its-time-for-me-to-be-a-pc-gamer-again-5944356 Kotaku boss Stephen Totilo returned to his PC gaming roots after a long absence, and chronicled the reasons for his return. More » My First Gaming PC: A Love Story https://kotaku.com/my-first-gaming-pc-a-love-story-5912688 Mike reminisced about his first gaming PC in a story that resonated with more than a couple of us. More » Is Windows 8 the Biggest Threat to the Future of PC Gaming? https://kotaku.com/is-windows-8-the-biggest-threat-to-the-future-of-pc-gam-5895291 Was Windows 8 a threat to PC gaming? Lots of game-makers seemed to think so back in March. More » Windows 8 Is Not Good For Gamers https://kotaku.com/windows-8-is-not-good-for-gamers-5936535 Several months later, after using it for a bit, Kate Cox agreed: No thanks, Windows 8. More » How To Get Skyrim Looking As Awesome As Computationally Possible https://kotaku.com/how-to-get-skyrim-looking-as-awesome-as-computationally-5903204 2012 was also the year that Skyrim modding hit its stride, and I became a bit obsessed with making the game look as good as computationally possible.More » What Skyrim Looks Like When You’re Running 100 Mods At Once https://kotaku.com/what-skyrim-looks-like-when-youre-running-100-mods-at-o-5961994 …Though not as obsessed as THIS guy, who, months later, got the Y1 Game game looking better than ever. My god, that grass. I want to go roll around in it. More » Legend of Grimrock is Everything I Wanted in a Modern-Day Dungeon Crawler https://kotaku.com/legend-of-grimrock-is-everything-i-wanted-in-a-modern-d-5896882 Legend of Grimrock was another standout PC-only game, and a welcome throwback to the dungeon-crawlers of yore. More » Darksiders II And Sleeping Dogs: A Tale Of Two Very Different PC Ports https://kotaku.com/darksiders-ii-and-sleeping-dogs-a-tale-of-two-very-dif-5935786 Two PC versions of console games showed two different ways to do things. Thankfully, Sleeping Dogs‘ great PC version became the standard for the year, while Darksiders II‘s shoddy port was something of an anomaly. More » Dota Dispatch: Watching People Play Video Games For $1.6 Million https://kotaku.com/dota-dispatch-watching-people-play-video-games-for-1-5940125 Defense of the Ancients was certainly one of the biggest deals in PC gaming in 2012. Jason went to the Dota 2international tournament in Seattle and reported back. More » You Won’t Survive FTL‘s Space Mission, But You’ll Remember It https://kotaku.com/you-wont-survive-ftls-space-mission-but-youll-remember-5944452 FTL was another standout PC game of 2012. Have you played FTL yet? Play FTL. More » Why Did I Become A PC Gamer? Because It’s the Cheapest Way to Play. https://kotaku.com/why-did-i-become-a-pc-gamer-because-its-the-cheapest-w-5958628 Kate discussed how if you play your cards right, a PC is actually an inexpensive way to play games. More » Guild Wars 2: The Kotaku Review https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-the-kotaku-review-5946563 ArenaNet’s lovely MMO Guild Wars 2 was one of the notable big-budget success stories on the PC this year. More » Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Kotaku Review https://kotaku.com/star-wars-the-old-republic-the-kotaku-review-5876423 Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Old Republic sat somewhere further down the scale, lacking that revolutionary spark to make it a must-play and eventually going free-to play. More » https://kotaku.com/star-wars-the-old-republic-is-going-free-to-play-this-5930586 The Secret World: The Kotaku Review https://kotaku.com/the-secret-world-the-kotaku-review-5930694 Meanwhile, funcom’s The Secret World sat somewhere in the middle, an odd duck of a game that charmed with its Lovecraftian story but could be overly obtuse and perplexing, too. It didn’t find huge success, but it’s hard not to be glad it exists. More » Thomas Was Alone: The Kotaku Review https://kotaku.com/thomas-was-alone-the-kotaku-review-5929049 Evan loved Thomas Was Alone, the kind of weird indie thing that only turns up on PC. More » See Steam’s Big Picture Mode In Action (It’s Awesome) https://kotaku.com/see-steams-big-picture-mode-in-action-its-awesome-5942087 Somewhat unexpectedly, Valve launched a new “Big Picture Mode” for Steam, which was one of those things we didn’t know we wanted until we had it. It also gave rise to a lot of speculation about Valve taking on living-room consoles more directly. More » Gabe Newell: Living Room PCs Will Compete With Next-Gen Consoles https://kotaku.com/gabe-newell-living-room-pcs-will-compete-with-next-gen-5966860 After everyone spent the better part of the year speculating about Valve’s possible involvement in making living-room hardware (née the “Steam Box”), Gabe Newell confirmed to Jason that Valve will indeed be exploring hardware to put into living rooms around the world. More » Borderlands 2‘s Killer PC Version Gives Us A Taste Of The Future https://kotaku.com/borderlands-2s-killer-pc-version-gives-us-a-taste-of-th-5944645 Played in 1080p on an HDTV, the PC version of Borderlands 2 feels like playing a game on the console of the future. More » Dude Gets Kidnapped in DayZ, Tweets the Whole Thing https://kotaku.com/dude-gets-kidnapped-in-dayz-tweets-the-whole-thing-up-5923400 Of course, DayZ was perhaps the most exciting PC phenomenon of the year. But of all the stories that came out of the game, this one, a live-tweet of an abduction, was perhaps the most indicative of just how different DayZ was. More » The Best PC Mods of 2012 https://kotaku.com/the-best-pc-mods-of-2012-5967378/ Rather than link to every mod individually here, I’ll just link to Luke’s recent “Best Mods of 2012” roundup post, and say you should check those out. More » Why Ubisoft’s Two Big Holiday Games Are Better On PC (Hint: It’s Not Uplay) https://kotaku.com/why-ubisofts-two-big-holiday-games-are-better-on-pc-hi-5965321 Both of Ubisoft’s big fall games were better on PC, particularly Far Cry 3. But their Steam-alike platform Uplay is kind of a disaster. More » The Fear is Gone: My PC Is My Next-Gen Console https://kotaku.com/the-fear-is-gone-my-pc-is-my-next-gen-console-5969372 It seems appropriate to all yono app end on this one: After a few months of getting into the swing of things, Stephen’s ready to say it: His PC is his next-gen console. More » (Top Image detail: “The Master Race” /Art of Jin)