14 Facts About PC games

Home computer games became popular following the video game crash of 1983, leading to the era of the "bedroom coder".

Later PC games combined textual commands with basic graphics, as seen in the SSI Gold Box PC games such as Pool of Radiance, or The Bard's Tale, for example.

In 1983, consumer interest in console video PC games dwindled to historical lows, as interest in PC games on personal computers rose.

Unlike the generally accepted push for improved graphical performance, the use of physics engines in computer PC games has become a matter of debate since announcement and 2005 release of the nVidia PhysX PPU, ostensibly competing with middleware such as the Havok physics engine.

Game developers can use this to improve the visual fidelity of their game relative to other platforms, but even if they do not, PC games running on PC are likely to benefit from higher screen resolution, higher framerate, and anti-aliasing.

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Openness of the PC platform allows players to edit or modify their PC games and distribute the results over the Internet as "mods".

PC games are sold predominantly through the Internet, with buyers downloading their new purchase directly to their computer.

Digital distribution slashes the cost of circulation, eliminates stock shortages, allows PC games to be released worldwide at no additional cost, and allows niche audiences to be reached with ease.

Today, the vast majority of computer PC games are designed to run on the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems.

Whereas earlier PC games written for DOS would include code to communicate directly with hardware, today application programming interfaces provide an interface between the game and the OS, simplifying game design.

Online multiplayer PC games have achieved popularity largely as a result of increasing broadband adoption among consumers.

Online PC games require a virtual environment, generally called a "game server".

The operating system emulators include DOSBox, a DOS emulator which allows playing PC games developed originally for this operating system and thus not compatible with a modern-day OS.

PC games have long been a source of controversy, largely due to the depictions of violence that has become commonly associated with video games in general, with much of the criticism stemming from the fact that the PC gaming industry isn't as regulated as on other platforms.