PC to Console Gamer?

[D3v0ur3r]

Good lord. This was never meant to be a PC vs. Console thread. The PC defenders are missing an obvious point here. Yes we all know the PC can do more & in many cases is far superior. But some of us can't afford to pay the high price to get the best of every new game that comes down the pike.

Life takes priority when the needs of the family out weigh the want for the latest & greatest PC gear. When you have multiple kids who all need upgrades & you your self need a computer overhaul as well as the rest of the bills need to get paid, consoles start to look pretty good.

It almost seems as if the PC defenders are also missing the point that the console was built just for gaming, not for all the other grand things the PC does. So its a bit ridiculous to constantly compare what amounts to apples & oranges. So can we please stop with the PC vs. Consoles?

 

[D3v0ur3r]

Great! So you're volunteering to come to my house, back up my old drive, physically install the new one, partition it, reinstall Ubuntu and XP, reinstall all my games, put the backup stuff in proper folders in the new machine, then take it back to your place to download all the drivers, CD cracks, and patches, and give it back to me?

Because I hate doing that stuff.

You left out buying the hardware to do this as well.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Question to those who don't see much faff on PC - how much time do you spend in maintenance, both in making hardware changes and software updates and stuff, and in researching hardware to know what choices to make? Case in point, I bought an EMU 0404 soundcard for music purposes, and it doesn't work well with games. That wasn't something I considered when I bought it, and thankfully it doesn't matter. GW was updated with ASIO driver support and that's the only PC game I play. But I was a couple of days looking up forums and searching for solutions while I waited for Arenanet to reply to my support request; an experience the consoles will not experience (or should not, though with the latest RnC reports of installation errors I fear they're headed downhill).

I think you do these things anyway because being a PC owner is a hobby. The fact pjbliverpool counts turning a console on as an inconvenience but doesn't count switching on his PC and waiting for Windows to load shows he sees PC gaming as something to dip into alongside using the PC normally. If you were just to game and you keep your PC as a minimal work machine, wouldn't you say the added effort needed to become a PC maintenance fellow is way beyond the effort of putting discs in a DVD drive? It's not just a matter of knowing what you're doing, but enjoying it. I don't enjoy PC maintenance and will always look to avoid it.

 

[Neb]

You left out buying the hardware to do this as well.

Not much of a point, same applies for all wether it is buying a new HDD for xbox360 or controller or a new HDD for PC etc!

 

[D3v0ur3r]

Its a great point in that not only does the guy not want the hassle but I would be willing to bet he doesn't want to pay for a new HD when in his case he doesn't seem to "need" it & most likely doesn't really want it. Pure speculation of course till he says one way or the other.

 

[Neb]

Its a great point in that not only does the guy not want the hassle but I would be willing to bet he doesn't want to pay for a new HD when in his case he doesn't seem to "need" it & most likely doesn't really want it. Pure speculation of course till he says one way or the other.

Then why is he complaining about storage space?

And if going out and buying something is considered a hassle then I dont know what to say... lazy?

Installing it then takes 3min, start Windows and then format the added HDD and its done, ready for use!

 

[D3v0ur3r]

Sigh. I guess I'll let the guy speak for himself. I think you are just hell bent that the PC is the only way to go for everyone.

 

[Neb]

Sigh. I guess I'll let the guy speak for himself. I think you are just hell bent that the PC is the only way to go for everyone.

I am certainly not but I do explain to the guy that the scenario he explained was a problem for him could be solved easily instead of the way he wanted to do it which is a real hassle.

The problem here is people are starting to complicate procedures which in reality are quite simple to do and frankly I believe it is to try to drive their point home that PC is only hassle and filled with problems and thus consoles are the way out. So what you say to me should be changed to..

I think X are just hell bent that the consoles is the only way to go for everyone becouse it is easier to maintain and use.

Understand nobody is saying PC is the only one but rather people in here are explaining that compalints against PC such as no couch or TV use or "I have to reinstall everything becouse I add a HDD" is nonsense. Pc can be hooked up to a TV, you can sit on a couch and you dont have to reinstall everything when you add a HDD.

Loadtimes and startup times discussions are really worthless +/-30sec for system startups wont make anyone pull their hair out. Small differences in loadtimes in games wont do it either unless we are talking about minutes.

 

[D3v0ur3r]

Its not nonsense. The guy gave multiple reasons why "he" prefers the console. Like it or not they fit for him & cost could be an issue for him as well. Personally if I could afford all the upgrades around my house that are needed I never would have made this thread & I would still be a totally PC gamer. But again this thread wasn't ever intended to be a PC vs. Console thread. It was to find out how many other people such as myself are moving away from the PC as the primary gaming platform to the Console. My move is financial only, not so much choice.

 

[Neb]

Its not nonsense. The guy gave multiple reasons why "he" prefers the console. Like it or not they fit for him & cost could be an issue for him as well. Personally if I could afford all the upgrades around my house that are needed I never would have made this thread & I would still be a totally PC gamer. But again this thread wasn't ever intended to be a PC vs. Console thread. It was to find out how many other people such as myself are moving away from the PC as the primary gaming platform to the Console. My move is financial only, not so much choice.

So cost for maintaing a PC is hes and yours complaint well thats is alright it is not cheap. But it does not make the PC any less capable of easy HDD installation and couch and TV use which was some points discussed earlier. :smile:

My story is I had a xbox before and moved to PC to let my creativity out. Music creation, modding and general interest in software and freedom. It also suited me better as a multimedia platform for viewing movies and the games where more my type. RTS games and games with great AI to challenge me attracted me apart from the leading edge in the graphics department.... my story.

 

[pjbliverpool]

DOS doesn't recognize my sound card at all. And are you volunteering to back up, repartition and reformat, and reinstall everything? Also, not everyone considers software piracy a valid option.

And there are PS3 emulators out?

Didn't really old DOS games just use the PC speaker anyway?

Agreed on the piracy front, but its not piracy to play the games on an emulator if you already own the carts. And since the alternative was to actually setup the old console and use the carts then your losing nothing by boxing it away and simply downloading the carts that you already own.

No PS3 emulators now or for a long time, but I didn;t say their were. A PC will emulate up to PS1 level (maybe a little PS2 these days aswell). But a PC can still substitute for a PS3 since it plays games of that level.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Good lord. This was never meant to be a PC vs. Console thread. The PC defenders are missing an obvious point here. Yes we all know the PC can do more & in many cases is far superior. But some of us can't afford to pay the high price to get the best of every new game that comes down the pike.

Life takes priority when the needs of the family out weigh the want for the latest & greatest PC gear. When you have multiple kids who all need upgrades & you your self need a computer overhaul as well as the rest of the bills need to get paid, consoles start to look pretty good.

It almost seems as if the PC defenders are also missing the point that the console was built just for gaming, not for all the other grand things the PC does. So its a bit ridiculous to constantly compare what amounts to apples & oranges. So can we please stop with the PC vs. Consoles?

Well you were the one that asked for the comparison in the first place

But I think your missing the point a bit here dude. I (and others) aren't trying to tell you one platform is better then another or you should use a platform this way rather than that way etc....

I'm merely trying to dispel myths. There is a lot of "PC can't do this" in the thread, whats the harm in explaining that it actually can?

Surely to make an informed decision you want accurate information? There's no point in goign console on the basis of not liking to play your games on a monitor if thats not a restriction that exists on the PC for example.

In the end its your choice which to go for and as I already pointed out each have their advantages and each are more suited to different people but you deserve to have all the information before you make the choice, as does anyone else who might read the thread.

 

[D3v0ur3r]

Hey, while it looks like the PC vs. Console discussion that developed in my thread isn't going to end any time soon. I thought up another good point for the console.

No never ending forum arguments!

At least while on the 360. Don't know about the PS3 yet.

 

[D3v0ur3r]

Well you were the one that asked for the comparison in the first place

Actually my original post wasn't a comparison question about PC vs. Console. Its was an opinion question about more console games allowing KB/M support in console FPS games. As well as if many others are moving from PC to Console. Not comparing in any way.

I was also hoping that maybe someone may have heard if any other new FPS games for the PS3 would allow KB/M aside from UT3. My thread slowly turned into the PC vs. Console discussion.

 

[Gubbi]

Used to be a die-hard PC gamer. Emphasis on FPS games. Same argument as every other PC-gamer, that the lack of keyboard+mouse was an obstacle. Spent 12 hours looking at floors and ceilings in Halo before I got a handle on using a controller for 1. person shooters.

Then found that:
1. Single player experience is as good or better than PC because developers balance the game to adjust for the slower reaction time of a controller.
2. Multiplayer FPS games are as enjoyable because it is a level playing field, - everybody uses a controller.... And no cheats. You'll still be owned by the occasional player and you'll still be better than most, exactly like PC gaming.

Console advantages:
1. Generally the quality of the titles is a lot higher (Bethesda games not withstanding). No need to download patches, no need to fiddle with drivers etc.
2. As others have mentioned sitting in you comfy couch in front of a proper screen and proper sound system beats sitting in front of your PC every time.
3. Social gaming, split screen co-op FPS games, split screen vs racing games etc etc.


PC advantages:
1. Higher fidelity for state of the art PCs (if you have the money)
2. Mods
3. Big harddrives allowing downloadable games (Steam).

3.) is kind of shaky because we already have downloadable demos for consoles, and Arcade!. For the next gen (720 & PS4), I think we'll see completely digital distribution of games, so that advantage will vanish.

I just bought Orange Box for PC, because TF2 looks to be a riot and I know a whole bunch of people that are getting it. But since 2001 I've bought:
4 games for PC (Never Winter Nights, Doom3, FarCry, Halflife 2+CS:S)
3 games for PS2 (GT 3&4) and Jak+Daxter (confirmed my loathing of platformers, but that's another story). Essentially only had a PS2 for GT
26 games for XBOX
9 games for the 360

For every interesting game on PC there are 5 for consoles. The next one I'd be interested in is Crysis, but not if I have to spend >$1000 upgrading my PC to play it at a decent level.

IMHO, gaming on PCs is dying.

Cheers

 

[pjbliverpool]

Question to those who don't see much faff on PC - how much time do you spend in maintenance, both in making hardware changes and software updates and stuff,

In terms of changes for compatability reasons as opposed to adding new functionality or performance, practically none. A hardware update maybe once per year (1 hour) and maybe 4 driver revisions per yeah (10 mins a pop).

and in researching hardware to know what choices to make?

Ahh well there's a question, we are all B3D readers afterall .

I wouldn't exactly call it research to buy but I follow the tech as a hobbie in itself. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone not at least mildly interested in the tech to become a hardcore PC gamer unless they either knew someone in the know or had serious money to always buy pre-built PC's.

Case in point, I bought an EMU 0404 soundcard for music purposes, and it doesn't work well with games. That wasn't something I considered when I bought it, and thankfully it doesn't matter. GW was updated with ASIO driver support and that's the only PC game I play. But I was a couple of days looking up forums and searching for solutions while I waited for Arenanet to reply to my support request; an experience the consoles will not experience (or should not, though with the latest RnC reports of installation errors I fear they're headed downhill).

I don't think there is any denying that you need to know what your doing if your going to try hardware upgrades yourself. And I sypathise on the soundcard front as until recently I knew very little about them myself despite knowing absolutely tons about CPU's, GPU's, Memory etc....

But I find just sticking to a main brand when i'm not sure will usually see me right. e.g. onboard sound may not be for the audiophiles out there but at least its reliable and it works.

I think you do these things anyway because being a PC owner is a hobby. The fact pjbliverpool counts turning a console on as an inconvenience but doesn't count switching on his PC and waiting for Windows to load shows he sees PC gaming as something to dip into alongside using the PC normally. If you were just to game and you keep your PC as a minimal work machine, wouldn't you say the added effort needed to become a PC maintenance fellow is way beyond the effort of putting discs in a DVD drive? It's not just a matter of knowing what you're doing, but enjoying it. I don't enjoy PC maintenance and will always look to avoid it.

Yep I have to agree with you there. If your not interested in the maintenence of the PC and its use would be limited outside of gaming then console gaming is a clear better choice.

IMO PC gaming can be just as quick, simple, convenient, comfortable etc.... as console gaming but only if you 1) Know what your doing and 2) Don't mind putting the time in up front to get it to that state. I think the key point people need to remember is that its not that PC's can't do these things, its just that you need to spend a little time setting them up correctly to do so. So its not a matter of capability, its a matter of knowledge and enthusiasm. I say enthusiasm rather than effort because if you enjoy it, its not an effort, its a pleasure

p.s. I wouldn't really take boot up times into account with a Vista machine as even from off my PC actually gets to the desktop faster from sleep than my 360 gets to the console.

 

[D3v0ur3r]

To pjbliverpool.

After further considering my original post. I guess I didn't have the foresight to see that asking if many other people are moving from PC to Console would lend its self as to reasons why they have done so & some would obviously be a little on the meh side. But hey, one can't always think of everything. So have at it now that the cats out of the bag.

 

[pjbliverpool]

2. As others have mentioned sitting in you comfy couch in front of a proper screen and proper sound system beats sitting in front of your PC every time.

Lol, it seems this ones just never going to die no matter how often I post about it!

 

[Neb]

Lol, it seems this ones just never going to die no matter how often I post about it!

"It is the biggest advantage of consoles", how could they let it die?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Lol, it seems this ones just never going to die no matter how often I post about it!

I think a lot of people's perspective is from their current PC. eg. I have a mini-tower on the floor, about 5 wires from it. To move that into the living room to play comfy games, and then back to the study for work, isn't the most convenient solution. If I have to buy a new PC to do the job, I get more bang for the buck from consoles.

And Gubbi's point on social gaming is also a huge thing I overlooked. The PC doesn't offer much at all in this respect. Almost all PC multiplayer is online. If you want something to pass the time with friends in the same room, the console is the only choice. If you want to combine that with ordinary solo gaming, you're still going to need the console.