You are a console gamer. Why ?

[tongue_of_colicab]

Are you also allowed if you are not a console gamer?

I do own a wii but I hardly ever use it anymore (last game I bought was Okami and that is month and moths ago). I preffer my pc. First of all these days buying hardware that can play all the games, and play them at way better quality a console would, really isnt that expenisve. I've got a q6600, hd4780 and 2gb of ram and unless you are some ubernerd that doesnt want anything other than insane resolutions and AA x 1023423 this is going to play every game out there without problems and non of that hardware is really new and if you buy it now the main hardware would cost less than what you payed for a ps3 at launch I think. I never tweak anything and dont have any software problems. All you need is some common sense.

Biggest reason would be I like shooting games and in no way im hardcore or anything but I much rather spend some extra money being able to play games with a decent controll scheme (mouse) than having to bother with the crap analoge stick system which just isnt accurate enough no matter what you do.

Ofcourse consoles have their strong points too. Its just that I already have a pc capable of playing all games and I didnt pay alot of money for it so for me there really isnt a big reason to buy a console as alot of games come to PC too and I dont even have enough time to play all pc games I want.

 

[mrcorbo]

I am also a PC&Console gamer. Both systems are hooked up to a 42" plasma and HT system, so the choice of which system to get a multiplatform game on usually comes down to XB360 for multiplayer co-op games (I don't do much competitive multiplayer anymore) and PC for single player games & "casual" games (Plants vs. Zombies, World of Goo, etc.). For my purposes, I find the 2 platforms to be complementary and between them they pretty much cover all the genres I am interested in.

 

[rekator]

Like Tape In and Arwin, all of them…

 

[2real4tv]

Easier to startup and play on consoles. But now things have changed especially with low cost LCD's around. I want to jump into PC gaming now but want to wait for the new tech on the PC side of things.

 

[AlNom]

I just want to stick it in and have fun.

Due to some personal circumstances, I wasn't going to be doing a whole lot of spending (on any games) until 2007. And lately, I just haven't seen much that is PC exclusive that I want to play... one or two titles is a pretty poor justification for me. I can live with console multiplatforms because my hardware is already 5 years old.

Of the multiplatform titles I do own, only two were known to be multiplatform on day 1 (Bioshock, Dead Space). Gears 1 and Bioshock were gifts on 360 anyway. So now I'm so far locked in that I can't justify a system upgrade just for better graphics on newer games when I can stick with the console. It's automatically better on my wallet and time.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I like the fact that on consoles the entry price is low and you get support for that particular configuration atleast for five years, but the most important reason for me is, that the whole gaming industry has and is continuing to move towards consoles. PC just don't get that many interesting exclusives these days, especially if one doesn't care about online rpgs and I expect that trend to continue.

I can understand that some people like to tweak their system etc. but I just wan't things to work right out of the box and the actual gaming is the reason I'm in it. I also prefer gamepad over mouse and keyboard, which are better suited to excel and stuff like that, while being more accurate they are less fun.

If PC had exclusive games like Crysis way more often, then I would be encouraged to spend more money on the platform, but currently I just browse the web and pay the bills with it.

 

[P on the rocks]

All of the stated reasons plus I want to be able to play with friends on one machine. Even the game I am working on as a hobby is a multiplayer-only title so my only option is XBOX XNA.

Although I've never been a big PC gamer and I have never liked games that are typical for PCs, I might move to playing more on PC as soon as I am able to hook it up on my TV and receiver. The reasons are
- I am getting fed up with 30 FPS + tearing + framedrops becoming a de facto standard in console games
- After 5 years I recently bought a PC (ATI 4850, 4GB) that should be able to run every console game at 60 fps (for some reason Halo 2 on PC (!!!) has framedrops)
- I don't see a new console generation coming out next year, so my PC should be able to run all multiplatform games for the next couple of years
- PC and console games converge so there are more PC games for my taste

So when it comes to single player games that support the XBox360 controller (I believe Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia do that), I might buy more games for PC in the future.

 

[JPT]

I just can't be bothered to keep a pc for gaming, all other stuff I got to use a pc for I can do on my laptop and since I travel a bit, its not worth a behemoth of a laptop to play pc games.

 

[Tchock]

Only "Other".

I actually dislike the dual analog controller format, still struggling with it to an extent but I'm now a happy X360 player and am going to shift the majority of fun to the box.

I got really sick of most of the PC gaming community that seem to whine more than actually play games. Plus, XBLA games like GeoWars and Castle Crashers have made me happier than literally any PC game I've played in the last 6 months other than the regulars of Team Fortress 2 and Audiosurf. Even Burnout Paradise feels unfun on the PC.

And lastly, now that there's a console, the PC can STFU and start doing rendering jobs all day instead of "I feel like TF2 today" (that's my fault though. )

 

[vazel]

I like console exclusives they're usually the ones with the best production values. Except I don't like the 360 all the good 360 exclusives wind up on the PC too and without having to pay for online.

I game on the PC until I get frustrated that games don't run good on it anymore. I can only afford to upgrade every five years or so. The upgrade cycle in the mid 2000s was ridiculous. My Athlon XP + 6800GT system became outdated after about a year and a half with games chugging at 20-25fps even when I lowered graphical settings(it was my Athlon 2800+ Barton CPU that became the biggest bottleneck).

 

[Scott_Arm]

Right now is probably good for PC gamers because there is nothing pushing the hardware except Crysis. It is really a one game show. You can build a gaming PC cheap. But I'd already dropped out of the PC gaming thing years ago. The last video card I bought was a Geforce 6600GT OC. It was all I could afford at the time, and it barely lasted. I got good play out of the Source games.

The other thing I don't like about PC gaming, as much as I like online play with huge amounts of people, is all the cheating. Wall hacks, aimbots etc. It sucks. I have friends that played DOD and CS competitively and they had to record their games and submit them to the league so accusations of cheating could be investigated. Turned out most of the people were cheating anyway, so my friends quit. At least on the console, you don't have those kinds of cheats. They can exploit games with bugs (NHL09 pause glitches, 3-0 giltch, goal line glitch, curve shot, slap-pass/silent slapper glitch), so it really varies depending on the game, but overall it is a better level playing field.

 

[infinity4]

- Cheap platform. PC will require me to spend hundreds every few months just to keep up with demands of games.
- Graphics dont bother me too much, even if it did console graphics are good enough for me anyway.
- Controller fits me well. I find pad easier to use than mouse+kb when playing fps games.

 

[cbarcus]

The value of consoles

I played the upgrade-game with PCs back in the early 90s with titles like Wing Commander, Ultima Underworld, Ultima 7, Magic Carpet, Syndicate, Dune II, Civilization, Lemmings, and Falcon 3.0. All classic games to be sure, but I will never, ever go back. I bought a PS2 in early 2001, and it ended up being one of the best investments in entertainment electronics ever (far more useful than my original 1986? Sony CD walkman), lasting 4 years before the laser failed. By that time after-market CD transports were abundantly available for about $50, but instead of fixing the machine, I went on to other things.

Technology

Consoles can deliver cutting edge technology at a mass market price. Sony pushed the envelope with the PS3 in 2006 with a new CPU design (Cell), Blu-ray, and numerous other standardized components. The previous Playstations were cutting edge in their day, supported by very competent and well-financed developers who pushed the hardware as far as it could go.

Production values

As video games mature as a medium, development costs can rise allowing for unprecedented production design that will soon rival film. Games like Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2 are moving into territory that PC games will probably never see. In some cases we see film-quality animation (Uncharted), industrial design (Killzone), professional acting, technical competence, and conscious use of the "camera" to create an interactive narrative.

Convenience

Consoles typically find a suitable place near large displays in our living rooms and bedrooms allowing us to leisurely lie about like beached whales ravishing fantastic lands in our living dreams. Select, boot, and play. No hardware hassles, compatibility issues, configuration hunting, etc. Maybe too convenient.

Immersion

Very ergonomic standard controllers with integrated feedback, assist surround sound and high-fidelity widescreen color for involving experiences. The future appears to be adding voice and facial recognition, motion control and stereoscopic displays. Games will know when we're pissed off, and will probably placate us with submission before we throw the controller through the display (or kick it in, in the case of Natal).

Service

Consoles today are fully integrated with the Internet, making available fixes, updates, and additions to the platforms and content that we love. Furthermore, new hassle-free interactive content is just a few button-presses away!


I see PCs as an inefficient legacy platform (I still use them of course). Consoles like the PS3 may forever change mainstream computing by promoting a low-cost scalable architecture such as the Cell. The multi-core problem facing computing is a significant one involving both hardware and software, and I have doubts that we'll see a significant (2-5x) improvement over the Cell architecture for media-rich processing in the near future. Long live consoles!

 

[pjbliverpool]

Technology

I'm not quite sure how technology can be a driving factor. PS3 for example had a completely outdated GPU from the day it launched.

Consoles will always be behind (usually significantly) the PC technology curve aside from occasionally within their first couple months of launch.

If its the latest technology your interested in, the PC is clearly the way to go. Hell, this is probably the main reason why i'm a PC gamer over consoles.

Production values

As video games mature as a medium, development costs can rise allowing for unprecedented production design that will soon rival film. Games like Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2 are moving into territory that PC games will probably never see.

There are plenty of multi platform games that equal those games in production values which end up on the PC. I can think of many of examples but just to highlight the point, consider Bioshock.

And even PC exclusives (what few there are) can come with high production values. Games like Crysis and Company of Heroes don't suffer in this regard compared to the best consoles exclusives.

Immersion

Very ergonomic standard controllers with integrated feedback, assist surround sound and high-fidelity widescreen color for involving experiences.

In what way are any of those things not available on the PC as well?

I see PCs as an inefficient legacy platform (I still use them of course). Consoles like the PS3 may forever change mainstream computing by promoting a low-cost scalable architecture such as the Cell. The multi-core problem facing computing is a significant one involving both hardware and software, and I have doubts that we'll see a significant (2-5x) improvement over the Cell architecture for media-rich processing in the near future. Long live consoles!

Cell is not driving multi core development, not in any way. In fact the hardware itself isn't even being developed beyond its current incarnations right now and there's a pretty good chance that its a dead end. The future of computing is almost always being developed on the PC side and that is no different today. Aside from the work AMD and NV are doing with GPGPU and Intels work with multicore CPU's, the biggest example is Larrabee.

 

[Blazkowicz]

In what way are any of those things not available on the PC as well?

standard controllers
you only can rely on a keyboard and mouse being present. Game pads may be slightly more common since the X360 but it may be not significant. Joysticks also disappeared, while they had their use (space sims, jet fighter games, Descent..). You can attach or wire yourself an extremely various range of controls (arcade sticks, old console gamepads, even Nintendo's Powerglove..) but you then put yourself on a niche ; you can mostly play arcade and console emulator but not much native PC games (well, even with a x360 controller)

because of that we lack a lot of fighting games, party games or other genres on the PC.

 

[pjbliverpool]

standard controllers
you only can rely on a keyboard and mouse being present. Game pads may be slightly more common since the X360 but it may be not significant.

Buts thats the thing. It is, very significant. Literally every new game I have tried in the past year or so has supported the 360 controller natively unless its a game not designed for a controller in the first place i.e. FPS, RTS etc.. and evenmany of those support the pad as a secondary formof input.

In effect, the 360 controller is a standard control device for the PC now. Its just not implemented in some games where the other standard control device (K+M) is a better solution.

 

[Gubbi]

PC gaming = driver/workaround hell.

Having just upgraded to Vista 64bit on a core i7 + 4890 several old games works after workarounds (HL2, other source based games), and some just don't work.

Whether it's the apps or the drivers is insignificant, bottom line is that it is too much bother.

I don't envy PC developers or driver writers. The number of configuration permutations is *huge*.

Cheers

 

[Neb]

Having just upgraded to Vista 64bit on a core i7 + 4890 several old games works after workarounds (HL2, other source based games), and some just don't work.

You mean like Orange Box/Steam games?

You know lots of people have Steam and can play all those games in Vista x64 without problems unless self inflicted problems/system instability which also should be rare.

I like the fact that on consoles the entry price is low and you get support for that particular configuration atleast for five years...

That's true but a lot is dimnished over the time due to significantly higher prices for games. And it mostly is what you get is what your stuck with!

 

[Neb]

Buts thats the thing. It is, very significant. Literally every new game I have tried in the past year or so has supported the 360 controller natively unless its a game not designed for a controller in the first place i.e. FPS, RTS etc.. and evenmany of those support the pad as a secondary formof input.

In effect, the 360 controller is a standard control device for the PC now. Its just not implemented in some games where the other standard control device (K+M) is a better solution.

Isn't the support of controllers enforced for a game to be labeled as 'Games for Windows'?

Seeing how many of the games are 'Games for Windows' and since I usually try to mod all games I get my hands on I also found almost all of them to have support for controllers (gamepad, joystick, wheel).

 

[Neb]

I just can't be bothered to keep a pc for gaming, all other stuff I got to use a pc for I can do on my laptop and since I travel a bit, its not worth a behemoth of a laptop to play pc games.

Question, can you travel with your xbox360/PS3 and a HDTV?