Xbox, PS, PC, Etc.

[Him]

It's good to see this had a little turn out. PC are well rounded. There are a lot of things to do on a computer. Consoles are very... linear. They have one thing that makes them good and they stick with it.

[Akira110]

However it's like I say, if you like PCs and can afford your own, more power to you.he s If you like consoles and can afford the best, more power to you. But if you're an elitist on either side, then please refrain from speaking to me about the topic of video games.

Wait...did I read that wrong or did I just detect some contradiction in that last sentence?
You claim that if you are an elitist to any degree then we should STFU but then you claim that the consoles are the best and that PC is just a gimmick (Or at lest the benefits are).

I can smell the flames coming...It smells...glorious.

Never did I say that the consoles are the best. Never did I imply it, I said that consoles are more convenient. I did also mention that I play games on my own PC, I like playing games on my PC, but I do other things on my computer, like watching videos on youtube or netflix. But what I've brought up as my reasoning for the point that I don't see the point in me going into debt(because I don't have a job or a lot of money) in order to build a gaming PC that will be able to handle the latest games if everyone's argument about PC beating out Consoles is Graphics and the ability to mod games. But to me, a game should be able to stand on its own merits and if the community can breathe new life to it, great. Unfortunately, this rarely is the case for me, not to mention... even though PC gamers can fix the games they get, I don't believe that if your community has to fix the game, that the game should be worth my money.

Also as a point, you seem to have only highlighted the point you wanted to try to use. To quote myself...

However it's like I say, if you like PCs and can afford your own, more power to you.

This means that if you can afford it and you like it, that's great. As for the rest of it, if you can afford the best consoles, that's good, more power to you. That means that you have money and love the hobby of video gaming. I love the hobby of video gaming and don't have money so I can't. But I'm tired of listening to Elitists on both sides say, "This is the only TRUE way to game! The only TRUE way to enjoy this hobby. And Fanboys saying, "My company is the only TRUE gaming company!" There's a difference between me saying, "I prefer consoles over PCs because I fail to see the point of the argued strengths of a PC over a console." And saying, "PC gaming isn't REAL gaming and PC gamers shouldn't call themselves gamers!"

[Ketzal]

Really, using the excuse "A PC costs too much" is just that: An excuse. If you can't save up $400 to get a decent laptop, but can spend that much on a new console (Or $299 on a PS3), then you're probably not comparing costs properly.

Also, games are cheaper on PC. excluding Steam, Humble Bundle, and GOG sales, it wasn't until a couple years ago that PC games started selling for $60. Most still release at $50. Plus, PC is an indie game heaven.

EDIT: And again, like Slaughter said, PCs are used for a lot more than just gaming. So you get much more bang for your buck.

Maybe it's that last part that is why I'm not really agreeing with this: using your laptop for both gaming and everything else. I'm not saying that you can't do that, but I don't really do it. I don't want to load up my laptop with both my gaming stuff and all of my other stuff, honestly. I did that for my sophomore year in college, and it ran like crap while I had all the games on it.

Maybe I'm just getting the wrong laptop, or maybe I'm not organizing stuff on my laptop right. All I know is that I've had more difficulty trying to get games to work on a computer than on a console. I'm not saying that's what happens to anyone who uses a computer for gaming, I'm just saying that that's been my experience. Consoles preferred, but I'll play both any day.

EDIT: and to address the money thing, I didn't pay for the console all by myself. I've just never had the money for a gaming rig to buy by myself

[ConkerBirdy]

I only skimmed this thread. This is my honest opinion of it all. I personally play all platforms but i havent been touching my PS3 and Xbox 360 for the reason of why play games on that when i can get a version that runs better on my PC? only the PS3 exclusives are worth it. A games lifetime is drastically longer on a PC than a console, hell people still play Battlefield 2 and that was around the first Xbox era.

Mods are the biggest thing for me, especially in Skyrim, why accept the flaws of a game when there could be mods that make it better? Look at GTAIV, the overall game looks bland as hell, but guess what? Theres mods to fix that. Want more content in Skyrim? Guess what, theres mods for that. I prefer the openess of the PC platform and I love how even old games can have a lot of life in them, hell the original Doom games still have an active community, Counter-Strike 1.6 is one of the most played games on Steam.

I also play on PC for the social aspect, hell, a friend's brother was anti social until he bought himself a pc and started playing games with us, sure you can say "What about split screen? PC games cant do that!" which is true, only really old PC games support splitscreen but if you think about it, its a dying thing on consoles too, only the Halo and Call of Duty series have split screen. With me entering adulthood and my friends moving further away, we dont have time to come over to each other's houses hell, DnD (excluding playing online with Roll20) and board game/MTG nights are getting hard to plan. Out of all the consoles the PS3 seems to be doing the right thing with free multiplayer with a sub for extra features, im not a fan of how Xbox Live is done at all.

"But consoles are cheaper!" No they are not, especially last generation, at the rate the Xbox 360s broke was just atrocious. PCs are only expensive when you build them, to build a decent one is $600-800 compared to a console which is $450 ish, but you also need to consider the price of games. I dont know about you, but games here in Australia are quite expensive (but not bad if you consider our minimum wage), most games sit at the $90-$110 brand new for consoles but they are priced at around $80 on PC. Hell, you can save money if you just wait a few weeks or maybe a month or 2 for it to go on sale on Steam. I really dont want to make a long winded post about this when a quick google search will suffice.

EDIT: Even with the US prices of $50-60 for console games and $40-50 PC games brand new, its still a lot cheaper to play on PC.

With the release of this new generation of consoles, theres been a boom in PC gamers because of how outdated the new consoles hardware despite it being "next-gen". The biggest problem and the biggest peeve i have with Sony and Xbox is that theyre trying too hard in making simplified PCs and trying to be in a market thats oversaturated with basically the same thing. The only good thing about this generation of is everyone moving onto x86 architecture and having everything somewhat unified (which was the PS3's drawback).

Hell I dont even need to upgrade my PC because of this generation coming out so I spent money on other hobbies.

As you noticed i havent mentioned Nintendo, its because unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo stick to their niche and because of that, they end up outselling Sony and Microsft combined. The 3DS lineup of games is pretty damn good and i do recommend people picking up a 3DS. To me, Nintendo arent part of the console wars otherwise they wouldve already won it ages ago.

TL;DR for those who dont want to read: I prefer the social/community aspect, the mods, the quality of games and i love the advanced features of PC gaming (eyefinity, Oculus Rift, multi tasking) that consoles cant offer.

In all honesty, this generation of consoles will only last 4-5 years before Microsoft and Sony are forced to bring out another generation or just ditch console gaming and build cheap prebuilts. I'm not being a elitist here, I'm more a fan of stuff being open and free to use by people, if Microsoft and Sony did what Valve were doing with their SteamOS then I wouldnt complain, but these last 2 generations of consoles are holding gaming back.

EDIT 2 :Another problem is that, people think a PC gaming is purely gaming, you basically add the price of a console on top of a regular PC and it ends up being quite cheap. This is of course, you already own a desktop PC.

[Ketzal]

I'm not being a elitist here, I'm more a fan of stuff being open and free to use by people, if Microsoft and Sony did what Valve were doing with their SteamOS then I wouldnt complain, but these last 2 generations of consoles are holding gaming back.

I don't get this. How exactly are consoles holding gaming back? We're still getting pretty awesome games on both PC and on consoles. Yeah, there's more crap to sift through, but that's just because gaming became a bigger industry. Bigger industry means bigger profits, but bigger risks too. So the profiteers are gonna lean towards the safer options when coming out with games and features, and safe stuff sells even when a good population of gamers hate it.

But we still have indie projects, we still have new stuff from big companies that are actually decent to play (Assassin's Creed 4, Watch Dogs looks pretty good, etc.). Consoles aren't doing anything to hold back the industry, they're just dominated by the bigger companies that like to play it safe.

[ConkerBirdy]

I'm not being a elitist here, I'm more a fan of stuff being open and free to use by people, if Microsoft and Sony did what Valve were doing with their SteamOS then I wouldnt complain, but these last 2 generations of consoles are holding gaming back.

I don't get this. How exactly are consoles holding gaming back? We're still getting pretty awesome games on both PC and on consoles. Yeah, there's more crap to sift through, but that's just because gaming became a bigger industry. Bigger industry means bigger profits, but bigger risks too. So the profiteers are gonna lean towards the safer options when coming out with games and features, and safe stuff sells even when a good population of gamers hate it.

But we still have indie projects, we still have new stuff from big companies that are actually decent to play (Assassin's Creed 4, Watch Dogs looks pretty good, etc.). Consoles aren't doing anything to hold back the industry, they're just dominated by the bigger companies that like to play it safe.

Considering PhysX has been around for ages and has some awesome gameplay potential and helps with graphic fidelity, Mirror's Edge on PC actually had an option for this and added a bit to the visuals. What I mean is, we could have games with A LOT better visuals and possibly more interesting dynamic gameplay, but you also got to consider the consoles cant handle a lot, let alone play at a stable FPS or resolution. I use an eyefinity (triple monitor setup) for games and it makes games very immersive, but not many game devs are taking advantage of it because of how small the PC market is in comparison to consoles, hell itll take a bit of the Oculus to pick up steam despite that being some impressive techology right there.

Only a handful of Indie games are really pushing the limits of what games can offer but sadly, the masses only want the next Coowa Dooty: Corridor Warfare 7.

I love my indie games as well, thankfully indie games have gotten a lot popular lately because of Minecraft and Youtubers. I could also do another rant about unique gameplay and story telling in games but thats a whole 'nother rant.

[Ketzal]

Considering PhysX has been around for ages and has some awesome gameplay potential and helps with graphic fidelity, Mirror's Edge on PC actually had an option for this and added a bit to the visuals. What I mean is, we could have games with A LOT better visuals and possibly more interesting dynamic gameplay, but you also got to consider the consoles cant handle a lot, let alone play at a stable FPS or resolution. I use an eyefinity (triple monitor setup) for games and it makes games very immersive, but not many game devs are taking advantage of it because of how small the PC market is in comparison to consoles, hell itll take a bit of the Oculus to pick up steam despite that being some impressive techology right there.

Only a handful of Indie games are really pushing the limits of what games can offer but sadly, the masses only want the next Coowa Dooty: Corridor Warfare 7.

I love my indie games as well, thankfully indie games have gotten a lot popular lately because of Minecraft and Youtubers.

Erm.....I mean, yeah, I see the point you're making here, but how much must that software cost if consoles can't handle it, I wonder?

If they were to put a focus on tech and software that's more expensive, that would hold back the gaming industry all the same, because now you have a smaller demand for the product, so you have fewer creative minds attracted to the market.

I do see the points that you're making though, and in the interest of not spamming this thread with all of my posts, I'd be glad to continue this conversation through PMs if you feel like it

[ConkerBirdy]

Considering PhysX has been around for ages and has some awesome gameplay potential and helps with graphic fidelity, Mirror's Edge on PC actually had an option for this and added a bit to the visuals. What I mean is, we could have games with A LOT better visuals and possibly more interesting dynamic gameplay, but you also got to consider the consoles cant handle a lot, let alone play at a stable FPS or resolution. I use an eyefinity (triple monitor setup) for games and it makes games very immersive, but not many game devs are taking advantage of it because of how small the PC market is in comparison to consoles, hell itll take a bit of the Oculus to pick up steam despite that being some impressive techology right there.

Only a handful of Indie games are really pushing the limits of what games can offer but sadly, the masses only want the next Coowa Dooty: Corridor Warfare 7.

I love my indie games as well, thankfully indie games have gotten a lot popular lately because of Minecraft and Youtubers.

Erm.....I mean, yeah, I see the point you're making here, but how much must that software cost if consoles can't handle it, I wonder?

If they were to put a focus on tech and software that's more expensive, that would hold back the gaming industry all the same, because now you have a smaller demand for the product, so you have fewer creative minds attracted to the market.

I do see the points that you're making though, and in the interest of not spamming this thread with all of my posts, I'd be glad to continue this conversation through PMs if you feel like it

That doesnt make sense, new tech can lead to better gameplay, read up on the development for Portal. PhysX is currently only exclusive to Nvidia cards which is the current problem and most consoles run AMD/ATI GPUs. There are other technologies i cant think of right now that exist in some games already but arent being implement in more. The Unreal engine already allows some PhysX like destruction and physics but as I said, it tends to overload the RAM and CPU of a console before you can justify using it.

The problem is with the industry at the moment is people dont care what makes a game unique or memorable, they just want to make a game that makes a lot of profits fast and easily, e.g CoD and Madden. This is why I love PC gaming even more now is because Indie developers are now getting big and with that, new gameplay possibilities.

[Ketzal]

That doesnt make sense, new tech can lead to better gameplay, read up on the development for Portal.

When did I say that new tech didn't lead to better gameplay?

I meant that more expensive software is undesirable to execs when it comes to profits. But I understand if it's more a compatibility issue than a matter of costs.

The problem is with the industry at the moment is people dont care what makes a game unique or memorable, they just want to make a game that makes a lot of profits fast and easily, e.g CoD and Madden. This is why I love PC gaming even more now is because Indie developers are now getting big and with that, new gameplay possibilities.

Preaching to the choir here. XD

And yeah, PC is a lot more open for indie developers to mess around with. It's a shame that there isn't a way for developers to develop more easily for consoles...

[Him]

That doesnt make sense, new tech can lead to better gameplay, read up on the development for Portal.

When did I say that new tech didn't lead to better gameplay?

I meant that more expensive software is undesirable to execs when it comes to profits. But I understand if it's more a compatibility issue than a matter of costs.

The problem is with the industry at the moment is people dont care what makes a game unique or memorable, they just want to make a game that makes a lot of profits fast and easily, e.g CoD and Madden. This is why I love PC gaming even more now is because Indie developers are now getting big and with that, new gameplay possibilities.

Preaching to the choir here. XD

And yeah, PC is a lot more open for indie developers to mess around with. It's a shame that there isn't a way for developers to develop more easily for consoles...

Now tech almost always makes gameplay better. There are some points where it's not needed, sure, but that it's not very likely to happen. I'm starting to like PCs more because they have variety. You can only play so many Battlefields, CoDs, Halos, and Left 4 Deads. Eventually they just... blend together. I like all of the horror games that are made. Seriously, Amnesia the Dark Descent is one of my favorite games. Let us not forget about the classic Slenderman either. There are so many things to do with PC. It's almost a dimension above console gaming.

[Ketzal]

There are so many things to do with PC. It's almost a dimension above console gaming.

Still doesn't have Nintendo, so it's on the same plane in my book

[Him]

There are so many things to do with PC. It's almost a dimension above console gaming.

Still doesn't have Nintendo, so it's on the same plane in my book

I do have to admit, Nintendo is amazing. I probably wouldn't be a gamer without Nintendo.

[Envy661]

There are so many things to do with PC. It's almost a dimension above console gaming.

Still doesn't have Nintendo, so it's on the same plane in my book

I do have to admit, Nintendo is amazing. I probably wouldn't be a gamer without Nintendo.

I've found Nintendo to be sloppy in recent years. After Other M really being kinda sucky, and a lot of their once exclusive titles going multiplatform, Nintendo really only has Mario, Smash Bros, and Zelda atm (I would say Sonic, but seriously, there hasn't been a good Sonic game in years. I still own my copy of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for the Gamecube. That's 10 years old. In that time, there has not been a single sonic game close to it's level.)

I used to be a huge Call of Duty fanboy... Until Modern Warfare 2 killed it.
I used to be a huge Halo fan, until xbox LIVE Gold subscriptions were required to do anything in the game, and the BR killed 2 shots faster than the DMR.
I used to be a Mass Effect fan. I used to be a Dragon Age fan. I used to be a Battlefield fan, but EA killed it all.
I used to be a Elder Scrolls fan, but Skyrim was just far too limiting, and ESO was a total flop and profit-raper.

Things die with age. What we used to find fun and enjoyable becomes less so as time goes on. I mean sure, some of it is because our tastes changed. But really, it's because the quality for the games has just dropped off like the coast of a lake. Akira is right in one regard. Game devs are far too obsessed with graphics and things to make their games look pretty so they can sell them at a price that isn't really deserved. And I mean, it's not a horribly atrocious thing to want to make your game look fantastic. It is though, when it's ALL YOU WORK ON and still expect people to pay out the [censored] for your product. Case and Point: I just watched the AngryJoe review of Titanfall. A game with great gameplay mechanics, looks beautiful, but has NO customization, NO story, and for an Online-only game, really is very VERY limited in what it offers, with only 15 or so maps. Add to the fact that none of the files were compressed and properly packaged, and take an unGodly amount of space (This is a thing that game devs just ARE NOT allowed to get away with. If a game isn't properly packaged, a game doesn't make it to a platform. Yet Titanfall slid under the radar on this.)

Consoles try too hard to be PCs, and that's the current issue. When the 360 and PS3 first came out, it was fine. xbox and PS2? Fine. Late life 360, PS3, and now the XBONE and PS4, with their video, radio, television services, browsers, etc. It's no longer a GAMING-exclusive console. It's a dumbed-down PC. And if I want a dumbed-down PC, I'll just get a Tablet. They put too much emphasis on everything BUT the gaming aspect, then charge you to even play online. PC is free to play online. All you need is internet. I could jump on Gotham City Imposters, Team Fortress 2, Tribes Ascend Blacklight: Retribution, Planetside 2, World of Tanks, Star Conflict, Guild Wars 2, Star Trek Online, Any Source Game, Any Garry's Mod game, Dark Souls 2, Minecraft, Burnout Paradise, Any other Free2Play MMO, Shooter, or game I forgot to mention, and League of Legends, RIGHT NOW if I wanted to. I could do it at work, school, etc, and I could do it all for free. I can jack some dude's wifi password and play on their internet for free. All I need, and all I ever will need is just the game. I don't have to pay for the experience. The experience is per-game and per-company. It's both good and bad. It really depends.

There are also great things PC gamers will have that console gamers never will. Thousands of indie titles, early access games, League of Legends, A not-watered-down Minecraft, Star Citizen, etc.
Consoles have what? Mario, Zelda, and Smash Bros. That's IF I don't care enough to get an emulator to play them. They also have Halo and GTA V, and that's about it. Halo 2 and 3 will be coming to Steam, Red Dead Redemption will be coming to PC. GTA V will undoubtedly also be coming to PC. Destiny can suck it.

[AzeNaku]

I only like platforms that have Sonic games, which is pretty much all of them these days.