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PC vs. Consoles

El Diablo

Member
Low settings on a PC generally are better or equivalent to a console anyway, plus play at a higher resolution usually. I think people over estimate what you need.
 

Adiuvo

Active Member
Low settings on a PC generally are better or equivalent to a console anyway, plus play at a higher resolution usually. I think people over estimate what you need.

Yeah, that. Low settings on a PC will just about always look better than console games.

Menace's PC would actually max a lot of games. With recent stuff it would struggle a bit but the games it would have issues with the thing will still run them better than consoles can.
 

january39

eXo Staff
Consoles slow down innovation, which is annoying.

I don't follow that, in my view there has been some quality innovations i.e. Heavy Rain for one, granted it is confined to its own parameters (within the console) but no less innovative.

$500? So about
 

El Diablo

Member
Honestly, I bought my laptop in my sig used for $450. It plays just about any game I play and plays them fine. It can't really play black ops or BFBC2 (especially multiplayer) but I barely play those games anyway. You don't have to spend the fortune you once had to for a PC that's able to play games well. Obviously you can always spend a lot more and have them look significantly better and amazing, but for a PC to play games as well as or better than a console it is not very much more expensive. Combine that with games being cheaper, plus ridiculous sales going on all the time on places like Steam and Direct2Drive (like the summer sale, I mean holy shit), you probably end up saving money in the long run from the extra money you are spending on controllers and games etc.

As for games, things like dedicated servers in a lot of games make playing online a much better experience on a PC. You get to find servers playing maps or game modes you like, that will always be playing it and meet new people you enjoy playing with, and will always be able to find them in the same server. With how big vent has become in the past couple years almost everyone has a server, if not one they are directly related to, one that they are friends with and have access to use which makes playing with friends and having your own chat as easy as your xbox live thing, it's basically party chat or people use skype as well or the plenty of other various options. In addition to that, the ability to mod some games adds a whole new experience to the game. It greatly extends the life of the game. Take CSS for example, the game is almost 7 years old and plenty of people still play it. There are new maps constantly coming out, and other various mods and update to mods. Throw in the ability to skin your weapons and models and there is never a shortage of new things to do in the game, or ways to spice it up so it's not the same boring game all the time. You never have to pay 15 bucks every couple months for 4-5 new maps, 4-5 new ones probably come out in a week. There are plenty of other games like this as well, another big one being Oblivion. It pretty much gives you endless possibilities of ways to experience and enjoy the games you already love that a console comes no where near being able to create.

I feel the communities on a PC are much better as well. Between clan/guild forums for games, forums and websites for servers, ventrillo servers, and even the official forums and websites for games you get a much greater sense of a community on a PC. Sure you will always run into the trolls and general douchebags but for the most part the experience is far greater. On a console you usually join up a random game with random people play, then people leave and it changes and it keeps going. If you play in a party it's usually people you already know and are friends with and you are just playing together, the other people you play with for the most part are meaningless. On a console I've never had the same type of experience playing games as I do a PC in terms of playing with huge groups of people who all know each other and having fun and usually all having mics, it's usually just small groups of IRL friends.

Anyway that's my 2 cents.
 

Robby

Los Doyers!
I don't follow that, in my view there has been some quality innovations i.e. Heavy Rain for one, granted it is confined to its own parameters (within the console) but no less innovative.

I think he was talking about the long time between new consoles slows down the arrival of new tech in console gaming. Last two generations of consoles have taken up 10ish years between the two which means only once have new tech been introduce.
With a PC you can always update your graphics card, ram, and hdd to keep up with things. With consoles you have to wait years for that new playstation or new xbox to come out and when it does, it's still not up to speed with a PC.
 

MenaceInc

Staff Member
Yeah, that. Low settings on a PC will just about always look better than console games.

Menace's PC would actually max a lot of games. With recent stuff it would struggle a bit but the games it would have issues with the thing will still run them better than consoles can.

Just to clarify, it was for my family not me. My computer is in my signature and is a bit better than that :p

I don't follow that, in my view there has been some quality innovations i.e. Heavy Rain for one, granted it is confined to its own parameters (within the console) but no less innovative.



@menace - You got all that for
 

LocutusEstBorg

Active Member
I find it to be just the opposite. All the way up to say 2003, ANY random computer could play every game at maximum settings. People would just buy the cheapest PC without knowing jack and play NFS Underground and Halo maxed out. It was only that year that I was FORCED to buy a GeForce 4 to play Doom 3. Yes, a card which was already FOUR years old, and played everything MAXED out for the next 2 years. The whole PC cost like $400 and the GPU was the single most expensive thing at $80. My current PC costs over $5000 and it don't play shit maxed out smoothly.
 

El Diablo

Member
I apologize that your prices are jacked up and don't represent the majority of the world.

Edit: Wow I just looked at your specs and that was 5000 dollars? How do you pay 80 dollars for a video card 6-7 years ago and in that time suddenly you're paying 5000 dollars for the next computer? Your numbers sound a bit off.
 

LocutusEstBorg

Active Member
I apologize that your prices are jacked up and don't represent the majority of the world.

Edit: Wow I just looked at your specs and that was 5000 dollars? How do you pay 80 dollars for a video card 6-7 years ago and in that time suddenly you're paying 5000 dollars for the next computer? Your numbers sound a bit off.

PC hardware is around 30% more than U.S. pricing. $6795 to be exact. I paid ~$80 for my GeForce 4 and $620 for my current GPU. I'm not seeing 8 times the relative gaming performance.

Because back then there really was nothing called a "gaming PC". I just had a run of the mill desktop and "threw in" a GeForce 4 when things wouldn't work. I mean games literally wouldn't start and would crash with an error. A cheap ass GPU got them running at 60FPS+.
 

x3sphere

Administrator
Staff member
Enforcer Team
Game Info Editor
PC hardware is around 30% more than U.S. pricing. $6795 to be exact. I paid ~$80 for my GeForce 4 and $620 for my current GPU. I'm not seeing 8 times the relative gaming performance.

Because back then there really was nothing called a "gaming PC". I just had a run of the mill desktop and "threw in" a GeForce 4 when things wouldn't work. I mean games literally wouldn't start and would crash with an error. A cheap ass GPU got them running at 60FPS+.

Nvidia price / performance is terrible though (mostly just for the 580, other offerings are priced competitively). My 6970 cost ~$320 and it's within 90% of your GPU. So you paid like $180 for 10% more performance (that's basing the price on what a 580 costs here).

You also have to consider, back then we weren't running games at ridiculous resolutions. A ~$100 5770 can certainly max out the majority of games at 720p. At 1080p? no chance.

I got in PC gaming around the time Far Cry and Doom 3 came out. The upgrade cycle hasn't changed much since then really. Far Cry was a system killer, you needed a GeForce 6 series card to max it out properly, which didn't even come out until after the game was released. Oblivion was another biggie, couldn't max that until I got a 8800GT.

If anything, there's more games that don't require the latest and greatest hardware, though this is mostly limited to console ports. Any title tailored for PC usually makes me wanting a new GPU (Crysis 2 DX11, The Witcher 2).
 

Darkchild

The Doctor
Ok, i'm gonna make my 2 cents here really nice and quickly.

I prefer consoles for gaming, after all, that's what they are made for. Why? Allow me to explain...

Playing games there is easy, put disc, press A/X and wait for the update/ start playing.

Not saying that it is complicated on PC, i have been a PC gamer for ages. but the constant costly upgrades (Especially since i can't work) are kind of a throw off... and since consoles, when hacked, you can just play the games and not jump through hoops to crack them, and last around 5 to 7 years, and cost a fraction of the price of a gaming pc... I think they are more worth it. I have a mini ITX dual core pc now. Use it for work and a little terraria once in a while. Gaming? I have all consoles from this generation, the PS3 (W/CFW) two 360s (JTAG, and normal) and a Wii (Hacked).
 

El Xando

"Dam whippersnapper"
Ok, i'm gonna make my 2 cents here really nice and quickly.

I prefer consoles for gaming, after all, that's what they are made for. Why? Allow me to explain...

Playing games there is easy, put disc, press A/X and wait for the update/ start playing.

Not saying that it is complicated on PC, i have been a PC gamer for ages. but the constant costly upgrades (Especially since i can't work) are kind of a throw off... and since consoles, when hacked, you can just play the games and not jump through hoops to crack them, and last around 5 to 7 years, and cost a fraction of the price of a gaming pc... I think they are more worth it. I have a mini ITX dual core pc now. Use it for work and a little terraria once in a while. Gaming? I have all consoles from this generation, the PS3 (W/CFW) two 360s (JTAG, and normal) and a Wii (Hacked).

I find PC gaming a lot easier. I just double click a Desktop icon and I'm off. It seems like much more effort to start playing a console game.
I also greatly prefer keyboard and mouse having played a lot more PC gaming in the last few months. Some games I do acknowledge are much nicer with controller (I use my Razer Onza for Trackmania, degrees of turning :D) but I love the accuracy of a mouse.
My PS3 had custom firmware but I removed it because I value online gaming over being able to download games. Unfortunately I only have CoD4, MW2 and Black Ops on it though... My 360 is flashed, but no games I want to play on it at the moment, and my Wii is both software and hardware modded, but also no games I really want to play on it.
 
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