Acceptance: PC gaming is the most viable platform
There might be a time when you pass through your console ideals and see that there are very few points to be made against PC gaming. The PC has a number of inherent advantages and simply does not have a bunch of persistent troubles that occur with more proprietary platforms. Any currently valid disadvantages can be nullified more easily than the fundamental problems which exist on the consoles. Once you remove the crutch of billions of dollars in marketing and development that prop up consoles you are left with a maguffin to provide the experience of a PC, a PC with deliberate restrictions that are neither cheaper nor more beneficial than if they simply did not exist.
Theys’a no pills for you thees time.
The PC is better because… it can provide no lesser of an experience than a console.
Whether you desire to play on your couch, you prefer a controller, or you want support: the console is nothing special. I argue that service from a reputable local small business computer store will exceed service provided by the console vendors all without impeding your ability to support yourself; still, failing a decent store nearby, there will be plenty of larger companies such as Dell, MSI, and ASUS who will be on par at the least with the service the console vendors could provide. The console will certainly not provide any better experience if the PC flourishes.
The PC is better because… it is currently the only platform that can be shared.
When you have legal hurdles that lock you in to a platform you are immediately either segregating the market or allowing an entity to abuse their monopolistic position. There is no reason why our standards cannot follow the open consortium model to allow competition between parties without breaking compatibility and preventing sharing between competitors. After all, that is the intent of copyrights and patenting which make these platforms proprietary in the first place: encouraging sharing of ideas while supporting each contributor’s ability to derive value from said idea.
The PC is better because… consoles are exorbitantly priced for what they deliver.
The upfront cost of a platform is not necessarily the cost that you pay for it. When you sum up each platform’s expenses on luring you to their system it makes it clear that you are giving away more than they are giving you in return. Cutting out the middle man will spare you however much they derive from you and let you put it towards value, not removed value. While it is likely possible to imagine conditions where a console would cost you less than a PC that delivers a comparable experience, for almost every case it will cost you more all expenses considered and deliver less; it would not be financially worth it for the owner to make a console platform otherwise.
The PC is better because… consoles get in the way of art.
Art is not designed to be disposable, consoles are. While there is much value to be had in time-consuming entertainment, there is as much or more cultural value to be had in expressive art. While attempts have been made to increase the mod-ability of console platforms and I would be insane to say Nintendo did not have cultural impact, the fundamental design of the platforms are not sustainable for art. Permanence is a virtue with PC gaming that is not legally enforceable on consoles, and that will harm our society as a whole.
If I were forced to boil down the entire debate into a single point I would have to state that lack of choice is the most damaging aspect of console gaming. Because you are such a loyal customer to a company that values your patronage so dearly, you are restricted in how you are able to use your device and legally threatened if you violate the boundaries of the box you paid to reside in. Just because your content or your input method or your simplicity appear to be stuck inside the box with you does not mean you must be shackled inside; the box is artificial, there are other vessels for your content.
The PC is better because… there is no one between your choices, your experiences — and you.
This article’s appendix could
This article’s appendix could be a lot better if it were elaborated.
Thanks for the feedback. It
Thanks for the feedback. It is a bit anaemic, but the point really was not all to big anyway. It is just to shatter just how sure people are that PC gaming is more expensive, despite fewer pockets being filled.
I almost never buy games at
I almost never buy games at full price of 60 bucks unless its a game I am really looking forward to. I have never re bought old accessories from when I had my ps2. My ps3 is online service is free. I also have been renting 3 ps3 games from my local library for the last year for free. I would have liked to see other cost comparisons. That did not assume what was assumed in that cost break down.
I personally think the REAL reason why people have been buying a console over a gaming PC in the latest generation is that a console is 400 bucks and a gaming PC you assumed is 1000. Many more people have 400 bucks to splurge on VS. a 1000.
That all being said. I’m greatly looking forward to building a gaming pc and installing linux.
Kind-of. I’d say more
Kind-of. I’d say more generally: marketing and giftability.
As for the cost comparison, the point was to show “Hey, this is a much better experience with the PC… and it’s cheaper. Thus, arguments that the PC is more expensive are simply wrong.”
The PC *can* be more expensive than the console… but only in special cases otherwise it wouldn’t be worth it for the company to MAKE the console. Example — if you borrowed all your games from the library, the console manufacturer would make no money… thus they would not sell the console under cost. Obviously on average they’re expecting to make profits… which means on average they expect people to throw their money away.
I agree, Over a consoles life
I agree, Over a consoles life span they are much more expensive,
STEAM on PC is king…
GTA4 + DLC = £4
Bioshock 2 + Bioshock 1 for FREE = £7
Oblivion = £4
Crysis + Crysis Warhead = £7
The list goes on, You’re talking well over £200 worth of console games for £22. I bought Dead Space 1 &2 in the recent STEAM sale for £8, Again about £60-80’s worth if bought on console.
Factor in greatly improved image quality, Higher frame rates, Higher graphic quality, Games that are actually rendered at HD resolutions and not fake up-scaled HD like the consoles.
The last console I owned was a PS2 but never again will I go back to them..
I see this article doesn’t
I see this article doesn’t factor in actually having friends on the platforms, considering a large amount of people get consoles for their friends do. They’d probably call you bitter, for they’re happy and you’re not.
This article summarizes
This article summarizes really well — which gaming platform to purchase based on your friends.
http://www.theseize.com/?p=81
good opinions, but i would
good opinions, but i would like to point out a couple issues. First of all, you seem to ignore the way lots of people get games which is borrowing them from their friends. When im done with a game, i can loan it to all my friends who can play for themselves. 10 years ago we could do this with pc games as well, but now with constant connections required to fight piracy, our glorious publishers have decided we dont need that option anymore. It seems the position of the industry is that the physical game is irrelevant, you are purchasing the right to play the game on only one account and can never transfer that when u r done. this is of course utter nonsense similar to the crap the record companies were pushing to kill used cd sales right before napster ate their lunch. Sharing with your friends is good right, not according to steam.
Which brings me to my second point, the constant connection requirement. I can play my console games anywhere in the world where i have power and have the full single player experience i crave. When i got into steam, i thought that offline mode offered the same option, Then my dsl went out for a couple weeks. Try it sometime. Unhook your computer from the series of tubes known as the internet. Try to boot steam, the first thing it does is try to go online for offline mode, then shut itself down when it can’t connect. so therefore the only way offline mode is worth anything is if you know before you lose your connection that you are going to lose your connection. How many of the connection problems youve had came with a warning. Therefore you lost your whole steam library. Also, lately all of the ea games on steam wont even play in offline mode without being able to connect to server. So what do i do when i lose connection and threfore every steam (well over 100) ive bought. Play my consoles which work just fine offline. So i guess my point is that each has strengths n weaknesses, but i think you missed a couple huge weaknesses for pc gaming that i have been experiencing lately.
Consoles are turning into
Consoles are turning into that. Again, it’s a problem with nature of the industry turning into consumable entertainment rather than intrinsically valuable art. Consoles are designed for the former nature where PCs are better suited (although not best suited until we get past proprietary platforms altogether) for the latter.
Just don’t let publishers use DRM… or at least not after an initial launch window (though that extra control hurts them, publishers are addicted to it, and it’s not too damaging if it gets removed very quickly)
This is already the case on
This is already the case on consoles. To play any EA game online (like battlefield 3) you have to have a pass which comes with the game. If you buy used or let someone borrow it, they have to pay $15 for the pass. Soon all games will have this which means that used 3o dollar game just became 45, more than many games cost on steam.
This be bull. Everyone says
This be bull. Everyone says the PC is dieing and everyone says console gaming is dead, yet both keep breeking there sales records. So long as theres money in it both arn’t going anywhere any time soon.
I wish this was true. I
I wish this was true. I really do. Truth is, at 1080p with giant pixels on flat screens. Most consumers can’t tell the difference in quality nor do they care to uses a mouse and keyboard as a means of interface. A nice wireless game controller and DX9 is frankly good enough. Almost all new blockbuster PC games are console ports and this trend has increased and not decreased. And honestly, until we are all able to run games like Crysis 2 and Metro 2033 on sub 500 dollar boxes there will be no change in the trends that show a decline in PC gaming. I am PC enthusiast and I have to admit that its way too much money to build a system that has awesome gaming performance, especially when both AMD and NV are lagging so far behind in giving people enough VRAM on even their most expensive cards. Discreet graphics cards are awesome, I have two in SLI and love them, but they are incredibly over priced compared to every other part of my system.
8G of DDR3 ram @ 1600 cas8 = 80 bucks
i7 2600k @ 5GHz+ = 300 bucks
z68 UD7 mobo = 300 bucks
120g SSD = 150 bucks
A pair of GTX 580s = 1100 dollars?
This is why console gaming has eclipsed PC gaming and will continue to do so until GPU makers can find a way to lower prices drastically.
BTW- a 2600k for 300 bucks with 8g’s of nice DDR3 is far more powerful (and better at math) than a couple 580s.
one last thought- I will be
one last thought- I will be excited when I can buy a motherboard from Gigabyte or EVGA with a socket for my CPU and my GPU. Let me install both chips and decide how to cool them. That is the future of discreet graphics.
really at the end of the day
really at the end of the day if you swap the 360 out for a PS3, and include decent gaming mice and keyboards for your gaming PC your PC is totally more expensive. The current decline of the 50 dollar PC game and the rise of the 60 dollar PC game offsets the 10 dollars a game savings, and then there are other factors like amazon, trading in old games you’ll never play again, etcetera that will further denounce your arguments for the PC.
At the end of the game quit trolling and get a PC and a PS3. There’s no reason why both can’t subsist and look at console sales during black friday. There’s no way you’re going to convince all of those parents that they’ll save more money for their kids or that it’ll be a better use of their time energy and effort to get them a PC instead of a 360.
What REALLY needs to happen is that companies need to give you a steam version with your console version. If they do that, then every argument you’ve made becomes m00t and pointless. You buy the console version because you get the PC version with it and you make your judgement on which is better without any additional increase in price based on changing your mind.
This article is just a waste of time really. You only make your point in a very narrow circumstance. I doubt you’ve convinced a single person and worst of all, it’s a 1 size fits all solution that is written in a way to demean and demoralize people who have more varied preferences than you do in this realm.
Actually the largest points I
Actually the largest points I made against the consoles were how they damage art due to their disposable nature. The rest was to disprove that the PC is any worse in any way.
And the consoles will continue to be disposable ad-infinitum. That’s their goal. Be a vessel for consumable and disposable entertainment… not timeless art. Because consumables have churn… and make big 2-week sales.
But hey, if you have a PS3 that can play the majority of old games — great. Better hope it doesn’t get serviced otherwise say goodbye to your old collection. Chances are the one you’re getting back cannot.
u mAd?
“At the end of the
u mAd?
“At the end of the game quit trolling and get a PC and a PS3. There’s no reason why both can’t subsist and look at console sales during black friday. There’s no way you’re going to convince all of those parents that they’ll save more money for their kids or that it’ll be a better use of their time energy and effort to get them a PC instead of a 360.”
since im a parent.. when my 4yr old grows and has gaming needs. he’ll always have the family gaming pc. after demonstrating responsible behavior, he’ll get my hand me downs! if he wants a console.. well, im sure there’s a chore for that.
“This article is just a waste of time really. You only make your point in a very narrow circumstance. I doubt you’ve convinced a single person and worst of all, it’s a 1 size fits all solution that is written in a way to demean and demoralize people who have more varied preferences than you do in this realm.”
pc gaming: a difficult thing to explain to people. ive tried. If OP convinced 1 person, then i say thank you to him.
“What REALLY needs to happen is that companies need to give you a steam version with your console version. If they do that, then every argument you’ve made becomes m00t and pointless. You buy the console version because you get the PC version with it and you make your judgement on which is better without any additional increase in price based on changing your mind.”
btw, you are not very persuasive either.
ps. how do you backup movies
ps. how do you backup movies and music on a console?.. i know its possible but it seems like it would have to involve an x-86 computer. or maybe you can use the competitors box