A challenge to the PC master race

[Dalisclock]

Shitty ports.

Shitty ports

Mostly Shitty Ports.

*Blows whistle*

Foul! 'Shitty ports' is a complaint PC users have against consoles because they feel neglected in the gaming community. Since it's a jab at the console that got the better port, it's not a valid depreciation of the PC.

OT: I would like to lodge a complaint about the expense of getting a decent PC for gaming, and then finding out later on that the parts I need to replace hardware may not be available later down the line.

I beg to differ. If you're gonna port, is it such a terrible thing to ask that you maintain decent quality standards when you do it? Plenty of ports(or at least,console and PC releases) are capable of holding the same level of quality across platforms.

 

[FalloutJack]

I beg to differ. If you're gonna port, is it such a terrible thing to ask that you maintain decent quality standards when you do it?

Oh, sure, but it's not a self-depreciation of the PC. It's a complaint of the developer with the wish that the console wasn't there to split the attention. That is, at least, how I see it.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I enjoy my PC for the most part...except for the constant crippling knowledge that, at any time, a part could fail and it'll bring the bulk of your experience with media to a grinding halt.

Like, say, a power supply (ignore the mess) suddenly dying out of the blue and the spare you thought you had available was, in fact, missing some necessary cables, so you wind up having to buy a new, expensive part.

Frankly, I'm just glad the thing didn't take any other components with it.

Ahem.

I like muh PC, but it can be a pain. It's the same for consoles, of all stripes, since there's no 'perfect' medium for experiencing content just yet.

My Vita, for example, seems to have a problem playing downloadable titles. I keep having to redownload them due to fuck-ups and, actually, I can't even play my FFX-2 copy because it just crashes after the opening movie, no matter what I do! The same goes for some mobile Android games.

 

[Keoul]

More troubleshooting (gotta get them drivers update, check I got the right specs, google up problems like corruption, freezes)
Constantly gotta upgrade (A little exaggerated, you could probably get away with 5 years)
Homework for builds (Gotta check so much, ram, GPU size, voltage, price, etc)
Random errors, crashes, etc. (AMD plz)

 

[TwistednMean]

1) Extremely bad ports (yeah,I blame you, console gamers, for their existence).

2) Tendency to release stuff first and patch it later even though the game is riddled with bugs.

3) Loads of tiny content packages which add up to a substantial amount of money spent.

4) Lack of story-driven co-op. I can literally think of only a single title, which is Hunted.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

where do you live, a center for ants?!?!

It is not a problem of living small. It is a problem of having multiple interests that all demand work space. While my PS4 can fit neatly on the TV bench right next to the TV, a stationary PC, even an ITX, requires more space due to the added demand of screen, keyboard and mouse. Hence why I use laptops. I can set it up on the dining table for daily use but easily move it when we have guests.

I would say you could use the tv and simply have a rollout/pullout shelf for your mouse/keyboard, but I see your point here for ease of use with what you have currently. (also plenty of games work well with a controller, since you don't mind playing a console I don't figure that would be a big deal for you).

the itx case would essentially be a homemade steam machine in your case, but that would be up to you entirely on your setup for making it run to the tv and all that.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I still see it as blaming consoles. It feels like a complaint that the parents are paying too much attention to the other child. The parents might be part of the problem, but you know the PC enthusiast is wishing he was the only child.

Well yes, because the problem is that the developers ARE paying too much attention to the "other child"; which IS a downside to being a PC gamer. It isn't that I feel that the console versions should be worse, or that I feel that consoles are to blame for us getting shoddy ports, or even that I'm necessarily jealous of consoles. I place 100% of the blame and annoyance on the developers who treat PC gamers like second class citizens.

 

[BrokenTinker]

Lack of standardization -

Codecs all over the place for audio/video.

Inconsistent ports

Controller options - gamepad used to be THE controller scheme for PCs (directinput), now we have shit like that uses the xbone driver. On the other hand, you can be like the poster above, use a gun that shoots car WHILE using a PS4 controller. Still, it is inconsistent.

Generational Gaps for upgrades - futureproofing is required to maintain the advantage of PC over the consoles. If your mofo happens to become obsolete for being able to handle the newer hardware required, then you are shit out of luck. On the flip side, my PC survived longer than any consoles or handheld I owned due to just need to fix the specific parts.

Terror of (and for) the uninitiated - consoles is just pop in, press key, you are playing game. PC, you just need that ONE bratty kid or that ONE know-it-all idiot that install a malware/virus/format one of your drives/use the CDDVD-rom as a cupholder/etc... to royally fuck up the PC.

Drivers - actually, this is both good and bad. Bad that you NEED to get it, good that it more often than now improves existing games or let your old hardware play newly release games when it couldn't before (forgot which gpu I had when Skyrim first came out, couldn't handle it, got the new driver, BAM, I'm playing it in medium setting which was still awesome considering how out of date my machine was).

Others -

Distraction - multiscreen can tank your productivity/playing when something else more interesting is happening on the other screen.

Too many options - I've a PS3-esque controller, a kbm, a joystick (air fighter style) previously a driving wheel and even a wii-mote-esy controller. This isn't an issue for me, but when you've kids over... they tend to fight for the controller with enthusiasm (pre-adult backseat drivers, argh), and when you've controllers that works from multiple source, shit happens.

 

[FalloutJack]

I still see it as blaming consoles. It feels like a complaint that the parents are paying too much attention to the other child. The parents might be part of the problem, but you know the PC enthusiast is wishing he was the only child.

Well yes, because the problem is that the developers ARE paying too much attention to the "other child"; which IS a downside to being a PC gamer. It isn't that I feel that the console versions should be worse, or that I feel that consoles are to blame for us getting shoddy ports, or even that I'm necessarily jealous of consoles. I place 100% of the blame and annoyance on the developers who treat PC gamers like second class citizens.

I understand. I'm not sayiing it's not a complaint. I'm saying it isn't something that's wrong with your chosen gaming device. Does that really count as a negative to your favored field if you are actually blaming someone else?

 

[Tilly]

I don't have A chosen platform.

My 3 chosen platforms are thusly flawed:

3DS
-Not enough good indies.
-Not enough first party support in the latter years (as is common with Nintendo).

Wii U
-Not powerful enough for third parties to easily port.
-Gamepad largely unnecessary but costly.
-Zeldas still not out.

PC
-Have to fiddle with settings and specs.
-I like physical games to own (which can be resold on ebay)
-Some of the best games in existence are console exclusives.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

i really hate bad ports and having to look for solutions when i experience crashes or glitches in my games

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

oh i also down like having to build the damn things, i once messed up one motherboard by just doing some simple maintenance

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

No no, they're right, and I agree with them. The backhanded slams against consoles that you're thinking of is what PC gamers usually refer to as "consolitis", and it isn't about ports being lousy, it's about how gaming is more and more blatantly being designed around a controller, like how most FPS's only let you carry two weapons because it's easier on a controller to just have a "Swap weapons" button than to have to toggle through several options. I could go into detail about what we mean by "shitty ports", but it'd be easier to just scroll up to my post (if you haven't read it already) and read my first complaint about gaming on the PC. To put it simply though, it isn't an indirect slam against consoles, it's about developers being lazy when they bring the game over.

I'm a console gamer and consoles can pretty much do the same as PCs with regards to controls and gameplay/mechanics depth. I hate two weapon carry systems as much as you. Metal Gear Online from last-gen proves you can make a console shooter just as deep as a PC shooter. MGO had a weapon and item cycle system, it had basically CS's money system, it allowed for a dedicated host option along with fully customizable PUBLIC rooms, no health regen, no grenade button, you ran faster with a knife/grenades/1-handed weapon, there was leaning, there was text chat with a keyboard, etc. The worst thing is a weapon cycle system saves buttons on the controller and allows for more mechanics at play. Don't blame developers for being lazy in bringing games over to PC, blame developers at being lazy when developing the game itself. The controller is not the thing limiting shooters, it's the developers. It's like how developers think console gamers need some sort of aim-assist when aim-assist only makes aiming worse while sometimes not even having the option to turn it off. I understand some games need more buttons than a controller and those games should be PC-only.

Even from the hardware reliabliity angle the 360 has a faiure rate listed at something like 50% on wikipedia and public perception shifted across that whole greation to the point where a whole lot of hassle with basic hardware, software, services, accounts and so on is pretty much just expected as part of being a console owner now...

It's a long way from "i put this bit in here, push the button and there's the game. that's it.".

We're even buying things like HDD and wifi upgrades now...console hardware upgrading is now the accepted norm (albeit in a limited way).

It's kinda weird to think back to all those arguments about why consoles were better because of thier straightforwad simplicity compared to all the software/hardware maintance people had on computers...and now they are basically exactly the same.

The 1st gen of consoles having a HD definitely had its bumps like having to wait for a game install or not being able to download updates in the background. However, at least PS4 (I don't have a Xbone), fixed all that. It literally takes at most 2 minutes to put in a disc and be playing the game as some games need some prep time to install the initial area, then you can start playing as the rest of the game installs and any updates will be downloading in the background. It literally is "you put in a disc and hit a button".

Microsoft was stupid not to make a HD and Wi-Fi standard on the 360, what other console has a Wi-Fi upgrade? Again, that was one of the bumps of last-gen. Pretty much every electronic device has a Wi-Fi card. What's wrong with being able to upgrade your HD? Anything with a HD should allow you easy access to switch it out because it will fail so you should be able to replace it. That alone means you can then put in whatever HD you want whether you want more storage or faster loading via a SSD. The HD on a PS3/PS4 is MUCH easier to get at than most newer laptops (it makes no sense you have to completely open up a laptop to get to the HD). Consoles are indeed basically PCs hardware-wise but you don't have nearly the issues you have to deal with a PC, you don't even need to update drivers on a console.

 

[infohippie]

There are two main downsides of PC gaming for me:
1 - We don't get all the weird and fascinating Japanese games that Sony get, or most JRPGs.
2 - Microsoft keep trying their best to ruin the usability of Windows and intrude into places they don't belong.

Edit: Oh, there is a number three - Developers keep trying, more and more these days, to push goddamn controllers on me. No, I don't want to play your game with a fucking controller. If I liked controllers more I would already own a console. Make your goddamn game usable with a mouse and keyboard, and put a bit of effort into it since it's going to be the primary control method of most of your customers.

 

[elvor0]

4. The space the computer itself occupies, it was what drove me from towers as a student to laptops.
But mostly:
5. The expense of keeping hardware up to date to get both good graphical and aural fidelity with smooth gameplay, especially if you, like me, are gaming on laptops due to room constraints.

4: I don't get it, I've lived into some pretty small places in my life, but I've always found space for my rig. If you can put your laptop somewhere that you can comfortably play, you can fit your tower in.

5: Well, there in lies your problem, if you're having to buy a whole new laptop every time you want to upgrade, of course you're going to find it more expensive than just having to upgrade one component.

Laptop keyboards, for instance. I do alot of typing, and as a result the plastic nubs under the keys to make the keyboard work start to wear out. Essential letters for writing anything or playing games become impossible to use. At the moment, my laptop is fine, but they don't make that keyboard part anymore, so I may have to change alot of things. Let's not forget, of course, that you may be put into the position where the replacement of one part suddenly can't be handled by the rest of the computer. So, I do have a good claim on the problems of expense and acquisition.

What...do you do to your keyboard? I mean my Dell (who didn't exactly use premium components in that thing) laptop is 5 years old, I abuse the shit out of that keyboard and all the keys themselves still work fine. I've broken plenty of the actual buttons and plastic bits, but the keys work fine. And I was using that laptop as my main machine for a good 4 years before I finally got round to building a new desktop.

Edit: Oh, there is a number three - Developers keep trying, more and more these days, to push goddamn controllers on me. No, I don't want to play your game with a fucking controller. If I liked controllers more I would already own a console. Make your goddamn game usable with a mouse and keyboard, and put a bit of effort into it since it's going to be the primary control method of most of your customers.

I think what annoys me even more than that is when people try and defend the game having shit KB+M controls and just repeat "buy a controller". Dude, I have a controller, that's besides the fucking point.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

What's bad about PCs? Let's see.

Spoiler: big ol' list

DRM- Some Publishers still think the moment they release a DRM free game, all of the company's assets will be stollen right out from underneath them. Most games/clients aren't bad about it (usually) but when they stack DRM[footnote]Ubisoft, get rid of Uplay on all of your Steam listings already.[/footnote] or the DRM harms your system, it's a definite negative for the PC version of a game.

Cost of Entry- If you plan on playing more than ancient AAA games (if they will work easily on new hardware) and most indie titles, it will be more expensive than a console. Though, with some good research and asking experts online (like here) you can get something that outperforms the consoles for maybe $200 more (at least in some parts of the world). But, sales happen often on most distribution platforms, so a patient PC user will have more than enough games in short time.

Knowledge/Experience- If you barely ever used a PC, using one for games, even the overpriced big name models, will require a lot of learning over the years. OS settings, installs, controller drivers, troubleshooting all require knowing the basic ins and outs. You can learn as you go, but any problem could mean you're not playing a game until it's fixed.

Console Exclusives- They are still titles that make it to mutliple console brands, but not to PC. Or, the PC port takes a long time. (Of course, some cases that's a good thing, like Arkham Knight just demonstrated.) Though, it's not as bad today since the two consoles with third party support are built off PC hardware.

Bad Ports/optimization/control schemes- I'm not bashing consoles. I'm bashing game makers that release something that runs like crap, doesn't have basic graphic options(at the very least give us resolution and full-screen/windowed mode options), and doesn't allow re-bindable keys/buttons (especially if they chose horrible key placement to begin with). If a game does play better with a controller, I will gladly use a controller.

Digital Market- If a physical disc of a game is sold today, it either locks to your Steam, GoG, Origin, or Uplay (or some other paranoid publisher's DRM system) account when you install it, or it's just a redemption code that does the same thing. Is a game you want only available on some distribution system you don't have an account to? Well, get ready to come up with another username and password to keep track of. Physical console titles at least can be traded or resold. That doesn't happened too often with PC games. And for both console and PC digital titles, some things you might like could get patched out of a game you own. (Old GTA sound tracks are the recent talking point for that.)

TV Connectivity/Single Screen Multiplayer- With controller support on PC rising, the universal use of HDMI, and streaming boxes, both problems are not as prolific as they were 10 years ago. But some people still have trouble dragging the big tower close to TV. If my tower wasn't so close my TV, I wouldn't take advantage of that ability very often. Also, many games don't support local multiplayer. Some really petty devs/pubs don't even support LAN anymore

I enjoy my PC for the most part...except for the constant crippling knowledge that, at any time, a part could fail and it'll bring the bulk of your experience with media to a grinding halt.

Well, the good thing about the big towers is an equivilant part in a console, laptop or proprietary form factor PC[footnote]Screw you, Apple, for your stupidly hard to repair towers and all-in-ones, and for re-popularizing all-in-one PCs in general.[/footnote] is hard to find and costs a lot more than a standard PC part. If my GFX card went out, I could finally get the upgrade I can later use in a newer build. Whenever, something proprietary breaks, I'm spending hours looking up parts online and cross referencing model/part #s to make sure I'm buying right thing, or I'm dealing with a customer service reps, paying to ship my device to their repair centers, and hoping they don't warrantied send stuff back unfixed because of an error or lazy lying repeir tech (which did happen to a Sony customer recently).

Any electronic could fail at any time. A few years ago, my PS3 blu-ray drive just quit, without warning, right when I finally wanted to use the machine after months of sitting there. I was ordering a part off Amazon when I just wanted to play Jak 3 for the first time.

One of the huge advntages of consoles everyone used to talk about was supposed to be idea they were much simpler and straightforward IE no bugs in thier games (more or less), no patches, no need for this that and the next thing extra to be able to play them, no hardware problems and so on.

That "it just works" thing.

That's dead.
[snip]

I agree. Consoles still are simpler to use and easier to develop for than PCs, but they are blurring the line. Hard drives and updates offer tons of PC benefits, but they also bring with them some of the issues.

And there's the fact that internet connectivity for both PC and consoles allow publishers to push out half-finished games (which sell well because everyone preordered them) and patch them to a "finished" state. Buggy games on consoles are more common than back when things couldn't be fixed remotely.

 

[Remus]

Steam sales /thread

But seriously, some of the control schemes for PC games are so obtuse that I have to plug in a controller to not cramp up whenever I try to sprint! M+KB is not always the best option. Have you SEEN the PC controls for Elite: Dangerous? To explain it would require a 50 page manual all its own.

 

[DerangedHobo]

All have their strengths and their weaknesses

And the console's ability to hide them is very impressive. You know, stealing No Man's Sky and all... YOU HEAR THAT SONY? I WANT MY RECORDS BACK, I WANT MY FUCKING RECORDS BACK.

But that is easy:

1. You need to watch at least 1-2 youtube videos to learn how to work with it (in a technical capacity).

2. EA

3. EA, as well as every other company lining up to fuck PC gaming in the ass.

4. Games which are held ransom by consoles (Because fuck, if they didn't have that, who'd buy them?).

5. Certain games can have a 1 in a million bug which means it won't work, because reasons.

6. The inability (or just, outright apathy) of publishers/developers to actually make a decent PC port and then the consumer getting ridiculed/blamed for it like me not eating shit is my fault (but I'm not bitter or anything).

7. MMORPGs.

8. Cleaning, while it is easy, takes time and resources.

9. I assume this is the same for consoles but don't let anyone tell you that the online PC gaming "community" is anything but shite. Absolute, bottom the the barrel.

10. You have to pay through the ass for Microsoft's newest OS if you want native game support (Or use Linux if you want Steam/Wine support).

11. Macs, essentially console PCs, with all the downsides of both.

 

[truckspond]

But none of this matters because I can have a gun that shoots cars in GTA V.

He's not kidding. http://www.nerdcubed.co.uk/videos/nerdcubed-mods-gta-v-the-portable-pile-up/

 

[Creator002]

1. This is a personal flaw, but often (not always) my computer will freeze or the screen will go blank. I've determined it's the graphics card (every error log says it's the GFX card's hardware), so that needs replacing and I don't have the money right now.

2. The fact I need to upgrade every 2-5 years in order to stay at "top range" performance.

3. I can't return a disc-based game.

4. The numerous and non-descriptive errors can be a nightmare.

5. Most games play better with a controller anyway (especially 3rd person games).

6. Every PC game, I need to fiddle with the graphics options. Either the game isn't using my hardware to its full potential or it's using too much. Often, my resolution is set to lower than what the screen is (1920x1080 - A standard now).

I could probably think of more later. Will edit if I do.