Is PC gaming really worth it?
- Thread starter Vault101
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Mouse- Yes, I can understand how that gives you greater aiming fidelity in a shooter.
Keyboard- Duh-Whuh?
In all the times I've tried to play an action game (say a shooter, a hack and slash, a fast paced puzzler) where the keyboard contains more than three of the buttons needed in regular play, my experience has been a horrible mess off accidental key presses, having to look away from the screen whilst the spawn of satan devours my virtual arse, accidentally closing the game, having windows "shift keys" vomit all over my brain when I could have sworn I turned the damn thing off...
I could go on. It's just not intuitive to me; the thing is a flat board with fifty odd identically shaped and textured buttons, with some slightly easier to identify ones spaced an uncomfortable distance apart!
Yes, I'm not a 'tard. I know where all of the keys are located. But remembering and finding the right one in a split second whilst still manipulating all of the others in a high pressure and above all very distracting situation? No, not a chance. It just breaks immersion; the controls should disappear in one's hands, you should impart your wishes upon the game world without concious thought for the mechanism by which you do so.
That is, unless you're playing MS flight simulator.
Hot damn, that's ironic- I just typed three paragraphs about the unsuitability of keyboards (albeit in a gaming context).
That's the best example? That is the least of the lesser extents to which PC gaming is moddable, so, dang. Adding over 100 weapons to Oblivion would probably be the least example for PC. Changing a game into another game entirely would be the greatest.M0PHEAD said:
*Shrug* I change my keys around so I know where they all are (close to the wasd keys) and I never have to look down or press keys accidentally (except in STALKER where there's like, 30 buttons).M0PHEAD said:
To each their own.
Halo- A good example in that virtually every player of online Halo uses the user generated content, and it's shared throughout the community. Anybody can pick up a controller and create a map or game variant, which could be played by thousands of people within the week. Bungie endorses and creates official playlists based around the most popular content.Easton Dark said:
Compare that to an extra hundred weapons in Oblivion which maybe two hundred people will ever see... You get my point. Some PC mods are unbelievably incredible works of art and dedication which enrich and change the original game, others are pants. The user generated content in Halo stands up in a mid-range "it's good, well integrated, simple to use and popular" way.
I wasn't trying to say console modding is the equal of PC modding (because it really REALLY isn't)- but it can and has been done well, and it definitely adds to the experience.
I put together an $1800 machine that functions as my home entertainment hub, and I couldn't be happier. I bought about 30 games on Steam for easily 25-30% what you'd pay for a similar haul on consoles, and I don't have to swap discs to play any of them. Everything looks fucking brilliant, and it's nice to have the entire internet just an alt-tab away.
So I guess for me, PC gaming is fantastic. Aside from a very small handful of exclusives, I never touch my consoles anymore. I've also come to the conclusion that any reasonable person, given the option, would do the exact same thing I've done. It wasn't hard, it wasn't expensive (I spent way more than I needed to - who the fuck needs a SSD?), and the majority of criticisms leveled at "PC gaming" are either woefully outdated or downright dishonest.
So I guess for me, PC gaming is fantastic. Aside from a very small handful of exclusives, I never touch my consoles anymore. I've also come to the conclusion that any reasonable person, given the option, would do the exact same thing I've done. It wasn't hard, it wasn't expensive (I spent way more than I needed to - who the fuck needs a SSD?), and the majority of criticisms leveled at "PC gaming" are either woefully outdated or downright dishonest.
1:30 "If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college."obscurumlux01 said:
No honor amongst thieves? Nooooo... inconceivable.
Meh, you say that but my computer needs to be a laptop (as I'm a student, portability is key)- and to get a laptop that's console gaming spec is for more expensive than a desktop. Anyway, if you're buying a computer to play games at a console's graphics standard don't you remove one of the core advantages of pc gaming that you're advocating? These days you can get an Xbox 360 for £100 and an OK (not really game standard) laptop to do work and the interwebs for about £250. If you buy you're games from a decent shop (yes I said shop, not the net) then you can pick up three month old titles for a tenner (probably preowned- am I right in thinking some DRM filled PC games don't allow this?).Charcharo said:I hope i did the SNIP wellM0PHEAD said:
Well... you do know you can connect your controler to a PC, right?
A good thing about PC gaming is that its cheaper (many of you are in a state of shock right now). The thing is that you NEED a PC anyway. You dont need a console. I save space and money getting a PC for 750 $ THAT STILL can play everything at Ultra settings.
You dont need 750 dollers to play a PC game and still have it look better than a console one. Console games RUN ON LOW-MEDIUM (at best) settings. I can get a PC that can do that for 300 dollers. I can buy a pre-made one for 400 dollers. Hell my old PC (build in 2001) can run COD and METRO 2033 at the same settings a console can.
For me it's a choice which fits my lifestyle as well as what I want from gaming.
PS. Yes, I did know you can plug a controller into your PC
I have been increasingly disappointed with PC gaming over the last few years, I've got a decent machine (i7, 8GB, SSD, 2560x1440 monitor) but the PC doesn't get many big exclusives and much of what it does get is fairly poor ports from consoles. I'm platform agnostic as I think there's plenty to be enjoyed on each platform for any genuine gamers, RTS was always my favourite on PC but recently that genre has been a let down. C&C4 is probably the worst in the series and I wasn't at all impressed with Chaos Rising after eagerly awaiting it for months.
I also seem to end up spending a lot more time trying to get the game working than actually playing the game, while I have the ability to sort out problems I'd obviously rather spend a couple of hours free playing the game rather than raking through forums to find out why half my textures are missing. Chaos Rising in particular was a massive pain in the neck to get going, Steam wouldn't play ball initially and in its usual helpful way wouldn't give any sort of useful error information to work out why it wouldn't start. When I did eventually get it going, Chaos Rising needed a massive patch despite only being released a couple of days ago. When that was finally downloaded it wouldn't let me start a game citing problems with Windows Live taking up to 15 minutes each time just to report back an error. After finally getting the game started I wasn't amused to find most of the textures missing in game which despite the massive patch was a bug caused by having DoW2 installed. Another search online to find the solution for that one, once I could finally play the game I found it quite a letdown and didn't spend much time with it.
DRM is another annoyance with the PC that I'm starting to get sick of, I gave up trying to play Red Alert 3 co-op over the LAN due to problems keeping a connection to the server. My connection was fine but for some reason there were still issues, eventually I had enough as the only way at the time to play with two legally purchased copies of the game was to use pirated versions with a hack which was just a joke.
All that said I do get some game time out of my PC and particularly enjoy some of the smaller indie games, at the moment playing Just Cause 2 which I'd tried as a demo on one of the consoles but didn't like it at all particularly the clumsy controls. However friends had praised it so picked it up in the Steam sale for a fiver, worked fine on my machine out of the box and sunk many hours into it as the controls aren't bad and it looks stunning at 2560x1440.
John
I also seem to end up spending a lot more time trying to get the game working than actually playing the game, while I have the ability to sort out problems I'd obviously rather spend a couple of hours free playing the game rather than raking through forums to find out why half my textures are missing. Chaos Rising in particular was a massive pain in the neck to get going, Steam wouldn't play ball initially and in its usual helpful way wouldn't give any sort of useful error information to work out why it wouldn't start. When I did eventually get it going, Chaos Rising needed a massive patch despite only being released a couple of days ago. When that was finally downloaded it wouldn't let me start a game citing problems with Windows Live taking up to 15 minutes each time just to report back an error. After finally getting the game started I wasn't amused to find most of the textures missing in game which despite the massive patch was a bug caused by having DoW2 installed. Another search online to find the solution for that one, once I could finally play the game I found it quite a letdown and didn't spend much time with it.
DRM is another annoyance with the PC that I'm starting to get sick of, I gave up trying to play Red Alert 3 co-op over the LAN due to problems keeping a connection to the server. My connection was fine but for some reason there were still issues, eventually I had enough as the only way at the time to play with two legally purchased copies of the game was to use pirated versions with a hack which was just a joke.
All that said I do get some game time out of my PC and particularly enjoy some of the smaller indie games, at the moment playing Just Cause 2 which I'd tried as a demo on one of the consoles but didn't like it at all particularly the clumsy controls. However friends had praised it so picked it up in the Steam sale for a fiver, worked fine on my machine out of the box and sunk many hours into it as the controls aren't bad and it looks stunning at 2560x1440.
John
Yeah, that's why I fought WASD controls for the longest time and just shifted all the keys over the to the Arrows. Then I got this [http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_091a.html] and it made things so much better for most of my games. There are still a few that feel better on the keyboard, but the buttons are placed so ergonomically that I don't even look at the arrow keys anymore.M0PHEAD said:
Ok, one exception. I still haven't found a good way to play Thief and Thief 2 without using the arrow keys because of Home/End making great Run/Lean Forward keys. Even so, I still have to reach to the other side of the keyboard to select my weapons.
It's not the internet you're paying for with Xbox Live and you certainly don't get a lot of the features available on Live on a PC simply because the 360 has the advantage of being a single platform. Plus there can be fees in playing the PC online particularly if you want to keep a good spot on a server, TF2 (a single game) has cost me more per month to play to get a better chance at a spot on the server and some other perks than Xbox Live does (which covers all my 360 games)e2density said:
John
1. To my knowledge, you must use Xbox Live to play online. Which means you must pay for your internet monthly then on top of that buy Xbox Live.Johnmcl7 said:
2. If you honestly pay for slot reservation, that says enough about you already. Anyone who honestly pays money to have a reserved slot on a pointless pub where all the players are trash probably isn't the smartest person to start with.
Not to mention, on top of how stupid and unnecessary that is (considering all pub servers are 100% free to play on) I can't believe you pay more than $60 a year just to get on some trashy pub.
Not to mention Xbox Live is required to play online, Reserved slots on a bad TF2 server is nowhere near required.
Actually, I'd reserve a slot in a (well run, well moderated) private server. It gives a guarenteed slot in a server I like, and it also helps support the guy who runs it for us. Usually a slot is dirt-cheap, too. Think of it as a donation, and the slot as just a token prize for your support.Darkness62 said:
Then again a graphics whore like yourself probably can't comprehend this.
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.e2density said:
Console gaming is currently dominating the market. PC Gaming dead that does not make.
PC Gaming is for people who want control over how they play. FPS games play better on PC, even today; RTS games do not survive on consoles; and wRPGs on PC allow for customization, modding, and are generally better supported in terms of patches. MMO Gaming is limited on consoles, but not impossible. I think that MMOs are still generally a PC Gamer's advantage.
But DRM is pretty much null and void at this point, as most developers are not using it or have relaxed on it quite a bit (as it only hurts the people buying the games.)
The problem with PC Gaming on a developer's point of view, which is the reason they have gone to Consoles, is Piracy. But in all honesty; Piracy is just as rampant on consoles. Now that the PS3 is wide open, all of the consoles are mod-able. PC Piracy is just easier, but I still don't think that PC Piracy necessarily equates to a loss of a sale for the developer.
Regardless. As stated above, PC Gaming is for control. It is up to the PC operator how he wishes to play his games, because he has control over the hardware, and software settings.
PC Gaming is for people who want control over how they play. FPS games play better on PC, even today; RTS games do not survive on consoles; and wRPGs on PC allow for customization, modding, and are generally better supported in terms of patches. MMO Gaming is limited on consoles, but not impossible. I think that MMOs are still generally a PC Gamer's advantage.
But DRM is pretty much null and void at this point, as most developers are not using it or have relaxed on it quite a bit (as it only hurts the people buying the games.)
The problem with PC Gaming on a developer's point of view, which is the reason they have gone to Consoles, is Piracy. But in all honesty; Piracy is just as rampant on consoles. Now that the PS3 is wide open, all of the consoles are mod-able. PC Piracy is just easier, but I still don't think that PC Piracy necessarily equates to a loss of a sale for the developer.
Regardless. As stated above, PC Gaming is for control. It is up to the PC operator how he wishes to play his games, because he has control over the hardware, and software settings.
Everything has access to the internet, these days. I kid you not, my Coffee Maker has internet access. I e-mail it to start brewing.Chibz said:
That being said, he is kind of silly. The graphic capability of a PC may be endless, but it is limited to the hardware you have. To continue to upgrade your graphic capability, you will have to upgrade hardware. This is the same as buying the next generation console. But, PC gaming does have a lot more customization than Console gaming. It is preference.
I don't expect anyone who grew up console gaming with the xbox and PS3 to swap to PC Gaming just because of the few things it has advantages in. Especially since the amount of games is far more limited. The only hard and fast reason for PC Gaming over Console gaming is playing competitively.
