Alright, first off this is not a console vs PC thread. I'm sick of those, they bore me, but this thread is inspired by those threads. The reason is because I see so much bullshit sprouted both for and against PC gaming that is repeated over and over in peoples posts and is completely wrong. I am not here to change people's minds about their preferred platform, I understand it is down to personal taste, and PC elitists piss me off much more than people who are ignorant about PC gaming in general. This thread exists entirely in an effort (probably in vain) to rid the forum of ignorance about PC gaming.
So with that disclaimer over; as someone who has been primarily a PC gamer since about 10 years of age, allow me to educate.
Misconception 1) "PC gaming is very expensive."
This is the biggest and most important misconception, the one I am going to write the most about, and one that normally stems from a quote such as this:
"You need to upgrade your hardware every few months/every 6 months/every year."
This is utterly wrong. The thing about PC gaming is there are two types of people who play on the PC. The first type of person is the PC enthusiast, you know, the type who just NEEDS to play the latest games in a resolution of 2560x1600 with 8x Anti-Aliasing, everything on "Ultra High" etc? Well yes, those types of people do need to keep up with all the very latest hardware and spend a lot to keep ahead of the curve. But these are the more hardcore. A lot of PC gamers do not feel the need to run everything maxed out, and this leads me swiftly to the next type of PC gamer, a good example of which is myself.
Allow me to give a quick rundown of my hardware. The video card in my computer is a 9800GT, released in July 2008, over 2 years ago. What's more, it is almost identical to the 8800GT in almost everything but the name and a few very minor alterations, which was released in October 2007. 3 years ago. Apart from that I have a fairly cheap 4GB of DDR2 RAM, which I expect to last me another 3 years at the very least before it will need upgrading, and a Q8200 (Quad-Core) CPU which has also been around since 2008. Due to the nature of CPU's with gaming I expect to still have this in my PC in another 2-3 years.
How do my games run? I can play almost everything on "High". Yep. I might have to turn off Anti-Aliasing, and I might need to put maybe one or two settings down to "Medium", and my resolution is only 1920x1080 (for console gamers reading, that's the same as 1080p) but every game I have played on this PC runs smoother and looks better than on the consoles. My computer is classed as Low-Mid range. For some recent game references, I just finished playing Dead Rising 2 with every setting on Highest, Anti-Aliasing on 2x, and "Blur" turned to "Off" with an average of 40fps. I am currently playing F1 2010 with everything at the Highest except "Car Reflections" which is one setting down from the highest, and Anti-Aliasing on 2x with an average of 35fps... For console gamers reading, a lot of console games average 30fps and look about the same as the PC version on "Medium"; they also rarely have any Anti-Aliasing.
[http://img19.imageshack.us/i/51038034.png/]
[http://img10.imageshack.us/i/57978383.png/]
[http://img237.imageshack.us/i/48016349.png/]
Now, onto costs. It's true that when I first bought this PC (1.5 years ago) the total costs (including the Monitor, Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse, etc) were about $1300 Australian. That's about $1264 American, and about 800 GBP. However, the only reason I bought an entirely new PC was because I moved to a different country and the costs of moving all my shit abroad wasn't worth it, and it was simply easier to buy new stuff. In general, once you have bought your base computer you are basically set for as long as you need to be, and upgrading can be a very gradual and cost-effective process. If, for example, you keep a mid-range computer such as mine; you're only going to need to upgrade one thing at a time, and probably only one single upgraded part every two years, which won't cost very much because you're sticking to mid-range. Combine this with the fact that PC games are cheaper (and steam has amazing deals) and it's really quite easy to keep up. There is also the fact that a PC can be used for many things, not just gaming. My PC is still going strong and playing everything well after 1.5 years of having it, and it wasn't high-end even when I bought it.
But can it be cheaper than consoles? Debatable. Console gamers do only buy the one machine and it can play anything you throw at it for 6 years and it will look the same on all machines, but their games cost more (especially here in Australia where I can pick up something new on the US Steam store for literally 50% of the price the console version would cost) then you have to factor in how most console users need a HDTV to make the most out of their machine which can cost a lot of money depending on the size of it, and Xbox users also pay for their multiplayer. I would say it can be about equal.
Misconception 2) "PC gaming is dying."
People always says PC gaming is dying. Back when I first started using the internet about 9 years ago, I even read posts then with people saying PC gaming is dying. From what I can gather people have been saying it a lot longer than that, and I can assure you it is no more dead now than it was 9 years ago. In fact I would argue it is much more alive now than it was then. Do PC gamers get less games than console users? Yes. Do we often get neglected by certain developers? Yes, we certainly do. But we still get plenty of great titles, all the time. Unless you're the type of person who has no other hobbies and wants to buy a new game every week, this is certainly is not a good argument against PC gaming. Just look at the great games in the last few months for example: Apart from Dead Rising 2 and F1 2010 which I have already mentioned, we got Mafia 2 and Worms Reloaded in August; Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Civilization IV, Lara Croft Guardian of Light, and Darksiders in September. This month we're getting Medal of Honor, Gothic IV, Lost Planet 2, Fallout: New Vegas, and Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2. I would hardly call this dying, would you? We also get plenty of great indie and exclusive titles on the PC.
Misconception 3) "I don't like the Mouse and Keyboard for certain types of games, this must mean PC gaming is not for people like me."
I don't like the Mouse and Keyboard for certain types of games either. That's why I bought a Xbox360 gamepad which is compatible with pretty much everything and requires no setting up in-game. You just pick it up and play, very much like on a console. I whip it out whenever I'm playing a racing game or certain platforming games. PC's are also compatible with an insanely massive variety of different controllers, including racing wheels, joysticks, lightguns, etc etc.
Misconception 4) "It's very difficult to install new parts and get PC's up and running."
Not at all. Unless you are computer illiterate (then fair enough, you need not apply) PC gaming isn't that hard at all. If it wasn't I probably wouldn't be a PC gamer since I am certainly not an expert with computers. A quick google search will find you tutorials on how to insert new parts and find drivers, and any problems you might have on a PC will normally have already been solved on a forum somewhere which a google search will find for you. Yes, I won't lie, occasionally you're going to run into an issue you won't be able to fix, which always sucks. But it's infrequent.
Misconception 5) "Too many patches, problems, messing around before you get to play your game."
I partially answered this in the last paragraph. Also, these days consoles have just as many patches than your average PC game, and the difference is with PC's at least in singleplayer patches are entirely optional where as on consoles (at least, on the PS3) you're basically forced to download them before you play your game. As for messing around, yeah you need to setup your graphics settings before you find the right quality/performance ratio for you, but it takes 10 minutes of tweaking at most and it is extremely easy and mostly painless to do. It's just moving sliders, really.
__________________
Now, here's one misconception used for PC gaming.
Misconception 6) "The online PC community is friendlier."
Bullshit. Although I must admit I rarely get into online games properly, I have tried a lot of them. Many people on Worms Reloaded online are dicks, many people on Unreal Tournament games are dicks. Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, Quake 3 Arena, Guild Wars, Team Fortress 2; dicks, dicks, dicks, dicks. Counterstrike has basically the highest influx of assholes in any game in recorded history, and when I played Modern Warfare 2 online it was like stepping into Xbox Live. Gamers are irritating people in general and PC gaming does not stifle this. It doesn't help that PC gamers are often elitist pricks who look down on console gamers especially on internet forums.
Well that's it for now, perhaps I will follow up with more later.
So with that disclaimer over; as someone who has been primarily a PC gamer since about 10 years of age, allow me to educate.
Misconception 1) "PC gaming is very expensive."
This is the biggest and most important misconception, the one I am going to write the most about, and one that normally stems from a quote such as this:
"You need to upgrade your hardware every few months/every 6 months/every year."
This is utterly wrong. The thing about PC gaming is there are two types of people who play on the PC. The first type of person is the PC enthusiast, you know, the type who just NEEDS to play the latest games in a resolution of 2560x1600 with 8x Anti-Aliasing, everything on "Ultra High" etc? Well yes, those types of people do need to keep up with all the very latest hardware and spend a lot to keep ahead of the curve. But these are the more hardcore. A lot of PC gamers do not feel the need to run everything maxed out, and this leads me swiftly to the next type of PC gamer, a good example of which is myself.
Allow me to give a quick rundown of my hardware. The video card in my computer is a 9800GT, released in July 2008, over 2 years ago. What's more, it is almost identical to the 8800GT in almost everything but the name and a few very minor alterations, which was released in October 2007. 3 years ago. Apart from that I have a fairly cheap 4GB of DDR2 RAM, which I expect to last me another 3 years at the very least before it will need upgrading, and a Q8200 (Quad-Core) CPU which has also been around since 2008. Due to the nature of CPU's with gaming I expect to still have this in my PC in another 2-3 years.
How do my games run? I can play almost everything on "High". Yep. I might have to turn off Anti-Aliasing, and I might need to put maybe one or two settings down to "Medium", and my resolution is only 1920x1080 (for console gamers reading, that's the same as 1080p) but every game I have played on this PC runs smoother and looks better than on the consoles. My computer is classed as Low-Mid range. For some recent game references, I just finished playing Dead Rising 2 with every setting on Highest, Anti-Aliasing on 2x, and "Blur" turned to "Off" with an average of 40fps. I am currently playing F1 2010 with everything at the Highest except "Car Reflections" which is one setting down from the highest, and Anti-Aliasing on 2x with an average of 35fps... For console gamers reading, a lot of console games average 30fps and look about the same as the PC version on "Medium"; they also rarely have any Anti-Aliasing.
Here's some screen captures of F1 2010 looking great and playing great on my average rig. (click to enlarge)
Now, onto costs. It's true that when I first bought this PC (1.5 years ago) the total costs (including the Monitor, Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse, etc) were about $1300 Australian. That's about $1264 American, and about 800 GBP. However, the only reason I bought an entirely new PC was because I moved to a different country and the costs of moving all my shit abroad wasn't worth it, and it was simply easier to buy new stuff. In general, once you have bought your base computer you are basically set for as long as you need to be, and upgrading can be a very gradual and cost-effective process. If, for example, you keep a mid-range computer such as mine; you're only going to need to upgrade one thing at a time, and probably only one single upgraded part every two years, which won't cost very much because you're sticking to mid-range. Combine this with the fact that PC games are cheaper (and steam has amazing deals) and it's really quite easy to keep up. There is also the fact that a PC can be used for many things, not just gaming. My PC is still going strong and playing everything well after 1.5 years of having it, and it wasn't high-end even when I bought it.
But can it be cheaper than consoles? Debatable. Console gamers do only buy the one machine and it can play anything you throw at it for 6 years and it will look the same on all machines, but their games cost more (especially here in Australia where I can pick up something new on the US Steam store for literally 50% of the price the console version would cost) then you have to factor in how most console users need a HDTV to make the most out of their machine which can cost a lot of money depending on the size of it, and Xbox users also pay for their multiplayer. I would say it can be about equal.
Misconception 2) "PC gaming is dying."
People always says PC gaming is dying. Back when I first started using the internet about 9 years ago, I even read posts then with people saying PC gaming is dying. From what I can gather people have been saying it a lot longer than that, and I can assure you it is no more dead now than it was 9 years ago. In fact I would argue it is much more alive now than it was then. Do PC gamers get less games than console users? Yes. Do we often get neglected by certain developers? Yes, we certainly do. But we still get plenty of great titles, all the time. Unless you're the type of person who has no other hobbies and wants to buy a new game every week, this is certainly is not a good argument against PC gaming. Just look at the great games in the last few months for example: Apart from Dead Rising 2 and F1 2010 which I have already mentioned, we got Mafia 2 and Worms Reloaded in August; Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Civilization IV, Lara Croft Guardian of Light, and Darksiders in September. This month we're getting Medal of Honor, Gothic IV, Lost Planet 2, Fallout: New Vegas, and Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2. I would hardly call this dying, would you? We also get plenty of great indie and exclusive titles on the PC.
Misconception 3) "I don't like the Mouse and Keyboard for certain types of games, this must mean PC gaming is not for people like me."
I don't like the Mouse and Keyboard for certain types of games either. That's why I bought a Xbox360 gamepad which is compatible with pretty much everything and requires no setting up in-game. You just pick it up and play, very much like on a console. I whip it out whenever I'm playing a racing game or certain platforming games. PC's are also compatible with an insanely massive variety of different controllers, including racing wheels, joysticks, lightguns, etc etc.
Misconception 4) "It's very difficult to install new parts and get PC's up and running."
Not at all. Unless you are computer illiterate (then fair enough, you need not apply) PC gaming isn't that hard at all. If it wasn't I probably wouldn't be a PC gamer since I am certainly not an expert with computers. A quick google search will find you tutorials on how to insert new parts and find drivers, and any problems you might have on a PC will normally have already been solved on a forum somewhere which a google search will find for you. Yes, I won't lie, occasionally you're going to run into an issue you won't be able to fix, which always sucks. But it's infrequent.
Misconception 5) "Too many patches, problems, messing around before you get to play your game."
I partially answered this in the last paragraph. Also, these days consoles have just as many patches than your average PC game, and the difference is with PC's at least in singleplayer patches are entirely optional where as on consoles (at least, on the PS3) you're basically forced to download them before you play your game. As for messing around, yeah you need to setup your graphics settings before you find the right quality/performance ratio for you, but it takes 10 minutes of tweaking at most and it is extremely easy and mostly painless to do. It's just moving sliders, really.
__________________
Now, here's one misconception used for PC gaming.
Misconception 6) "The online PC community is friendlier."
Bullshit. Although I must admit I rarely get into online games properly, I have tried a lot of them. Many people on Worms Reloaded online are dicks, many people on Unreal Tournament games are dicks. Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, Quake 3 Arena, Guild Wars, Team Fortress 2; dicks, dicks, dicks, dicks. Counterstrike has basically the highest influx of assholes in any game in recorded history, and when I played Modern Warfare 2 online it was like stepping into Xbox Live. Gamers are irritating people in general and PC gaming does not stifle this. It doesn't help that PC gamers are often elitist pricks who look down on console gamers especially on internet forums.
Well that's it for now, perhaps I will follow up with more later.
