Poll: "Console wars" seem a bit silly nowadays, don't they?

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Hey guys, so I was reading through this minefield of a thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.326127-Youre-Doing-it-Wrong] a second ago and while there is certainly a lot of fanboy angst in that thread, I noticed an interesting thing as I was reading: People don't seem to argue about the consoles the way we used to.

Sure, there are many differences between the consoles and people are quick to point them out, but they do it with a subdued self-awareness free of "us vs. them" mentality. In other words, it's pretty much accepted that the Wii is crap expect a handfull of excellent first party titles and the Xbox and PS3 are more or less the same minus a few exclusives and the different online services.

At this point, the different consoles are less what "side" you take and more what you're looking for in a system. It all seems somewhat professional and people don't get up in arms about the different companies, especially the once asinine conflict of "Xbox 360 vs PS3". On the other hand, the "console vs PC" debate is stronger than ever, but that's a whole other story.

Personally, I'll argue about the games I love because I see them as a piece of art, but arguing over a piece of hardware feels really petty. What do you guys think? Do you think people are better about this than they were three or four years ago? Is this only because of the site we're on? Is this only because this generation's almost over? Will the console warring be back next generation? How do you feel about the differences between the systems and which ones do you own?

EDIT: And the escapist ate my poll again...

 

[Zhukov]

Weren't they always silly?

Oh well, I'm sure they'll start up again with the next generation. What fun.

As for the console vs PC thing... blaaaaarrg. I stopped caring long ago. There's some actual debate to be had there, but it inevitably get smothered in the usual mess of insecurity and wank.

 

[Xanadu84]

People will say to the contrary, but honestly...Escapist is a pretty reasonable community by and large. It can get bad but generally, people try to have an argument to back up their opinions. Getting into a console argument just doesn't come across as respectable. Because they are foolish. Console Wars are still alive and well, but maybe this community has mostly grown out of it.

PC debates are still around here because there is a disproportionately large number of PC gamers here, and PC has the largest number of differences between it and other consoles to ruminate on.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

Of course the console wars are stupid. Everyone knows that PC is the best.

Yeah, I didn't really talk about it, but PC gamers will be elitist from now till the end of time. I wish I could spend 1000+ dollars on a gaming computer and be able to download mods and stuff, but I can't and I just have to accept that.

 

[Radeonx]

Console wars have been going on forever, and they've been stupid since they started.
And they won't go away anytime soon.

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

They sure are silly right now, what with very little exclusive content, the different rigs (including PC) balancing each other out, and the growing multitude of people who can afford more than one.

Personally I use the 360 for most everything, while having a PC for PC games, plus I hope to get a PS3 soon, for the backwards compatibility.

Three cheers for them all!

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

funny that you call him elitist and then in the very next sentence acknowledge that PCs are better. Fun fact, 360 can't do 1080p content, that's not really relevant per se, but I just learned that.

OP: Console wars are still going, haven't seen a slow down.

Well, not to start a console war or anything (wouldn't that be ironic) but I didn't say they were elitist without reason. The main reason I'd love a nice PC is for user mods, especially since Skyrim just came out and I'd love to see what the community will do to improve the game. At least I can still play Morrowind...on low graphics...with a terrible framerate T_T

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Last i checked console wars have been going on since Sega first introduced the MasterSystem to rival the NES which combatted the PC. This type of arguing is never going to end.

 

[MammothBlade]

People only engage in console wars because they're too poor to afford more than one console/PC and have to defend their choice to the death. HAHAHAHAAH.

It is legitimate to ***** when a "PC game" is obviously a badly-adapted console port, though. Other than that, people would better spend their time gaming instead of complaining about what someone else chooses to play their games on.

 

[DustyDrB]

Yeah, it was always silly. People who take console wars (and PC vs console) debate seriously I kind of treat like a yippy little kid or a person with a mental disability: Just tune out and say, "Uh huh" and "Oh, really?" From time to time until they move on.

 

[Jim Sturtridge]

PC gaming isn't worth the investment. they keep making new hardware to run the games-they are poorly optimized and delayed because they aren't as important as the masses of console gammers.(and yes i am a console gamer)

the xbox vs. ps3 war isn't much to do- ps3 has more overall games(due to the exclusives they boast) and ps3 has better graphics. but the xbox has better online support and,in my opinion, a controller that's easier to manage. its about a tie-but for what its worth i own an xbox360

 

[Tamrin]

funny that you call him elitist and then in the very next sentence acknowledge that PCs are better. Fun fact, 360 can't do 1080p content, that's not really relevant per se, but I just learned that.

OP: Console wars are still going, haven't seen a slow down.

Well, not to start a console war or anything (wouldn't that be ironic) but I didn't say they were elitist without reason. The main reason I'd love a nice PC is for user mods, especially since Skyrim just came out and I'd love to see what the community will do to improve the game. At least I can still play Morrowind...on low graphics...with a terrible framerate T_T

They already have imrpoved it. I've got a bunch of mods already for Skyrim that imrpove the graphics to ball dropping.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

funny that you call him elitist and then in the very next sentence acknowledge that PCs are better. Fun fact, 360 can't do 1080p content, that's not really relevant per se, but I just learned that.

OP: Console wars are still going, haven't seen a slow down.

Well, not to start a console war or anything (wouldn't that be ironic) but I didn't say they were elitist without reason. The main reason I'd love a nice PC is for user mods, especially since Skyrim just came out and I'd love to see what the community will do to improve the game. At least I can still play Morrowind...on low graphics...with a terrible framerate T_T

They already have imrpoved it. I've got a bunch of mods already for Skyrim that imrpove the graphics to ball dropping.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Uuuuuugh, I hate you, modding community. Why do you have to do this to me?

Stupid college expenses, taking away from my expendable income. T_T

I'm also interested in gameplay tweaks/added quests down the line. I'm wondering how people will add quests if they need dialogue for characters, not every bedroom programmer has access to good voice actors and professional audio equipment, not to mention programming the facial animations. I'm not sure how people did it in Oblivion since I couldn't run that either.

 

[SanguineSymphony]

they have always been silly... buy the console for the games... not the other way around.

whatever has the games I want get's my money. I am usually a late adapter because the decent games don't really come out until mid gen.

as for the port bs... that's a dev issue. buy which ever runs the best and just consider it an exclusive in spirit (like Bayonetta).

 

[Vault101]

in thsi particular generation..yeah its silly...

the whole PC vs consoel thing is also silly...yes PC gaming is better

BUT I got a console for many vaild reasons, even if I had a rig built for me by some aliens from the future...I would still have the same problems I did before

my point is whats there to argue about? a persons personal preference and circumstance..t.hats just stupid

 

[crazyarms33]

I think that what people argue more over now is games which is much like you said, but I think that tends to cross over into console arguments. For example: The other day I was talking with a friend and he was going on and on about Skyward Sword. I haven't played it, don't plan on playing it and most likely will never watch anyone play it and when I told him that he went on a 15 minute rant. Then he finally got to the point and asked me, and I quote "Why would you never play the best game that will be released in our lifetime?". Ignoring the fan boyness as best I could I replied, rather simply I thought, that "It's on the wii. I don't have one, don't want one and really they don't make games for it that I want to play." You would have thought that I performed female genital mutilation on his mother with rusty scissors in front of him while burning his dog on bonfire I had made of his mutilated father's body parts.

All because we disagreed about a game. It really depends, I think, on whether or not the person you are talking with is capable of setting aside their brand loyalty and having an open and frank discussion about it. So certainly the console wars are ongoing but its more between die hard "loyalists" if you will, then the casual gamer who plays what they enjoy regardless of system.

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

Can't we all just get along.....no..ok then, gameboy color. I don't care if I have 1 of everything and a good pc rig, if Pokemon yellow is near me all other things become irrelevant.

And as one of the people lucky enough to won every from of video game console I've been unlucky enough to see every fan-boy.
XBOX= Everything else isn't as good, we have halo.
PS3=Our console is better and doesn't die.
Wii= ok never met a wii fanboy but ill generalize all Nintendo fan-boys together in that their exclusive hoers.
PC= Feel their better than everyone else because usually they spent more and will always ask, why didn't you get it on PC.

Also on a side note Mac users, I don't like Macs because I can't build one. Also Tomb Raider is not that good of game stop saying it is.

 

[4RT1LL3RY]

Console wars can only happen at the start of a console generation. We are so far in that it isn't a war any more, each one is established in its market and is doing well enough to warrant a new generation.

We need a new generation of consoles though, The Wii is still using technology from the Gamecube, aka 2001. The Xbox 360 while state of the art in 2005 is showing its age, just like the PS3 from 2006. There isn't any more they can do on this hardware to make it prettier, I mean the HD systems only have 512MB of RAM total.

A $300 laptop now is technically superior, in terms of raw power, to any modern console.
4GB of RAM is common place.
You can't get anything below a dual-core processor.
Hard drives at very low prices per GB(before the production facilities in Thailand were damaged)
And GPUs well that's a whole another league now, immediately after the 360 came out the performance of a single card doubled in a single generation. nVidia's 8800 series was a milestone.

TLDR; Console war is to late in generation, it ended a long time ago. Current gen consoles REALLY need an update in tech and performance.

 

[0p3rati0n]

Also on a side note Mac users, I don't like Macs because I can't build one. Also Tomb Raider is not that good of game stop saying it is.

Dear Marcus Kehoe,

fair enough.

-Signed a mac user.

OT- Yeah the console wars have died down a bit. Which is good. Now if only people can do the same for PC v. Mac.

 

[4RT1LL3RY]

Also on a side note Mac users, I don't like Macs because I can't build one. Also Tomb Raider is not that good of game stop saying it is.

Dear Marcus Kehoe,

fair enough.

-Signed a mac user.

OT- Yeah the console wars have died down a bit. Which is good. Now if only people can do the same for PC v. Mac.

No hate towards Macs themselves from me, they are very nice machines. However the markup on there value as well as the distasteful changes they are making to turn OSX into iOS are infuriating. The problem isn't and has never been Mac's to me it is Apple's pretentious attitude as well as the "fanboys" that Apple has that cause much of the "hate" towards Mac.

-Signed a PC Enthusiast