Poll: What is your Primary Game Platform? (63% say PC, apparently, huh, who knew.)

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

All of them? (excluding wii and mobile of course) Don't make me choose!
I guess PS3 at the moment given that it's the most recent, but I do play pretty equally on my 360, PS3 and PC.
And OP, why are you surprised at the results, this community is very vocally and adamantly the PC master race type crowd.

See my above post as this is generally a 50/50 site that survey which I forgot to mention was something like 52% PC and 48% consoles.

But that was a while ago, I think it's a much bigger divide now.

Which is why I said to see the above post as it is normal to see a shift like this near the end of a console gen as PC becomes much more cost effect in short term start up costs in relation to its power. While consoles have fixed hardware quality and not so much of a fall in price(well usually). It will be more console gamers when next gen comes out, then equal and back to here again near the end. So far most of the gens after the "Golden Age" of PC gaming tend to be like that. Just to add there are plenty of console martyrs around this site who are equally elitist as PC gamers so to say this site has more PC or Console elitists is a fallacy in my experience of this site.

 

[GeorgW]

All of them? (excluding wii and mobile of course) Don't make me choose!
I guess PS3 at the moment given that it's the most recent, but I do play pretty equally on my 360, PS3 and PC.
And OP, why are you surprised at the results, this community is very vocally and adamantly the PC master race type crowd.

See my above post as this is generally a 50/50 site that survey which I forgot to mention was something like 52% PC and 48% consoles.

But that was a while ago, I think it's a much bigger divide now.

Which is why I said to see the above post as it is normal to see a shift like this near the end of a console gen as PC becomes much more cost effect in short term start up costs in relation to its power. While consoles have fixed hardware quality and not so much of a fall in price(well usually). It will be more console gamers when next gen comes out, then equal and back to here again near the end. So far most of the gens after the "Golden Age" of PC gaming tend to be like that. Just to add there are plenty of console martyrs around this site who are equally elitist as PC gamers so to say this site has more PC or Console elitists is a fallacy in my experience of this site.

I think that's a very good analysis. Also, the PC has seen a bit of a resurgence these last few years, with more and bigger PC exclusives, plus the indie scene has gotten really big, and has always been best on PC.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

All of them? (excluding wii and mobile of course) Don't make me choose!
I guess PS3 at the moment given that it's the most recent, but I do play pretty equally on my 360, PS3 and PC.
And OP, why are you surprised at the results, this community is very vocally and adamantly the PC master race type crowd.

See my above post as this is generally a 50/50 site that survey which I forgot to mention was something like 52% PC and 48% consoles.

But that was a while ago, I think it's a much bigger divide now.

Which is why I said to see the above post as it is normal to see a shift like this near the end of a console gen as PC becomes much more cost effect in short term start up costs in relation to its power. While consoles have fixed hardware quality and not so much of a fall in price(well usually). It will be more console gamers when next gen comes out, then equal and back to here again near the end. So far most of the gens after the "Golden Age" of PC gaming tend to be like that. Just to add there are plenty of console martyrs around this site who are equally elitist as PC gamers so to say this site has more PC or Console elitists is a fallacy in my experience of this site.

I think that's a very good analysis. Also, the PC has seen a bit of a resurgence these last few years, with more and bigger PC exclusives, plus the indie scene has gotten really big, and has always been best on PC.

Well we will have to see what happens but I think we are at another interesting point in gaming history with the popularity of mobile gaming, the Wii and "Casual" gaming and this sort of possible second coming of the PC as mainstream platform.

 

[Regiment]

I'm surprised that the PC is the favorite by that much, but not surprised that it's the favorite. I imagined that about half of people play on the PC, and half on a console of some sort.

 

[Uriain]

if I answered this about 3 months ago, I would have said Xbox. Lately though, I am finding myself buying more games for PS3 and PC as Xbox isnt really "doing it" for me anymore. I buy some games, like CoD or Spacemarine, LotR:WotN on Xbox, mainly because the majority of my friends who play videogames only grab multiplayer titles on Xbox.

So I said PS3, as I am playing both Batman's, Fifa 12, God of War III, and Darkstalkers on the PS3 right now, and BF3, Skyrim, soon to be SW:ToR and Rage on PC

 

[King of Wei]

Xbox 360 for me. Though once I get a job and have some disposable income of my own, i'll be getting a gamming PC ASAP.

 

[Wolfram23]

Almost 500 respondants and 63.5% are on PC? What the hell? I was pretty sure these forums were flooded with consolitis. I mean, console gamers.

I wonder if it has anything to do with Skyrim...

 

[endtherapture]

PC. All the latest games run fine on my PC, advantage of cheap games, gog.com, Steam sales, mods etc. It's the best platform.

Occasionally play on my Gamecube and GBA SP though

 

[windlenot]

Forgive me for not reading all posts for the previous 4 pages to see if this point was brought up, but isn't it a bit wrong to ask this question on through a media mostly accessed through PCs? I mean sure, you can access it through Wii, PS3, and Mobile, but there's no way I use internet browsers the same way I use it here now. But those are just my thoughts.

 

[ChaoticKraus]

I have a medium range PC and a PS3, my lil brothers have a Wii. I'm rarely limited by platform when it comes to games. I mostly use the PC though.

 

[HerrBobo]

PC.

I can see why people game on 360 or PS3 though.

My 8800GTX game up the ghost on the 22nd of August after three and a half great years together. I bought a replacement for ?70, but that broke too. At that point I thought it might in fact be my hard drive that was causing errors, so I bought a new one for ?50. I did not fix the problem. It turns out that my MoBo had gone bad and was shorting out the cards.

So, I bought a new MoBo and a new CPU for ?250 and got them installed for ?80. At this point I was broke and I started saving for a new card and RAM.

As luck would have it, my Dad gave me ?1000 when I graduated for my M.A. I went out and bought a new screen for ?200, eight gigs of RAM for ?80 and a new 570GTX for ?337.

Te card was broken out of the box, I got it checked at a local store for ?35.

I have returned it to the site I bought it off and I'm waiting for a refund at the moment. I just hope they give me one and don't say that I broke it, or some shit!

So, to sum up I have been with out a proper card for 107 days, so I can not play any new games (I have an onboard ATI 3000 that does play some older stuff). Fixing/upgrading has cost me ?997 and everything is still not sorted!

I love pc gaming. A pc can do everything a console can and more. It is the cutting edge of gaming from indie to AAA shooters, from arcade racing to hardcore WW1 flight sims. When things are going right it is the best platform for gaming, IMHO.

When things go wrong though, it is expensive and frustrating to get right.

These issues have testing my belief in pc gaming. I'm still a believer, but I can now see when people go with 360/ps3.

 

[craftomega]

Let's try to avoid X IS BETTER THAN Y REGARDLESS OF ARGUMENTS TO THE CONTRARY posts. Because they make the poster sound ridiculous and the Game Boy Color is already a thing.


So simply put, what's your primary platform?


Poll is working! HUZZAH!

Just saying this entire thing is flawed... you can only say with any accuacry that people who go on the escapist and go onto the gaming forum are X. The reason is simple. What percentage of console gamers regularly go only websites of this kind? Then look at what percentage of gamers who play on PC go on these kinds of websites..... There is gona be a BIG difference there.

 

[ResonanceGames]

I definitely game the most on the PC, with the PS3 in a distance second. I'd like to get a 360, but the wench has put a damper on that plan.

 

[2fish]

PC has taken over my gaming. Yay my cheap ass 5 year old PC can still play games!

My 360 still plays fighting games, Spectacle fighters, Perfect Dark, or games that didn't port to PC well.

 

[CheckD3]

PS3...I've gotten used to the controls, plus free online is nice, and I use it all the time to watch movies and netflix...it was God of War that helped me choose when I got it

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

PS3 because well I prefer my consoles and well its a hell of a lot cheaper then pc gaming since I do it properly.

But it is. If you're a gamer. Games for PC are cheaper, and you can build a kick-ass PC these days that costs as much as the Xbox did when it was new, except it will last longer while still delivering superior performance and access to other awesome software. (I couldn't live without my video editing software for example, or my music production software)

A really, really cheap PC today (500$) is still 5 times more powerful than an Xbox 360 really, but not exactly futureproof since new consoles are less than 2 years away.

I will never understand why people say that pc gaming is cheaper because they can build a pc these days for as much as an xbox costed five years ago. Its just such an idiotic statement that does not make any sense.

A PC built from scratch at the same time the consoles are released will be able to last their whole gen cycle without any upgrading but degrading settings. PC games are cheaper by at least ?10 if not more so the more games you buy the cheaper PC gaming is. It makes sense because you are getting much more for what you spend but without going into specs a new PC is ?500-?600 while a new Xbox slim is ?250 on Amazon and leaving out a price for controller as I assume it is included. Now I'll take the aggregate cost of what you need to spend to play everything on high settings which is about the ?500-600 mark so that is ?550 for a PC. So this is not the price of a really cheap PC a really cheap PC would be the same as consoles this is the lowest cost PC can that do max settings so roughly a mid tiered PC taking the near future into account..

Excluding XBL costs you would need to buy 20 games at retail price to make back your money if you game on PC which is not a lot over the course of about 4 years given when the Slim was released to estimated next gen. Of course you can buy pre-owned which then it is only fair that I include Steam sales which the average pre-owned game around where I am is around ?20-25 after a bit of price drop while Steam sales usually bring games down to around ?5-15 mark but this fluctuates heavily as it a sale.

So while not the best way to make the argument that a ?500 PC is cheaper than consoles overall if you game a lot(which I do) a PC is the best way to go if you want to be cost effective especially at this late stage in the current gen.

Let's try to avoid X IS BETTER THAN Y REGARDLESS OF ARGUMENTS TO THE CONTRARY posts. Because they make the poster sound ridiculous and the Game Boy Color is already a thing.


So simply put, what's your primary platform?


Poll is working! HUZZAH!

Just saying this entire thing is flawed... you can only say with any accuacry that people who go on the escapist and go onto the gaming forum are X. The reason is simple. What percentage of console gamers regularly go only websites of this kind? Then look at what percentage of gamers who play on PC go on these kinds of websites..... There is gona be a BIG difference there.

Forgive me for not reading all posts for the previous 4 pages to see if this point was brought up, but isn't it a bit wrong to ask this question on through a media mostly accessed through PCs? I mean sure, you can access it through Wii, PS3, and Mobile, but there's no way I use internet browsers the same way I use it here now. But those are just my thoughts.

Ok this to the two of you and this was already addressed by me above there is no problem asking a question like this on a site like this. The Escapist is usually around the 50/50 given by a survey here a couple of years ago. A shift like this in the amount of people who play on certain platforms is completely normal at this stage of the generation. In short more people tend to play consoles near the start of gen then in middle people play both then at the end PC is played more due to it being much more cost effective in the late stages. I didn't hear anyone complaining about the rough 52% PC to 48% in the actual survey about 2 years ago.

Besides consoles can go on the internet and like a TV most people have some form of a PC or access to the internet so you can't really say that it really skews results a lot. Now while the general "rabble" of gaming(on both PC and consoles) don't concern themselves with sites like this the fanbase is generally 50/50 with some sites maybe having a bias in certain areas. Take here for example we have a higher than average rate of Bioware, Bethesda and Valve fans than most other forums.

 

[willsham45]

I got a PC, the power house. For gaming, photoshop, modeling and rendering.

I got a small laptop for web, travel, finding solutions to problems of the PC when it breaks down, and web searching when in game.

I got a wii for multiplayer when I got mates round...or atleast that was the plan...its more like I got the wii for mario, zelda and what other games look good. IE I get it out once a year more or less.

other than PC's and the Wii in the past I had an N64...that about summs it all up.

 

[kortin]

The PC, along with the PS3. I play both almost equally.

 

[Woodsey]

Play on the PC like a Tricky B(oss).

 

[ResonanceSD]

Play on the PC like a Tricky B(oss).

Tricky B? I missed your reference.