So what is the advantage of a console?

[deehadley]

The biggest thing for me is the ability to rent games, I can't afford to buy all the games I want to play (I have to save for months to buy a game) but for £5.99 a month I can have a 360 game for as long as I want, send it back and get the next one.

This way you also have no issues with accidently buying a short game with no replay value and crap multiplayer.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Consoles have a standardized set of hardware, something that PCs do not. If you think that isn't something important, go tell it to a programmer at a major game studio, I'm sure they'd love to hear your opinion.

 

[SpAc3man]

We have motion controls! Yeah, how can you beat that?! [small]nope[/small]

Ummm yup. We have that too [http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-controllers/razer-hydra]

Pretty much nothing. Only thing you cant do on a PC is console exclusives.

 

[lacktheknack]

We have motion controls! Yeah, how can you beat that?! [small]nope[/small]

I also heard it's physically impossible to sit back and relax on a sofa whilst gaming on a PC.

Lies. Plug in a controller, hook it up to your TV and you're good to go.

OT: Increasingly little. There's exclusives and cheapness, but as someone who's already invested in a PC, there's no good reason to switch now.

Sure, you can return console games post-purchase... for now.

Sure, there's a heavy emphasis on physical copies and not so much push for console DD... for now.

And, of course, a current consoles cannot be nicely emulated... say it with me... for now.

Next generation is going to be... interesting.

 

[lacktheknack]

Consoles have a standardized set of hardware, something that PCs do not. If you think that isn't something important, go tell it to a programmer at a major game studio, I'm sure they'd love to hear your opinion.

The downside to this, of course, is that the standardized hardware goes out of date right away and stays there.

And with talk of "moduling" or console upgrades to get around this also-rather-important issue, it looks like proper standardization is going to be history as well.

 

[octafish]

Red Dead Redemption, thatgamecompany.
Money (although that is moot if you already own a PC or don't have a TV).
Even a complete moron can use a console, you need to be able to read and use google to troubleshoot a PC.

 

[DementedSheep]

Far less technical issues since they use the same hardware, easier to play with friends if not all your friends have good PCs and you can split screen, potentially cheaper (unless you need a decent PC anyway for other things), all around easier to use, console exclusives and able to rent and trade games though they seem to be trying to stamp that out.
I?m mostly a PC gamer.

 

[Roofstone]

Easier to use overall. No installs and so on.(Ps3 excluded)

I can sit down on my couch or lay in my bed while playing it? That is a pretty good advantage if you ask me.
\(^.^)/

 

[Watcheroftrends]

It's an all-in-one box that "just works". It acts as a way of compartmentalization, making entertainment a destination seperate from all other things in the world. It materializes the concept of gaming - consoles and games are luxury products that one can go out and buy with the frame of mind that they are purchasing a slice of happiness itself.

It's a matter of perspectve, really. Like, say, most people buy a car to get places. Some people, though, get really into cars and tune up the engine, customize the interior, etc. They're the pc gamers of the car world. They invest a little more of themselves for more return. To the normal person, though, a car is a car. It's something defined purely by its function rather than the sum of its parts (sorta literally, haha).

Neither path is more right than the other - it just depends on what you want out of the journey. Peace.

 

[Raine_sage]

snip

Ask online what parts to get and state a budget.

When it arrives follow the extremely simple instructions that come with the motherboard.

Boom, you are now part of the "master race".

fyi It's not "part #32115". Nearly every cable and slot is easy to identify and aren't hard to use.

That's part of the problem though, when you do something wrong while attempting to configure a PC from the various bits that make a PC a PC and not a large paper weight you generally have no idea what went wrong if you're not already tech savy as opposed to say, following a guide from a tech manual that you wouldn't have picked up otherwise.

"I don't understand, everything's plugged in right, I've replaced the video card five times, why do I keep getting black bars on the screen? It's not the monitor I know that. Why computer gods whyyyyy?"

I don't know maybe I'm just unlucky with machines, I've never really had a good track record with them, but over the course of three laptops, from three different companies, I've never had a game download and install itself correctly. You'd think that'd be the most failproof action possible for putting game onto pc right? Click a button, wait an hour to download/install, then play game. Maybe occasionally there's some agreement you have to click yes to or a site you need to create an account with but overall it should work from the getgo. But I always get an error message along the lines of "Hey there, a file that was supposed to be in one folder magically jumped to another folder and we won't tell you which one. Have fun!"

This isn't even for mods or other enhancements liable to wreck a game. This happens for the vanilla game files virgin and untouched by myself. I have no clue why it happens to me. It certainly doesn't happen for other people. But either way consoles have not had this problem, so I like consoles. Consoles and me are awrite.

I guess the point of this rambling wall of text is that Murphy's law most definitely applies to computers and especially when the person trying to assemble a delicate piece of machinery is not only technologically illiterate, they're cursed by some malevolent computer deity.

 

[Sight Unseen]

So what is the other side? Is there any possible advantage consoles have that PCs do not? Because I honestly can't think of any. The only one I've ever seen brought out is "simplicity" and while that argument maybe had some ground to stand on in 2001 or so, it doesn't stand up at all nowadays.

How did that argument lose ground? Plugging my console into my TV with a controller is a lot easier than doing that with my PC. Also you never have to worry about compatibility issues, you put a game in and it works. I use both and I prefer my console since I don't have to spend hours fiddling with it to get it to work.

Unless you're playing Skyrim on the PS3.


OT: Because consoles have Rock Band on them. That's the only reason I still play on my xbox.

 

[The Harkinator]

How many PC gamers can say a PC they had when the Xbox 360 and PS3 were initially released still plays all the new releases without having to spend lots of money on hardware upgrades?

Consoles from 2007 can play The Witcher 2 and unmodified PCs from 2007 probably can't.

 

[Tiberiu Paul Iordache]

Indeed the easier to use aspect is appealing.

There is also the aspect of money. Being a PC gamer means you have to update your PC's hardware about two, maybe even three times a year so you can play all the latest games. That is really expensive when you start to add up all the money spent for a gaming PC. With a console, until now it's been "Spend 200-300 dollars now and you're set for playing games for the next 5, maybe 10 years!" And I'm saying this because I know some of the latest graphic cards cost more than a console. Overall it's less expensive.

 

[Joccaren]

Oh god. That guy was right. The return of the PC vs Console threads is nigh!
Well, time to set up my chair:

Well, I'll bite on one thing here. There are a number of comments saying "I know what's compatible with my system. I just go buy and Xbox/PS3/Wii and I know what I put on there will work, with a PC you have to worry about too many things like which OS you're running".

This might stand some ground, if you weren't so lazy. Yes, I'm calling you lazy - but only towards PCs. Its the whole multiple OS versions and types that got me on this warpath, so its them this is mostly directed to.

Provided you use your PC for purely gaming, like you would your console, you should have no more problem playing games on it than you do on your console.
"But I can just put a game in and it will run! I would never have any idea with a PC".
Ok then, put a Wii game in your Xbox and tell me if it runs. No? Good.
Of course, that probably seems like common sense to you. Which is why I call you lazy now.
Another example. Put a PS2 game in a non-backwards compatible PS3 version. Does it run? No?
Again, your laziness.

This is the same thing that you are criticizing PC games for and that makes them inaccessible. You buy a Mac PC, or you buy a Windows one [Or Linux, but that's far rarer]. You have Windows Xp, Vista, 7 or 8 on it [Or the other OS equivalents].
This is comparable to Buying an Xbox console, or a Playstation one [Or a Wii, but rarer these days]. You can buy a PS1, PS2 or PS3 [Or the other brand equivalents].
If you can't tell whether it will run on your system, you are seriously just lazy. It even says on the box "For Windows XP/Vista/7". Its there.

Drivers are an entirely different kettle of fish, but I generally would compare them to updating your console firmware - only you don't have to do it [It can help, but I've had one game that I've had to actually do it for].
Generally I get the feeling that these problems come from people trying to run games on a really old machine, or one that they recently reloaded/upgraded. I again compare this to buying an old console your friend bought on release day but never plugged in once, and going to play it. Firmware updates are required.

I will put it out there that getting games to work on PC is more time consuming than getting them to run on console - especially if you custom build - but that is becoming less and less true with time, thanks to developments such as SSDs. It is not, however, harder. You turn your PC on, you check put the CD in, install/run dependent on game and if you have it installed already or not, and if it doesn't work you update drivers. Beyond that its going to be an issue with something you've done with your PC outside of gaming - IMO comparable to turning your console into a 'Jailbroken' one with Homebrew OS on it [Which I believe I've used the wrong terms here, and is illegal, but you want a dedicated gaming machine you can use your PC as a dedicated gaming machine], or a problem on the devs end that I've found to be as common in the console games I've played as on the PC.

 

[Joccaren]

There is also the aspect of money. Being a PC gamer means you have to update your PC's hardware about two, maybe even three times a year so you can play all the latest games. That is really expensive when you start to add up all the money spent for a gaming PC. With a console, until now it's been "Spend 200-300 dollars now and you're set for playing games for the next 5, maybe 10 years!" And I'm saying this because I know some of the latest graphic cards cost more than a console. Overall it's less expensive.

I hate seeing this argument bought up, as it is 100% false. Up until six months ago I was running new games like BF3 on mid to maximum settings using a PC from 8 years ago.

Saying you need to upgrade your PC 2 to 3 times a year is like saying you need to buy a new TV and console 2 to 3 times a year. You don't. It can make your game look prettier and run faster, but you really, really don't. Anybody with any level of PC gaming experience will know this.
Its spend $300-$1000 now, and be set to run games consoles couldn't hope of running for the next 8-12 years.

If we're being completely honest here as well, it is consoles that have the generally higher 'maintenance' costs that add up over time thanks to their game prices being higher than PC gaming prices by about $10 usually, not including second hand, Steam, GoG, or any other retailer of such sorts.

Yes some of the latest graphics cards cost more than a console. There are TVs out there that cost half as much as my car that I could buy. You don't need them though, and you don't sound informed if you say you do.

 

[Cowabungaa]

We have motion controls! Yeah, how can you beat that?! [small]nope[/small]

And twice as cheap as Kinect to boot with a dozen more possibilities.

You can plug it into a TV, pop a disc (or cartridge, cassette, possum skull, etc.) in, and play.
No having to be connected to servers, no having to wait for patches to download for hours, no having to deal with compatibility issues (unless you're trying to ram a SNES cart into a PS3), and you can just play.

If only that was still true today. Publishers are making console games more and more a hassle compared to PC games. It's a shame really.