Something I learned about PC gaming...

[mikespoff]

Congrats and welcome.

Of course, if you need a computer at home anyway, it works out even cheaper. The only thing in my PC that's directly related to gaming is the graphics card, and even that is justified by watching DVDs on my PC - which also accounts for the 24" widescreen LCD.

 

[DeaconSawyer]

The thing is consoles and computers have large initial investments computers being larger. For games the consoles is slightly more expensive if your buying new. But they last longer then computers which will have to be upgraded where the console wont for awhile.

In the end what it comes down to is that you seem to think a computer is a larger initial investment, but it isn't.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

[...]

So there you go, from a previous console gamer, PC gaming isn't nearly as expensive as once thought. I'll probably be using this same build through the next console generation too. Still keeping my PS3 of course, I already paid £400 for the thing...

also you forgot that in a PC, DLC can be replaced by MODS and lots of them, 4 FREE !!!

 

[Shycte]

I'm sorry, am I missing something? £700 for a gaming PC, and you're all nodding your heads sagely and agreeing wwith how cheap that is?

A new Xbox 360 with a 250 GB hardrive costs, on Argos.co.uk, £190. That's less than a third of what your PC cost you. A 250 GB PS3 costs £285 from Argos, and that comes with two free games. I'm honestly struggling to see what exaclty is cheap about the PC option.

a pc has more uses

Well, I get get a laptop with those uses and still get in far under £700. Just saying.

I prefer consoles though, eaiser to socialize with a console in my opinion.

But as always, personal preference makes a stop at this station.

 

[Legendairy314]

For me money isn't the primary reason why I've chosen to primarily play consoles (though I won't bother digging around in my head for feasible reasons). PC gaming, console gaming, handhelds; they're all the same to me as long as you can get great games on them.

 

[sir.rutthed]

Good call man. I was in a similar situation, and actually almost to the point of buying an Alienware rig when a buddy held an intervention for me. We built basically the rig I wanted, for 500 bucks, a quarter the price. And when the parts shipped, someone goofed and sent me a free 1TB hard drive! Buying parts online is for sure worth it, and if you can't build a rig yourself get a buddy to do it. Now I have endless reasons to feel superior to console gamers and PC gamers who buy retail alike!

 

[Energylegzz]

Begin long winded rant! I like being able to go back and pick up an old console and remember the fun time I had with it and that means more to me then turning on a PC that has all those old games still on it. It feels better for me to plug in an SNES and throw a game in it then to turn on my PC and scroll down a list and launch an old game. Its not about the future with me its about the past. A PC just can't make me love it because its nothing more then a shell with a bunch of replaced parts, im saying this never having to fix a broke console including my Xbox 360. I have never looked at an old PC and said " Wow, there was so much awesome software for that machine." mainly because I can play it now, and that ruins the memories, I have a vivid memory of me and my cousin playing Pokemon Stadium on his N64 I have no memories like that about a PC. And I prefer Plugging in a second controller and handing it over to a friend then clicking an invite button on a PC. End long winded rant!

 

[captain underpants]

The thing I like most about gaming on a PC is that I'm not forced to use the hardware that one company wants me to use. A console is basically stuck in time, technologically speaking. If my graphics start to chug on the latest games, I just upgrade the graphics card. The current one is a couple of years old, and about due for an upgrade. I consider a couple of hundred bucks a year to be a bargain for being able to stay reasonably current. The PS3 came out in 2006. The PC I was using in 2006, although in the same case, is a very different computer to the one I use today. They expect the PS3 to be the current-gen for at least another 3 or 4 years. I'll be upgrading my computer at least a couple more times by then.

Also, all my games run at 1080p. I can go to 3D anytime I want to upgrade my monitor, and I'm considering a triple screen setup after finding out about some freeware that'll do it (I already have some freeware headtracking and a homemade LED hat). The possibilities are endless, and only limited by my budget. Not being locked into Sony or Microsoft's rather ponderous development cycle is worth paying any price for. Obviously, I'm a bit of a tinkerer, but jeez, how can you be into computers and not be? Upgrading a PC, or even building from scratch, is about as complicated as plugging in a lamp - just match the plugs.

You can even plug one into a big TV and a gamepad and play on the couch if you so choose.

 

[RollForInitiative]

The problem with PC gaming doesn't tend to be the cost as much as it tends to be the PC itself. I still game on PC sometimes but nowhere near as frequently as I used to. It's just not worth the hassle.

 

[captain underpants]

I love PC gaming, its a shame my pc is 6 years old. I really need a new one, but its too expensive for me to even build it myself at the moment. It anoys me when my friend says his computer is outdated and needs to get a new one. I have warned him never to say that again.

That's only a year older than the XBOX 360 . You may not need an entirely new one. You may find an acceptable improvement with a bit more RAM and a midrange graphics card. You may even find a reasonable card second hand. Just note which kind of slot is on your motherboard.

 

[daltob]

my new one that's only 6 months old come next Wednesday was a upwards of $300 since all i did was take my old gfx card and put it in. thanks to newegg i got a HD5670 for around $50 and lets say i see no downside yet
thats only $350 doller computer thats better than my ps3

 

[daltob]

I love PC gaming, its a shame my pc is 6 years old. I really need a new one, but its too expensive for me to even build it myself at the moment. It anoys me when my friend says his computer is outdated and needs to get a new one. I have warned him never to say that again.

That's only a year older than the XBOX 360 . You may not need an entirely new one. You may find an acceptable improvement with a bit more RAM and a midrange graphics card. You may even find a reasonable card second hand. Just note which kind of slot is on your motherboard.

Sorry for the double post but if his mother board doesnt have pci slot thier isnt much he can do in the way of gfx cards since thats only a year younger than my old e-machine im doubtful of it

 

[captain underpants]

Money isn't the problem with PC gaming, it's the troubleshooting that turns me off of it. I buy to play, not to troubleshoot. If I buy a game and have to troubleshoot, that's annoying. If there's a problem that takes more than 2 days to fix, that's unacceptable, and I had to troubleshoot next to everything I bought for the PC.

That's a bit of a furphey. The vast majority of games I have simply install and play. A quick visit to the options screen to set my preferences, and I'm away. The only 'troubleshooting' I've ever had to do with a game is to get older ones to run in later versions of windows - usually solved with at worst a few minutes searching on google, or, more usually, with installing it on the XP build I have on the same machine.

At least I can do that. Backwards compatibility with consoles usually means keeping the old hardware around, and praying that it doesn't fail, or buying it again for the new system if they decide to release it.

With a bit of 'troubleshooting', or as I prefer 'tinkering', I can not only play pretty much any PC game ever made, I can also run any number of emulators (the Amiga one is my favourite - great days for gaming). I have the history of gaming, in playable form, at my fingertips.

 

[Iffat Nur]

Damn you guys and your awesome computers
Im still running on a crap Dimension 4600 my parents got for everyone in 2003

 

[captain underpants]

I love PC gaming, its a shame my pc is 6 years old. I really need a new one, but its too expensive for me to even build it myself at the moment. It anoys me when my friend says his computer is outdated and needs to get a new one. I have warned him never to say that again.

That's only a year older than the XBOX 360 . You may not need an entirely new one. You may find an acceptable improvement with a bit more RAM and a midrange graphics card. You may even find a reasonable card second hand. Just note which kind of slot is on your motherboard.

Sorry for the double post but if his mother board doesnt have pci slot thier isnt much he can do in the way of gfx cards since thats only a year younger than my old e-machine im doubtful of it

True enough. Then again, a new motherboard isn't a significant extra cost. I'm just saying you don't need to replace the entire machine to bring it up to date. I'd start with adding some RAM and seeing how much it helps.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Money isn't the problem with PC gaming, it's the troubleshooting that turns me off of it. I buy to play, not to troubleshoot. If I buy a game and have to troubleshoot, that's annoying. If there's a problem that takes more than 2 days to fix, that's unacceptable, and I had to troubleshoot next to everything I bought for the PC.

That's a bit of a furphey. The vast majority of games I have simply install and play. A quick visit to the options screen to set my preferences, and I'm away. The only 'troubleshooting' I've ever had to do with a game is to get older ones to run in later versions of windows - usually solved with at worst a few minutes searching on google, or, more usually, with installing it on the XP build I have on the same machine.

At least I can do that. Backwards compatibility with consoles usually means keeping the old hardware around, and praying that it doesn't fail, or buying it again for the new system if they decide to release it.

With a bit of 'troubleshooting', or as I prefer 'tinkering', I can not only play pretty much any PC game ever made, I can also run any number of emulators (the Amiga one is my favourite - great days for gaming). I have the history of gaming, in playable form, at my fingertips.

Yep. You have the know-how, and you actually enjoy troubleshooting, so the PC is perfect for you. I almost never have hardware issues with consoles, and they are a lot more user-friendly, so we each found our preferred platform.

 

[numbersix1979]

Well at least that's one of you.

Now for the rest who list "oh it's sooo expenisve" as a reason as to why PC gaming is "dying".

What about the rest of us who list 'terrible games, bullshit system requirements, unintuitive controls and a serious lack of innovation' as to why PC gaming is most assuredly dying? Or being absorbed by Zynga games, like an ameoba swallowing a horse.

The first lot of rambling is made up of opinions (although I'd love to know your actual system requirements) so fair enough, but your Zynga statement is false.

You see, PCs have this remarkable ability to, you know, do other stuff. Zynga is a developer for web-based social networking games. Believe it or not, Farmville's not really pulling people away from playing the likes of Team Fortress 2 and whatnot.

As for unintuitive controls, I don't know what's intuitive about aiming with a stick that can only move up to a set speed. Like I said, personal choice.

Now excuse me whilst I log in to Steam; tell me, have you heard of it child? Of course, since PC gaming's dying it's only got over 2 million users logged in right now, but I still like to hop on it every now-and-then.

Sorry to tell you this, but fucking Team Fortress 2 isn't going to carry the computer gaming industry on its back forever. Neither is Crysis or even Steam for that matter. Steam is in business because it's cheap. I don't know whether you've ever played a computer game you had a boot from a CD, but every single time has been nothing but pain and misery for me. I don't like having to deal with reduced graphics or lag if I don't shovel a walletful of cash every year into the pockets of Nvidia, or spend a week updating my computer for no change in performance whatsoever. Yes, computers can do much more things than consoles. But not for long. What with TVs having internet browsers built in and Xbox Live, Steam and the PS3 network, computer gaming is going to have to put up or shut up. Maybe you enjoy how finnicky a mouse is and applying it to gameplay, or using 60 different button combos for simple moves, or the computer industry slowly squeezing you for every dime you have. Some people are just masochists.