The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race

[Bruno Beaudoin]

Man, the next page button is so small, so hidden, I'd say without joking that probably 80% of readers didn't see the article's conclusion.

Apart from that, good conclusion... I think that the real reason PC gamers are seen as elitists is because most gamers have no imagination or simply don't think about things. There's a much better gaming experience possible and just within your reach, but you can't see it and can't be bothered to search for it. I mean, a mouse, mods, open platform and all the hardware and software advantages... I guess it matches with your conclusion a bit Yahtzee.

 

[1337mokro]

So is it elitest to jack up the price of the console by $150 instead to get backwards compatibility? Because I'm sure thats taking it more out of people's reach then the possibility of playing AC4 without having played Ac1-3 (because the person had 0 consoles or PCs for most of the franchise?)


Or how about consoles kept the archaic architecture that made developers bend over backwards to get the games to work?

You kind of make it sound like your expecting backwards compatibility to drop from the skys with no serious drawbacks in pure crystalline form. Of course we can make a console also play PS3 games at no extra expense! It's trivial to run two entirely different architectures in one box!

Emulators.

The current consoles are nothing but cheap PC's who should all be able to run emulators. There is no reason why a console that runs on a version of windows is unable to run a fucking emulator.

Anyway welcome back Yahtzee. We kept your can of spray on tan and blond wavy hair wig safe in anticipation of your return. Now with our powers combined we can form the Master Gaming Zord and crush the peasant rebellion.

 

[MidnightRising]

Loved the article. Really, I thought it was fantastically well written and easily explained my personal problem with the upcoming generation of consoles.

One thing that I find rather humorous is that backwards compatibility is a very, VERY new notion with games. The N64 couldn't play SNES games, the Saturn couldn't play Genesis games, etc. There was a sweet spot in gaming history where newer systems could play older games (with a few exceptions), and it's looking as though that time is passing. It's rather sad.

Even most current gen consoles have issues with backwards compatibility. But I have to admit that my favorite way of dealing with this problem was how Sony dealt with it with the PS3. Take an entire series of games, give them HD textures, trophies, package them all up into a single convenient package and then sell them for less than the price of a full game. That was a fantastic way to do it-- I personally own most PS3 Collection disks because I really do like them.

That said, you really can't do the same thing for the next generation of consoles. I mean, I suppose they could package all the Gears of War games for the 360 into one disk for the One, but without any real updates they're going to end up alienating a ton of their fans.

 

[themilo504]

In my opinion the place to go if you want convenience is the hand held market.

 

[Howling Din]

Um... Little point out. The term "Master Race" comes from racism, not elitism. Two different things, you know.

 

[BrotherRool]

Emulators.

The current consoles are nothing but cheap PC's who should all be able to run emulators. There is no reason why a console that runs on a version of windows is unable to run a fucking emulator.

Anyway welcome back Yahtzee. We kept your can of spray on tan and blond wavy hair wig safe in anticipation of your return. Now with our powers combined we can form the Master Gaming Zord and crush the peasant rebellion.

The current consoles are pretty darn far way from cheap PC's that's part of the problem, because the architecture is so twisted emulating is seriously hard.

To give you a level of the scope of the problem, we haven't actually managed to successfully emulate PS2 games yet. it's almost there but after years of work and roughly 10x the hardware. Emulating PS3 and 360 games may be a decade off yet. Unless your console has a PC hardware layout (like the PS4 and One) then you need an insane amount of power to emulate a console with relatively weak stats.

 

[Stryc9]

I really wonder if Microsoft isn't doing all this shit with the Xbone so that they can have the easy excuse of "We're discontinuing our console gaming department due to poor sales of our last console." or not. It really seems like with all the mixed messages and that half-ass announcement makes it look like their heart really isn't in it anymore and that may be for the best for Microsoft as a whole.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

A few months a go, I bought a new video card. It'll run new games on full spec without a hiccup & only cost about $200

I'm really starting to question why exactly I should get any console, cuz it seem like the costs that once reserved PC gaming for the elite is actually cheaper than game consoles (granted, my PC is above average to start with)

 

[The Lugz]

You can?t take it back, it?s ours now.

I just upgraded with a Samsung 256GB SSD and I?m going to upgrade my graphics card to a GTX 770 awaiting the arrival of my Oculus Rift soon.

I?m also looking forward to 4K monitors coming up and you can?t stop me!

SSD technology? you don't have a 64 terabyte flash ram assisted raid array?

a 770?! golly you're behind! you need quad 780's with liquid helium and capacitor volt mods stat!

4k monitor? array some projectors into a wall size 21600p display

psh, you call yourself an elitist !

Spoiler

THIS IS A JOKE! basically there are always elitists no-matter what you do and some of them are even quite nice people too ( also i want that pc and the mini-nuclear power-plant to power it. LOL )

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

Just last December I bought a manufactured laptop for $400 -- $100 less than the Wii U's MSRP, and almost assuredly cheaper than the PS4 or Xbone will be at launch -- that plays PC games amdirably for what it is. Bioshock Infinite runs just fine on it at reduced settings (that, mind you, still amount to higher graphical quality than either the PS3 or 360), for crying out loud, and the laptop has integrated video memory. The kicker is the games are cheaper, and internet service fast and affordable enough, that I can purchase and download a title off Steam cheaper, in less time, and with less hassle, than it would take me to go to the closest game store. New-ish games even have graphical auto-settings that are reasonably accurate, cutting the last remaining hassle of setting up a PC title to bare minimum.

You'll always have the pretentious few who will own multiple-thousand-dollars PC's and crow as if they're God's gift to gaming...but then again, so did early PS3 adopters, and before them Saturn and Dreamcast adopters. PC gaming isn't just for elitists any more, at least in my opinion moving into the next generation of consoles it's cheaper, easier, faster, and without the gimmicks that increasingly look to be the last gasps of the "gaming console" business.

 

[Callate]

Yes, I put a significant investment into my PC. Yes, some times it's fiddly; some times I just have to reboot it, or worse, delve into the depths of the web to try to figure out why some odd error is recurring.

But on the other hand, it's lasted me for several years, and I've never been dependent on Microsoft or Sony if something went wrong; I've never had a problem that I or someone close to me couldn't fix. I've never had to go without because its manufacturer decided they didn't want to support an option any more; I've never lacked alternatives. I have two operating systems running on the same system, and if I feel an urge to play a game from 1993, or want to check out a beta from two guys in a garage who couldn't dream of paying the fees to get on to XBLA, I can do that.

I don't think of myself as elitist; I own a console and a handheld, and I can certainly appreciate the benefits of developers knowing exactly what the specs of the system they're developing for are, and what controller players will play it with. If you're having fun with what you're playing on what you're playing it on, more power to ya. I don't resent the players that some good games will end up on consoles not the PC, although in some cases it seems short-sighted of the developers.

But I also note the benefits on the console side seem to be waning each passing generation, and the XBox One announcement makes this statement writ large. If you're going to have to update your system frequently, use only the software the distributor explicitly decides to permit in ways they explicitly permit, allow them to check up on you regularly to make sure you aren't doing anything that would make them look at you crosswise, and pay more for your games... Suddenly the occasional disk defrag or virus check doesn't seem all that bad.

 

[penprog]

"A top-of-the-range desktop PC costs a lot more, but I wouldn't just be paying to buy into the new games club. I'd be paying for an entire history of games, safely filed away on GOG.com and the Steam listings."

No it's still not worth it Yahtzee. Not when it costs thousands of dollars for a man to accomplish. Shame on you and everyone who agrees with this. I'd like my games to be affordable without having to buy a bunch of random pieces that cost the price of an actual console.

Forget PC, it's the handheld market that's the true master race.

Are you kidding me?

Look at this guide http://www.logicalincrements.com/

For $535 you can get a computer that can run almost every single game at above 40 fps on ULTRA settings at 1080p (yeah, your consoles don't run at 1080p). Also keep in mind that gaming computers aren't magical machines that can only be used for playing video games like consoles. Also, video game prices for pc are on sale ALL the time. Skyrim was on sale for 30 dollars about a month and a half after it was released. Actually GOOD games come out for 15 dollars all the time. Mods, dedicated servers, gaming community servers, free to play games, mmos, real time strategy, etc ,etc. Also no paying to play online. Choice between using a keyboard/mouse or gamepad. Upgradeability. Games that have communities for decades. (CoD 2, Bf 1942, CS 1.6, etc).

If you are serious about getting the best deal for a gaming system, PC is the only option. Everything else is secondary.

 

[Bruno Beaudoin]

A few months a go, I bought a new video card. It'll run new games on full spec without a hiccup & only cost about $200

I'm really starting to question why exactly I should get any console, cuz it seem like the costs that once reserved PC gaming for the elite is actually cheaper than game consoles (granted, my PC is above average to start with)

You need a PC at home. Take the 400-600$ you'd put into a new console, the 100$ you'd put into extra controllers and gizmos and the 20-30$ extra per game and use them to get gaming level pieces for your PC. Get a 300$ video card and put the rest into whatever part is slower.

 

[Imre Csete]

I never understood why putting effort into making your game run can be considered as a disadvantage.

It's not like you have to host an SQL server for data packages (hi there Dragon Age Toolset!). If twiddling with the VGA drivers and whatnots gives me the best performance my PC is capable of, then I just can't think why I shouldn't invest a few minutes of my life to make it happen.

 

[Woodsey]

How many PC gamers actually continuously upgrade their machine? It's expensive and pointless. I'm a PC gamer and have friends who are also PC gamers and I never witnessed this phenomenon.

A lot of people tend to rather over do the amount of problems they're going to face on a PC. The amount of times I see console players list "drivers" specifically as a reason for avoiding PC gaming is baffling.

Um... Little point out. The term "Master Race" comes from racism, not elitism. Two different things, you know.

The former derives from the latter.

 

[rofltehcat]

PC gaming may be more expensive in the short run but in the long run it is much cheaper.

Why? First of all, you don't need that great a rig anyways. Normally, 750? in well balanced components (just 150? more than a PS4 and the Xbone may be cheaper at first but will milk you with XBlive subscriptions forever) is more than enough and about continual upgrading... nobody except a few guys actually does that. Most people never upgrade and are fine. This is actually a great time to switch to PC gaming because once we have more detailed performance specs of the two next gen consoles, you can just buy a PC that is slightly better than their specs and will be fine for the whole next gaming generation.

Moreover, look at prices of console games vs. prices of PC games. I'm not just talking about brand-new titles here but also the way the prices of games change. PC games drop in prices much faster and much lower than console games. Plus you have access to a huge backlog of games you can grab for 10-15? off steam/gog/retail budget bins. Add the great indie titles.

In the end, you also won't be bound to a single company that can basically dictate everything to you. Chances are that with the termination of used games sales, M$ will be able to dictate prices for everything. Price drops? Unlikely when they can just sell everything for 60?. They will be abusing the shit out of that monopoly and will do anything to make switching away from their system as painful as possible.
And if you get a Xbone, they'll milk you hard.

 

[Sticky]

"A top-of-the-range desktop PC costs a lot more, but I wouldn't just be paying to buy into the new games club. I'd be paying for an entire history of games, safely filed away on GOG.com and the Steam listings."

No it's still not worth it Yahtzee. Not when it costs thousands of dollars for a man to accomplish. Shame on you and everyone who agrees with this.

And shame on you for not actually knowing how much it costs, never taking the time to research it, and instead spouting nonsense that you parrot from other people who also know as little as you do about the subject.

No really, without going to Newegg or googling what an IBM workstation costs, how much do you think it costs to make a good gaming PC from the ground up? I want to hear this one.

 

[n00beffect]

You can?t take it back, it?s ours now.

I just upgraded with a Samsung 256GB SSD and I?m going to upgrade my graphics card to a GTX 770 awaiting the arrival of my Oculus Rift soon.

I?m also looking forward to 4K monitors coming up and you can?t stop me!

Fuck yeah, man! Nice! I bought and Alienware Mx14 Laptop, Intel i7 quad 2.30GhZ, Nvidia GT650M, 6GB memory and I skimped a bit on the hard drive, only 500GB, but that's plenty for me. And yeah, it cost me short of £1200, but you know what? It was totally worth it. I imagine if I had bought all the current gen consoles, that would have probably cost me a lot more, and for what? To play a handful of exclusive titles, and the whole 'stick it in and play' thing, which, to be honest, for PC is 'stick it in, next, next, install and play', so it's pretty much the same.

Edit: Oh, and not to mention that after you've already installed it(which some people have a *major* problem with, for some reason??) it's merely 'double-click and play', so it's even better.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

PC gaming isn't expensive, not when compared to what console gamers are paying for their fix. My four-year-old $1200 PC has paid for itself multiple times over. $60 titles are a rarity, we get reasonable Day One discounts, we get massive discounts anywhere from a few weeks to a few months after release, and we get free games directly from the publishers or bundled with our gaming hardware. Not only that, the prices for PC hardware have been reduced drastically since the mid-2000s -- you can now spend less than $700 and get a very passable gaming computer.

Outside of one example, I haven't payed full price for a PC game in over seven years. People who claim "PC gaming is just too expensive when compared to console gaming" don't know what they're talking about.

 

[Mcupobob]

I don't understand why people say its PC gaming is inconvenient. Maybe when it comes to installing hard copies? Been awhile since I've done that, steam and GOG have made installing pretty idiot proof. If you have a good enough rig you rarely run into hardware or software problems. Also it doesn't cost much for a decent gaming rig if you know what your doing, $600 and some clever shopping and your good to go for a good couple of years without needing a upgrade and those upgrades can be spaced out over the course of your computers life.

I'll concede that PC gaming isn't as convenient as a console, but you don't have to invest much time into learning the ropes. In the end you'll get far more bang for your buck. Used to be strictly a console gamer in till my xbox died after that invested some time and money into a gaming rig and haven't looked back since.