The Trials and Perils of Returning to PC

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

The Trials and Perils of Returning to PC

People tell me I've been too much of a PC gaming cheerleader since the new console generation started. Fair enough. In the time since I got my new Alienware I've been swiftly reminded of the reasons I turned away from PC gaming in the first place.

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[Zhukov]

Sooo... basically what you're saying is, "Console gaming is dead."

Man, how things change, eh?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

What? I paid 8£ for just cause 2 on the 360 last week! I need a better PC. Still, grapple hooking every little buggering thing to a barrel of explosive fuel never loses its charm
Faith is lost in consoling now. Apart from nintendo, which most ppl i know still don't seem to understand. Fucktards they are. Ahem

 

[Muspelheim]

PC gaming is always going to include a fair bit of faffing about. It's all arcane sorcery to me, but as long as the games keep behaving themselves, I must be doing something right.

Sooo... basically what you're saying is, "Console gaming is dead."

Man, how things change, eh?

Well, more like on failing life support in the intensive care unit, I'd say. There's still a glimmer of hope to consoles, and people still find them preferable sometimes. The recent batch is just not terribly good for what they ought to be trying to achieve.

I do hope they recover, or some more lively console contender appears. Even if they're not what I'm after, I can see the merits of console gaming and I hope that the genre gets some new blood in the future.

 

[Signa]

It really is a shame. I used to just game. I'd game on my N64 playing amazing games like Zelda, and I'd game on my PC, playing amazing games like Jedi Knight. Nowadays, the PC is exactly as described above. I have to choose sides, because I feel dumber for using a console, like the machine doesn't trust me to know how to keep my fingers out of my nose.

 

[Undomesticated Equine]

Do not forget to try the JC 2 multiplayer mod it is amazing chaos albeit bit laggy, still ton of fun. Another advantage of pcgames awesome community made mods.

 

[Xman490]

Faith is lost in consoling now. Apart from nintendo, which most ppl i know still don't seem to understand. Fucktards they are. Ahem

Indeed. Nintendo could rise above the other consoles because of its traditional local multiplayer buffet and exclusives that do at least enough to break the mold while staying true to classic games of the '80s.

Speaking of which, I'm hoping that Super Mario 3D World is next for ZP. It seems to be a 3D Mario game with the design of Super Mario Bros 3 and definitely has the story and characters of Super Mario Bros 2. That could impress Yahtzee. After all, there are no interesting next-gen game besides Knack that came out recently, and it seems like Yahtzee rightfully passed up on the PS Parade's pristine piece of play.

 

[marioandsonic]

Wait, Just Cause 2 was only $2.50 on Steam a while ago?

Why was I not informed?!

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

PCGamingWiki makes stuff less daunting at times.

It never leaves my favourites bar.

The beginning period of adjustment to PC can be a bit daunting, but over time it becomes as easy as using a console; if the game I am playing is acting up, a simple alt+tab, google search can resolve most problems within minutes.

Also if you dont feel like gaming for a bit, alt tab, go to youtube, watch a few videos or listen to music whilst you read an article in another window using that lovely win7 half-window feature(since I got my 23" monitor, it is so much fun to do that).

But I will say, that if a console goes wrong, it's usually a common error, such as RRoD, the Xbone grinding or the original rubber band nonsense with the original xbox, whereas with PC, if something fucks up at the OS level, things can go really bad.

Also, Yahtzee,


I was just thinking about the comments being "Lol @ Yahtzee having Alienware" >.>

 

[themilo504]

Yeah consoles are slowly starting to lose all of the advantages they once have, I?m bit more hopeful about handheld gaming.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Isn't it a sick joke now that you can install a game from a disk FASTER on PC than on a console? How did THAT happen?

 

[DrOswald]

Wait, Just Cause 2 was only $2.50 on Steam a while ago?

Why was I not informed?!

It has been that cheap like 4 times. Put it on your wish list and steam will send you an email about it when it goes on sale.

 

[KDR_11k]

The price for games is a really big factor for me. I think the difference isn't as pronounced in the US but 70? for the console version vs. 50? for the PC one adds up real fast. Prices drop faster and lower on the PC so discounted games are similarly cheaper.

Arcane faffery seems to be needed mostly by big publisher games that fuck up because they expect specific driver versions or run shitty DRM, indie games tend to be much easier to run with the lack of publisher-specific download programs and nonsense like that. Overall faffery has decreased MASSIVELY though, I recall the hell of autoexec.bat and config.sys tinkering to get the right amount of "conventional memory" to run games. Nowadays it's just click and play. And many of the old games that once needed tinkering are now available in pre-packaged form that will run without any messing around.

Even building your own PC got massively easier, I haven't paid attention to the hardware market in a long time so I just asked the sales clerk for part recommendations and went home with a good part combo. Assembling parts is really easy these days with no need for jumper settings or stuff like that and the mainboard even includes a manual for assembling the PC. Even the sharp edges that used to scratch your hands up have disappeared, everything's round and smooth now.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

And then there's the fact that every time I mention that I got an Alienware, all the smug eye-rolling schoolyard elitist tossers burst from the woodwork to patronize me about it. Shut the fuck up. It plays the games I want it to play, it doesn't sound like a jet engine's flying past and I can write the cost off on my tax return.

Ouch. You're probably not going to stop getting shit for the Alienware thing, most PC gamers hate them for their poorly balanced builds and being so overpriced. Although since you obviously don't care then complaining about it is an exercise in futility.

But yeah, PC gaming has hit a sort of renaissance as of late thanks to Steam. And as technology moves on the specialized hardware consoles had are becoming steadily less relevant. I wouldn't be surprised, even if the Steam Machines failed, that we'll hit full PCs in the box by next gen.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

Yeah consoles are slowly starting to lose all of the advantages they once have, I?m bit more hopeful about handheld gaming.

No, not slowly - consoles ARE dead. Just too many people refuse to see it. The console-paradigm ended after the PS2. Nintendo may still holds the light but SCEE and M$ surely do not.


Now I own 1TB of games on my PC Laptop and the problems I had are a handfull.

 

[Schmeiser]

Isn't it a sick joke now that you can install a game from a disk FASTER on PC than on a console? How did THAT happen?

Hahah so true, just a few weeks ago i borrowed my friends ps3 and gta5. So i'm standing there gonna pop the disc in and play GTA (yeeeeeeeeey) so i have to install it and it takes longer than any PC game i ever installed. I was shocked, since these forums led me to believe it's just put in and play. Weird

 

[Callate]

I built my desktop myself. But I have an Alienware M11x from when they were still making those tiny little wonders, and it makes me a happy man. I won't criticize anyone for having an Alienware.

I was "dual"- both computer and console- for much of my childhood, with both an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64. It was clear from early days of playing text adventures with my sisters on my eldest sister's Atari 800 computer that the two were meant for different things, but the programability and better graphics and sound of the C-64 slowly began to draw more and more of my time.

Now as an adult, I'm in a similar boat with my PC and a Wii. I might move onto a Wii-U or PS4 at some point, but I'm in no hurry, and Yahtzee's article kind of highlights why. I still like a console for many of the things that console gaming used to be about- sharing an experience with people in the same room on a television that was kind of central to the home. But my PC tends to give me a more intricate experience that's more about what I want than what the publisher or developer wants. It's less worried that I might play a game some way they never intended, it's less worried about publishing something that might confuse or offend someone. And if the game I want to play isn't out there, I can make it.

One wonders if the Steam Box proves successful if the proprietary hurdles that form the core of today's console experience might prove the death knell.

 

[StHubi]

There seems to be some kind of "PC Gaming Master Race" on The Escapist, when I compare this article with Jim Sterling's video yesterday... I like this a lot though! The article is really well written and an entertaining red.

My gaming career started on my mother's Amiga 500 and I never turned away from home computer gaming for almost 25 years now. During this time a I had a lot of trouble getting all my games running and there was the occasional "Okay, that's it! This game is dead!" situation... But I never gave up easily and learned a lot about the inner workings of a PC. Today I work as a software developer and one the reasons for this is my curiosity to find out, why the man on the screen moves to the left, when I move the joystick to the left Without PC gaming this probably would never have happened.

 

[baba44713]

I don't think it's really about "consoles vs PC" anymore.. as I see it's just about the good old common sense.

You buy a product for its features. Because it does something that you appreciate and enjoy. And you choose one product over another because it does something better than the other product, or in a different manner that you personally appreciate.

A PC does everything console does, and does it better. With a lot of additional features. For less hassle and - quite often when it comes to games - a fraction of the price. Unless you are extremely eager to play new releases as soon as they become available, the sale prices are so low it's incredible. In fact, I am always amazed that PC game piracy is a thing anymore - you have to be really damn stubborn or truly cheap to risk getting a pirated version with such dirt cheap prices on various sales, humble bundles and whatnot.

Why even consider console as an option? I can see two reasons that aren't insane - you have enough money to get a PC AND a console, or the exclusives appeal to you so much you just cannot fathom a reality where you end up NOT playing them.

Arguing what is better is childish, because it's almost always a non-issue. You cannot argue for consoles if console is pretty much an overpriced castrated PC in disguise, and the energy used for arguing why console gaming is so great would be much better spent for advocating that console gaming needs to become so much more than it is today. I would LOVE to see a console which would blow me away the way SNES console blew me and my C64-gaming ass away back in the day.

Now excuse me, I'm going to grab my XBox controller and play some console games (which I bought for 5% of their console sale price) after which I will fire up XBMC and watch some movies on my PC. Maybe I'll be slightly sad that my PC doesn't have a shiny X on it, but somehow I doubt it.