I do agree with the OP here... I'm just impatient for that hypothetical 2018 to come. The PS3 and XBox 360 are both now made of obsolete hardware, and both had corners cut in their design in the name of cost that really shouldn't have been (one more than the other, to be sure)... but I don't actually hate either console. Just the companies that spawned them and their design philosophies. I'm sure the engineers who did the designing were even more frustrated than me when they were told to cut costs by fitting sub-par cooling systems and (in one case) easily burnt out, underpowered processors.
Why PC gamers should love (or at least not hate) consoles
- Thread starter Giantpanda602
- Start date
I don't get why people hate so much on consoles. I've also been a console gamer all my life, and while I think that PC is better, I can understand fully why you'd choose console over PC. The amount that it costs to get a really good PC (which, for me is the only way to go after playing console) is kinda prohibiting.
In the previous generation (PS1, Xbox) there were more exclusive games for the console and for the PC. Now most games get a multi-platform release. The problem is that with a multi-platform release developers focus on the console first because of performance issues and the limitations of the controller. Then the developers release the console version on the PC. That's how is usually goes.
More and more PC games are being pushed onto the console (and a few console originals pushed to the PC). The console used to excel at fighting games, action games ala Devil May Cry and JRPG's. While the PC used to excel at strategy games, first person shooters and WRPG's. Now everything is mixed together with MMORPG's being the only exception. That's still PC territory.
Can't Sony and Microsoft make up and make 1 uber console that runs Windows 8. Oh wait... I see what I did there.
More and more PC games are being pushed onto the console (and a few console originals pushed to the PC). The console used to excel at fighting games, action games ala Devil May Cry and JRPG's. While the PC used to excel at strategy games, first person shooters and WRPG's. Now everything is mixed together with MMORPG's being the only exception. That's still PC territory.
Can't Sony and Microsoft make up and make 1 uber console that runs Windows 8. Oh wait... I see what I did there.
I don't think the hate is so much on the consoles themselves as it is the games that are made for them. Consoles are more popular than PC, so they often get more attention. Now it's a fact that the hardware is inferior, for the most part. The inner bits aren't as powerful and the controllers have less buttons with less precision. It's also generally true (though more debatable) that the average console game is designed for a different mindset than a PC exclusive generally would be due to their ease of use and popularity within certain circles. With this in mind, a game that could be designed one way on a PC would instead be tailored to suit consoles.
And I don't really follow the OP's logic. If developers started making cross platform games between handhelds and consoles and shifted their focus to the mindset of a casual DS owner, I'm sure some console players would be upset. Console players would probably hate handhelds for holding back the potential of their system. So why should a PC player love consoles for slowly becoming something they've already owned for years?
Now, for the record, I don't hate consoles. I purely played on consoles my whole life up until about three years ago. But I hate to see the lost potential and emulation of console trends in PC games that could have been way better had the console never been taken into account during development.
EDIT: When console technology gets to the point where they're about on par with a PC, when controllers can be substituted for a special keyboard/mouse/controller meant specifically for precision gaming, and when mods are easy to build for consoles, I'd wager that the hate will drop dramatically. And all these things are definitely possible.
And I don't really follow the OP's logic. If developers started making cross platform games between handhelds and consoles and shifted their focus to the mindset of a casual DS owner, I'm sure some console players would be upset. Console players would probably hate handhelds for holding back the potential of their system. So why should a PC player love consoles for slowly becoming something they've already owned for years?
Now, for the record, I don't hate consoles. I purely played on consoles my whole life up until about three years ago. But I hate to see the lost potential and emulation of console trends in PC games that could have been way better had the console never been taken into account during development.
EDIT: When console technology gets to the point where they're about on par with a PC, when controllers can be substituted for a special keyboard/mouse/controller meant specifically for precision gaming, and when mods are easy to build for consoles, I'd wager that the hate will drop dramatically. And all these things are definitely possible.
They're not 'becoming more like pcs' they are pcs with limited hardware and functionality... which is a shame because the console's main strength has always been that its a purpose built gaming machine - a focus that is being lost these days as the console manufacturers try to cram more non-gaming crap into them. The end result of the console companies trying to make their devices 'home entertainment centres' will be OS bloat and more expensive hardware for minimal improvement in actual gaming performance.Batsamaritan said:
Sony said what? Hahahaha... That's priceless. How the hell did they expect to convert the roughly 1/3 of PC gamers who are also hardware enthusiasts? Or grab the pc gamers heavily into modding, considering Sony are extremely hostile to the kind of open system healthy modding scenes require?
The real problem is going to come when the Loss-Leader sales model that console manufacturers use becomes unsupportable (which it's approaching now). Taking a loss on the sale of each unit sold for the first few years just to get the install base up to a point where they can make all their money back via game sales (which is why console manufactures don't like 2nd hand game sales) only works up to a certain point. As the PS3 showed in it's first years, if the price point is too high you're going to get hammered... and come the next console generation people are going to look back fondly on the PS3's launch price. Especially when a large part of the price increase will be for hardware that doesn't directly improve the console's gaming performance.
Of course, the manufacturers can't really afford to drop the Loss-Leader model, either. That would put them into direct pricing competition with PCs which would take away one of their major advantages of a lower entry cost.
The main reason why I prefer PC has nothing to do with simplified gameplay on consoles and controller vs mouse and keyboard. That still matters a lot to me of course, but the main reason is that PC games last forever. You can play every PC game ever created even on a newest hardware. You can't do that on consoles. When a console dies, so does the game. And your only hope is that some day you'll find another one of those old consoles, or that a developer will remake your favorite game. That's why I'm baffled when I don't see developers developing for PC. I would want my games to last forever.
Most games aren't published that long after their initial release, you might find a few pre-owned copies but nothing the developer would profit from.ImprovizoR said:
I play pc for some things, mostly Blizzard games and City of Villains but I much prefer consoles. Messing around with drivers and upgrades and stuff always seems like more trouble than it's worth, especially since I don't really know what's what inside a computer.
Consoles at the moment are machines that are designed for playing video games exclusively. That is a niche market. yes, all of you belong to a niche market, and so do I.Giantpanda602 said:
But I also use the cimputer for other actions, excluding surfing the net, for academic reasons mainly and also because I'm writing software here (I'm learning a lot), a computer is a versitile tool, I don't need a machine designed specifically for video games.
I won't buy any consoles.
I don't have issues with consoles, because even though my primary platform is PC, I still have a PS3 and do enjoy some of the exclusives that come out for it.
I have a decent laptop, 360, PS3 and live in a house with a Wii, so I don't really suffer the problem as most people seem to do. But I will gladly say that console beats PC in which you can put the disc in and know it will play; not have to spend time worrying about whether the graphics card can handle it, fiddle around for ages with the settings, etc.
I am and have always been a PC gamer. One of the first games I ever played was Duke Nukem when I was about 5. I stick to PC because I prefer a mouse and keyboard. Personally, I can't aim on a console controller (besides the Wii, duh) to save my life. I just dislike how some games that would have worked perfectly fine on a PC are made exclusive to the consoles. I understand that console gamers have probably felt the same way in the past, but my view is that if a game honestly would not work well on a certain platform, it shouldn't be on there. I don't expect developers to port Torchlight or MS Flight Simulator to the consoles, and I don't expect them to put God of War or Wii Sports on the PC. But when a game like Gears of War or Halo 3 (especially Halo 3; they give me a huge cliffhanger at the end of Halo 2 and then decide not to give me Halo 3? Screw that.) is made console exclusive just because they're trying to focus on a different audience or promote their console or whatever it grinds my gears.
