RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS!

[BruceVC]

So far, consoles still haven't been making enough games that make me want to spend the money to have one. Once in a great while there's a console-only game I might be mildly interested in, but that's a once in a blue moon exception. I'd buy/maintain a PC regardless, and hubs just tosses together PC's to attach to the big TV when he wants it, so for me ... not much incentive/reason to double-up.

 

I agree with this, the only game I really wanted to play on PC that was console only has been Red Dead Redemption

[Guest Slinky]

Hmmm Blizzard being sued for a change...

 

http://www.rockpaper...authenticators/

 

The legal argument over authenticators is interesting. What do the rest of you think? Is it really like buying a car, then someone saying "Oh, by the way, it's a doddle to break into, you need to buy our new alarm system to protect it!"

 

Or, conversely, is it like providing a computer then not unreasonably charging money for extra anti-virus?

 

Are you trying to ruin a perfectly good PC vs consoles war?

[Drowsy Emperor]

The thing is, there are no proponents of consoles here, its the snobs who have both vs the pc only disadvantaged (who in typical proleterian fashion adopt the I DONT NEEDS IT argument, because MY PC CAN DOES IT ALL BETTERZ [not because I can't afford it, no sir]).

 

Technically I'd be a snob if if I wasn't running obsolete hardware on both fronts.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Drowsy Emperor

[Tigranes]

Wait, you mean, not actually wanting a console is not a valid option? Doesn't that make your declaration the most pretentious of all?

 

I loved my PS1 and Nintendo is always good for having people over, but I haven't had a gamer social network offline in yoinks and I haven't seen a console game I really wanted to play in years.

[Volourn]

"Because the PC computer and console computer are two computers and there is only space for one in this town. "

 

I own a console a PC. I'm better off for it. I just don't find graphics (oen of the biggest PC purist bragging points) for the PC really all thgat more impressive than the console. I play DA on console. I play it on PC. And, I don't any real difference between the two. IOt's the same game graphically. *shrug*

[Drowsy Emperor]

Wait, you mean, not actually wanting a console is not a valid option? Doesn't that make your declaration the most pretentious of all?

 

 

Not wanting one just means you're denying yourself quite a few good games *shrug*. Why would you not want a console, presuming you had the money to throw around?

 

"Because the PC computer and console computer are two computers and there is only space for one in this town. "

 

I own a console a PC. I'm better off for it. I just don't find graphics (oen of the biggest PC purist bragging points) for the PC really all thgat more impressive than the console. I play DA on console. I play it on PC. And, I don't any real difference between the two. IOt's the same game graphically. *shrug*

 

My post was making fun of the tribal attitudes, I also have both.

 

While most of my best gaming moments were on the PC, there were at least two games I played on the PS2 (the only console I ever owned) that were mindblowing (FFX, SOC) and plenty of other worthwhile ones.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Drowsy Emperor

[alanschu]

Not wanting one just means you're denying yourself quite a few good games *shrug*. Why would you not want a console, presuming you had the money to throw around?

 

It's more a time issue for me. In general I prefer PC gaming, and while I do own a 360 (picked it up for Rock Band 2) ultimately I find myself rarely playing (and preferring to play) the console.

 

The only exclusive that I missed that I really wanted to play was Red Dead Redemption, but it's not like I was ever at a time where I felt "Oh man, I don't have any games to play at all."

[Tigranes]

You mean, if I had all the money and time in the world, why would I not want something? Well, firstly, that's a rather vapid supposition. But OK, of course I'd want a PS3 if I was rich and idle, next to my yacht, my harem, and my giant amusement park made entirely of crates. But the PS3 still wouldn't get a lot of use, because I would still, you know, want to have fun, and most of the games don't seem that fun to me. That's not to say there aren't any fun games on there, but back in the real world, it's not really a good value proposition for my money and time. I'd rather play another round of IWD than, say, Okami. Obviously it's a different value proposition for everyone else.

 

I will note that a large part of this is due to emulation technology, since we can now comfortably play anything up to the PS1 era. I do like having the original Super Marios or FF6/7 or FF Tactics available on the PC.

[LadyCrimson]

Not wanting one just means you're denying yourself quite a few good games *shrug*. Why would you not want a console, presuming you had the money to throw around?

Perhaps because some of us don't feel like we're missing any "good games?" Shooters aren't generally my thing, and neither are sports games. I've had no interest in the FF series or the other RPG's I've seen for consoles. Console exclusives are rare-ish and most of the time they aren't even games I care about in the first place. All my favorite games and genres are ones that (still) don't/wouldn't work well on consoles. All the little independent games I'm interested in are for PC. I can think of one console exclusive game in all these years that I was slightly interested in, and that was Red Dead Redemption. One "maybe" game isn't enough for me to spend $400+ just to play it. I'd get more use/function from spending $400 on a new camera lens.

 

So why should I waste money, even if I have the money to waste, on something that will end up sitting on a shelf unused? Just because one has money to "throw around" doesn't mean one necessarily throws it around indiscriminately when there's no personal benefit/gain.

 

And I've seen plenty of console "elitists" just as much as I see PC "elitists" - neither platform consists of a group that is exempt from such attitudes. Seems silly to me either way. I like red apples, someone else likes golden apples. They're both apples. Just play.

[Nepenthe]

Yeah the cheapest PS3 here is about 310$/240€. While a prebuild mid range PC (all included) would be 520$/400€ (you could probably build one yourself for 300-400$). And you'd have to upgrade it every 5-7 years (for about 200-400$ I would guess) to play the new games. To me that seems like consoles win in the long run money wise - but I don't know about discount on games for consoles, new ones are about 100$ while it's ~60$ for the expensive ones on PC. But with Steam is easy to get fairly new games for 20€/25$.

Cheapest prebuilt I saw on a quick search was indeed 400e, with integrated graphics and a Celeron. If I pick the cheapest possible components I can probably get something for 500e without any guarantees it'll work. No advantages over consoles reachable at this price point.

 

Whenever I start actually customising something with the principle of not buying total crap so that I can get use out of the case and a decent size HD, as well as graphics and audio that allow me to take advantage of my home theatre setup I always wind up at around 1200e. At this price point I can start to run stuff reliably at 1080p and high settings, which is where I'm getting an actual improvement over a console.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Not wanting one just means you're denying yourself quite a few good games *shrug*. Why would you not want a console, presuming you had the money to throw around?

Perhaps because some of us don't feel like we're missing any "good games?" Shooters aren't generally my thing, and neither are sports games. I've had no interest in the FF series or the other RPG's I've seen for consoles. Console exclusives are rare-ish and most of the time they aren't even games I care about in the first place. All my favorite games and genres are ones that (still) don't/wouldn't work well on consoles. All the little independent games I'm interested in are for PC. I can think of one console exclusive game in all these years that I was slightly interested in, and that was Red Dead Redemption. One "maybe" game isn't enough for me to spend $400+ just to play it. I'd get more use/function from spending $400 on a new camera lens.

 

So why should I waste money, even if I have the money to waste, on something that will end up sitting on a shelf unused? Just because one has money to "throw around" doesn't mean one necessarily throws it around indiscriminately when there's no personal benefit/gain.

 

And I've seen plenty of console "elitists" just as much as I see PC "elitists" - neither platform consists of a group that is exempt from such attitudes. Seems silly to me either way. I like red apples, someone else likes golden apples. They're both apples. Just play.

 

Yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you're actually well informed about what games are available on the 2 main consoles. Because I sure as hell wasn't back in the day when I was only playing the PC (why would I be?) and I distinctly remember saying the same things you're saying now and realizing later (when it turned out that the PS2 had a massive catalog of good titles, in just about every genre) that I was talking out of my bum. At least with that console its inconceivable that you could find yourself not liking any of the games that are available on it.

 

But, whatever, each to his/her own.

 

Btw console exclusives aren't rare, there are less of them now than there used to be but the PS2 has easily a hundred games (probably hundreds though) that were never released on any other platform. And shooters are mostly a PC genre you know, if you think console gaming is all shooters and sports games... well.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Drowsy Emperor

[alanschu]

Yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you're actually well informed about what games are available on the 2 main consoles. Because I sure as hell wasn't back in the day when I was only playing the PC (why would I be?) and I distinctly remember saying the same things you're saying now and realizing later (when it turned out that the PS2 had a massive catalog of good titles, in just about every genre) that I was talking out of my bum. At least with that console its inconceivable that you could find yourself not liking any of the games that are available on it.

Every system ever made likely has some games on it that I like.

 

You're awfully defensive, and for what purpose? Because someone doesn't typically like the games on a console so it's not an issue for them to not get one?

Edited November 10, 2012 by alanschu

[LadyCrimson]

I'm not super informed, no, and I admit that. But I've certainly had periodic times where I think to myself "maybe consoles might appeal to me now" and thus go out and do some research on them and what games are available. eg, I've seen the giant lists of console game titles, look through them, read reviews, look at YouTube vids if any...and so far, nothing sparks my interest.

 

I wasn't saying all console games are sports/shooters ... I did mention FF, I believe. But those types of RPG's don't appear to be my thing. It's true that if I gave them a chance, there's always that small chance I'd change my mind. But people buy stuff based on research and knowing what their own personal likes/dislikes are, and on that, consoles still aren't interesting. For me personally, there's also the issue that I just don't like controllers. I've tried. Played BL2 with controller for months. Tried FNV with one even. It works. I still don't like them.

 

I've repeatedly thought my husband might like a console, however, since he pretty much defines the "sit on the couch/likes controllers" stereotype of gamer, heh, and I think there might be more console games he'd like vs. PC games that cater to kb/mouse, but he still refuses to consider one because he likes the tech control of PC gaming. *shrug*

We did buy the original NES back in the day, which, outside of Snake Rattle n Roll, basically ended up as a paperweight. (edit: I also don't like platformers. Even on the PC. Never have.)

[Rostere]

I bought a XBox 360 to play Deadly Premonition. Consoles don't have a lot of interesting titles, really, but it's worth having one for the few there are. (Yes, I'm the guy who played RE4, Psychonauts and SH2 on my PC, with keyboard controls) Also, the notion that there are games of every genre for the consoles is simply not true. I will change that opinion the day they release EVE Online or the next EU game for consoles.

[HoonDing]

Indeed there are many excellent titles on PS and PS2, but I can't think of any worthwhile ones on either Xbox, except for that crazy Nazi vampire TRPG and that Japanese exclusive mech game from From Software.

[GhostofAnakin]

Where are you folks buying your PC gaming rigs? I've never owned a PC capable of playing all the games that was as cheap as a XBox360 or PS3.

 

Consoles are more convenient for technically inept folk like me. I don't ever have to worry about whether my PC can run a game when a new game is released with my console, which is something I always had to check for when I used to play games exclusively on PC.

[pmp10]

Where are you folks buying your PC gaming rigs? I've never owned a PC capable of playing all the games that was as cheap as a XBox360 or PS3.

Discussing prices is problematic as it will vary depending on country.

Popularity / publishers / taxes / sales and used market make for a major difference in what is affordable.

[LadyCrimson]

Where are you folks buying your PC gaming rigs? I've never owned a PC capable of playing all the games that was as cheap as a XBox360 or PS3.

We buy parts and put them together.

 

My current PC was about $800 + $200 for a new LCD monitor (my first one of those...) when I put it together a few years ago. Since then I've added more RAM and a very expensive video card, but neither of those things was a "must have" upgrade in order to play any games...I did it because I felt like it. I suspect this PC will last at least a few more years before games I'm personally interested in will start to make me think about upgrading again.

 

But yes, prices and methods are going to vary from place to place/country to country, and whether you buy prebuilt or build your own. All of that. In my opinion, PC gaming rigs are always going to cost more than a console (assuming you only buy one console) but it's nowhere near as huge a gap as some make it out to be, in terms of cost per year (original set-up cost, game costs, whatever other possible peripheral costs).

[greylord]

With PC's, I'd say it used to be that you had to have at least a thousand dollars to buy a really good one. My current gaming rig however was gotten almost three years ago. It had 6 RAM at the time, and a nice Vid Card. With a simple upgrade on the Vidcard it still out strips anything with a console easily with higher resolution.

 

The thing is, PC gaming has been dying on the tech front. Nothing is really coming out that pushes tech bounderies like it used to, so one can actually get away with getting a PC rig and letting it be the sole gaming rig for a while. Everyone is making games for consoles and then porting it over to PC, and those are the games "pushing" the tech bounderies...when in reality they aren't really so much pushing the tech bounderies as much as they are optimized for consoles and because they aren't optimized for PC's...end up taking up a lot of memory and other items.

 

The other games that are for download are typically more indie type games...and I don't think I've gotten a one that couldn't run on a 5 year old PC thus far.

 

However, there are still games coming out for PC's...just not like they used to on the AAAA front. I think the last one's I really invested anytime into would be the Diablo III and the Torchlight II items in NEW games (still play old games, recently did all the Win 7 hacks in order to make the old Lucasarts games like X-wing playable on 64 bit win7).

 

I hate playing FPS games on consoles...the same goes for flight sims (and in truth the only hardcore flight sims are actually ON the PC's).

 

On consoles however there are game series I absolutely love. Some of them are actually on PC as well, but I think they were executed better on console.

 

Mass Effect

Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger (If you haven't tried these...these are absolutes if you want to see something that has C&C that really affect how a game ends in it).

Lunar (Silver Star and Eternal Blue)

Grandia Series

Final Fantasy (Hit and miss on some of these)

Growlanser series

Everquest Champions series (and you can toss in the BG series...not to be confused with the PC BG series)

C&C/C&C Red Alert

Civ Revolutions

Force Unleashed series (wish they got a third)

Fifa

 

And a bunch more, but that gives a round about range of different varieties of games that I enjoy.

[Zoraptor]

Where are you folks buying your PC gaming rigs? I've never owned a PC capable of playing all the games that was as cheap as a XBox360 or PS3.

A PS3 in New Zealand was as much as ~1050USD on release, and a 360 wasn't that much cheaper. You can build a very decent PC for that (or a slightly less decent one and get someone else to assemble it) though it's more difficult if you're buying beige box retail. That costing was an extreme case but even now if you have a decent baseline PC a very reasonable quality video card costs less than a PS360- which are in the 300-350USD range unless buying a non HD non kinect 360.

 

Really though it's a Total Cost of Ownership thing, I doubt anyone really believes the PC can compete on pure price except in extreme cases like the one above. If I were to be buying new release games here I'd expect to save something like 200USD a year on PC over console just from price differentials and even taking into account using UK remailers to get around the consoles' ludicrous regional game pricing; that and the added flexibility and utility of the PC are the sort of things taken into account.

[sorophx]

I never owned a PC that cost more than $500. and I still remember when PS3 was $700. so, yeah, talk about cheap consoles and expensive gaming PCs.

[AwesomeOcelot]

Where are you folks buying your PC gaming rigs? I've never owned a PC capable of playing all the games that was as cheap as a XBox360 or PS3.

 

Consoles are more convenient for technically inept folk like me. I don't ever have to worry about whether my PC can run a game when a new game is released with my console, which is something I always had to check for when I used to play games exclusively on PC.

 

PS3 and Xbox play games at 1280x720, and there's difference in viewing distance and FOV that means they get away with shockingly bad texture work and other instances of low fidelity. Not sure about the same price, but you're going to have a PC for surfing and office anyway (so take away the price of a budget PC), and you get way better value for games on a PC (and more selection and variety), taking that into account PC gaming is cheaper. Also playing FPS on a console is stupid.

[Nepenthe]

While technically correct, there are games that run at 1080p (at least on the ps3), and many of the supposedly 720p games run at a lower resolution.

You're awfully defensive, and for what purpose? Because someone doesn't typically like the games on a console so it's not an issue for them to not get one?

Interesting thing, reader bias. I'm seeing defensiveness on the other side of the argument, not his. Never having considered myself a "tribal gamer", I find his views as a reformed one particularly intriguing and insightful.

 

I know for myself last gen I never had a particular idea what games where available for PS2, since I had my xbox for the kotors etc. and that's it. When I bought a PS3 for the blu-ray drive I suddenly got a much clearer picture about the games that I'd missed.

 

With PC's, I'd say it used to be that you had to have at least a thousand dollars to buy a really good one. My current gaming rig however was gotten almost three years ago. It had 6 RAM at the time, and a nice Vid Card. With a simple upgrade on the Vidcard it still out strips anything with a console easily with higher resolution.

 

Or 1000e + 22 % VAT, still, if you're not lucky enough to live in the land of the cheap. For a guy who plays something like 4-5 games a year, that's a pretty high buy-in cost.

[AwesomeOcelot]

While technically correct, there are games that run at 1080p (at least on the ps3), and many of the supposedly 720p games run at a lower resolution.

 

Yeah, a few games run at 1080p on PS3, if they are the type of games that are pre-rendered, very scripted, low fidelity, or not much happens in them. I heard recently that some Xbox games aren't even 720p, 640x480, the newest generation of Intel integrated graphics could pull that off for Xbox360 games. Another important point, these games run at 30fps, it's pretty easy to get a PC to do that at these low resolutions.

 

Two big issues I have with consoles is HDD and RAM, not enough capacity, they really effected the performance of consoles. Loading games from discs is painfully slow, and with the amount of RAM these consoles require loading twice as often, and game maps were getting smaller and content less dense as graphic fidelity increased.

Edited November 11, 2012 by AwesomeOcelot

[Drowsy Emperor]

Yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you're actually well informed about what games are available on the 2 main consoles. Because I sure as hell wasn't back in the day when I was only playing the PC (why would I be?) and I distinctly remember saying the same things you're saying now and realizing later (when it turned out that the PS2 had a massive catalog of good titles, in just about every genre) that I was talking out of my bum. At least with that console its inconceivable that you could find yourself not liking any of the games that are available on it.

Every system ever made likely has some games on it that I like.

 

You're awfully defensive, and for what purpose? Because someone doesn't typically like the games on a console so it's not an issue for them to not get one?

 

I'm just giving some advice I could have used at the time. I'm not a great fan of console gaming myself, but getting one certainly opened me up to some new experiences.