PC vs Console gaming analysis

[Shoju]

I've only recently started to get more into PC gaming having only really used consoles before but I'm really impressed. It was an easy to setup Dell and I've had no problems running any games.

With the specs I have, games like Overlord, Condemned, Bioshock, Prey and Oblivion all look and control much better. Other games which I haven't tried yet are supposedly enhanced on PC like Gears Of War and Mass Effect. There's also the incredible mods available which can add and change an awful lot in a game. That's something console gamers really miss out on.

I first started using keyboard & mouse regularly for FPS games on the DC and since then have always felt it's far superior for an FPS. I didn't like having to go to back to a controller, although it is more convenient and has rumble.

The downside is that this type of PC is really expensive and modifying or upgrading in the future could be tricky and would add to the cost. I expect I might have to rely on the next lot of consoles in 3 years rather than do that.

[Kongster]

Given the choice between a console or a pc for my gaming needs, I'd choose a console. Although I'd make an exception for football management games

[Dazzyman]

Also the argument of play Crysis on a £400 is utter bollox It should be play Crysis WARHEAD on a £400 as you still need a more powerfull one than that for Crysis as its an unoptomised POS and their releasing a optomised patch from what they have learnt over Warhead (they where going to release it earlier but made us all wait).

Oblivion should run fine as its quite an old game. GOW should run fine but it does have apparent tearing and vsync doesnt solve it. It also has a nasty bug with the save system what they never fixed no matter how many thousands of people complained on the official forum to patch it like myself (its a bug with live as all your save data is saved server side to where you are not on your PC and it can get overwritten and lost). Its worth it alone for the extra 2hours on chapter 5 though as it has the best fights and boss fight in entire game. If your getting into the PC for the first time it is fantastic for all the oodles of games of old.

[Matt]

Taking lunch at work, only got a few mins, so can't address all the points. But in brief:

Control systems - controllers are "easier" but kbm is more accurate in FPS games. I won't budge on that statement. Take the best control players, put them against the best kbm'ers, it would be a massacre.

Cost - yes PCs cost more, but you're at the cutting edge of technology. The games evolve. Consoles have held on OK the last few years, but now we're halfway through the 360's lifespan, the PC will extend it's lead - not just graphically either. More power is available. As I've also said, PC games cost ?10 less on average, so you may actually save money depending on your number of purchases each year

"Games will look the same in 3 years on console as they do now" - or something like that, it was said as a GOOD thing?? Bizarre. By that argument, why ever upgrade a console? Because the new console has better graphics! Yes there are other reasons, but you get my point.

Ease of use - consoles have this hands down. PC gaming can be a right wanker at times. Driver issues, config issues, just plain strange **** happening.

Flexibility - for all the effort both consoles are making to become "media hubs" or whatever, the PC has this beaten hands down - play anything, do anything. Of course, you'll probably encounter issues trying to find a nice front end to handle it all as elegantly as the consoles

Upgrades - PC can always be upgraded, and need not be a money pit if you're sensible with your component selection. The 360 is piss poor for upgrades: ?120 for a 120gig drive! PC users can buy a 1tb drive for around ?80.

Online experience - PC gaming online can be a bit of a chore. There are a lot of systems to meet your mates on (Steam, Gamespy, XFire, etc), getting voice comms make require a different server if not supported in game, etc. It can be tricky. On the other hand, I've never had racial or homophobic remarks screamed at me on a PC

My point? I don't really have one I believe both PC and console gaming can live in harmony. I enjoy both, and get the game on the format that will give me the most out of it:

FarCry 2 - PC, online "Live" doesn't interest me, I want the best graphics I can get out of this.

Gears 2 - OK this is console only, but even if it was PC from day 1 as well, I'd likely get the 360 version due to the Live aspect and the game being designed for consoles. Actually, I'd probably get two versions of this, I love my Gears

LBP - again, console only, but in an ideal world I'd get this on PC for level editing, and play it with a pad via the PC. Though again, the online fun aspect is more suited to "console gamers".

Left 4 Dead - unsure on this. 360 offers mates on Live, PC with have smoother frame rate, mods, superior control.

That's all I'm getting this year, so all I'm commenting on. I'm not stuck to one format, I like having the ability to enjoy the best games, on whatever format they appear. Which is why I also have both consoles.

If you don't have a PC, you're missing out on a lot of great games. And vice versa. So get both and feel the joy

Please remember this whole debate started because some people didn't understand that FC2 at 60fps would be superior to FC2 at 30fps

[CMcK]

That argument is largely moot, considering you can use the 360 controller on the PC natively, and it's perfectly possible to hook your PC up to your TV.

Not really. The PC doesn't come with a 360 controller and dongle so that's another hardware purchase required. And games need to support it and then there's still the drivers to sort out.
Yes a PC can be hooked up to a TV assuming your vid card and TV have the required ports. Then you have to buy more cables. And taking the PC out of it's natural environment means ergonomic issues as you no longer have a desk for the mouse and keyboard.
And I'm pretty sure most significant others wouldn't be too happy with a whacking big PC case and more cables in the living room.

[Dazzyman]

360 wired pad you can plug straight into PC USB port and you can use the headset as a mic. Any PC bought in last 5yrs you should be able to hook up to a next gen telly via DVI to HDMI lead your talking £10 for a 10m lead. If you have a HD telly capable of vga port any PC made can be plugged in lol I use my keyboard and mouse in bed as cant sit up at a desk as it hurts too much. Laser mice work great on quilts Again though the first two are against PC as you have to fork out dosh. Also whats happened to PC gaming in general? Wheres all the controllers gone as we dont get descent forcefeedback joysticks anymore.

Erm m8 theirs only crysis what looks any good on PC Theirs nowt else out their to have warranted the cost of a PC over a console in fact the exact oposite with the likes of Uncharted, RFOM2, GOW2, MGS4 and so on for exclusives what PC wont get what all look stunning. The likes of voice chat on PC is also a massive minus over console. Majority of games dont have push to talk your talking server based so you need a host for ventrillo etc... and that usually means going down the clan route like I did with crackclan.

Yep consoles are a sealed unit but each year they squeeze more out of em. The days are gone when you would buy your N64 and mario and gaze over its wonders then the following week buy a 3dfx card and amaze yourself over tomb raider as it looks even better. Same with the PS2/xbox gen their was games on release on PC what looked better than both machines. PC has slowed way back from this we dont see the technical marvels instantly. It took 2yrs for Crysis to hit after 360. 2yrs thats over a gaming evolution when your talking PC specs. By now I would have expected my 360 to be crying while I play the next gen graphics games on my PC but its not happened their all remaining stationary or looking actually better on exclusive console games. Theirs only Crysis thats saved the PC from looking old. It will change but it will start to change next year but by then your talking pretty much 4yrs of a consoles life and its on its older last legs as a gaming platform anyway. In the years before this PC Id have built at least 3 PCs by then lol

Multiplatform stuff stuff like Fallout 3 will get its mod support free and better bump mapping on PC. Same happened with Oblivion but I remember even this PC crying over Oblivion on launch and I could run it better on 360 with better specs till a patch. Same on Bioshock it was either ever so slightly better particles and water on PC at 720p versus better sound and being able to upscale to 1080p with no loss on 360 so my PC version got shoved in the cupboard and moved to 360. I think the only one you will notice a difference with will be Red alert 3 which aint a technical marvel anyway.

Believe me I am and was a serious PC gaming nut I have thousands of PC games in plastic drawers under my bed (Ive got the G15 keyboard and the razor mouse etc.. 5.1 headset and so on) and until the 360 I wouldnt have touched console gaming over the PC. The only thing that keeps it alive for me now is the RTS genre as its the only genre they cant get right on console (Supreme Commander is terrible on console) but one RTS Dawn of War in feb 09 aint much to get exited over next year.

[Shoju]

If you don't have a PC, you're missing out on a lot of great games.

Yeah everything else aside there are still some great PC exclusives. Diablo 3 is top of the list for me possibly bigger than anything else on console. There's also stuff like The Witcher, Crysis, Stalker, The Sims and a lot of great strategy and RPG games.

[kernow]

I was a serious PC nut around quake 1 / 3 etc, then I just gave up, when it came to buying a new gaming machine a while back, I just went for a PS3 and HDTV, I know PC's perform better and have better controls for FPS's etc, but in the end I just couldn't be bothered with the constant upgrading cycle, driver installing, installing games, bla bla bla booring, I'd rather a closed specification device now where all that is gone (apart from installing maybe, heh heh), and play FPS with a pad, I'm too old to care anymore.

[Dazzyman]

Strategy wise Medieval Total war and Civ4 will last you years and same with RTS, Dawn of war 1, Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander and World in conflict. Last 3 of these look very lovely so if you never got into PC gaming their a must. If you have then meh wheres the RTS each week we used to get lol?

[Team Andromeda]

Not really. The PC doesn't come with a 360 controller and dongle so that's another hardware purchase required. And games need to support it and then there's still the drivers to sort out.
Yes a PC can be hooked up to a TV assuming your vid card and TV have the required ports. Then you have to buy more cables. And taking the PC out of it's natural environment means ergonomic issues as you no longer have a desk for the mouse and keyboard.
And I'm pretty sure most significant others wouldn't be too happy with a whacking big PC case and more cables in the living room.

Exactly spot on , Like with everything on the PC , its more complicated and more hassle than a console . By the Time Vista loads, up you can be in a game with your friends on Live . Console wins for me every time, the keyboard was just never made for games at all

[Brats]

Control systems - controllers are "easier" but kbm is more accurate in FPS games. I won't budge on that statement. Take the best control players, put them against the best kbm'ers, it would be a massacre.

It would be, but that doesn't stop the fact that many of us think the controller feels better. The other advantage with a console is that everyone is on the same playing field controller wise.

"Games will look the same in 3 years on console as they do now" - or something like that, it was said as a GOOD thing?? Bizarre. By that argument, why ever upgrade a console? Because the new console has better graphics! Yes there are other reasons, but you get my point.

He meant that the game would still run okay - it woudn't stutter because the minimum specs had increased.

In reality the game would look much better as console games always improve through the console's life.

If you don't have a PC, you're missing out on a lot of great games. And vice versa. So get both and feel the joy

I'd say you're missing out on a few great games and a lot of multi-format stuff, some of which runs a bit better. I think a lot of people don't bother with PCs because there are so many great games on each of the consoles, let alone another machine that brings its own unique issues with it. I have no idea how anyone could keep up with all the games on all four machines. I struggle with just the 360 and the Wii.

And on the frame rate point (which you've left from the other thread but have dragged in here) you may have shown (with some questions despite your protestation of it being fact) that on paper that 60fps may be better, but the main point is that most people either don't care or cannot notice any difference to the gameplay in real life. I can easily see the difference in 60fps and 30fps but I don't feel any detriment (possibly because it's well disguised) to my enjoyment.

It would never, ever affect my judgement on where to buy a game or what platform to buy it on.

[Matt]

It would be, but that doesn't stop the fact that many of us think the controller feels better. The other advantage with a console is that everyone is on the same playing field controller wise.

Aren't all PC gamers on the same playing field controller wise?

Many people do prefer controllers. I prefer the accuracy of kbm, but I've nothing against controllers at all - right now I'm spending considerably more time on console gaming than PCs

I'd say you're missing out on a few great games and a lot of multi-format stuff, some of which runs a bit better. I think a lot of people don't bother with PCs because there are so many great games on each of the consoles, let alone another machine that brings its own unique issues with it. I have no idea how anyone could keep up with all the games on all four machines. I struggle with just the 360 and the Wii.

For me it's simple - don't play everything! I buy maybe a game a month. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I don't want to play everything, and I don't have the time.

And on the frame rate point (which you've left from the other thread but have dragged in here) you may have shown (with some questions despite your protestation of it being fact) that on paper that 60fps may be better, but the main point is that most people either don't care or cannot notice any difference to the gameplay in real life. I can easily see the difference in 60fps and 30fps but I don't feel any detriment (possibly because it's well disguised) to my enjoyment.

It would never, ever affect my judgement on where to buy a game or what platform to buy it on.

I'm sure it would if the consoles, which you clearly prefer, weren't on an even playing field. If a console version was 30fps and the other 60fps, I'd like to think most knowledgeable gamers, with both machines, would choose the 60fps version, all other things being equal.

I do have a feeling that part of the long term success of CoD4 is the 60fps gameplay. It may be a coincidence that the most popular online game is 60fps on all platforms, but it may be people enjoy playing it more because of the framerate. But I don't know.

I'm not looking to drag the FPS discussion in here, I think I've made my points clear enough on that in the other thread, so sorry for going off topic here.

[Malc]

I do have a feeling that part of the long term success of CoD4 is the 60fps gameplay. It may be a coincidence that the most popular online game is 60fps on all platforms, but it may be people enjoy playing it more because of the framerate. But I don't know.

What about Halo 3? That's been the same, if not more popular than COD4. That proves it's the game itself people care about more than just fps.

[Matt]

Absolutely. But that's leave that out of this thread! We've gone off topic and being mod split once already

[Shoju]

Yeah everything else aside there are still some great PC exclusives. Diablo 3 is top of the list for me possibly bigger than anything else on console. There's also stuff like The Witcher, Crysis, Stalker, The Sims and a lot of great strategy and RPG games.

I'll add the hugely ambitious Project Offset which seems like it might be a PC exclusive now.

https://www.gametrailers.com/player/22926.html