PC vs Console gaming analysis

[Malc]

As a general question, who would prefer playing Alan Wake on 360 or PC?

I believe i'd get a far better experience on the 360 with a controller, big TV, couch, surround sound etc. But obviously you'd get better graphics if you have a decent enough PC...

[Matt]

I'd get a big TV, couch, surround sound and controller on my PC. With better graphics, the PC would have it for me

Something worth discussing but has been totally forgotten about is the ability for the PC dev to get patches out immediately to fix things. MS in particular are as slow as can be in "approving" every little patch, the result being PC games often get incremental updates to fix issues, exploits, improve things, better balance, whatever, within the first week of launch, while console gamers may have to wait literally months for these same issues to be addressed on their systems.

[Malc]

I'd get a big TV, couch, surround sound and controller on my PC. With better graphics, the PC would have it for me

Something worth discussing but has been totally forgotten about is the ability for the PC dev to get patches out immediately to fix things. MS in particular are as slow as can be in "approving" every little patch, the result being PC games often get incremental updates to fix issues, exploits, improve things, better balance, whatever, within the first week of launch, while console gamers may have to wait literally months for these same issues to be addressed on their systems.

Damn you Chain! Both wasn't an option.

I agree on the patching issue. MS's approval system is slow and labourous (Don't think it's months though).

[Dazzyman]

On the flip side though PC games get released with serious game breaking faults because they know they can patch them and sometimes you can wait months for them to fix those issues. Stalker is a good example of this out of the box. At least with console games their certified that the majority of the game works properly and it wont fail when you try to load it. The amount of PC games Ive bought over the years and Ive benched em because they need a proper patch is stupid it happened on Medieval total war 2 as another example. I detest the whole PC patching issue I think its been a major downfall of the gaming scene on the PC it never used to be bad like that. Console games seem to be pretty good in general it works and you might get a update the day its released and if one is needed it takes them a week usually to cert it from it being sent. They add bits later on for balancing but you never get it home to find its unplayable.

And Im still waiting for the crysis optomisation patch we where promised over 6months ago lol

[Matt]

As we're seeing now, this is happening more and more with console games as well. Fable 2 co-op, patched in from day 1, for example. While console certification is great in theory, I think the practice is slipping; also where does that leave a dev with an Xmas deadline? Do they have to go "Gold" a month or two earlier than the PC version to get the game in to the certification program?

I agree, releasing games needing patches at all isn't ideal. That's for technical reasons, for gameplay improvements I'd happily see continual patching if it added to the game, though often patches change something very minor that pisses off the hardcore community!

Edit - should note that obviously PC games will likely need more patching due to the huge amount of hardware and possible conflicts caused by this mix-and-match approach. At least with a console the devs know what they're working on from the start.

[Matt]

Damn you Chain! Both wasn't an option.

Sorry Though that does make my point that a PC can exist in the lounge, and in fact once you've used one as an all in one media player, you'd never go back to a standalone DVD / Stereo / whatever. Well, unless you want to spend a fortune on specialist parts.

I don't want to go off topic yet again but if anyone starts a thread in the PC section about PC upscaling, let me know and I'll post some examples of what a half decent PC can do with a DVD

[Malc]

And i'll show you what a PS3 can do with Blu-Ray...

[Matt]

Probably about the same as my PC can do with it's BR drive (only £60 by the way!!)

[eastyy]

i wondered why microsoft have not created a operating system....soley to play games.....surely so much resources is sucked up by non game related things

what i hate about pcs inc....some mad copy protections like with bioshock (and i didnt have the internet at the Time )

when i got half life 2.....on the pc and was only on dial up that was a nightmare trying to get it to work

[Matt]

Another good point there Eastyy - PC copy protection systems Great idea those, **** off your legitimate customers

[Dazzyman]

PC is a great media centre I use mine all the time over the PS3 and 360. Im lucky as my PC is next to my telly at bottom of bed lol The only thing its not as good for with that is for audio for next gen formats as your abit stuffed for proper DTS HD MA being fed thru but for current gen dvd 5.1/DTS and other codecs you just wont get a better upscaler.

Yea for every starforce theirs a broken set of installations they always have to patch lol. Im on about the horrific gameplay element bugs that you know for sure that the game didnt get a adquete QA when they crash at a certain place or completely broken AI routines and mass imbalancing. Again I know part of that comes down to PC gaming was different as its more RTS/strategy based so your always going to have more indepth issues but if you buy a strategy game out the box it shouldnt be completly broken and have to wait months to patch they should at least make some effort.

Regarding Fable 2 I think it should have got delayed personally but they wont break it so doing a patch it job after the fact I still have reservations it will make it for release day going by what Black and white 2 was like heh.

[Matt]

i wondered why microsoft have not created a operating system....soley to play games.....surely so much resources is sucked up by non game related things

I don't understand this either. Strip out all the bloat, just have the basics needed for the file system, io, and DX. I've never been sure about the MS gaming approach. They actually thought it would be a good idea to force PC gamers to buy a Live Gold membership to play the Games For Windows branded titles online! Yeah, PC gamers will do that

Then again, maybe it's the same way MS haven't put a browser on the 360. I was SURE when the PS3 launched, MS would. I think they're trying to keep PC and consoles disparite at the moment.

[kernow]

uh, they did create an operating system solely to play games, its running on the 360

[Matt]

LOL

The new HDD ripping will be a sure sign it's an MS OS when the HDD starts churning! Let's hope they include a defragger (and a good one, unlike the one they ship with Windows ).

[melody]

If you're going to buy a PC for getting best graphics, then it's virtually impossible not to get caught up in a performance frenzy. It's wierd but if I buy a game for a console and occassionally stutters, I usually shrug my shoulders and carry on enjoying the game. If a PC game stutters, because I know I can do something about it, I usually go into mass OCD and won't stop tweaking and patching until i get the matter resolved, sometimes wasting hours on some poxy frame rate.

You are not alone... it's a slippery slope. :/

The big selling point of PC gaming was FPS games but this year I've played through Resistance, Halo 3 and Bioshock on PS3/360 and I really don't think I would have enjoyed them any more than I would have done on a PC setup, both systems have great controllers.