Full disclosure before we begin: I am a PC/PS3 gamer. I have tons of game on steam as well as over 30 games on PS3, and am a PS+ subscriber. I like PC games, some PS3 exclusives, and even XBOX exclusive games like Halo. Also I love Mario, Zelda, and other Nintendo IPs.
2013 is right around the corner and everyone is getting excited about the new consoles coming out. I myself was one of those people up until a few weeks ago. Which one will be better graphics? Which one will release first? Can the Wii U keep up? However I have completely lost interest in the new generation of consoles due to STEAM Big Picture Mode which was recently announced, and many of you might too if you keep reading. For those of you who don’t know, the STEAM Big Picture Mode (which from now on will be called (STEAM BPM) essentially turns your PC into a console experience. Here is a review from IGN:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
How many times have you said “I wish ‘insert console manufacturer’s name’ added this feature, or added that feature”. Perfect example would be PS3’s cross game chat or XBOX LIVE gold subscription which should be free. Some of us have waited years for these things to happen, only to be let down by Microsoft and SONY. If you were in charge of your own system, you could have added this and other features simply by installing additional software. We don’t have to be at the mercy of the Big 3.
So why is STEAM BPM a big deal? Because almost every single reason used to justify consoles over PC has been eradicated (more on the almost later). Here are the top reasons why you should at least consider ditching the next gen consoles in favor of the STEAM Box console.
#1. STEAM BPM now allows gamers to sit on their couch and use a controller with a beautiful, fast and efficient interface to play video games. You can set up a 360 or PS3 controller to play from your couch. Furthermore, the STEAM BPM mode is much faster than other console interfaces (Just look at the new Wii U interface and how people are waiting 20s just to go into system settings. Is this really happening in 2012?).
#2. Games. Steambox console (PC) has the widest variety of both Steambox as well as CONSOLE games. This makes it the ULTIMATE console. You heard that right. With PC you can play every single PC game released to date, as well as the following console games:
-All console games released by Nintendo before the Wii U. There is an emulator for every single console. In the case of GameCube and Wii U emulation, a single emulator called “Dolphin” exists which not only emulates all of the games 100% accurately, but also allows you to play Nintendo games in 1080p with extra graphical enhancements such as AA turned on! Don’t believe me? http://dolphin-emulator.com... . You can check out some of the games they play on YouTube which look much clearer on the PC than on the actual Wii. Also… It’s free.
-All PSX games.
-75% of PS2 games have been emulated. (PS3 emulation is incoming. EmulatorX team is already working on it). Even PS3 doesn’t have this capability anymore.
-All XBOX 1 games.
-All older system games including Sega dreamcast,etc…
#3. PC gaming has become simple. In the past console gamers have said PC gaming is complicated…. Because it was. But it’s not anymore.
-Drivers
All you have to do for drivers is go to Nvidia’s website, they auto detect your hardware, you click “Download” and install it. It’s that easy.
-Optimal Game Settings
NVIDIA just invented something called OPS or “Optimum Playable Settings”. All you do is go to their website, click on which GPU you have, and which game you want to play, and they will show you which settings to put to have the best experience. Take a look:
http://www.geforce.com/opti...
#4. Best Graphics.
Always. PC will always have better graphics. All you need to do is when you build your PC, make sure to get a graphics card which outperforms that of the consoles. That way you are set for that entire console generation and will be playing with better graphics than all your friends. No need to upgrade. Also, its not as expensive as you might think (more on that later).
5. Exclusive Games
Consoles have their exclusive games, but PC has its own. HON, DOTA2, STARCRAFT 2, Planetside 2 (2000 people multiplayer FPS anyone?). There are many exclusive games to play as a PC Gamer. And all of the multiplats of course.
6. Easy to build.
No really, it’s actually just as easy as playing Lego. All you need to do is go on tech forums like tomshwardare and say “Hey guys I have X amount of money and I want a PC. Tell me what parts to buy”. They will tell you the best configuration you can get for your money. Then you put those parts together (which is so easy my tech incompetent girlfriend built half of my PC). Here is an example (You can click on every part to see how it’s installed):
http://www.pcityourself.com...
Are some of you going to argue that this process is difficult or that you couldn’t do it? Not only is it easy, it’s worth it for the ultimate gaming experience.
7. Cost of gaming
PC Gaming cost is on par with that of consoles. Because console games are more expensive and you pay $10 per new game, some of you pay XBL fees of $60 per year, etc…. the costs even out. In fact, depending on how many games you buy you may actually make out better as a PC gamer (Even after building a PC for $800-$900 or so).
Steam sales give away games for $5 or even $2.50. That’s even a better deal than PS+ because you actually own the games you buy. They are even holding a sale for controller-supported games right now to promote their Big Picture Mode (click on top left green circle):
http://store.steampowered.c...
Also Humble Indie Bundles let you pay what you want to get great games (And the recently announced THQ bundle): You get all of the games listed here if you pay $6 (I Paid 15$ b/c I wanted to support THQ).
http://www.humblebundle.com...
8. Mods
Free graphical and content upgrades. Essentially Free DLC. Awesome no?
These are the reasons why I am ditching the Big 3 for gaming next gen, and will be doing my console gaming on the Ultimate Console: The SteamBox. A Unified experience to play console and PC games.
Share your ideas and comments below.
EDIT: Also, I believe Valve is going to succeed. Its unlike most companies out there. You guys should read their new employee handbook its really interesting:
http://media.steampowered.c...
NES & N64 Emulators on Steam BPM. GC, Wii, and PSX Emulators not shown (although I do have them as well).
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Steam Box is going to kick arse for the free community mods. I hope they free.
Interesting points. TF2 on console would be fun.
To clear something up... I actually wrote this before SteamBox was announced. What i was advocating in this article was for people to build their own "SteamBoxes" and run W7, so all of the emulators would work.
But Official steambox from Valve makes things more simple for people who dont want to build their own. At the same time it may have limitations as some of you have described.
While you wrote this before Steambox was announced, I feel some of your points should be addressed in regards to Steambox.
1. So basically instead of getting all the good stuff about PC gaming, your making it more like console gaming. Not necessarily a bad thing, as the markets have been converging for a while now.
2. Variety of games is true when it comes to the PC. However if valve were to go ahead with a console don't expect Sony or Nintendo to sit on their laurels and allow something like ePSXe or Dolphin to run on it. While there is nothing illegal about the emulators, the bios software is OWNED by those respective companies. If valve turned a blind eye to it then they could be held legally accountable.
3. PC Gaming has become simple, but talk to many console owners and they still barely know more than the internet on the computer. While things have become more streamlined, it still has a long way to go to be truly all-inclusive. Tablets have this going for them right now, and it's one reason Windows 8 is obviously trying to mimic that kind of UI.
4. OK. Graphics on any build PC will likely always be better than any console more than a year old. However, there is a problem when it comes to the Steambox. The Steambox is going to be a console, thus at some point they're going to have to finalize the specs and it will have graphics pretty much on par with whatever it comes out against. The Steambox is actually counter-intuitive to one of PC gaming's greatest strengths, and that is upgradability. I saw a lot of nonsense yesterday with a lot of people believing they were going to get some sort of powerhouse PC to run their steam games on, all while thinking it would be competitively priced. That's just not the case, and many people are in need of that reality check.
5. All systems have their exclusives, it's not singular to PC, but PC does have by far the most and widest variety.
6. Not really applicable to the Steambox, but yeah they have become easier to build or buy sufficient ones for whatever your needs.
7. Can't argue with that. Would actually be good for more competitive pricing in the Digital market.
8. Again always nice to get more with Mods. Still remains to be seen if Steambox would allow it.
For now there is really too much speculation on Steambox and not enough information. A lot of PC gamers are hyping it up to be the next coming of Christ, when all it could be is a simple method for those that prefer consoles to get onto Steam. For the serious PC gamer, I think it's going to leave a lot to be desired, and it's still likely they could build a cheaper computer than this box and get better results.
On top of that while I know every PC gamer will disagree, the market for DD still isn't up to par with physical distribution. That's not going to change by next year, so there is more to what's going on than Valve just deciding to enter the console race. You can read my comment history to see why I say that if your interested, but it's OT for this post.
I didn't read through your whole post, I just skimmed through it and read a few points I'm going to reply to.
First of all, your argument for "pcs are simple" and the "use a controller" arguments.
Now, I myself bought a gaming pc about 3 years ago, good enough to run most of the games I've purchased for it. However, about 50% or more of the games I have do NOT support my 360 gamepad, and most of these are not obscure games, they're popular ones.
I know the usual response to this is to download some crappy gamepad button mapper like pinnacle game profiler or the like, but this is not an acceptable solution, as it is HORRIBLE when compared to a game that has built in gamepad support. The differences are night and day, and if you don't believe me, try pinnacle game profiler with CoD4 on PC, then go to the 360 version and use the gamepad, you will notice a massive difference, and if you don't, you're in denial.
So the gamepad argument is not valid at this point in time. Second point I was going to bring up, on the subject of cod4, is game errors, and their method of being fixed.
I bought CoD4 and World at War a while ago, yet I've played very little of it because it has been plagued with crashes and endless loading screens when I try to enter a match. All together I've probably spent about an hour or two scouring the internet for answers on how to fix those problems, yet none of the solutions worked for me, has something to do with punkbuster I think, which I've installed, uninstalled, I've done port forwarding, uninstalled the game and reinstalled it, updated it, whatever, you name it. In fact, the only way for it to work properly without crashing, is to plug a headset into the pc (this was even the suggested solution online). The point is, I've had tons of problems with these two games, problems that should have been patched by now by steams auto update service, yet they haven't.
Now I know these are just two games, but these are two high profile games, and the methods for fixing this, whatever they may be aside from the mic fix, are UNACCEPTABLE. If you were to tell me "oh that's Activisions fault for making crappy versions", that's unacceptable as well (in terms of this whole get rid of consoles, get a pc argument).
Nobody should EVER have to spend time on the internet looking for how to get their game to simply WORK, let alone as much time and effort as I have spent, for ANY game. With consoles, while they do have similar problems sometimes, you only have to wait a week or two for a patch to fix it. This problem for me is STILL not fixed. And these two games are not and will not be the only games with problems like these.
I'm fairly experienced with computers, I've used them quite frequently for about 10 years, and have taken about 2 and a half years of computer courses at a vocational school, I've built my own pc, and had a job for a 6 month period where all I did was build and troubleshoot computers, so I'm not just some moron who only knows how to use a web browser and nothing else.
Gaming should never be such a pain in the ass as it has been for me on PC, and if you want your "you can use a controller" argument to be 100% fullproof, then the only possibility for that would probably have to be each developer patching in optimized gamepad support (not basic barebones mapped functions), for games that aren't too complex for gamepads that is, like most fps and tps games.