After reading countless articles and comments on this site that spread lies and misinformation about this platform I decided to share my thoughts on the matter without screaming “PC gaming is better” or “Consolez FTW”. I am biased towards PC gaming as I am a PC gamer and own neither console. However I used too and gamed on the consoles for years so I believe I have a fair insight on both sides. This is not an article to start a flame war in the comments about which platform you prefer, everyone has their opinion and I advise you not to post why your system is the best. It’s all preference.
This Blog is only here to throw away the big lies about PC gaming which I spread out into three topics.
[Price]
A lot of arguing goes on about this topic. You have the “uninformed” console gamer who believes that a PC costs around £2000 however I am going to ignore this because it’s just plain stupidity. Then you get to the real argument PC’s are a big investment, you are likely to pay triple the price of a console to get a good gaming rig that will last you a while. However console games generally cost around £10 more than a PC game at launch and drop in price a lot quicker. Then there is the factor of upgrading your PC which is not normally necessary to keep playing games which brings me to the second big lie about PC Gaming, people who say that you have to worry about upgrading your parts for every new game that releases. If you invested in a good system at launch there is no reason why it can’t still play games 4-6 years down the line. Due to most games only running DX9 because of the consoles however of course you will need to upgrade your computer if you want to run DX11 and bought a DX9 graphics card however this is not a necessity.
TL;DR PC gaming is a massive investment at first however If you buy a lot of games it will probably end up being cheaper.
[Ease of use and reliability]
Well a lot of people want their gaming platform to be simple and easy to use and in this field consoles trump PC however the jump is not as big as people think and you will actually learn something useful if you learn how to build and maintain a PC. Thinking of building a PC sounds a lot scarier than it really is, I learnt how to build a computer after watching 4 short youtube videos and glancing over my motherboards instructions. Yet it is completely understandable If someone does not wish to do this and consoles are definitely the better choice for ease of use.
A lot of gamers see PC’s as something that never works how you want it too and you need to install drivers and all of these things. However I disagree windows 7 takes care of 99.9% of driver installs automatically. The problems that do occur with my PC can normally be fixed after a quick google search or patch. Consoles on the other hand are not very reliable, The problems that occur with consoles are more likely to require you to return the console unless you have a very good technical understanding.
[Games]
“But the PC has no games” As a PC gamer I hear this a lot. However this is not true at all PC has way more games than both consoles combined. It is fully backwards compatible and with services such as GOG.com really old games are being brought back to life. PC games normally address the PC Gamer crowd. They are often less casual and more strategic. PC gamers love strategy games and so we have big series such as Starcraft and Total War, two games that also hold their own against console top sellers. PC is also the “true” home of indie games and innovation, It offers developers a complete freedom so that they do not have to abide by the rules of Sony or Microsoft which has allowed for some great titles such as Minecraft, Mount and Blade and terraria. Three games that would never have passed approval by Sony and Microsoft due to buying unfinished games and the way they evolve. Then there is Mods, a lot of console gamers see mods as something that adds a new skin or enhances a games graphics however their have been some pretty impressive mods. For example: Team Fortress, Counter Strike, Nehrim, The cube and much more. There are also mods that fix problems in games such as The Unofficial Oblivion Patch that fixes 800 bugs in the game. And of course graphics mods which seem to be getting the most publicity at the moment.
Then there is F2P games. These are regarded by most gamers as cheap and trash however some of these games are pretty good. Recent ones include KAG2D and Team Fortress 2. However I agree that most past F2P games have been plagued by pay to win and all sorts of issues. Developers seem to have noticed this and there are some promising F2P titles such as End of Nations and Firefall which both do something new and great.
So I think that throws out the no games argument.
In conclusion game on what you want to game on. PC gaming is not better than console gaming and console gaming is not better than PC gaming, they both suit different kinds of people. Gaming is primarily about fun after all.
VGChartz's Paul Broussard: "Ultimately, Buckshot Roulette is a fun little distraction that the former stats teacher in me wishes had been fleshed out just a touch more. There’s enough content here to entertain for an hour or so, and while it won’t be the best hour of gameplay you experience this year, it’ll probably be one of the more memorable. Give it a try, and support the developer (Mike Klubnika), so that he can make a sequel where you play Poker against a horrifically toothy version of Clifford the Big Red Dog."
CG writes: We put Solei’s action game into VR using Praydog’s UEVR mod for a really neat third-person Wanted: Dead VR game. What’s great is that it just works with no tweaking required, other than perhaps renaming the OpenVR folder if it fails to inject. The experience is great as a gamepad, third-person action game. Due to the nature of the gameplay, you need to be able to see enemies who sneak up behind you, so the third-person view is perfect for this.
The Outerhaven writes: According to Moon Studios, no rest for the wicked early acess PC release will clock in around 15 to 25 hours of gameplay.
It depends on what you want to play, and how you want to play them.
For instance, MMOs like WoW, and many FPSs seem to handle better on a PC because of things like keybindings and aiming. To some, aiming with a mouse is a lot better than aiming with a controller. Being someone that just got into PC gaming earlier this year, I can say they have a point. In most cases, you can actually do better with mouse and keyboard in terms of getting to things quicker. That doesn't mean you can't play the game on consoles (and play them well). It's just that PC gamers have the advantage there. You'd never be able to get WoW onto consoles without having to factor in how you will be able to hotkey everything. MMOs like DCUO work on consoles because they aren't hotkey based. WoW, SWTOR, and Rift are.
Racing games are different, and can be played on PC, but you would be better off with a gamepad first.
Fighting games will never be standardized on PC because those games are all about FPS and how you utilize that to your advantage, moreso than in any other genre.
PC gaming is expensive to get into (which is the main barrier), but once you have a good rig, you will be able to play pretty much whatever you want without need for FPS caps. Consoles aren't as steep, and you can get games you can't get on PC (like PS3 and Nintendo exclusives). On PC, you have indie titles that can cut out the middle man in most cases, and you can get games on the cheap on things like Steam. Of course, you run into the stuff of DRM there (screw you, Ubisoft, for the draconian DRM that you're too stubborn to admit is just there so you can be as greedy as fuck).
It's all about what you want out of your gaming experience.
@Bladesfist Was a good read, fair points well made.
I think for maybe an initial investment you can build a rig that will last, my own, now pretty ancient, rig: P5E Mb, Q6600 (1.2vid) @ 3.6MHz (on air), 8800GTX @ 615/1890/1441, 4Gig Corsair Dominator and WD Western Digital Raptor X HDD (Crystal) has stood me in good stead. Its still going strong though I am finally looking to upgrade, it struggles on some new stuff maxed out plus I like doing a new build, there's nothing like that first successful post/boot and the sense of achievement you get :D I invested in a decent case 'Z-Machine GT1000', lol 5mm Ali case means I can literally stand on it!! so think it should pretty much last forever,
As you say gaming is about the fun irrespective of platform and different horses for different courses and all that, I myself find the PC + console combination perfect but I can understand that you prefer PC, I recall the very very many hours I've put into strategy games so that statement rings true with me too!
I want to get into PC gaming. Right now on my laptop it can play most games before 2008 haha. But i have trouble maxing my settings. i only have Mass Effect 1 and a few others. Can you give me some tips? I have some questions.
Here is my system specs. I know its not that good.
P6100 @ 2.0 GHz
4.00 GB
64 Bit operating system
This is just the laptop
1) I live in America. Any ideas on how much I have to pay?
2) Is it true i can use a 360/PS3 controller?
3) Give me about 10 games that are PC exclusive that are really good? Notable games that are best on PC?
4)Tell me about steam? I heard its really good
I'd appreciate answers from any PC gamer including the writer of the blog
Lol $2000 computers? Thats maybe for the people that do zero research and just buy the newest stuff.
I've made 2 gaming Pcs in my life.
My first one was a Pentium 4 Gaming Pc Clocked at 3.7ghz and that did not cost to $2000... actually only costed me $700 lol.
My Second one my Core 2 Duo was even cheaper at only $650 so yeah....
Good article, I used to play PC games exclusively a while back when Half-Life and Unreal Tournament were about.
PC gaming has its pros and cons, for pros it has a insane level of accessibility to gaming. I was playing arcade games, snes, genesis games etc all on my PC with online capabilities like 10 years ago. It made me think when I saw Streets of Rage 2 on the PSN with online co-op and the fact I had already done it to death about a decade ago. :)
On top of emulation you have PC gaming itself and the mod community, I played Half-Life for a few weeks yet I played mods like TFC, Counter Strike and Vampire Slayer for years afterwards. Free modding communities extend the lifecycle of a game by years! Not to mention the 1001 free to play online games (MMORPGs) that are everywhere these days.
On the downside, you have to be into tinkering with your PC to get the best from it. Performance not up to spec? Tweak the config! I used to love it, but if you don't buy high spec equipment from the outset no matter how good your budget system is its going to have a performance bottleneck. You then have the dilema, upgrade the bottleneck part/s in effect making another component the bottleneck or hold off for a short while and rebuild from scratch.
In the end I got tired of the upgrading and just shifted back to console gaming when the PS3 came about. I still have my PC for emulators and my PS3 for hassle free gaming. Its a good medium for me, If I could be bothered to spec up a new PC I would but I have found a happy medium between my laptop and PS3 so its all good. :)