The Bitbag : Console VS. PC Gaming: Who Spends More Money On Games?

Torrence Davis writes : "So in looking at this year and what games I’m going to purchase, I have to decide which platform to spend my money on. Is it Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or PC? Well one major thing has to factor in to this decision and that’s price. I took 10 different games, some that are recently released and others that are coming soon and compared the cost between console and PC. "

[mobijoker]

10 games save almost 100bucks.Hardcore gamers buy 30-35 games a year which sums up to 300-350bucks savings per year.In a typical console generation of 4 years you end up spending 1200bucks more than pc gamers.Who says pc gaming is expensive?

[xDaRkModEx]

Not only that, but there's plenty of stores to get cheaper games. Digital or retail. Most of the times you get 2x, 3x, even 10x the content compare to the console counterpart bcuz of mods, sometimes free dlc, dedi tools.

[Inside_out]

.
....actions speak louder than words and since all the devs are now concentrating on consoles, I'd say that consoles are the clear winner.

I see consoles and PC basically heading in the same direction with the same destination...including all tablets, handhelds and cell phones. Games will look and play the same, regardless of platform and in the short term, that will hurt gaming but in the long run, it will be a great thing.

Imagine playing Gears Of war 3 at home. Then continuing the game at work or school or while visiting friends either on a cell phone, tablet, lap top or television. That technology is here but cost, pubs and devs who refuse to pay royalties ( read: Nintendo )are holding it back.

Nintendo has already said, both through their actions and through the press that they want their console to be about games and nothing else. The new Wii U will again ( unless hacked ) will not play movies or have Blu-ray...may be they are right. Sony and especially M$ are looking towards world domination.

[cemelc]

That calculation only works if you get the games day 1, if you wait 2 weeks you can get the game from amazon for like 20$ less. Thats how i got La NOIRE for 40 in amazon.

I know pc gaming rocks, my pc is good, but you wont be saving 1200$ from playing on pc, if you want to play battlefield on hi specs youre going to need a 580gtx and thats a 500$ videocard.So quit the argument about pc gaming cheaper they are about the same, just play what you want where you want to play and thats it.

[Theo1130]

Yeah but as a pc gamer, you come to realize that you're not going to play everything maxed out; Half the time I turn down shadows and some other things so I can get more frame rates. It's going to look great regardless, but for me frame rate is important, and if I don't get to play everything maxed out, I'm not going to cry about it. I've had a 470 gtx for a while, I haven't had the need to upgrade at all, even with the new cards coming out.

[LOGICWINS]

As a console gamer, I would argue that you get more value for your money buying a high end PC over a high end console considering the MANY things you can do with a PC beyond gaming.

[cemelc]

@Theo1130

Yeah i know im in the same boat as you are, but every 1 or 2 years i change the graphic card and i dont get a last year model to play games if i want the card to last for some time. In consoles you dont have to deal with that.

@LOGICWINS

I know you can do 1000 more things with your pc than a console but you dont need a hi end graphic card to use windows/Mac/linux thats a gaming cost, among others most of the time (unless you work in video editing or coding but not everyone do)

[DarkTower805]

Last time I checked Blockbuster,Gamefly and Redbox rent video games, and games can also be bought on the cheap on Craigslist and Ebay. Console gaming is only expensive if you want it to be.

And what's up with the console vs PC articles lately?

[256bit]

"Yeah i know im in the same boat as you are, but every 1 or 2 years i change the graphic card and i dont get a last year model to play games if i want the card to last for some time. In consoles you dont have to deal with that"

you my friend are not a good liar. just say the truth that you are not a pc gamer.

[cemelc]

@256bit

How did i lied?
If you want to play a game like battlefield with all maxed you need a 580(probably) i dont have one i have a 460gtx, and im not planning to get one from the 400 series for my next graphic card, im planning to at least one from de 500 series.

If thats a lie then yes im a lier.

If your problem with the comment is the: 1 or two years span that was just and axample in reality you change graphic card every 6 months to a year if you want to stay on hi end specs. Dont see where i lied but ill be sure to be 100% exact in order for 256bit read1 pointless thing and tear apart my commnet.

[xDaRkModEx]

@cemeic

If i were to tell you that any game you buy will work on your old system (ps2, xbox) at the cost of graphics, and the day you upgrade you don't need to buy the same game again. Wouldn't that make you happy?

Well that's how i look at pc gaming. Yes i know that when new games come out I wont be playing in the highest gfx but sooner or later I will. Just like sooner or later a new console will come out. But I don't have to worry about dropping $600+ on the whole system.

Also, sometimes, you'll see game go for 30%+ off on steam and other dd service in a couple of months.

[CaptCalvin]

I spent around $200 on my HD5850 3 years ago and it still runs every new game thrown at it smooth as butter. Gotta thank in part the stagnating video game graphics because of consoles though.

[TreMillz]

Cant be a pc gamer, i dont know squat about pc hardware, im not patient enough to out up with it and im not spending over $2000 just to have the pefect game. And before pc guys claim it doesnt cost that much...stop kidding yourself

[radphil]

You know the irony of this statement is that the replies above you show that you can buy cheap on PC AND CONSOLE....so how did you come up with this about people kidding themselves on shopping cheap?

Edit: Also someone linked below this showing a gaming PC much under $2k.

[Sarcasm]

LOL...

Because if you DID know anything about PC hardware, you'll find out that you can have a killer gaming PC for under $600. If you want the ULTIMATE gaming PC, which is something like TRI-SLI and triple monitors, then yeah you'll be looking at $2000+. But in reality nobody needs that.

Mostly if you want at least 1080p 60-120fps, $600 to $1000 will suffice and I'm even overexaggerating.

[Persistantthug]

Dungeon Siege 3 is 49.99 at Frys Electronics and so is FEAR 3, for example.

[IRetrouk]

to be honest both have pros and cons, if you like games you should try to experiance as many as possible, one good thing about consoles is the quality exclusives that come out, pc on the other hand does have an upperhand in terms of raw power.

[Skynetone]

If your looking for a "entry level" gaming pc, this is the one id recommend, dosent come with win 7, so youed need to buy that from amazon or your local shop

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/u...

[RAYMEISTER]

I would call that a damm good pc, not an entry level pc. And some things are overkill like the 2600k and 8gb ram. it could b cheaper w/ a 2500k and 4gb ram.

[Angrymorgan]

I'm a console gamer and we spend more on games, games tend to cost more on consoles, however pc gamers are constantly buying new hardware so it's pretty fair that pc games are cheaper imo

[CaptCalvin]

I spent around $200 on my HD5850(graphics card) 3 years ago and it still runs every new game thrown at it smooth as butter. Gotta thank in part the stagnating video game graphics because of consoles though.