Are You Put Off PC Gaming...

[NeutralMunchHotel]

... because of the incredibly high costs? Or the fact that there's a chance that a game wont be able to work on your system? Because I sure as hell am.

I'm honestly scared to buy any PC games because of the fact that it wont work on my PC. I have a year old Vista (not a great start) which is already starting to look slow on the Sims 2, let alone 3 or any other game. Unless you're a PC gamer with a properly equipped computer, chances are most games wont run very well, if not at all.

The fact is, console gaming is safe - you know where you're at, and that with a slight performance and graphics reduction it will work 100% - unless there's a lazy developer, but that's beside the point.

Also, as a slight side note, can someone reccomend some good games that will run on lower-end PCs - I really want to play games on my PC, I just don't have the money!

 

[BolognaBaloney]

As far as reccomending games, Soldier of Fortune 2.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

I'm put off by the control method and the constant upgrade costs. With a console you're set for that console's entire lifespan, and it's becoming a trend to have back compatibility, so last gen works too. On the other hand, PCs need upgrading yearly. Something that cost me £800 this year could cost me another £200 next year on upgrades

The addition of anti-aliasing isn't worth that much to me XD

Also, get Neverwinter Nights and the expansions. They're quite old but great fun. Hours of great gameplay to be had.

 

[JanatUrlich]

I'm put off because my computer is shit and any decent games will kill it XD

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

If you know what ypour system's like then you don't need to take chances with games working. And incredibly high costs? Not really. I've had this PC for about 2 years and it was under £500. Games are cheaper than console ones too.

So don't be put off.

Try Diablo II.

 

[walls of cetepedes]

My computer is OK, not top end. I'd recommend: 'Soldiers, heroes of WWII'

 

[teisjm]

I'm not, éven though a gaming PC is quite expensive compared to consoles (enevn the PS3) I still have one (and a PS3 and a wii, but thats just me) You still save money on every game, at lest in Denmark PC cares are liek 20% cheaper than console games when they hit the shelf, and PC games drop in price much quicker.

I also use mine for 3D animation, so thats another reason to get one.

I'm currently put off all sorts of gaming temporarily, since my right hand has been numb, useless and failing this whole week, i think it's due to 4 days of H.A.W.X dogfights on the PC.
I hope it wears off quickly, can't game, draw, play guitar, so i'm stuck watching TV and drinking :/

 

[KSarty]

... because of the incredibly high costs? Or the fact that there's a chance that a game wont be able to work on your system? Because I sure as hell am.

I'm honestly scared to buy any PC games because of the fact that it wont work on my PC. I have a year old Vista (not a great start) which is already starting to look slow on the Sims 2, let alone 3 or any other game. Unless you're a PC gamer with a properly equipped computer, chances are most games wont run very well, if not at all.

The fact is, console gaming is safe - you know where you're at, and that with a slight performance and graphics reduction it will work 100% - unless there's a lazy developer, but that's beside the point.

Also, as a slight side note, can someone reccomend some good games that will run on lower-end PCs - I really want to play games on my PC, I just don't have the money!

If you paid "incredibly high costs" for a system that can barely run Sims 2 a year ago, then you got ripped off. I just built 3 identical systems for a few friends of mine that can run Crysis on fairly high settings for about $600 a piece.

Newer games will always run on a recent computer, the question is how well. You can't expect to run every new game on it's highest settings with a 3 years old computer. The older your computer gets, the lower you have to run new games, thats just the way it is. On the other end of that backwards compatibility it more stable and reliable than most of the consoles out there, so people who started PC gaming way back can still play most of their games on Vista. I still play all the original C&C games as well the original Wing Commander games on my Vista rig, those games 15 and 18 years old respectively.

Console gaming is safer for the person who just wants to plug in and play, but as part of that deal you lose some of the functionality that a PC can offer. PC gaming is an alternative, and it offers many things that consoles don't, just as consoles offer things PCs don't.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

I'm running something several years old here and it wasn't top-of-the-range when it was new. The only new hardware it's had is the power unit, and that's smaller than the original one (which blew up).

So far, I haven't found any games I really wanted to play but couldn't because of the machine's limitations. I'm not counting Sim City Societies because this thing beats the minimum requirements on the box and that was a virus anyway.

 

[Souplex]

I blew up my computer in a failed attempt to get into PC gaming.

 

[NotAPie]

You see.
If I tried to play any recent game on MY computer it would go into a coma.
Atleast I can play Grand Theft Auto Vice City and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas on it.
I'm not sure what you can play sorry ._.

 

[iggyus]

At the moment I have a PC that can easily handle Crysis at High Setting at 60 fps so for now I'll stick to my PC. However, once it gets old I'll switch to consoles. I sure as hell dont have the money for a new monster rig. In that you are correct that PC's are expensive

 

[Jumplion]

The main thing that puts me off PC gaming is the insane amount of research it takes to be able to get a decently priced rig. As stated before, you can get a very high model with a few hundred bones, but the sheer amount of work you need to do just to find out that the GXR263747-model1613-Hex-Duo-Multicore-Processor is better than the DQ-Quado-Model21472-Duo-Processor, and to be able to put the fucking doohicky where it's supposed to go to, is quite enough that I don't really bother.

To get into PC gaming, you really have to be in the "know". Otherwise, if you're going to build your own PC without knowing what the CPU does, you're up a creek without so much as a raft, let alone a paddle. If that's the case, you might as well buy a premade PC to save you all the trouble.

I have no doubt that eventually I will become a PC gamer, but right now I'm content enough with my consoles.

 

[Nmil-ek]

Nope prefer my pc to consoles any day of the week, sure updates are costy but so are consoles and what once every 5 years? nothing atall even for a bum like me; that and the diversity of games available from free software like MUGEN <3 to emualtable content, okay we dont have the strongest mainstream market anymore but meh we have the strongest support for games thanks to modding communites.

 

[fix-the-spade]

... because of the incredibly high costs? Or the fact that there's a chance that a game wont be able to work on your system? Because I sure as hell am.

In a word. Nope.

I spent just over £1000 on my gaming rig in 2004. Excepting a new graphics card it's the same PC I play games on now. Since then I've avoided shelling out for the Xbox, 360, PS3 and Wii as rwwell as never having paid more than £15 for a newly released game.

I admit the starting cost was an eye wateringly huge amount of money for a games machine. But since then I've avoided spending more than double that in consoles, peripherals and overpriced games/service subscriptions.

I wouldn't get into console gaming now, it's getting closer and closer to PC gaming (both cost and complication wise) but failing to offer the advantages.


As for games.

Half Life + mods
Counter Strike 1.6
Quake 3 arena
Unreal Tournament
Day of Defeat
Team Fortress Classic.

All the online gaming you will ever need and shoud all run fine on low end/older hardware.

 

[lacktheknack]

Mine's 3 years old Vista with small upgrades... and it runs top of the line just fine. Maybe you're not maintaining it right?

 

[El Poncho]

I hate the fact that I can't afford a good computer for gaming, hopefully when I get my graphics card I can start playing PC games i've been wanting to play for a while.

 

[Zacharine]

... because of the incredibly high costs? Or the fact that there's a chance that a game wont be able to work on your system? Because I sure as hell am.

I'm honestly scared to buy any PC games because of the fact that it wont work on my PC. I have a year old Vista (not a great start) which is already starting to look slow on the Sims 2, let alone 3 or any other game.

I'd seriously like to know what you have done to your computer/what seriously insane requirements for graphics level/FPS you need to play with.

Because my computer was bought in 2003. It wasn't even top of the line. I've later upgraded to 1 GB of RAM and two years ago bought a new mid-priced AGP graphics card. The only game I haven't been able to play is Overlord II. Even Empire: Total War, Mass Effect and Crysis are playable.

Seriously, I'm only now planning to buy a new computer, after 6 years of using my old setup. And all I've used for upgrades is about 80e, 65e of which went to the graphics card.

Six years. 80e. Originally was a mid-level build for which I paid something like 600-650e as a whole package of speakers, display, mouse&keyboard etc.

Why can I do this? Because for me 1024x768 is enough resolution in most games.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Yeah, I stopped playing computer games because it was starting to get risky whether I could run it or not. Canyourinit.com is nice, but not definitive.

 

[ThatStrangeDude]

What puts me off the most, is the constant costly upgrades you have to purchase in order to keep up with today's games.
What keeps me from laying it off completely, in favor of consoles, is the lineup of older games, along with their several mods.