Are You Put Off PC Gaming...

[Sebenko]

PC FTW. I have a Q6600 PC that's almost a couple of years old now. Started off with a cheap £30 graphics card because I was still on £5 a week pocket money, but then upgraded to an 8800GT, which does everything fine, including crysis (Arma II is kinda chugging though, but I only have to turn the settings to medium and it's fine).

I could upgrade to a GTX295, but there are two reasons not to: I want to wait for the next series of cards, and there's no real reason to get one except impressing the graphics crowd with my mighty silicon wang of processing.

 

[Casual Shinji]

In the days of the first PLAYSTATION.........I used to be jeulous of my big brother with his BIG PC and his UBERMENCH pc-graphics, but not no more. I've got all the gaming spendour I could want on my consoles. PLUS, these days you spend more time trying to make the game run, then you spend playing it

 

[Pyro Paul]

The problem a lot of new players to PC gaming have is that they are not told that the Graphics card sold with a default store bought rig is absolute and utter crap and should be replaced instantly if you want to do any sort of gaming.

processing power, memory, and all that jazz... yeah it has its place and it helps your computer run certain games more smoothly, but for the most part it is the graphics card.

get a 70-100 USD graphics card and your PC should be able to run damn near any game out there.




me, I'm PC gaming all the way.
the prime example why is Fall out 3 and TES IV: Oblivion
sure they are good games in their own right on the console...
but the console version doesn't have flying dragons or ridable cars. they don't have armies of recruitable followers and throngs of enemies allowing you to wage NPC v NPC war. and most importantly console versions of these games don't nudity.

the PC version has all of these things provided by player made content.

my friend played the console version and got baked on the game some 30 hours after playing it as the quests became to repetitive and he completed the main quest already making the entire game just grossly redundent.

i have sunk over 400 hours into the PC version of oblivion creating massive wars, ship to ship battles, and harrams all across cyrodill... and i probably would of sunk more time into it if my computer didn't crash/reformat deleting my some 100 Mods.


There is not a single console game out there that i have sunk over 150 hours on. the closest game is FF7 (damn chocobo crossbreading) having some 120 hours. however on PC games, i have over 10 games which i have put over 150 hours on.

 

[TheBlobThing]

I'm put off by the snobs that think they're the gods of gaming. Seriously, get over yourselves.

This thing where PC gamers consider themselves "the gods of gaming", where does it actually come from? I've only ever seen Yahtzee complain about it in ZP videos, never encountered in earnest.

 

[King_Pickles]

get steam then plants vs zombies friggin sweet game good graphics only a fiver and will keep you endlessly happy

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

That problem is why im not a pc gamer. I would recommend Half Life 2, since my computer is similar to the OP and it works well.

 

[thebrainiac1]

I started with a normal dell, not built for much more than occassional dvd watching.
Over the past year I've been upgrading so it can run crysis full spec now.

PC building/upgrading is simple, I've made a small fortune upgrading friends PCs because they're very scared to open the mystical box in the fear that it will blow in their faces.

Really you just use canyourunit.com to find out the specs you need for each game, then find parts on ebay that match those specs. Then look at vids online to work out how to install the new part.

 

[Ranooth]

Just built this new thing last week (cost me £1024) and to be fair i was a little put off due to the price as i could do with the cash when i start uni in September.

Thing was my old computer was dying and i really wanted something future proof so i kinda had to do it. What i got for my money was pretty decent though.

 

[Enigmers]

There are certain games that are just better on consoles (e.g. Castle Crashers, Rock Band) but the majority of my gaming goes on the PC. I'm not put off by the "complexities" or the "high costs" of PC gaming, because those things don't actually exist. I put my PC together myself with no problems* and I can run whatever games I want (i.e. Call of Duty 4, Team Fortress 2, obviously not the most advanced of stuff but it runs very smoothly and is very enjoyable) with no hassle whatsoever. (Actually TF2 used to have a ball-crushingly long load time when changing maps/servers etc., but that's gone now.)
Basically, no, I am not put off by PC gaming because there is no reason to be.

*The only part of putting my computer together that I screwed up was I mixed up the "Power" and "Loading" LED lights that go on the front of the case. They were both labelled "LED," so I obviously didn't know which one was which. This was easily fixed.

However, I do also own a PS2 and an XBox 360, and I also have vivid memories of gaming on a console in front of a TV, mashing buttons to slice things up in God of War or Castle Crashers. It's just that I'm not put off by PC gaming (a la topic title). I'm not sure which form of gaming I prefer, as they both have their merits. I guess I'm partial to PC gaming, but still enjoy a good console game on a TV as well.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'm a little annoyed that since GTA IV so many games have gone dual core as standard, as adding memory or a new video card is an easy process, but I find the idea of removing my CPU, and maybe needing to change the motherboard a bit scary.

I just think, especially if its coming out on 360, or even Wii, that they can't scale it down to run on older PCs and increase their sales.

As ever, look at Valve.

By all means scale your game up so it can take full advantage of a $5000 Alienware rig,but make sure it's scalable down too, so more than 1% of PC users can play it.

 

[Rajin Cajun]

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.

Exactly this. I prefer playing on PC then I do my 360 by a mile. More mods, better communities usually and just all around more customization that you just don't get on a console.

 

[Pyro Paul]

I'm put off by the snobs that think they're the gods of gaming. Seriously, get over yourselves.

This thing where PC gamers consider themselves "the gods of gaming", where does it actually come from? I've only ever seen Yahtzee complain about it in ZP videos, never encountered in earnest.

this is acctually from a transitional stage of gaming when it shifted from PC based to Console based (during the PS2-xbox transition to PS3-360)

before this a bulk of games where PC based and PC gamers and programmers looked down on the console counter parts, back when wsad was movement and space bar was jump. they considered games too complex for consoles and simply saw them as dumbed down to fit the 4-8 buttons you could use with your controler.

 

[aww yea]

i will always prefer console gaming because that is what they are made for

switches are easier to use and there is less hassle with system bullshit

yea you can make sure you have a top of the line computer and then but a plug in controller and then torrent all your games for free with mods but really

is it worth it?

i don't think so

it takes the fun out of it and just doesn't feel right

except rts. they belong on PC's and dont let no-one tell you otherwise

EDIT: btw i call controllers switches sometimes

 

[Abedeus]

My PC is enough to run most of the.... I mean, any modern game, from Fallout 3 on High Medium to Prototype in High + Vsync.

The only thing that puts me off is the shitty DRM that keeps me from buying games. That's right, if I see a DRM harms me more than someone that pirates the game... I won't buy it. And I probably won't download it, like it was with Sacred 2.

 

[essieteric]

To tell the truth, PC gaming is what has awakened my retro fix.

Sure, games like Sims 3 and WoW and Neverwinter Nights 2 now work on my computer (after upgrading last year), but there was never any certainty that they would. So I find myself going to stores looking for cheap, older games that I know work with 100% certainty.

Not only did the "hardware anxiety" put me back on to console gaming, it has me downloading old games on the Wii Virtual Console.

 

[FinalHeart95]

I play ridiculously old games no one else plays anymore, because those are the only ones that can run on my PC. The newest game that can run on my PC (other than Spore) that I know of is Lost Planet.

 

[thermo1]

Get oblivion and download the mod Oldblivion
It lets really low end PC's run it.

and if not Morrorowind is your next best bet. Go besetheda!

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

I'm going to build my own Gaming PC for Dragon Age Origins and I'm pretty sure I can get the costs down to £800. I just have one question, is it worth getting a top of the line graphics card or getting an average one and waiting for these 'next-gen' cards I've been hearing about.

Edit: As for games to play. The Infinity Engine games like Baldur's Gate will run on any computer and are excellent. Well the Ice Wind Dale games were OK..........

 

[Markgraf]

Well, there are many pros to PC Gaming as opposed to consoles' ease of access, the most notable being the largest back catalog of games (20+ years, including emulating older consoles), usually better communities for your games, and best of all, free mods to extend your games' lives exponentially.

KOTOR I and II should be able to run on your machine, both offering around 50 hours each and a cheap price tag. If you're into RTSes, be sure to look for Rome: Total War, its a mind-blowing example of the exclusive elements of PC gaming.