I made the migration from console to PC in mid-February. I love my system and the decision to make it (aside from the PSU, which I plan on upgrading to 750w) I do feel that I've come into the PC gaming scene too late, and I'm having a hard time with keeping up with the news of new parts, games and the annoying-as-hell mouse/keyboard style people say is oh-so-superior in FPS titles (you should see me flounder about in Borderlands, quite embarrassing).
I suppose I've teetered back and forth between being a console gamer and not. PC gaming, however, I've always been steady on. To clarify, while I usually pick up one of the consoles per generation: it always has gone down in price, its typically the cheapest of them, and I usually only buy about 15-25 games for them tops. PC on the other hand I've got too many to count.
Well, I'm saving up for a gaming pc, got $100 in the jar so far. I really do want to be a PC gamer, but computers are expensive, especially if they're any good. So, until I eventually get $1000+, I gotta say console.
Yes, it's gone like this: N64, a variety of PCs (mostly for work), nothing(aaaarrrgghhh!), XBox, XBox 360 (3 of the buggers) and lastly PC. My last PC I got for about £400 a couple of years ago and have made several improvements. It was already a quad core so I added some extra storage, a better power source, a Creative SB X-Fi card and of course a better graphics card (overclocked Sapphire HD 5670)and now it plays most of the current PC games on (or as near as dammit) top settings at 1080p and they look bloody marvellous. Of course it would have a seizure if I tried top settings for Crysis but I'm on a budget so it will have to do for the moment.
Since setting up my PC I haven't really looked back. I just really enjoy setting up and optimising games, which probably sounds a bit weird, plus I also really like the mod scene with games like Fallout (3 & New Vegas) and Dragon Age: Origins. Although now a confirmed PC gamer I haven't entirely converted and will always use my XBox controller on the PC in preference to a mouse/keyboard when something really needs to be shot, at close range, in the head. It just feels more.... comfortable.
I still have a 360 as well but only use it for exclusives and playing DVDs. I won't be getting rid of it any time soon either, well not until they put the Forza Motorsport series onto PCs. So, as I said, not very soon.
PS I too am considering upgrading later this year for Skyrim. Any ideas for a good GPU for under £150?
.. why did you have quote me? I asked nobody to, awh man ...
You kind of took that first one out of context.
My gaming PC was cheaper than my PS3, Every game has bugs, gog.com (although killing floor still wont play for me), people use mac to game on? News to me.
Since this site is mostly PC gamers, I can't recall a console thread. There have probably been a few (I am not counting the "should I get a 360 or PS3" threads). Everytime, that I can recall, a console is put next to a pc, the console gets ripped apart. I even made a thread that turned into that, I asked "now that the PS3 has a M/K will PC gamers consider getting a PS3?" the thread ended up being "the PC is still far better 'cos you can mod blah blah blah" and turned into a console VS PC thread.
Weirdly I don't watch moviebob even though I love films. I don't like hearing another persons view on a film mainly 'cos they usually go over the top with the break down of the film, examining the acting ability, lighting, sound, props etc and I just don't care about that stuff.
Not going to buy a 360 for a poor RTS, I say poor 'cos of your mixed unit comment.
For the next point:
omega 616 said:
For anybody about to quote me saying FPS should also be PC exclusive, don't bother 'cos it's just no.
I will still say it's stacked in the PC gamers favor.
Personally, if you like PC gaming go be happy playing it. If you like consoles go be happy playing it, just stop banging on and on about how "consoles are dumbing down games", "M/K rapes controller", "consoles are ruining gaming" just stop it.
like a posted link says controller will never play against M/K so what does it matter if controller is worse or better? Everybody is using the same thing (barring modded controllers, which I think are rare). Nobody is going to MLG and compete with M/K users with a controller so why bother bringing it up?
The reason I migrated to PC is simple: Loading Times, I cannot stand them.
Devil May Cry 3 stressed to no end, I liked playing on the highest difficulty settings, yet getting yammered a bazillion times from cheap deaths, and spending about 10 seconds to load wasn't my idea for fun.
Killzone 1 pushed me even further, a simple death from an unseen sniper as I was just beginning the game and trying to get me hands wet would set me back about 30 seconds.
The final straw came from that LOTR JRPG game, which would require me to keep my PS2 on and running the game for atleast 2 minutes at the Menu Screen, only for it to load 20 seconds before I could play it or even 'load' the game.
The Xbox didn't fair much better...
I played DMC3 on my PC, and even DMC4, and the fact that at tops I spend about 1 second at the loading screen made my almost masturbate my pants. This meant more time playing, and less waiting. Crysis loads for me under 10 seconds flat, and that's pushing around the prettiest shaders in the industry.
Mass Effect is another culprit for this, Texture Pop-Up in ME2 were covered by Loading Videos, which really ticked me off.
I just wish developers would stop trying to stress out the most juices out of their consoles. I liked the launch games for X360 and PS3 when things were held back, but we reached to the point where games are spending about 15-30 seconds in loading a level, that you just died in. That's a no-no for me, and while I know MovieBob today made a video about that, consoles will always be crap if developers don't learn some standards and basics...
As much as we like saying 'PC's are dead' that doesn't change that fact that all developers learn the basics of games on PC hardware, and thus their knowledge of optimization is next to nill. Took a while for Epic to understand that we needed standard UE-Material-Instances as opposed to Material-Per-Object Load.
I was exclusively a console gamer up until I tried PC gaming in 2005. Modding, as well as keyboard and mouse controls, pulled me in and I haven't looked back.
I have a DS Lite that I play with on occasion, but I haven't bought a console since the PS2.
I knew, years ago, that buying sale games on Steam is many times cheaper than buying console games retail, or even Direct-to-Drive. I saved up for a desktop, got (what I thought) was a reasonable package deal, and even though I usually have to tone done the visuals (hey, let's see you do better with twelve hundred dollars and no starting components!), I haven't really looked back.
I legally own over a hundred games on Steam, and have spent, at my estimate, less than three hundred dollars. That would have gotten me six games on consoles. Even factoring in the cost of the desktop, bringing it to fifteen hundred, I'd be looking at a console and thirty games, if that. I've heard that games are where consoles make their money before, but looking at the numbers really drives the point home, and illustrates how a PC is a much more efficient investment.
I recently migrated in the opposite direction from PC to Xbox. Can't fault the argument about the difference in markets though, a mild annoyance for me is that the only available online market is controlled by the manufacturer (same with my PSP), whereas the PC market is much freer (I heartily recommend Good Old Games if you haven't signed up already, btw). It's not terrible for me as I'm willing to pay for it, but I do miss the variety and better value.
That said, I'm doing a PhD now so I have less spare time to fix my PC when it invariably goes wrong. Once my PhD is over I'll probably save up for a proper gaming rig and store data, work etc on a separate netbook.
Hehe, I seriously hope your PhD isn't in Computer Science! (Or computer engineering).
I think everyone older than like 25 who is a PC gamer must have migrated. There really wasn't a concept of 'pc gamer' back in the old days. You could play games on PC sure, but that was only one outlet. Now it is a much bigger division.
For myself, consoles have always been the more 'social' entertainment. If me and a bunch of friends are hanging out, chances are the 360 is going to get turned on at some point to settle that age old male dominance dispute, whereas if I'm on my own, I'm more likely to turn to a good singleplayer game on the PC.
I can't really say I have a preference for either, just more of a bias, I buy multiplayer games on the console, and singleplayer games on the PC. It's probably just a holdover from the days when the words MMO where as much an insult as a description and 'Console Multiplayer' meant four friends in a living room.
Yes. My first 3 gaming systems were consoles. The Atari 2600, the NES, and the SNES. Then I got my first PC. Of course, I still gamed on consoles, I bought a Playstation and followed the slow downfall of the Final Fantasy series, as well as experiencing the evolution of fighting and racing games... to this day I still game on consoles from time to time. Sometimes the PS3 is just easier for an action or racing title... and sometimes those titles are exclusive to the PS3.
But two things that little black almost-computer will never be able to properly run are FPSes and RTSes. Even when you plug a mouse and keyboard into it, the system's GUI is still designed for for use by that limited little 12 button dual analog stick controller.
Also, no mods or modding communities. Most of the games I play, I mod.
I think everyone older than like 25 who is a PC gamer must have migrated. There really wasn't a concept of 'pc gamer' back in the old days. You could play games on PC sure, but that was only one outlet. Now it is a much bigger division.
Got a PC a month ago after spending 18-20 years as a purely console gamer. I still love consoles and handhelds, but I can't deny PC gaming has been a massive boost.
I went to the PC because the only modern console I had was the Wii, and only Twilight Princess sparked a love for that console. With the release of the Orange Box, I migrated to the PC, got Steam and have fallen in love.
I used to play ps2 and 360 for years and years, until one day I simply decided to sell my 360 and the games to buy a high class power whore of a computer, and by god I love this beauty, gaming is so much more immersive and fun when everything is so clear, and computers naturally have less menus to navagate through, and it takes less time as the mouse is faster than analog sticks, so you have more time to enjoy the good aspects of the games.
That along with all the mods and little additions the computer has in comparison to the consoles, the computer is a much better choice in my opinnion.
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which is why I'm loth to give it up entirely.
