Pheo1386 said:
1) no. It isn't cheaper. Not by a long shot. Not if you want the same capabilities as a modern next gen console. (That's what I found anyway. I can already hear the furious protestors looking up specs and equivalent parts)
Console parts are custom designed, mass produced in China and mostly come on a single motherboard. Often, consoles are sold at a loss too, since the majority of money made by the manf. is from the cut they take of each game disc sold. Saying that, it would be entirely possible to build a comparable PC to a current gen console (equiv 8GB DDR3, approx. HD7870, Quad-Core i5) for about the same money.
The benefit however is that additions and cuts can be made where hardware is or is not needed. Further, you do not need a monthly subscription to play online ($40/annum) and boxed games are $10/£10 cheaper.
Pheo1386 said:
2) it's waaaaay more hassle. PS3; disc in, press start. PC. Start up, install software, calibrate settings, run antivirus, windows 8 hates me again so have to reboot, the list goes on.
That is all completely untrue. First, current gen consoles all require installations now before a game can be played so that "insert disc" no longer holds true for the current gen. Second, I don't know what PC you're using, but either it has an issue or you aren't using it right. The process for playing a game on PC for the last few years is: Turn on, install game, double click icon. To play it subsequently, the process is: double click icon. Unlike with the console, a Steam game requires no disc at any point. If the player wished to mod the game, tweak performance, use cheats/trainers or anything else, they can but it is not necessary to do anything of the sort.
Pheo1386 said:
3) constant upgrades. With PC, you have to eventually upgrade your PC to run the newer games, as a lot of games have different and constantly increasing running requirements. With consoles the game has been optimised for the machine, not the other way around. Of course, until the next one comes out, but I would be surprised if a PC owner hasn't upgraded his PC at least twice in the time it takes for a new console generation.
That's not true and has not been the case since the 360/PS3 and cross platform development becoming the norm. The same generation of games continue to work on the same machine bought 5-7 years ago. The "benefit" of PC however, is that the user *can* if they choose, upgrade various parts such as memory, larger hard drive from any source. Further, the games catalogue stretches back two decades, unlike MS/Sony consoles that do not support backwards compatibility. Further, software and media can be played from any source imaginable without restrictions imposed by the manf.
You can make excuses but your points have been untrue for almost a decade now. A PC built or purchased today will last as long as a console does if not longer, do 20x as many things, do those things faster and without restriction *and* give the user the *choice* of making changes to software or hardware as they like.
The *only* remaining advantage consoles still have over PCs today is local co-cop. And looking at games like Forza Horizon which only offer online MP and not local, even that advantage is questionable.
.
