Misunderstanding PC gaming

[LucidGrifter]

I recently watched the new zero punctuation about Next gen consoles, and in the comments below the video it seemed like a lot of people didn't understand how PC gaming actually works.
Zero punctuation:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/7417-Next-Gen-Buyers-Guide?utm_source=latest&utm_medium=index_carousel&utm_campaign=all

These are the two that i find the most annoying.

1. the cost of a pc is too high and you have to constantly buy new hardware.
- you can buy a pc for $700 and be able to play almost every modern game at highest settings(excluding crysis 3 and games similar to it) with decent resolution plus any retro game, including console games from gamecube, ps1, gba, genesis, snes, nes, n64, etc.
- My computer is only slightly more expensive(add $100) is nearly 2 years old and i can still play farcry 3 at high settings with good framerate.

2. risk buying games that won't even work.
- steam, gog, and desura all make pc gaming very easy. Just buy the game download and play. Pretty simple stuff. plus if problems do arise online forums and IT assistance from the companies will help you.

I'm not a pc elitest, i enjoy my xbox and wii, I just can't stand people being ignorant.

My PC Specs:
intel i5 2500k processor
Zotac geforce 550ti fermi AMP! edition
8gb ram
500gb hardrive
750 watt psu

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

2. risk buying games that won't even work.
- steam, gog, and desura all make pc gaming very easy. Just buy the game download and play. Pretty simple stuff. plus if problems do arise online forums and IT assistance from the companies will help you.

Isn't that more of a console problem, considering used games on PC shouldn't be available at all? Or are you talking about the minimum requirements for each game?

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Isn't that more of a console problem, considering used games on PC shouldn't be available at all? Or are you talking about the minimum requirements for each game?

I think the OP means circumstances where a bug prevents a game from running on a certain hardware combination, some graphics cards may have problems with some games etc. Whereas as a console is going to have a constant hardware setup, it is much easier to test that the software is going to work hand in hand with the hardware as opposed to the dynamic, countless possibilities of PC hardware.

OT: I agree with most of the points you made, I'd like to add to your first argument that PC games are generally significantly cheaper than their console counterparts. So even if a PC costs a lot more than a console, PCs are actually cheaper in the long run if you end up buying a lot of games.

I don't think I would write off your second argument as a complete non issue though, my previous graphics card had problems playing many games that nothing was able to fix other than buying a completely new graphics card. Total War Shogun 2 didn't work even with my new graphics card for a good few months before the problem was finally patched. I haven't had any problems like this in playing games on a console, just my experience.

 

[DoPo]

2. risk buying games that won't even work.
- steam, gog, and desura all make pc gaming very easy. Just buy the game download and play. Pretty simple stuff. plus if problems do arise online forums and IT assistance from the companies will help you.

Isn't that more of a console problem, considering used games on PC shouldn't be available at all? Or are you talking about the minimum requirements for each game?

I don't know why you bring up used games. And how are they not supposed to be available? The way I see it is people fearing that games simply won't run after you install them. Which happens, but a lot less often than it seems to - a lot of the time there is a fix available for the game.

Though it does happen that a game simply won't be fixable...easily, at least - just a day ago, me and my flatmate decided yo boot up Red Alert 2 and while it ran fine on my laptop, he couldn't get it to work on his. I never really ran into a problem but apparently some people do have issues on 64-bit Vista/7 and Intel cards (his laptop actually had an nVidia but due to Optimus, the Intel chipset is still utilised in some way) - and there is a weird fix involving setting up a second screen (yes, even if you don't have one) but it didn't seem to help my flatmate at all.

But that's an extremely rare case a game would do that - a can't think of the last game I've seen that simply wouldn't run.

 

[AD-Stu]

Yeah - PC gaming is something that you can turn into an incredibly expensive exercise if you choose to, but it doesn't have to be that way.

I'm a PC gamer and I only update my machine... I dunno, maybe once every three years? I guess that still seems like a lot given someone probably keeps their console for a lot longer than that, but by the same token it's simply not true that you've gotta upgrade your video card and jam more RAM in ever few months in order to keep gaming.

And having issues getting games to run is nowhere near as big an issue as it used to be either - and I'm old enough to remember the bad old days of boot disks

So much stuff is getting standardised and streamlined these days that you don't run into many problems and when you do, a quick Google search usually turns up an answer quickly.

 

[Sassafrass]

I think the second point, about games not working and that, isn't about the downloading, it's more related to the system specs.

I mean, if you go up to someone who's only a console gamer, much like I used to be, and told them to run a game they'd need at least an i5-2500K, Zotac Geforce 550ti Fermi AMP! edition with 8Gigs of RAM[footnote]Just using the OPs system specs as reference, cba to actually go and use Google for 10 seconds to find a games recommended specs[/footnote], they'll probably wonder what the hell you're talking about. Fuck, I still do and I've actually been force feed PC terms by a friend to help me get used to PC gaming.

Seriously, what the fuck is SLI and CrossFire? :/

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

2. risk buying games that won't even work.
- steam, gog, and desura all make pc gaming very easy. Just buy the game download and play. Pretty simple stuff. plus if problems do arise online forums and IT assistance from the companies will help you.

Isn't that more of a console problem, considering used games on PC shouldn't be available at all? Or are you talking about the minimum requirements for each game?

I don't know why you bring up used games. And how are they not supposed to be available? The way I see it is people fearing that games simply won't run after you install them. Which happens, but a lot less often than it seems to - a lot of the time there is a fix available for the game.

Though it does happen that a game simply won't be fixable...easily, at least - just a day ago, me and my flatmate decided yo boot up Red Alert 2 and while it ran fine on my laptop, he couldn't get it to work on his. I never really ran into a problem but apparently some people do have issues on 64-bit Vista/7 and Intel cards (his laptop actually had an nVidia but due to Optimus, the Intel chipset is still utilised in some way) - and there is a weird fix involving setting up a second screen (yes, even if you don't have one) but it didn't seem to help my flatmate at all.

But that's an extremely rare case a game would do that - a can't think of the last game I've seen that simply wouldn't run.

I brought up used games because I'm so used to actually having a PC that can run pretty much everything (and thankfully not having had a problem running a game in years) that I thought the OP's "risk buying games that don't work" referred to scratched discs and such, where you can't be sure the games would run. And I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any game shop that would buy my PC games back in many years, now.

 

[LucidGrifter]

I don't think I would write off your second argument as a complete non issue though, my previous graphics card had problems playing many games that nothing was able to fix other than buying a completely new graphics card. Total War Shogun 2 didn't work even with my new graphics card for a good few months before the problem was finally patched. I haven't had any problems like this in playing games on a console, just my experience.

i understand that some major release games do have running problems or are buggy, such as the launch of rage, but out of my extensive collection of games very few have problems.
-doom 3 doesn't like to change resolution and keeps switching back to normal
-just cause 2 hates high resolution despite my being able to run it very well
-bastion cant work in sli mode
-metro 2033 likes to eat my graphics card
-most bethesda games can't reopen once you minimize it
these are the only ones i could think of while looking through my library.

console wise i've had problems ranging from doesn't want to read any disks for a good few hours, red ring, accidently tapping xbox creating circular scratch on game destroying it, and even the system freezing because i decided to play music off a flash drive.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Well, to be fair about cost, think about it like this:

The Xbox 360 is 7 years old now. Therefore, if someone got an xbox on launch and that xbox hasn't failed on him (I know, it's a huge stretch, but it's a hypothetical), then that person would have had his Xbox 360 for 7 years while only paying $400 (or whatever the launch price of the Xbox 360 was, I honestly don't remember).

Now on the flip side, does anyone use a 7 year old PC for playing modern games? Hell no. So if someone got a new gaming PC at the same that that the xbox 360 was released, they've more than likely upgraded that PC at least once.

Therefore, the Xbox 360 would still cost less if it survived for the entire console cycle than a PC would.

Now, of course we live in the real world where this isn't necessarily the case. My Xbox 360 has died 3 times, so the initial cost of $400 + $300 worth of repairs + $50 a year of Xbox Live puts the grand total at $1050. Combine that with the much greater cost of games on the Xbox 360 versus the PC, and the two platforms come out to cost about the same, even if you end up having to upgrade your PC in the middle of the console cycle.

So I definitely wouldn't say that PC gaming costs less than console gaming, it ends up costing the same amount, or more depending on the PC you get, but while the costs are about equal, you do get a better experience on the PC, what with being able to play more games, at higher resolutions, with better graphics, and with mods.

 

[LucidGrifter]

I think the second point, about games not working and that, isn't about the downloading, it's more related to the system specs.

I mean, if you go up to someone who's only a console gamer, much like I used to be, and told them to run a game they'd need at least an i5-2500K, Zotac Geforce 550ti Fermi AMP! edition with 8Gigs of RAM[footnote]Just using the OPs system specs as reference, cba to actually go and use Google for 10 seconds to find a games recommended specs[/footnote], they'll probably wonder what the hell you're talking about. Fuck, I still do and I've actually been force feed PC terms by a friend to help me get used to PC gaming.

Seriously, what the fuck is SLI and CrossFire? :/

sli and crossfire involve installing 2 or more graphics cards into a system than connecting them via a sli or crossfire bridge. it allows you to use multiple displays and can increase performance. though most games don't support it and the worst that can happen is one card doesn't run while the other outputs normal power.

Hell you could buy a pc from bestbuy, ask them for a suitable graphics card, go home install it, and play games without knowing pretty much anything about computers. Or another alternative dell/alienware and newegg offer gaming rigs for purchase on their websites.

 

[LucidGrifter]

So I definitely wouldn't say that PC gaming costs less than console gaming, it ends up costing the same amount, or more depending on the PC you get, but while the costs are about equal, you do get a better experience on the PC, what with being able to play more games, at higher resolutions, with better graphics, and with mods.

give me a few minutes i'll be back with more data to add.

 

[Colt47]

Honestly the biggest advantage PC gaming has is the long term savings after getting through all the headaches on games. My steam library is massive and filled with titles I've gotten on discount from all over the place, some of them for as low as $3.00. Games haven't visually improved a whole lot over the last four years, and a lot of titles from that far back are discounted into the bargain bin. The downside is that the PC can't match Nintendo on the more light-hearted front, though that can be said about the PS3 and Xbox 360 as well. So, uh, get a 3DS with that PC!

 

[porous_shield]

2. risk buying games that won't even work.
- steam, gog, and desura all make pc gaming very easy. Just buy the game download and play. Pretty simple stuff. plus if problems do arise online forums and IT assistance from the companies will help you.

I'm a PC gamer, always have been, and I disagree with that second point. I've never had a problem that completely stopped me from playing a game that I wasn't able to get around but, with that being said, there have been a number of games that have been very difficult to get running and others I didn't want to put in the effort. Thief 2 in particular I had trouble with. At first it was the cutscenes refusing to play, and then when I had that worked out, the game kept crashing mid level, and then when I found a fix for that the game refused to load. I remember The Longest Journey, that I got from GoG, being a hassle as well.

I could easily see someone glancing through some of those forums and their eyes glazing over with the amount of work required to run some of the games on GoG or Steam (I'm unfamiliar with Desura). I've also seen plenty of threads about problems with a game go unanswered on both the developers official forum and Steam alike.

My brother, who is primarily console but knows his way around a computer, wasn't able to run The Walking Dead, Red Fraction Armageddon, Myst, Max Payne's sound issues, and WarCraft 1,2,3 and I'm almost certain without my help he would never have gotten them running on his own.

If you buy a game a few years after release that had little fanfare and a small user base at the best of times there is not going to be much help to go around with you have trouble.

 

[LucidGrifter]

give me a few minutes i'll be back with more data to add.

and i'm back with some figures
PC:
Samsung dvd-rom drive 17.00
western digital 500gb hd 60.00
windows 7 100.00
650w psu 50.00
gigabyte mid tower case 38.00
biostar amd motherboard 66.00
amd fx-4100 2.6ghz quadcore 100.00
evga geforce 650ti 160.00
g.skill ripjaws 2x4gb ram 65.00

total 656.00
----------------------------------------------
Xbox:
console 250.00
xbox-live 50.00/yr

total: 300.00
----------------------------------------------
PS3:
console 230.00
psn free

total 230.00
----------------------------------------------
PC games:

Arkham City 7.50/30.00
Skyrim 30.00
TF2 free
warframe free
hawken free
tribes ascend free
Witcher 2 20.00
----------------------------------------------
xbox 360 games:

Arkham city 20.00
Skyrim 30.00/40.00
TF2 35.00
Warframe N/A
Hawken N/A
Tribes Ascend N/A
Witcher 2 28.00
----------------------------------------------
PS3 games

Arkham City 20.00
Skyrim 30.00/40.00
TF2 35.00
Warframe free
Hawken N/A
Tribes Ascend N/A
Witcher 2 N/A
----------------------------------------------

And there we have it some numbers. As you can see a pc costs more than both consoles combined but offers a wider variety of free to play games and like the ps3 doesn't have you pay a premium to play online multiplayer. of course the computer system would eventually have to be replaced after the new generation starts:
xbone probably 400.00
ps4 probably 400.00-450.00
pc upgrade 150.00-250.00

plus the upgrade would be towards the middle of the new system generation. so while i wait for the day i need to update my systems i'll continue to enjoy new games and old ones on my computer.

 

[suntt123]

1. the cost of a pc is too high and you have to constantly buy new hardware.
- you can buy a pc for $700 and be able to play almost every modern game at highest settings(excluding crysis 3 and games similar to it) with decent resolution plus any retro game, including console games from gamecube, ps1, gba, genesis, snes, nes, n64, etc.
- My computer is only slightly more expensive(add $100) is nearly 2 years old and i can still play farcry 3 at high settings with good framerate.

To be fair, some people would have to buy 2 PCs; one for work/school and one for gaming. I know there are gaming laptops but from what I understand their batteries die pretty quickly and they'd still be more expensive than a garden variety laptop. Besides that, you'd miss out on the console exclusive games of which there are quite a few

 

[Little Gray]

2. risk buying games that won't even work.
- steam, gog, and desura all make pc gaming very easy. Just buy the game download and play. Pretty simple stuff. plus if problems do arise online forums and IT assistance from the companies will help you.

Isn't that more of a console problem, considering used games on PC shouldn't be available at all? Or are you talking about the minimum requirements for each game?

There are issues such as your system being well above min specs but the game still doesnt run, bugs, hardware issues, steam sold you the game but didnt actually have any activation keys, etc. While most of these are not that common anymore they still do happen and are extremely annoying. Rage is a good example of a game that didnt work very well at launch and you run into other stupid things like with Mount & Blade where you cant alt tab out of a game without it crashing.

 

[LucidGrifter]

you'd miss out on the console exclusive games of which there are quite a few

but what about pc exclusives?
hawken, path of exile, lone survivor, amnesia, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Hard Reset, Team fortress 2(because the console version blows), and (insert indie title here).
the list practically never ends, plus virtually endless backwards compatibility. If you can't play it on pc, you can be sure somebody out there is making it possible.

 

[TehCookie]

Well, to be fair about cost, think about it like this:

The Xbox 360 is 7 years old now. Therefore, if someone got an xbox on launch and that xbox hasn't failed on him (I know, it's a huge stretch, but it's a hypothetical), then that person would have had his Xbox 360 for 7 years while only paying $400 (or whatever the launch price of the Xbox 360 was, I honestly don't remember).

Now on the flip side, does anyone use a 7 year old PC for playing modern games? Hell no. So if someone got a new gaming PC at the same that that the xbox 360 was released, they've more than likely upgraded that PC at least once.

Therefore, the Xbox 360 would still cost less if it survived for the entire console cycle than a PC would.

Now, of course we live in the real world where this isn't necessarily the case. My Xbox 360 has died 3 times, so the initial cost of $400 + $300 worth of repairs + $50 a year of Xbox Live puts the grand total at $1050. Combine that with the much greater cost of games on the Xbox 360 versus the PC, and the two platforms come out to cost about the same, even if you end up having to upgrade your PC in the middle of the console cycle.

So I definitely wouldn't say that PC gaming costs less than console gaming, it ends up costing the same amount, or more depending on the PC you get, but while the costs are about equal, you do get a better experience on the PC, what with being able to play more games, at higher resolutions, with better graphics, and with mods.

PCs can break as well, I had my liquid CPU coolant leaked and sprayed crap all over my PC. Thankfully I only had to replace that part instead of my entire PC which somehow managed to survive being drenched. My brother was not as lucky, overheated his computer and it burst into flames so he had to buy an entirely new one. Unfortunate incidents do not add into the average cost.

Also I'm using a non-upgraded 7 year old PC to play modern games, due to games being multiplatform most games are developed to run on consoles which means they also play on my console-level PC.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

give me a few minutes i'll be back with more data to add.

and i'm back with some figures

Spoiler

PC:
Samsung dvd-rom drive 17.00
western digital 500gb hd 60.00
windows 7 100.00
650w psu 50.00
gigabyte mid tower case 38.00
biostar amd motherboard 66.00
amd fx-4100 2.6ghz quadcore 100.00
evga geforce 650ti 160.00
g.skill ripjaws 2x4gb ram 65.00

total 656.00
----------------------------------------------
Xbox:
console 250.00
xbox-live 50.00/yr

total: 300.00
----------------------------------------------
PS3:
console 230.00
psn free

total 230.00
----------------------------------------------
PC games:

Arkham City 7.50/30.00
Skyrim 30.00
TF2 free
warframe free
hawken free
tribes ascend free
Witcher 2 20.00
----------------------------------------------
xbox 360 games:

Arkham city 20.00
Skyrim 30.00/40.00
TF2 35.00
Warframe N/A
Hawken N/A
Tribes Ascend N/A
Witcher 2 28.00
----------------------------------------------
PS3 games

Arkham City 20.00
Skyrim 30.00/40.00
TF2 35.00
Warframe free
Hawken N/A
Tribes Ascend N/A
Witcher 2 N/A
----------------------------------------------

And there we have it some numbers. As you can see a pc costs more than both consoles combined but offers a wider variety of free to play games and like the ps3 doesn't have you pay a premium to play online multiplayer. of course the computer system would eventually have to be replaced after the new generation starts:
xbone probably 400.00
ps4 probably 400.00-450.00
pc upgrade 150.00-250.00

plus the upgrade would be towards the middle of the new system generation. so while i wait for the day i need to update my systems i'll continue to enjoy new games and old ones on my computer.

So...I'm not exactly sure where you're going with this data or what it's supposed to prove.

 

[LucidGrifter]

So...I'm not exactly sure where you're going with this data or what it's supposed to prove.

just posting some prices to see what we are looking at here for average costs. Not adding in yearly live prices, broken controllers/hardware, replacing systems, etc.
It isn't supposed to be skewed for one side or the other, just some barebone basic facts covering a broad range of things.