Misunderstanding PC gaming

[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.

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.

Yeah, unfortunate incidents do happen with PCs as well, but I was taking about the replacement and repair costs of the xbox 360 system in particular specifically because of how widespread the issues with it were. I would say at least half of xbox 360 owners who bought the original xbox 360 ended up having to repaired it at least once, and many (including myself) have to have it repaired multiple times. So considering how widespread repairs were on that console in particular I think it's completely fair to factor in repair/replacement costs into the total cost of the console.

As far as using your non-upgraded 7 year old PC to play modern games, I gotta ask, which games are you playing? Because I'm going to be really impressed if you say you're playing Max Payne 3, or Bioshock Infinite, or Metro 2033, or Deus Ex Human Revolution on 7 year old hardware.

 

[LucidGrifter]

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.

have you ever owned an xbox? I've gone through 3. how many pc's have i owned? 1. It's probably the most reliable machine i've used for gaming since the n64.

 

[suntt123]

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

PC gaming has way more exclusives, and gaming PCs game be used for school and work too. They are not that focused to not be able to do everything.

That's what I meant when I brought up gaming laptops (that's what I use for school)I go to university and the laptop I have now can barely hold out for the day.

As for exclusives, I know there are a lot of them but well... good as they are, I doubt people are going out of their way to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and others. Not saying they aren't as good as console games, just no where near as well known. With some exceptions (WoW, Starcraft, LoL, etc). Those seem to run on my piece of crap of a laptop though I gotta turn everything to its lowest setting and hope nothing too exciting happens or I start lagging XD.

Besides that you'd have to be the one to upgrade thing when the need comes and most people just don't know enough about that. It's not exactly rocket science I know, but if you mess up you may end up having to buy what ever got messed up again. Granted, consoles seem to be capable of f**king THEMSELVES up nowadays but the one console I had that died (Wii U) got replaced the very next day for free...

 

[Frezzato]

Spoiler

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.

have you ever owned an xbox? I've gone through 3. how many pc's have i owned? 1. It's probably the most reliable machine i've used for gaming since the n64.

On a long enough timeline, people will probably end up owning more PCs than replacement consoles (except for 360 owners of course. Thankfully I've only had to replace that thing once). I'm on my fourth PC now; it's not because they break, they get outdated just like consoles. However, this is all besides the point. I've kept a fairly accurate record of all my generation 6/7 console game purchases and have found that out of 229 games:

29.79% of my original Xbox games were unavailable on PC
73.68% of my PS2 games were unavailable on PC
33.33% of my 360 games are unavailable on PC
46.07% of my PS3 games are unavailable on PC

And I'm not even including my Genesis, PS1, Dreamcast or N64 games.
I also play games on PC, I just allocate funds differently for the console exclusives. I can buy PC games at any time, but simply choose not to because it's convenient to buy on console, games that are also available for PC. Also, I cheaped out and got a low-end video card. Upgrading that would require a new power supply. ANYWAY, console games don't really cost more; both console and PC titles can go pretty low in price. I'm a cheap, patient bastard.

Now, what were we all arguing about again? Oh right, PC gaming is not as expensive as most people make it out to be. Yep, that's true.

 

[TehCookie]

Yeah, unfortunate incidents do happen with PCs as well, but I was taking about the replacement and repair costs of the xbox 360 system in particular specifically because of how widespread the issues with it were. I would say at least half of xbox 360 owners who bought the original xbox 360 ended up having to repaired it at least once, and many (including myself) have to have it repaired multiple times. So considering how widespread repairs were on that console in particular I think it's completely fair to factor in repair/replacement costs into the total cost of the console.

As far as using your non-upgraded 7 year old PC to play modern games, I gotta ask, which games are you playing? Because I'm going to be really impressed if you say you're playing Max Payne 3, or Bioshock Infinite, or Metro 2033, or Deus Ex Human Revolution on 7 year old hardware.

It does play Dues Ex HR and heavily modded Skyrim and GW2 on high. The rest of my games are like Portal 2 or L4D which don't seem as demanding. It was a $1,000 PC at the time, but it does show it's age because if I'm playing those games that's the only thing I can do, I can't have anything running in the background. My dad built it and he's one of those people obsessed with the latest technology and always looking at sales on sites so he got a good deal on it. About the xbox...

have you ever owned an xbox? I've gone through 3. how many pc's have i owned? 1. It's probably the most reliable machine i've used for gaming since the n64.

Nope, I own every other console and my PC is the one that breaks the most. All my friends own PS3's as well and they never had issues. Xbox =/= all consoles, that's like using a Mac or overpowered PCs as your price example. Also how old is your PC? My PC from the N64 era is dead, but my N64 still works.

 

[sanquin]

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

and i'm back with some figures
--long list of prices--

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.

Except that's an unfair way to look at it. You're taking CURRENT gaming PC prices and compare them to a console that's 7 years old. If you wanted any kind of storage on a 360, at launch it would cost 400. And the PS3 went for 500 if you got the one with the least amount of storage.Plus, you're only going on ONE year of xbox live, and you should at least count 3 imo.

For the games as well. You count CURRENT prices, not launch prices. That, and the price usually drops faster for PC games than for console games. Heck, quite a few stores (at least over here) take AGES to drop their console game prices.

I'm not saying you're entirely wrong. A console is cheaper to buy at first, and if you don't buy a lot of games it will remain a bit cheaper. But the difference isn't as large as you make it out to be.

 

[ThreeName]

Dear mods, could we please sticky a "Here is how to build a cheap computer and aren't computers awesome" threads? They seems to be popping up fare too much with the new generation announcements.

Yes, we get it, there are misconceptions about PC gaming. There's been a thousand other threads saying this exact thing.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

I've kept a fairly accurate record of all my generation 6/7 console game purchases and have found that out of 229 games:

29.79% of my original Xbox games were unavailable on PC
73.68% of my PS2 games were unavailable on PC
33.33% of my 360 games are unavailable on PC
46.07% of my PS3 games are unavailable on PC

Technically all games are available on PC. It's just a matter of having a proper emulator. I can play Red Dead Redemption or Heavy Rain on PC if I want to. I can get every single old school game: battle toads, mario, echo the dolphin, street fighter; all saved on my computer in under a single GB of space.

Exclusivity is not something that will stop a PC gamer with an internet connection and a willingness to follow basic instructions.

 

[LetalisK]

Okay, slightly off topic question, but the OP mentioned resolution and it got me thinking. I've never really monkeyed around with resolution and pretty much always used the same one. How taxing is resolution when playing games on PC?

 

[Yopaz]

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.

One of my PCs is 8 years old and I can still play modern games. I broke your system.

Dear mods, could we please sticky a "Here is how to build a cheap computer and aren't computers awesome" threads? They seems to be popping up fare too much with the new generation announcements.

Yes, we get it, there are misconceptions about PC gaming. There's been a thousand other threads saying this exact thing.

Also this. Misconceptions exist, they always did, they always will. Making a new thread about it once a month isn't necessary. I long for a day where we can just accept that people play on different platforms. Yeah, I'm a naive person in the morning.

 

[Frezzato]

I've kept a fairly accurate record of all my generation 6/7 console game purchases and have found that out of 229 games:

29.79% of my original Xbox games were unavailable on PC
73.68% of my PS2 games were unavailable on PC
33.33% of my 360 games are unavailable on PC
46.07% of my PS3 games are unavailable on PC

Technically all games are available on PC. It's just a matter of having a proper emulator. I can play Red Dead Redemption or Heavy Rain on PC if I want to. I can get every single old school game: battle toads, mario, echo the dolphin, street fighter; all saved on my computer in under a single GB of space.

Exclusivity is not something that will stop a PC gamer with an internet connection and a willingness to follow basic instructions.

That's true, but (not that I'm accusing you) for the purposes of this thread, we're not addressing illegal downloads. I'm talking about the economics of the process of buying games, be they new or used. Also, that's also been going on for ages--starting with the Dreamcast to the original Xbox with Linux. If you're going to include downloading stealing everything then the Steam and GOG argument, listed by plenty of people here, is null and void.

 

[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.

One of my PCs is 8 years old and I can still play modern games. I broke your system.

If that's true then that's one hell of an impressive computer. Which modern games are you playing with your 8 year old computer? Max Payne 3? Bioshock Infinite? Metro 2033? Witcher 2? The world needs to know.

 

[Tom Waits' hat]

But try to games in 2013 on your 2005 PC? You don't need to upgrade your console. Having said that, PC do offer higher graphics though.

 

[Yopaz]

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.

One of my PCs is 8 years old and I can still play modern games. I broke your system.

If that's true then that's one hell of an impressive computer. Which modern games are you playing with your 8 year old computer? Max Payne 3? Bioshock Infinite? Metro 2033? Witcher 2? The world needs to know.

Well, I only use it during Christmas so the last game I played was Arkham City, but I suspect Metro 2033 would play a lot like a slideshow.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

That's true, but (not that I'm accusing you) for the purposes of this thread, we're not addressing illegal downloads. I'm talking about the economics of the process of buying games, be they new or used. Also, that's also been going on for ages--starting with the Dreamcast to the original Xbox with Linux. If you're going to include downloading stealing everything then the Steam and GOG argument, listed by plenty of people here, is null and void.

You don't need to steal a game to run it emulated. You can do a straight rip off a CD image or you can put a CD in a normal drive. It can still see the CD and read it even if the OS can't make heads or tails of it; and with an emulator you can run it.

 

[Syntax Error]

Assuming that the conversion of USD to my currency is 1:40, my three-year old PC has cost me around $750 over the course of three years.

Parts that were acquired brand new:
21'' AOC LCD Monitor
EMAXX 780G ACC Motherboard
320GB WDC Caviar Blue HDD
LG DVD Drive
Raptor 500W PSU
Keyboard and Mouse
Athlon x2 240 2.8GHz
2GB Kingston 800MHz DDR2 memory

Parts that were bought after the above:
Palit 9800GT Sonic Edition (bought it used for about $80 at the time)
Cooler Master Extreme 525W PSU (brand new, to replace my Raptor that broke down)
EMAXX 780G PRO Motherboard (bought used for about $40 to replace the original's busted capacitors)
A second 2GB Memory stick (bought used)

And it keeps trucking 3+ years I got it and would probably continue to do so in the immediate year or two, unless I go crazy and just upgrade. The most intensive game I have is Civilization 5 and it plays the thing very nicely. Great visuals are nice, but I could live without the the high end. Torchlight on Ultra is fine with me.

 

[Frezzato]

That's true, but (not that I'm accusing you) for the purposes of this thread, we're not addressing illegal downloads. I'm talking about the economics of the process of buying games, be they new or used. Also, that's also been going on for ages--starting with the Dreamcast to the original Xbox with Linux. If you're going to include downloading stealing everything then the Steam and GOG argument, listed by plenty of people here, is null and void.

You don't need to steal a game to run it emulated. You can do a straight rip off a CD image or you can put a CD in a normal drive. It can still see the CD and read it even if the OS can't make heads or tails of it; and with an emulator you can run it.

I've been looking around, but I can't even find the name of a good emulator for PS3/360 games on PC. It looks like a decent software conversion from Cell to PC architecture is still a long ways away. Don't get me wrong, I would love to know of a decent emulator as these consoles won't last forever. It's only a matter of time, perhaps. I've heard of some for PSX, PS2 and Dreamcast, but the few videos I found of Dreamcast emulation show terrible framerates. If you could just find the name of one decent PS3 emulator I'd be impressed. And believe me, that's not a boast. I would really love to have a PS3 emulator! For entirely legal use of my discs of course.

The fact remains that there are still original Xboxes selling on eBay today. The reasoning behind this isn't exactly clear, but it stands to reason that the original hardware is still important to some people.