PC Gamers, educate me

[Something Amyss]

Not that consoles are perfect but they are relatively cheap and convenient and play all the new releases you want. I never understood why people would want to spend so much money just to play a videogame. But to each their own I guess.

My PC cost me slightly more than a PS4 to build, and that's including the parts I harvested from my old PC. If we discount those, it probably ran me about 250 bucks.

This is not a PC that plays games in 4K on ultra at 900 FPS, but if we're talking about console parity, it tends to provide better visuals on "medium" settings than the PS4 experience.

The reality is that I don't give a crap what people play on, really, but the PC experience isn't necessarily an expensive one, and you're not necessarily spending "so much money" just to play a game. Hell, looking at the Steam hardware surveys, the "most popular" options aren't particularly daunting: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Wait for seasonal sales, as everyone else has said.

However, gog.com have a pretty good sale going on right now, I'd advise you check it out.

A good resource for referencing prices is www.isthereanydeal.com.

If you want to see the true power of PCs over consoles in terms of fidelity, play something like The Witcher 3 on max. There's also the 60fps reason, which makes everything so much smoother. Alternatively, boot up Crysis and see how good it looks to this day on max settings.

The thing with GTA V is that it was very well optimised, and that the Console and PC versions came out very close to one another. Outside of 4K and mega texture settings, there's not that much, barring the superior framerates.

 

[sonicneedslovetoo]

I was actually gonna make a big list of game reccomendations but then I read your post again and I'm not sure if you're asking for that.

OK here is my advice for getting into PC gaming:

Try building a modded install of say Skyrim with mods from the Skyrim Nexus(not the workshop, the workshop is terrible for installing mods) then maybe snoop around for something like ENBseries or Enhanced Lighting and Fx, pair that up with say Apocalypse Magic and maybe SPERG and you'll find you're playing a completely different game. Particularly if you install "Immersive weapons" and "Immersive armors"

Fiddle with your mouse settings in games, try and figure out what works best for whatever you've got(I actually use a trackball mouse because I'm insane) rebind some keys that sort of thing. Part of PC gaming is molding the games so they work for you, if you don't like something you can probably change it in some way.

Try Keyboard and Mouse on a couple fps's and try to get into that, learn it as best you can. If FPS's aren't your game try something like Civ 5 or another strategy game they don't have on consoles(I'm partial to Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance myself, but that's a bit of a very slow buildup of a game with a giant robot payout). If strategy games aren't your game either find something weird on steam like "keep talking and nobody explodes" or "camera obscura" or one of the many Rogue-lites that are on steam..

Try retro gaming on a computer, Backwards compatibility on PC's these days can go as far back as you'd care to go, and then even farther back then that until you're sitting in with the games on the ZX spectrum that load from Cassette tapes and only have text graphics.(I recommend GOG for most old games) If you want a better idea of what older games are available try looking up a retro focused youtube channel, I watch "Lazy Game Reviews" because he does a lot of DOS games.

Snoop around on google for some freeware game websites that aren't flash game websites(they still exist I know they do) and you'll probably find some things like "Mondo Medical" or "track-mania nations forever" or if you're really feeling crazy "Progress Quest" and "Sauerbraten"

EDIT: I forgot to mention if you want a more turnkey option for modding try "Tale of Two Wastelands" it requires both Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 3 + all their DLC but you will be ASTOUNDED at what it does.

EDIT 2: after looking at your specs you might want to look into overclocking that machine, it's definitely not worth what you paid for it however it should have some overclocking overhead in it, take a look at some tutorials first though as overclocking way too much is BAD and may damage your components.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

The best part is that all this generally does is discount a few major games by say, ten or twenty percent (like non-Steam, non-PC sales), and bring older games down to rough parity with other sources. So the major benefit if PCs with Steam Sales is that you get something roughly resembling parity with the other platforms at as similar age.

That's not actually particularly representative of digital distribution sales or PC game pricing.

I've been gaming since I was about 5-6 years old, so...34 years? Primarily on PC, but I also had an Intellivision, a Playstation 2 and 3, an XBOX 360, and a variety of handhelds. The recent era of DD on PC...most particularly Steam, but you can wrap GOG and GMG and other DD sites into it as well...is by an order of magnitude the least expensive time to be a gamer in history. Buying games on my consoles...and the consoles in general...was exponentially more expensive.

Games that were still $60 on consoles would be as low as $20, sometimes even $10, during sales. Much older games would occasionally fall as low as $2 (such as Mount and Blade Warband, which I got for $2.50 and played for over 200 hours). It would not be uncommon for me to wade into a Steam sale, spend $50, and wade out with 20+ games.

If that's "parity with other platforms" I want to know where you're buying these games.

 

[Bombiz]

Unless you're a PC hobbyist and/or really enjoy niche genres you can only find on PC and/or really want to dig up old PC games and accumulate a monstrous backlog of dated and shitty games you'll never play anyway than I never understood why people would ever prefer the hassle of a PC over a console.

cause theirs only one game I want to play that warrants me buying a console and thats because it's an exclusive. other then that why would I buy a console? everything I can do on it I can already do on a PC.

 

[Leg End]

Ball Busting: The Thread
While trying to avoid parroting what everyone else has shoved into your backside by now, OP if you intended to buy a prebuilt and not want to build your own, you're good but the price of the parts certainly does not match what you in fact, paid.

If you want to enjoy the best PC gaming can offer, wait for Steam sales, go over to GOG and have a credit card ready. Go play games that can only exist on PC. Go play some MMOs, get games with assloads of mods, hell play Sins of a Solar Empire as Legend of the Galactic Heroes or Star Wars or enjoy the metric assload of free games that exist.

Unless you're a PC hobbyist and/or really enjoy niche genres you can only find on PC and/or really want to dig up old PC games and accumulate a monstrous backlog of dated and shitty games you'll never play anyway than I never understood why people would ever prefer the hassle of a PC over a console. When you buy a game for PS4 you know the game will always play, that the game updates automatically, that the OS won't crash or give you infinite headaches with driver gibberish, that the game is optimized for that particular system etc. Also high-end PC specs in the end mean nothing compared to the marketing prowess of consoles. Without consoles modern AAA games wouldn't even exist and PCs would still be stuck in the dark ages of DOS adventure games and flight simulators.

Not that consoles are perfect but they are relatively cheap and convenient and play all the new releases you want. I never understood why people would want to spend so much money just to play a videogame. But to each their own I guess.

No, I don't know a game will always play, Steam updates games automatically, PS4 update 2.00 or the various Xbox 360 updates that disabled both of my 360 optical drives causing me to buy a new one after each time because it was cheaper than dealing with Microsoft, have you played modern "optimized" ports, and if "AAA" titles are what console gaming has given us then I wouldn't be too sad about consoles going the way of the dodo. In that order.

 

[stroopwafel]

cause theirs only one game I want to play that warrants me buying a console and thats because it's an exclusive. other then that why would I buy a console? everything I can do on it I can already do on a PC.

Well yeah, sure, if PC is your platform of choice and you're content with it than there is very little reason to buy a console say for maybe the incidental exclusive. But vice versa there is very little reason for console gamers to 'switch sides' so to say because there is very little reason to do so other than the reasons I mentioned above. I assume people who invest a lot of money in a PC do so not to play old retro games you can play on any piece of crap but rather to play new titles at higher specs but to me the higher price doesn't seem worth the headache of fumbling with drivers, system requirements, compatibility issues, winbloze crashes etc. for mostly sub-optimized versions of games that require amateurs re-arranging game files and tweaking the shitty thing just to have a slightly higher resolution.

I do agree however that new games drop in price faster on PC but switching to PCs just for that seems like a major pain in the ass. Espescially nowadays when PSN and such have often really good deals as well.

if "AAA" titles are what console gaming has given us then I wouldn't be too sad about consoles going the way of the dodo. In that order.

Pfff..yeah right get hyped about your indie games then.

 

[RealRT]

So I've taken a last true dive into PC Gaming, and I mean it this time. I've bought myself a painfully expensive big stupid super computer, and i've been playing about a week now. But now i need some help.
So Steam is a little disappointing, so far as i can tell old games stay $20-30, and it doesn't do a whole lot to help you find games you could be interested in. Not to mention, most of them have no demo. Steam brings up a really strong feeling of infinite arcade syndrome, where as soon as anyone tells me to think of something, I cant think of anything. I'm not sure I know what games i like anymore.
Then there's the issue of buying used, which, for a start my computer doesn't come with a CD thing, so it isn't going to happen, but finding a PC game on disc is a challenge to begin with. I could pick up a classic PS2 game for maybe $3, that could cost me $20 on Steam.

The big thing most people point out is that PC has greater capacity for shiny graphics and the what have yas, which is fine, but so far as i can tell, GTA5 on a PS4 and a PC plays exactly the same, has exactly the same amount of features, exactly the same number of pedestrians and stuff like that, looks exactly the same, but PS4 has less rough edges, controls worse, and has a worse online community, absolutely infested by hacking.

Then Mods are great, but these days with paid mods creeping up, soon there'll only be DLC.

So, whats the deal? What makes this system worth 4 PS4s with money left over for a pretty big TV? What can I do to use this thing properly? What piece of the master race gaming platform am I missing here?

There's a big sale right now over at GOG, which offers mostly old games and indies with no DRM. Otherwise, the Steam winter sale is what you are waiting for.

For one, backwards compatibility. One PC, all the games. I enjoyed games made before I was even born. For two, paid mods were rebuked once and I'm sure the community won't accept them again, now that Nexus does a way better job of thanking the modmakers both more substantially and completely optionally.

 

[AT God]

As has been mentioned, my favorite thing about PC gaming is the ability to play old games and get them relatively cheaply. As you mentioned, Steam is so vast that it is incredibly daunting when first viewing it because of how many games it carries and how hard it is to know which ones are good or not. To that end, I would recommend finding out about games through other mediums then checking for their existence on Steam, because browsing Steam's shop has become ridiculously tedious from all of the choices.

One thing I utilize a lot is the Steam wishlist feature, basically add any game you are interested in to your wishlist, then check it periodically to see if it is on sale at a good price. During either of steam's major sales (winter/summer), click through the list of games under 5/10 dollars. While you probably wont get anything less than two years old, games that are 3-4 years old often hit this price range. I usually spend about 100 dollars each sale and get probably 20-30 games, maybe less if I buy something newer, and I have an infinitely growing stack of games I own but haven't finished, so I am never short of something new to play if I am in the mood for a new experience.

I think one of the unique things with PC games, at least at the moment, are the big survival games. I personally haven't played any of them but things like Rust and DayZ are really unique experiences that are only available for PC to such an extent. If you are curious, trying one of those would be interesting.

Personally, I think people who play PC just for the advanced graphics are going to be disappointed because I feel that the best graphics, at least in quality, come from heavily funded first party console games. Generally, games that are multiplatform do look the best on PC given the right amount of tweaking and hardware, but I don't think the PC has anything to match some of the PS4's offerings in terms of pure quality images, at least at the moment. In a few years when multiplatform games are able to fully use the console's power PC will probably be on top again, but until then graphic fidelity is sort of being won by the handful of exclusives every year.

Really, to me the best thing about PC gaming is the fact that once you make that initial investment to get a good PC, you can maintain it for less money than new consoles, plus you have more control options, no subscription fees, and games are generally cheaper (if you are patient).

 

[Joccaren]

Unless you're a PC hobbyist and/or really enjoy niche genres you can only find on PC and/or really want to dig up old PC games and accumulate a monstrous backlog of dated and shitty games you'll never play anyway than I never understood why people would ever prefer the hassle of a PC over a console. When you buy a game for PS4 you know the game will always play, that the game updates automatically, that the OS won't crash or give you infinite headaches with driver gibberish, that the game is optimized for that particular system etc.

Sounds exactly like my PC gaming experience. I buy a game, and I know it will always play, the game updates automatically, the OS never crashes [Unless I leave it running without turning it off or hibernating for 6 months, but I think that's a bit excessive], drivers are all automatic and half the time I turn off the automatic and just don't bother updating them, PC brute forces its way through poor optimisation in the few games that aren't optimised to run on a PC [Seeing as that's what the 1 and 4 are, cheap PCs these days. No different architecture: Optimisation for one is very similar to optimisation for the lot of them].
Why would I want to buy a console and go through the hassle of NEEDING to update to do things, or having to fight for use of the TV, of missing out on some of my favourite game genres, of hoping it doesn't RRoD like something like 30% of the original 360s did. Why go through that hassle when my PC will just work, always?
And hell, its not like I just play mainstream games. I'm playing things 20 years old, and it don't run into any problems. I play the latest most intensive games, and don't hit any problems. I play side indie hits that are programmed by newbies, and I don't run into any problems. All these 'problems' with PC gaming are just myths these days. If you spent as long looking at a PC as you do figuring out that a PS4 won't run Xbox1 games, then you're fine. The problems just don't exist anymore, and haven't in any real way since Windows ME.

Also high-end PC specs in the end mean nothing compared to the marketing prowess of consoles. Without consoles modern AAA games wouldn't even exist and PCs would still be stuck in the dark ages of DOS adventure games and flight simulators.

Yeaaaah.... No.
If it was just consoles, we'd be stuck in the dark ages of the PS1 era. Because consoles don't want to update. Why update when you can keep the same machine there for 10 years and reap in the profits?
PCs always update, and their innovation forces consoles to innovate. Without that, consoles just sit on the same shit all year long. I'd also say to take a look at the gaming ecosystem of consoles, and of that on PC, and tell me which one innovates more with its games. Again, its consoles. PCs were also making big money for a long time before consoles really caught on with the PS1 and N64.
What consoles have done, is standardised the AAA market and stagnated the industry. They are not the drivers of innovation, they're the ones that want to prevent it because they might need to sell a new console that people don't want, or might need to make a game that doesn't need to cater to 20 million people to turn a profit.
Meanwhilst in PC land, Blizzard has long been raking in the dough from WoW, Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo. Firaxis has built a large cult following for things like the Civilization series, and Creative Assembly have been very successful with their Total War franchise. And again, this is without going into all the cool niche games that exist like Dwarf Fortress or Kerbal Space Program.
PC has always driven the development of the industry. Its always at the forefront of technology, expanding the capabilities of the industry, whilst harboring many profitable companies that don't focus on spending a fortune trying to copy another game that's already out there, but spend it less money trying to do something different - and often succeeding because of it.

Not that consoles are perfect but they are relatively cheap and convenient and play all the new releases you want. I never understood why people would want to spend so much money just to play a videogame. But to each their own I guess.

Define so much money. ~$600 and I get a mid-high end gaming PC [~$900 and I get a mid-high end gaming laptop], as well as a machine necessary for my work, that comes with thousands of free games online not including free to play titles, and which I can play every game I have ever owned for the PC on, even if that game is 3 decades old.
Why would I spend $400 on a console, to play one or two games, look at all the clones of them and say nope, and then spend the same amount a few years later to get the 'new' console, to again buy those same one or two games - but lose the ability to play my old games in the process because I traded in to get the new one a little cheaper.
I mean, honestly, I'd call consoles anything but cheap. They do one thing; Play games. They cost ~$400 to do so. If I wanted that, I'd buy a Nintendo DS or something - <$200, and plays plenty of games. PC, sure, a little more expensive, but whether I was a PC gamer or not, I'd have one. Need it for prgoramming, CAD, video editing, and much more convenient note taking/communication/internet browsing/document checking - ect. on the go in the form of a laptop, let alone all the extra abilities it has when paired with even basic accessories. I spend ~$600-900 for a way of life. Why would I spend ~$400 just to play some games, and then not actually be able to play anything because I need to purchase at least 1 $100 game [Thanks 'Straya] on top of that to play something?
Call of Duty/Halo/Battlefield is not worth an extra $300 compared to a DS and Majoras mask, or Pokemon, or Smash bros, or W/E. I don't get why anyone would buy a console, too expensive for what they offer, and to make up for the deficits of not owning a PC I'd need to spend several hundred extra on a tablet and phone, and a cheaper PC, and keep them updated more regularly. Its just far cheaper and easier to make my PC a one stop shop than it is to buy 3-5 separate devices that are obsolete from one.

 

[FalloutJack]

The real answer here is that there is no real answer here. The two sides are comparable to each other, even if neither side will admit it. Why do I know? Because I've done both, though I prefer console gaming. Sorry, folks.

 

[stroopwafel]

I'd also say to take a look at the gaming ecosystem of consoles, and of that on PC, and tell me which one innovates more with its games. Again, its consoles. PCs were also making big money for a long time before consoles really caught on with the PS1 and N64.
What consoles have done, is standardised the AAA market and stagnated the industry.

Again it boils down to what kind of games you want to play. If you want to play strategy games, or old games or a lot more indies then PC is the platform of choice. However most people get excited over AAA releases and you're just lumping them all in the same category. The Witcher 3 is an AAA release and even CDPR admitted(probably one of the most PC devoted developers out there) that they wouldn't be able to make this game without the marketing incentives of consoles. PC gaming represents only a small part of the pie and in no way mandates 50 - 100 million dollar investments that they would never be able to recoup without versions of the game on consoles.

Since there is no single, dedicated corporation pushing games to sell their system PC versions of games also fall way short of advertising that is necessary to reach the public. No publisher would ever invest a shit ton of money in a game for a system that no corporation had a vested interest in. It is the reason why PC versions of AAA games are so often half-baked and/or are released like half a year later. Simply b/c the PC version is the lowest on the publishers priority list.

Games are eventually made to turn a profit and PCs simply don't have the reach and marketing incentives that warrant development of games that cost over 50 million dollars to make. So PCs don't 'drive innovation' for the simple reason it's not commercially feasible to do do so. Take a game like Dark Souls; loved by PC gamers but would have never seen the light of day without consoles or even Sony Japan who published(and funded) it's predecessor Demon's Souls. Every AAA game is ultimately made with consoles(or rather the companies behind it that market the game) in mind.

 

[Laughing Man]

The big thing most people point out is that PC has greater capacity for shiny graphics and the what have yas, which is fine, but so far as i can tell, GTA5 on a PS4 and a PC plays exactly the same, has exactly the same amount of features, exactly the same number of pedestrians and stuff like that

It doesn't it does have the ability to increase ped and car numbers and tends to hold 60FPS much better than the PS4, it also looks crisper because it can be run at a much higher resolution of course that is all dependant on your PC's grunt.

but PS4 has less rough edges, controls worse, and has a worse online community, absolutely infested by hacking.

You got the last two items mixed up the community for the most part is fine and having played the PS4 version since launch I can count the number of times I have encountered a hacker on the fingers of one finger, the PC on the other hand, the community is fine but it does have issues with hackers.

I am not going to tell you when or where to buy, if you see a game that you like then just buy it if you really enjoy it you will have spent your cash well and if it sucks chances are you'll be able to refund it anyway. I am also not going to tell you that you overpaid for your PC for the same reason, we also don't know the actual spec you said some part of it had been upgraded but end of the day if you enjoy using it who cares?

Where the PC comes out on top is not just the raft of games that can be played but the wealth of options to mod and change them and usually the community that goes along with them, just look at the Elder Scrolls games for an example of what's possible and that's not just limited to that game, most major games will have a decent modding community spring up around them. The second factor is the Early Access, now the issue here is that Steam is a piss poor place to look at Early Access, the whole Greenlight feature is a sewer of the worst kind of shit that you will ever find in gaming but very so often you will find a gem, a diamond amongst the floating arse gravy of utter shite that infests Greenlight.

Youtube let's play for ANY games that catch your interest, that will at least give you an impression of who good the game is, does it do what you are looking for and by all means ask, post questions about any game that catches your eye. Like I said the majority of Early Access is a sesspool but their are some amazing games out there; KSP, Prison Architect, Factorio are three I have played and have logged more hours on these then just about any other game (save L4D2 and Borderlands 2.)

It's all about the community, most games will have one and for the most part most of them are pretty decent, which is something I have never really found with ANY console game. It's also why I hate the term 'master race' as it portraits a community that for the most part is open and friendly as being some arrogant holier than thou race that looks down it's noses at everyone.

Oh and finally if you have read this far, what kind of games do you like to play, tell us and no doubt you will get quite a range of suggestions?

 

[bluegate]

~snipsnip~

Seeing as you already have a PS4, check this site out for info on how to use that PS4 Controller of yours on your computer;

https://inputmapper.com/

Seeing as you have a PS4 already, you are most likely comfortable with the PS4 controller, so you won't have to go out and buy a Xbox controller and waste money.

 

[Rack]

A lot of people have been saying Steam sales but far too few people have really gone into how insane the Humble Bundles are. The quality varies but you can get some great stuff for very little so I'd strongly recommend keeping an eye out. The dev bundles are often insane value. Last summer you could get the Valve complete pack for £10. In the meantime it's probably worth checking stuff like Dota 2, Guild Wars 2 or HoTs out since they're all free and like nothing you can get on a console. Also stuff like Fruit Mystery, Frog Fractions, Life in the West, Superhot and other free indie titles are good for a laugh/play.

Oh and get Origin and see what the on the house offer is. I think you can get Red Alert 2 for free right now.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I'm sure many have already mentioned this, but:
1: Wait for Steam Sales. It's bonkers the amount of really excellent games you'll find for $5-$10 (or even less) during Steam sales. Also, with GOG.com, they don't care if you share the games you've purchased with friends, so if you have friends that you know have bought GOG games they can just give them to you.

2: Backwards compatibility is outstanding with PCs, especially with GOG.com and older Steam games. I've never messed with humblebundle but a lot of people say it's great, and don't forget gamefly.

3: Modding is arguably one of the best features of the PC vs. consoles. Seriously, go play Vanilla Skyrim on 360 or PS3, and then play it with the ability to mod on PC, it's like night and day, and that's merely the tip of the iceberg. There are 1000s of outstanding mods out there available for free that drastically extend the playtime of many games.

4: Remember that you can plug a 360 or XBox one controller into your PC (I don't know about Playstation controllers), so you can easily use your PC to play games traditionally dominated by consoles (sports games, fighting games, etc.). Much more easily than you can play traditionally PC genres on a console (4X, RTS, ARPGs, etc.).

 

[Redryhno]

A lot of people have been saying Steam sales but far too few people have really gone into how insane the Humble Bundles are. The quality varies but you can get some great stuff for very little so I'd strongly recommend keeping an eye out. The dev bundles are often insane value. Last summer you could get the Valve complete pack for £10. In the meantime it's probably worth checking stuff like Dota 2, Guild Wars 2 or HoTs out since they're all free and like nothing you can get on a console. Also stuff like Fruit Mystery, Frog Fractions, Life in the West, Superhot and other free indie titles are good for a laugh/play.

Oh and get Origin and see what the on the house offer is. I think you can get Red Alert 2 for free right now.

Ehhh, Humble Bundle is ok, but if I'm remembering correctly, it's not really nearly the great thing they sell themselves as, I could be thinking of something else though...haven't ever seen anything on them I REALLY like personally, I mean, there was a six month period where I actually paid attention to it there was Braid and Fez in it every other week that I just dropped it.

Also the Red Alert 2 deal isn't the best thing, it hasn't been optimized for anything but for systems when it was released, meaning that to get it to work is about six times harder than steam because Origin is a bit of a crapshoot on if what you changed in the code-stuff actually will work because it seems to launch from a fixed point that isn't always changed. Or at least the week it was available after they screwed something up with it and kept Theme Hospital while they did that.

Still a great game, but it probably won't work without heavy tweaking that even an experienced PC'er would have trouble with, and I'm by no means experienced.

OT:

But yeah, basically you have pretty much infinite freedom to play whatever you want on PC, with the obvious exceptions of exclusives and release day games. There's Emulators starting to pop up for the 360 and PS3, and every other console generation you can get emulators for nowadays.

Also I don't know what some people are talking about with 10-20% being the norm on sales...that's either complete bullshit from a console pleb that refuses to allow one of their own to reach enlightenment and transcend their mortal form!, or someone just really doesn't check into Steam very often...I mean, at the time of writing there's AoE2 with the third secret mod/expansion for like 3 bucks, all of NOrdic games for like 50-90% off,(which holds most of Relic and THQ's licenses), with the only outlier being the upgraded Darksiders2 that has some problems for 20 bucks, and Trine, which is again at least 50% off...and that's just the featured deals, there's at least a hundred more every week that are like 20-90% off, alot being shitty indie games, but still more than a few diamonds depending on the person. And this is one of the shittier featured sales the last few weeks.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Snip

Good lord what a basket of fables. I don't think I've ever seen anyone reach so hard to justify a choice of platform before.

http://www.businessofgames.com/market-intelligence/game-sales-to-reach-113b-in-2018/

Just looking at China alone, whose game market is equal in size to the US, PC's have more combined revenue then every other platform combined. In North America, they generate more revenue than any single console, it's only when "consoles" are taken together in aggregate that this changes.

Games are eventually made to turn a profit and PCs simply don't have the reach and marketing incentives that warrant development of games that cost over 50 million dollars to make.

Games are eventually made to turn a profit and PCs simply don't have the reach and marketing incentives that warrant development of games that cost over 50 million dollars to make.

http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-top-10-highest-grossing-video-games-of-all-time-2012-6?op=1

#1 on that list has more revenue generated than everything else on that list combined. PC exclusive.

Since there is no single, dedicated corporation pushing games to sell their system PC versions of games also fall way short of advertising that is necessary to reach the public.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-the-old-republic-cost-200-million-to-develop/1100-6348959/

So PCs don't 'drive innovation' for the simple reason it's not commercially feasible to do do so.

http://www.pcgamesn.com/gabe-newell-pc-gaming-where-innovation-occurring

...we?re going up 76% year over year, at the same time PC sales are getting double digit declines.

It is the reason why PC versions of AAA games are so often half-baked and/or are released like half a year later.

Outside of a small handful of high profile disasters, the overwhelming majority of AAA releases are cross-platform and release on the same day, with the PC release generally vastly outstripping its console brethren on performance and appearance, to say nothing of mods. Which stands to reason, as consoles are literally nothing more than lobotomized PCs, so the desktop gaming PC will always have a performance advantage. I've had a console AND a PC for the last 15-16 years, and enjoyed games on both, and there is absolutely zero truth to anything you're saying here.

I hear all the time about "PC elitists", but quite frankly it's typically console users issuing jeremiads like this. I don't know if it's insecurity about the future of the platform or e-peen envy or what the hell is going on. If you want to be neurotic about a competing platform, get antsy about mobile, because if anything is going to take a wet shit all over ALL our gaming markets in the near future, it's mobile. King.com got sold for more money than STAR WARS. Their Q1 revenues were higher than the sales numbers for some of the games on that list of the top selling games of all time. If anyone should be in here giving a speech about the viability of platforms based on profitability, it's the soccer Mom playing Candy Crush.

 

[Smooth Operator]

You bought an insanely expensive tool with no use for it? Talk about money well spent...

With PC you get flexibility, there are no "generations" on PC because shit can work across everything, even other platforms as long as there is an emulator. Choice of peripherals has no end, nor do the settings, mods, cheats, hacks,...
And when the gaming side ends you can also do everything else a computing device might be asked to do, you just need to figure out why you might need one. Usually that is something to work out before spending heaps of cash.