Poll: PC and Consoles. A CIVIL Discussion?

[the_green_dragon]

I've noticed that the PC VS Console debate is something that lies close to everyone's heart. Almost like a religion.
Now I think there are both Pros and Cons to both sides of the arguement. Sure PCs have better graphics and cheaper games but Console users don't need to worry about specs or upgrading.

I think the thing that puts console users off PCs the most is that they are expensive to buy in the shops, and building one can be quite difficult and confusing without the knowlegde. For instance, I went into the local computer fair and there were all sorts of different PC bits and pieces. Different brands of graphics cards and different kinds of RAM. For instance is a Geforce 9200 better then a 8800, hows it compare to the ATI's. Does your motherboard take DDR, DDR2 or DDR3 RAM? Whats a good firewall/anti-virus?

Whereas on a console, you buy it, stick in a game, a controller and hook it to the TV and your ready to play.

So I think the Console much easier and less fuss, and is great if you don't want the hassle of building and maintaining a gaming PC. But if you have the know how and don't mind shopping around a bit, then PC gaming is great.

But there is also personal preferance. Some people like the controller as opposed to the old keyboard and mouse. So to each his own, and lets stop all this hate. We're all gamers right?

and hey no-body here is going to say they hate PCs, I mean, your surfing the escapist on one.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

>CIVIL<

HA!

But seriously, I use my 360 as my main gaming console as I know every game is going to work regardless, most of my friends are on their and I really like the feel of the controller and how it plays.

I use my PC for more 'casual' (debatable) games, depending on how you view games such as Minecraft and Recettear.

I still have some 'hardcore' titles on my PC, such as the entire Battlefield series, I just don't play them that often as I'm normally multitasking and not being able to play in window is quite annoying for me, plus my computer likes to complain a lot about silly things sometimes...

 

[barash]

Gawd, here we go again >_>

 

[Aphex Demon]

I love both.

Consoles for playing with the majority of my friends and the ease of use.
PC for the controls and utter awesome amount of power they can potentially have.

 

[Zac Smith]

I have all of the consoles above in my house, but I only really use my Xbox, I sometimes use my PC for games such as minecraft and DoW, but not often. I only use my xbox more then the PS3 or Wii becuase the xbox belongs to me and is in my bedroom, while ps3 is my brothers and in his room and the Wii is downstairs where people usually watch TV

 

[priestswearseatbelts]

in before iphone users.... because they will be here.... to tell you about there iphone.... and how they are on there iphone.... reading this on there iphone... making a post on thier iphone.

 

[Conza]

Woah PC FTW! Nice! I've owned at one point all of the current gen consoles, and the 360 is by far, the worst... oh wait this is meant to be civil *Ahem* and the PS3 is by far, the best. But, there's no way I'm not going to go by myself a 6970 card once I find some extra cash, and beef up the ol' PC to fun all the next swig of RPG greats that are coming out this year. Console releases? Well, I'm just not paying much attention honestly, maybe Gran Turismo 5? But that's already out.

 

[JasonKaotic]

I mainly use my Xbox 360, but I have a few PC games. Mainly games that you can only get on PC, though. But if a game has certain benefits on a PC version that they don't have on a console version (like Morrowind) I'll contemplate getting the PC version too.
But I'm mainly a console gamer.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

My preference is for the PC, but because I have a laptop and am not willing to keep upgrading it every two weeks, I'll buy games for the 360 just because they'll work better.

 

[darth.pixie]

PC. Two of them in fact. My current one could launch rockets and I have an older one for old games that would clash horribly with Windows 7.

I also mod my games to the point where they're almost different games so...consoles are pretty much a no go for me.

 

[Strixvaliano]

I grew up primarily a console gamer so they do have a fond place in my heart and my friend introduced me to PC gaming through wonderful gems such as Duke Nukem 3D, Dark Forces, Full Throttle, Day Of The Tentacle, Daggerfall and a few others.

I've slowly been turning more and more towards PC gaming because it generally has better titles and better Indie support.

This generation of console gaming has really put me off to console gaming because of how controlling these companies are of their platforms (stares @ my 360) and the ludicrous micro-transactions, forced "Mii" avatars, pay to play multiplayer (Live), and the community of mostly whiny little brats that inhibit Live.

Most of my favorite games of all time were on PC and I haven't really seen much on consoles that can even begin to rival their epicness (extra points if the pc games support modding.)To name a few in just any old order is AVP (1999) and AVP2 (2001), the Jedi Knight Series, American Mcgee's Alice, Fallout 1 & 2, Deus Ex (2000), Half-life, Diablo, Warcraft (RTS), Starcraft, Freedom Force, X-Wing / Tie Fighter, and many many more.

I really haven't monkied around too much with PS3 because well, I have a bias against Sony, although I liked the PS2 and with the way Microsoft is trying to take gaming it really makes me consider regretting tossing money at them for it and I usually never regret anything I do.

Also it really irritates me when I am forced to use their crappy GFWL service to play some of my steam games. (If i read Bioshock 2 used it I wouldn't have picked it up in the sale last week, and I refused to pick up GTA IV Complete on the Steam sale yesterday because of GFWL and the horrible PC "optimization" of the game.

 

[xPixelatedx]

My current main gaming device is my DS.. well, my 3DS now.

I would love my PC to be an all-in-one gaming hub, but that's just so... inconvenient. I have everything, including an expensive gaming rig, so I am not a particular fanboy of anything. But I have always noticed -and this goes back all the way to 2000- that PC gaming is a rather antisocial experience. In order to play with other people you have to play online (meaning you are actually all by yourself) or set up a lan party. The latter being incredibly inconvenient, time consuming and requiring space and transportation for a lot of equipment. Consoles are very social things, because you can pop one out and 4 or more people can play instantly, depending on the game. It's very quick, user friendly and encourages actual social interactions with other human beings.

Gaming in your living space is also MUCH more comfortable then hunched over a computer desk all day. This isn't a problem for me since my PC outputs to my TV as well, but not everyone has that setup.

 

[benwins]

I switch quite regularly between my 360 and PC. PC for RTSs, most FPSs and indie etc. 360 more for 3rd person, some FPSs and never ever RTSs. Because it simply doesnt work. Also xbox live is home to many of my gaming chums.

 

[Merkavar]

basically your swapping some quality for simplicity when you play a console. you swap graphics etc so that you dont have to install games and stuff.

i prefer pc gaming its just much easier for me.

 

[QuadFish]

I'm a total Valve whore and have so far never had technical problems with Source engine, so really I'm quite fond of my desktop.

Also, I'm starting to value it to a disturbingly high extent, almost as if it were my own child. I mean, it's shiny black with blue lights on it! How could you not love this thing?

 

[Deadlyveggie]

I don't see why there needs to be such a dichotomy here. With such advanced hard/software on both sides there will never be one heads and shoulders above the rest.

Why I own a:
PS3 - the exclusives/blue ray player. Best hardware in a console you'll find, but relatively poor programming behind some of it's games.
360 - Gaming with all my friends. This is my COD machine. What really puts this as a better experience than the PS3 is the vast library of demos you can download and the smoother feel to online gaming.
Wii - I like jumping around like a twat in my flat.

The PC is a different kettle of fish. It has the best and the worst computing power in the market depending on what you buy. It's best to play things like Crisis here because of their visuals - the consoles can't handle it. Games like battlefield also benefit from the PC; being able to handle 64 man games on a server (against the 24 on consoles).

As far as online gaming goes, PC offers (for me) the better experience. When I'm not in a party on LIVE I essentially hang out with the most retarded, socially inept fuck tards - and the same goes for PS3. The PC crowd just seem that tad more mature, and the chance of intelligent conversation is (dare I say it) a possibility.

Oh and PC can mod. The most fun I've had with gaming is the Zombie mod in CS:Source. So if I could only keep one, I'd save my PC... But I would miss bouncing around almost hitting my girlfriend in the face with a Wii-mote.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

My only gripe with console games are some of the overused devices currently flooding games. Cover Mechanics, Quick Time Events, Bullet Time etc etc. They all have potential, but they are overused (and poorly at that) by most games. In a bid to make games feel more cinematic, they made them feel far less dynamic and crap tons more gimmicky.

I also had a gripe within the last 5-6 years with a plummeting difficulty level in games. But that seems to be getting remedied lately.

I prefer PC, but I can rarely afford the costs to keeping it up to date... so I'm usually 2 years behind on games I can play Q_Q.. So I play console games (PS3).

Ultimately, some games work better on PC then on Console for me (FPS games work better with Keyboard and Mouse, 3rd person action adventures with a controller, strategy on PC, fighting games on Console etc.) So I don't hate consoles.

Besides, these are all mute points. The whole market and direction of gaming is changing and neither my likes or dislikes of PC/consoles will matter in 5-10 years.

 

[Wapox]

My main gaming station is my PC, mainly because I have more games there, and access to more AAA title's more easily, that being said, I love my Xbox 360 like a boss, because of the controls, and the simple nature there is around the Xbox (when kids aren't joining for kicks that is). So yea, main=PC Fun=Xbox360

 

[Taluien]

Well, my main machine is and for a long time to come as I predict it will be my PC. The reason is simple, the games that I like most (RTS, FPS, TBS, RPG, MMO) function better with the keyboard/mouse control or are benefitted by the PC in another way. Plus I can easily flip on some background music without having to turn on anthoer machine, surf the web, chat with people.

I do like consoles, they have several upsides speaking for themselves and for other genres like Sport, Racing, Fighting the controls are better than the default PC controls and for playing with friends in the same room the console is king.

I think the main question here is one of personal preference, which will always defer between several people. For an example, one of my favourite series, Total War would not work at all on a console (if you would port it 1:1) in my oppinion. But other games work way better on a console.

What I do not understand however, is the ferocity with which some people undertake their personal crusade for "teh 1 & 0nli gaming device!!!11". Just enjoy gaming, regardless on which system.

 

[kabooz18]

I mainly use my PC because it has better control schemes most of the time and better grafics
for controls I either use my mouse and keyboard or my Dualshock 2 controller (which is the best controller right after the standard NGC controller imho)

but I play on my PS3 too and surf through the filesystem and the GameOS on my CFW 3.55
never bothered to get a xbox 360 because there is only one exclusive that I would try and that's lost odysee and all the other stuff is either on PC or PS3 too^^
ah Halo 3 maybe but I lost interest after Halo 2 I'm more a mass effect guy!

also on the PC you can use good emulators like Dolphin and PCSX2 and DesMuMe so why would anyone need something other to play with <3?

PC = PC + PS2 + PS1 + N64 + NGC + WII + NDS + SNES + PSP(okay you can only play like 20 games right now but PSP emulation is alive and kicking^^)

there is no gaming device which gives you more bang for your buck^^

also yeah I don't like to play FPS or RTS or RPGs like Dragon age with a controller ... that's just annoying...