So what is the advantage of a console?

[Rastrelly]

One simple point: middle-class PC can do everything consoles can do and more. Such PC will cost from $300 to $400 and will provide entertainment, multimedia, design and many other possibilities. Upgrade costs can be reduced to about $50 per year (change one part once in 2 yeras to previous-generation one). Without upgrades PC can serve up to 5-7 years and then will become obsolete due to compatibility issues. Currently there are lots of free software, which has almost the same features AAA-class soft has, so one should not worry to raise price of the PC with software. Nobody makes you to work or play on PC sitting at the desk: you can connect it to your full-HD 40' TV (or any other display, y'know) and use wireless controllers (I include keyboard and mouse here) to work, surf the Internet, watch movies and play games. Consoles are nothing more but a way to clean out gamer's pocket.

Next is the software hardware compability issues, I imagine it's pretty hard to develope for platform that has so many differencrs in hardware and software.

Solvable with manufacturers developing standarts for PC platform. And somehow the games ARE developed for PC somehow, right?

Which brings us to games and the fact that a lot of them are developed only for consoles.

Yes, and somehow same game is developed for ENTIRELY different Xbox and PS3, and is not ported to PC, whic is for about 70% technically equal to Xbox, which is, in fact, a pre-built PC with unusual version of Windows.

 

[Kathinka]

[small]Well I'll be damned, because to play games you don't have to do that.[/small]

Isn't it great?

So, the motherboards, cards, processors all install themselves? Fascinating.

It's not.

Again, find me a PC that will run Sleeping Dogs on max with HD patch, minimum of 50fps, all for 300 or under, which is what I paid for my PS3, and I'll send my consoles to the electronics afterlife on my grill all on Youtube.

And yes, I know my PS3 can't do it, but if I"m going to invest and be one of you "master race" types, I want to at least have a machine that's past that point of criticism.

jesus fucking christ! now i'm going to, just to make the smug ignorance stop (yeah, like that's going to happen..)

Geforce 9800 GTX ~ 55 bucks
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Athlon II X2 260 ~ 40
2 gigs ram ~ 15

brings us to 110 so far. you can use the rest on the other necessities like some generic case (ca 20), mainboard (depends, for this setup i wouldn't go higher than 25), some small-ish hard disk (maybe another 15-20) and a low-watt power source (meh, lets be a big spender and say 30). the rest you can blow on peripherals to your liking.

should run sleeping dogs on 1920x1080 with high details. even with 4x or so anti aliasing, though you could forfeit that at this resolution and instead get a more fluent experience, or maybe crank a few details up to ultra via ini tweaks.

will you PLEASE cease the butthurt now and inform yourself before you throw nonsense into the room? thanks.

Got a place I can get those at those prices? Someone cited EBAY's, and I ain't counting that since I'll have to bid on the prices.

And I also have to know how to tweak ini files?! Cripes, man, after all that "it's so easy!" talk that the PC'ers love to throw around. Besides, I said on MAX settings with the HD add on at 50fps minimum. I want to sacrifice absolutely nothing.

prices are my local retail store, you might be able to find the stuff cheaper online.
ebay isn't all bis nowadays, there is probably more fixed-price offers than auctions nowadays.

your straw manning attempt there doesn't really warrant a reaction, but for arguments sake i'm still going to reply: no, you don't HAVE to tweak inis. that is just if you want to crank up graphical details even beyond of what the ingame settings will allow you to set. and anyone with a basic understanding of reading and writing, which you might have (though i'm seriously starting to get doubts, seeing how peoples arguments are ignored and deliberately misunderstood left and right) will understand that resolution_w=1920 resolution_h=1080 in a textfile means the screen resolution.

how did you come up with this incredibly retarded requirements anyway? no one said a pc will run anything on max. people just said that a pc for the price of a console will offer a vastly better experience. those perimeters were just made up for the sake of fanboyish trolling since you thought it couldn't be done, no?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

but for arguments sake i'm still going to reply

Come on, be honest here... you're running an experiment to see if goalpost shifting can be harnessed as an alternative energy source, aren't you?

 

[Kathinka]

but for arguments sake i'm still going to reply

Come on, be honest here... you're running an experiment to see if goalpost shifting can be harnessed as an alternative energy source, aren't you?

i'll be honest here, i have no idea what goalpost shifting is. can you elaborate?

 

[Bertylicious]

*reads comments*

You're all wrong. Proper gamers have both PCs and consoles.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

but for arguments sake i'm still going to reply

Come on, be honest here... you're running an experiment to see if goalpost shifting can be harnessed as an alternative energy source, aren't you?

i'll be honest here, i have no idea what goalpost shifting is. can you elaborate?

It's where someone either keeps changing the criteria for acknowledging a point or keeps coming up with (increasingly bullshit) excuses for why examples don't count.

 

[sumanoskae]

A console will never cost you $1200 and need a $200 update every six months before promptly becoming entirely obsolete and requiring another $1000.

You almost always know that a game will fucking WORK when you buy it on a console.

You don't have to do extensive research on every fucking piece of your console to ensure that it does what it fucking says it does.

You don't have to worry about your console catching a virus.

When a console breaks you can just grab the memory unit (On the 360, at least) and plug it into a new one, if a PC dies you have to painstakingly backup and reinstall all your games, and even then you sometimes lose progress.

Games are less buggy in general on consoles.

There are many things to love about PC gaming, but there's a reason that consoles exist.

 

[Kathinka]

but for arguments sake i'm still going to reply

Come on, be honest here... you're running an experiment to see if goalpost shifting can be harnessed as an alternative energy source, aren't you?

i'll be honest here, i have no idea what goalpost shifting is. can you elaborate?

It's where someone either keeps changing the criteria for acknowledging a point or keeps coming up with (increasingly bullshit) excuses for why examples don't count.

oh,heh, thanks for the clarification. well, i've been caught then. my free energy plans are out in the open now, so i might as well...hold on, some dudes with black suits and sunglasses are knocking on my door..

 

[Drummodino]

For the general population it is just so much easier to use a console: buy, unpack, plug in, insert game, go. PC is more rewarding if you invest but most people just can't be bothered manually upgrading their systems.

Also one point I think a lot of people fail to get is some people like consoles because they grew up using them (e.g. myself). Yes I love playing games on my PC but my ps3 will always have a special place in my heart due to the countless hours of fun it and its predecessor have brought me.

I could bring up countless more points on both sides of the argument but you've all heard them before, I won't bore you.

 

[launchpadmcqwak]

its just more fun mate...

 

[wings012]

A good PC can last me 4-5 years, and I use it for a lot more than simply playing games. Currently on a Lenovo Ideapad y560, a goddamn laptop and barring heat issues - it plays pretty much any game that the consoles have which has a PC port vice versa. Currently in its 2nd year.

That said for me, the only advantage of using a console is pretty much - console exclusive games.

Consoles used to have advantages such as being a simple plug and play, but these days even consoles are plagued with the need to patch, update or install before you can get started. Console games can be equally as unreliable as PC games these days, though it definitely varies on a case to case basis. Except on the PC, there's probably some kinda junkie way or fan created fix, while on the consoles you're left to twiddle your thumbs until an official fix of some sort pops out. Yes, I'm looking at you Bethesda.

Jimquisition did something on this not too long back and any points I have are mostly covered by him. Consoles used to have their advantages but these days? Not so much.

 

[The Lunatic]

At this stage in the generation, clinging to consoles is like backing the dinosaurs after the meteor.

In the next generation, I imagine for a while, the PC will fall behind with user friendliness and price.


However, in a year or two after that, they will be about even, and from there, the PC just gets better.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

Nobody mentions that console gaming is much cheaper so i will. 40 quid for a new game, 28 quid trade in...thats 12 quid for a brand new game and 2.50 to just rent it. Thats a massive difference to PC gaming.

You also don't get many physical copies of games on the pc anymore so it's more difficult to lend your mates a game for the weekend.

These are considerable advantages to console gamers, although the pc gamers probably don't have any friends to lend games to

 

[sumanoskae]

A console will never cost you $1200 and need a $200 update every six months before promptly becoming entirely obsolete and requiring another $1000.

*sigh* That stupid bullshit again?

A PC won't cost you 1200$ either and you won't need to spend 200$ every 6 months for upgrades.

But if you're working from a budget, then what's the benefit of using a PC? If you can't spend the money to get a rig strong enough to work better than a console and go without upgrades or make use of mods, then why do you want a gaming PC in the first place?

 

[MysticToast]

Just thought I'd point this out to all of you arguing about running Sleeping Dogs on a PC:

I just looked up the spec requirements and they're not very high at all. Might wanna keep that in mind when saying "build me a $300 computer that will run Sleeping Dogs."

The specs are almost last gen.

 

[GonzoGamer]

With a console, I can pop in a game and, with near 100% certainty, not have to do anything beyond that to be able to play. With PC games, I constantly have to optimize, fix, patch, etc. to even be able to play at all. After all, making games that run on multiple operating systems (or different versions of operating systems) and across all different hardware configurations is difficult. Also, you don't have to upgrade the hardware on consoles. In general, a console won't match the capabilities of a top-of-the line PC but you'll never have to worry about whether or not you can cool your GPU or whether or not you need to upgrade your power supply. Some people like tooling their computers; some don't. For those that don't, we have consoles.

This exactly really. Sometimes installing a game on PC can be exasperating!
If a game comes out for ps3 I know that if I buy it and stick it in my ps3 its going to work whereas for PC I've got to check whether I have the requirements to play it, what graphics settings it'll play on etc...

The other big plus for consoles in my opinion is controllers. I know you can argue that with a mouse and keyboard you have more control and more functionality but I prefer the more simple approach of a controller - that and i don't like sitting on my chair at my desk for any length of time as its uncomfortable.

You haven't tried to play any Bethesda games on your PS3 have you?
Not that they work great on the PC at launch either but at least the mods get the games working quickly. On the ps3, you're at the mercy of the publisher who (let's face it) doesn't usually set the ps3 high on the list of priorities.
I agree that used to be the case (the console was the option to just pop in and play) but there's always patches to wait for now.

As for the controller issue, it isn't one. I sometimes hook a controller into my pc.

Consoles used to be the cheaper option with hardware and used games but that's all changing.

For a while I felt like the only advantage to the console was splitscreen but you don't see that on too many console releases anymore AND we are starting to see the function integrated to more PC games; so even that advantage is starting to even out. Consoles are becoming obsolete.

 

[smearyllama]

Snip

Quoted for Having the best avatar and would like to ask if there is an Alphonse Elric version of it

I actually had a friend draw that for me on commission. I'm sure you can find a picture online, though. Also, I'm not especially a Brony, either. I just like both shows to some degree, and I found the pun funny.

 

[Neksar]

Consoles have simplicity over the PC, because you never have to worry about compatibility for a 360. I buy 360 games, put them in my 360, then play them.

On a PC, I would have to check specs, tweak graphics, etc. If I had the money for parts to build a good PC, I wouldn't mind it, since I have fun doing that kind of stuff. For many, though, that's all they need - plug 'n' play.

I hold nothing against PCs, but lately I've been more of a console-fellow myself, since my friends prefer them.