Why buy consoles?

[FirearmsKill]

Because the media said so! Now go buy one before the government assassinates you for not doing what they tell you to.

 

[GeorgW]

It's cheaper and more convenient than to constantly keep updating your gaming PC worth over $5000. It's that simple. I'd like to game on PC, I just don't have the money or the effort.

Do you not already own a PC?

That's what gets me. Most houses already have a PC. It would take very little money to get it gaming ready if it's not already.

And $5000 is a bit ridiculous for a PC. I bought top of the line everything on my PC last year, watercooled and everything it was only around $3000. I could have easily got a gaming ready PC for $500.

I have a PC, a 2 year old laptop with a broken screen.
And the prices of PC differ between countries, where I live you have to pay $5000 for top of the line. Of course you don't have to have such a good one to play games, but you still see my point.

 

[Macrobstar]

I happen to know Stukov irl, and can thus answer for a few of the questions.

i'd like to call you out on the "cheaper games" thing.

if you don't buy from retail, you pay with your credit card, right? credit cards have interest rates, so that 49.99 you spent on the shiny new 59.99 game? it really translates to something like 70 dollars with interest, plus, with console games, you get the "pre-owned" market, which you can get games there for downwards of 20 bucks.

Who said anything about credit cards? You can use regular bankcards to buy games online, with no interest rate, meaning 49,99 actually did cost just 49,99.

Also. no DRM to stop you from enjoying pre-owned or borrowed products.

I believe I read recently about some game companies locking certain features to the account on PSN, so that if you buy used, you won't be getting the "full experience".

No installation required (as long as you're not on PS3)

"as long as you're not on PS3.. you're gonna rule out a third of the console market? Besides, I own a 360, and the thing sounds like a jet engine if I don't install the games.

Multiplayer for most new games is better (since people make games for consoles first these days)

I'm allright with getting a buggier time just after release, if it means I can get dedicated servers with higher max players and admins getting rid of the foulmouthed 12-year olds.

Couch multiplayer (ah... the Goldeneye days...)

My chair is more comfortable than my couch. What's your point?

unless you buy a 3000 dollar one from alienware or something otherwise, you have to make it yourself. and honestly?

Seriously? 3000 dollars? What are you buying, a mac? For 3000 dollars, you get pretty much the most extreme overkill machine that is available right now, which is just stupid to get. You can get away with half that money, and still get a computer that will last several years, and that's even when I converted from Swedish Kronor, which stands very high compared to the US Dollar at the moment. If I had been looking at a US Store, it would probably be even cheaper than 1500.

Dude you obviously dont understand what he means by couch multiplayer, he means sitting with your friends in the same room playing splitscreen, much more fun than online

 

[Macrobstar]

A mediocre trained monkey can change a graphics card. or even build a whole PC i learned it with 10yrs just by reading the manual. Motherboard here, harddrive in that slot, graphics in there, ram in there, put the cables together , Profit.

Great. Now add up the cost.

8800GT on Ebay - $60 http://cgi.ebay.com/EVGA-NVIDIA-GeForce-8800-GT-GDDR3-/320679416962?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item4aa9fb9482#ht_500wt_922
E6750 on Ebay - $70 http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-CORE-2-DUO-E6750-2-66GHz-4M-1333-SLA9V-/230570254882?pt=CPUs&hash=item35af0ee222#ht_1234wt_905
MSI G41M on Newegg $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130305
GSkill Rijaw 4GB RAM on newegg $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
LOGISYS 550W PSU on Newegg $25 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170028
LITE-ON Black 18 DVD Drive $17 on Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106274
Microsoft Keyboard and Mouse on newegg $30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.623199
WD 500gb HD on Newegg $26


Total $328....and you could find it cheaper. This rig would play everything at levels the PS3 and Xbox can, probably even better.

So there goes your point.

Well yeh but you have to keep replacing those if you want your pc to stay top of the range, a console will be top of the range for around 7 or 8 years

 

[Macrobstar]

Plus people keep forgetting is all your friends are on xbox, then it doesn't matter how powerful your oc is, you will have more fun on xbox

 

[Baneat]

Dude you obviously dont understand what he means by couch multiplayer, he means sitting with your friends in the same room playing splitscreen, much more fun than online

System Link / LAN is the shit, though! your own screen, no inevitable peeking. Different strokes, I guess. Best was at a games convention (can't remember the name) where they set two 40" HDTV's back to back, system linked them and had Halo running, really cool, but a rare experience I'll admit.

In answer to the OP, I only own an Xbox to play XBLA games you can't get for PC (IloMilo for example)

 

[Vakz]

Dude you obviously dont understand what he means by couch multiplayer, he means sitting with your friends in the same room playing splitscreen, much more fun than online

You can still do that? Last I heard was that consoles couldn't support splitscreen for newer games.

And even if not that, everything else I said still applies.

 

[Macrobstar]

Dude you obviously dont understand what he means by couch multiplayer, he means sitting with your friends in the same room playing splitscreen, much more fun than online

System Link / LAN is the shit, though! your own screen, no inevitable peeking. Different strokes, I guess. Best was at a games convention (can't remember the name) where they set two 40" HDTV's back to back, system linked them and had Halo running, really cool, but a rare experience I'll admit.

In answer to the OP, I only own an Xbox to play XBLA games you can't get for PC (IloMilo for example)

I dont think its quite the same as atually chilling with your mates, get them round your house, have a couple of drinks and mess about on your splitscreen game of choice

 

[Macrobstar]

Dude you obviously dont understand what he means by couch multiplayer, he means sitting with your friends in the same room playing splitscreen, much more fun than online

You can still do that? Last I heard was that consoles couldn't support splitscreen for newer games.

Well thats a load of bullshit on toast, no offence
Last cheack about 12 out of 40 something games on my shelf had splitscreen

 

[Vakz]

Last cheack about 12 out of 40 something games on my shelf had splitscreen

Note where I said newer games, not since the 360 was released.

 

[Baneat]

Dude you obviously dont understand what he means by couch multiplayer, he means sitting with your friends in the same room playing splitscreen, much more fun than online

System Link / LAN is the shit, though! your own screen, no inevitable peeking. Different strokes, I guess. Best was at a games convention (can't remember the name) where they set two 40" HDTV's back to back, system linked them and had Halo running, really cool, but a rare experience I'll admit.

In answer to the OP, I only own an Xbox to play XBLA games you can't get for PC (IloMilo for example)

I dont think its quite the same as atually chilling with your mates, get them round your house, have a couple of drinks and mess about on your splitscreen game of choice

I just can't get past the 320x150 resolution each player gets on your console FPS of today on 4 player splitscreen, it all depends of course. As I said, different preferences, LAN's more of the "hardcore old-skool quake nerd" thing, splitscreen's more of the "trashtalking halo-ite" archetype, if I'm going to be extremely generalistic.

 

[MrGalactus]

You don't have to spend ages setting up your own damn server in FortressCraft.

 

[Macrobstar]

Last cheack about 12 out of 40 something games on my shelf had splitscreen

Note where I said newer games, not since the 360 was released.

All of those 40 games are ps3 games soo....
Proven wrong much?

 

[Vakz]

Last cheack about 12 out of 40 something games on my shelf had splitscreen

Note where I said newer games, not since the 360 was released.

All of those 40 games are ps3 games soo....
Proven wrong much?

I'm proven wrong by you not having a 360?

And as I said, everything else I said still applies.

 

[Macrobstar]

Last cheack about 12 out of 40 something games on my shelf had splitscreen

Note where I said newer games, not since the 360 was released.

All of those 40 games are ps3 games soo....
Proven wrong much?

I'm proven wrong by you not having a 360?

And as I said, everything else I said still applies.

No you said not many newer games have splitscreen, but they where all newer games

 

[Vakz]

No you said not many newer games have splitscreen, but they where all newer games

Newer as in a year or two. The PS3 is 4½ years old. I still don't feel like I've been proven wrong.

 

[Macrobstar]

No you said not many newer games have splitscreen, but they where all newer games

Newer as in a year or two. The PS3 is 4½ years old. I still don't feel like I've been proven wrong.

You want me to go look up when all my splitscreen games came out?

 

[Vakz]

No you said not many newer games have splitscreen, but they where all newer games

Newer as in a year or two. The PS3 is 4½ years old. I still don't feel like I've been proven wrong.

You want me to go look up when all my splitscreen games came out?

If you like. "Couchgaming" is still what I consider the least important of the points in my earlier post. I know a lot of people who do own consoles, but whenever they actually play multiplayer on it, it's either online, or their bring their own consoles to their friend's house and play through LAN anyway.

 

[Macrobstar]

No you said not many newer games have splitscreen, but they where all newer games

Newer as in a year or two. The PS3 is 4½ years old. I still don't feel like I've been proven wrong.

You want me to go look up when all my splitscreen games came out?

If you like. "Couchgaming" is still what I consider the least important of the points in my earlier post. I know a lot of people who do own consoles, but whenever they actually play multiplayer on it, it's either online, or their bring their own consoles to their friend's house and play through LAN anyway.

I've never known anyone to play LAN, you think that most friendship groups when they hang out they take a console and a TV with them? splitscreen is just so much easier

 

[Devious Boomer]

-Simple 'drop in, drop out' system.
-Portable for those trips to your girlfriend's house *clears throat*.
-Less chance of technical difficulties due to a standardised set of hardware.
-Larger player base for certain games.
-Less expensive and time consuming than building a PC from scratch. Less frustration, especially for those who REALLY don't feel like going through the details.
-(At the moment) wider developer support, especially for certain games that should be on PC but aren't. Also, dedicated patching from some developers *cough Black Ops PC v1.07*.
-The ability to sell games that you no longer need (at most stores anyway).
-A standardised social network (can be favourable or unfavourable depending on your perspective)

That said, I own a strong PC and am proud of it. It's not flawless, but I love it for what it is. I've yet to buy a current-gen console and don't think I'll end up getting one, the way things are going. My only console is a PS1, with and unresponsive X button.