Why can't we have both?

[Phrozenflame500]

Cause people are super insecure about their purchasing decisions, and care far too much about inane shit that shouldn't matter.

 

[Vegosiux]

I'd say I have it a little bit good but not as great as my friends per say so I do have a rough clue.

But I'm also noticing at this point in the conversation that "can we have both" isn't possible and that we must devolve into mud slinging from one platform to the other or can't we make a change or middle ground so we don't have to mud sling all the time because I'd really love to know.

Actually my main beef here is with the statement that

"Gaming is expensive and people who can't afford it shouldn't be doing it."

That just reeks of elitism and exclusivity fetishism. I actually commented on your post more in passing than anything, but is this kind of smugness, this kind of telling people who might be struggling on their budgets that they're "not good enough" to join our little "club of gamers", is this really who we, the gaming community, want to be?

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I'd say I have it a little bit good but not as great as my friends per say so I do have a rough clue.

But I'm also noticing at this point in the conversation that "can we have both" isn't possible and that we must devolve into mud slinging from one platform to the other or can't we make a change or middle ground so we don't have to mud sling all the time because I'd really love to know.

Actually my main beef here is with the statement that

"Gaming is expensive and people who can't afford it shouldn't be doing it."

That just reeks of elitism and exclusivity fetishism. I actually commented on your post more in passing than anything, but is this kind of smugness, this kind of telling people who might be struggling on their budgets that they're "not good enough" to join our little "club of gamers", is this really who we, the gaming community, want to be?

I agree in taking beef with that statement since gaming should never be a little exclusive club but here on the Escapist I tend to see more of the smugness every day whether it be a console release that PC players want but won't buy into a console or PC only people who claim consoles are completely worthless while devaluing ones console choice in the process.

Iv'e never once felt the urge or need to tell my folks at home that their first gen Kindles are worthless junk compared to my Google Nexus and I even help them with their digital books.

My only wish is that we could all come together without the feel or ened for dick measuring contests or the urge to make people feel bad for their choices.

 

[Vegosiux]

My only wish is that we could all come together without the feel or ened for dick measuring contests or the urge to make people feel bad for their choices.

Wouldn't that be grand, yeah...I also wish that'd happen one day.

 

[Souplex]

We can't have both because some of us don't keep a bountiful well of money hidden in our asses.
That's the reason I can't have a gaming PC period.

 

[mohit9206]

It's my personal experience, and i know that factors can benefit in not getting what you want to get (I would like a better Processor for my PC for example).

I didn't mean to generalize, but the way i see it, you shouldn't exclude yourself, or be ignorant to these different experiences if you can help it. As they say, Variety is the spice of life, and all that.

For example, You can't play the Last of Us on your PC, and it's considered a potential GOTY for a reason. PC Gamers are by large, missing out on such a exceptional game.

But we all put different values on games right? And you really value them which is awesome, but if you even value games a little less then it becomes really expensive to try and purchase both. On the PS3 I want to buy this year: Tomb Raider, Kingdom Hearts 1.5, FFX HD, FFXIII-3, The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, Dragon Age II, inFamous 1, Catherine, Arkhum City , Spec Ops, DMC HD Trilogy, Journey, Folklore.

But the way I value games and the way I value money and the money that I have means it's only reasonable to buy 3 more games _max_ this year and even that will feel a little extravagant. With those sort of values it's completely out of the picture to buy a PC that can play anything that came out in say the last 2-3 years. (Especially since the mobility of a laptop has a huge amount of value to me. And buying even an expensive gaming laptop is a dicey business)

It's very cool to be able to have both and to be able to samples the rich variety of games available on all the platforms, but you either have to be pretty well off or extremely dedicated for the numbers to work out, and for a large number of people, the desire isn't great enough or the numbers are too low and that's why large amounts of people only have 1 and for them it's only sensible to have 1.

That's seems a fair point, but it could just be me, i can't see why anyone would own just one, as I've owned multiple systems since a young age, and never been rich at all, so it's just a strange concept to me. Even if one owned a PC, and a cheap ass PS2 from somewhere say CEX, surely this isn't going to break everyone's wallets, and variety would still be there, along with the thousands of brilliant ps2 games one can play.

Acknowledging other people situations when it comes to entertainment/luxury purchases has been a hard thing for me to process in my mind.

Yup since i cant afford both PC and PS3 i own PC and PS2. A cheap ass PS2 gives me access to hundreds of amazing games that otherwise i couldnt play on PC while PC gives me access to tons of awesome games of all kinds i could have access to on a console.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

PC has the better service and mods. And consoles have first-party games and accessibility.

If you are tech savvy enough to run a gaming PC, isn't the accessibility of a console made rather redundant for you? The accessibility isn't really a benefit anymore when you have both.

I would have to totally disagree there. While I am tech savvy enough to operate a gaming PC, sometimes I don't want to deal with having to wait for my PC to boot up, fiddle with the OS, wait for Steam to start, etc. etc. Yeah, I may be perfectly capable of doing all those things even in my sleep, but sometimes it's just nicer to stick a disc/cartridge in a console, plop myself down on a couch, and just play. Not wait for a bunch of extra crap, just... play.

And not only that, but sometimes I don't want to have to deal with the possibilities of problems with the game and my hardware/software/OS. Oh what's this? A game that's a decade old and has problems with Windows 7 64-bit? Shit, now I have to go online and search for a fix, praying to God/Cthulhu/Neptune/etc. that the game isn't so obscure that no one knows how to fix it. And even if there is a fix, I have to hope that said fix will actually work, otherwise I'm stuck with a useless game I cannot play. [footnote]i.e. The original Far Cry, which refuses to run on my rig no matter what I do.[/footnote] And it's not just older games that have this problem, sometimes newer ones do too. And then there's also the annoyances of DRM you have to face with most PC games, sometimes even rendering certain PC games unplayable today where their console counterparts don't have the same issue.[footnote]Take TOCA: Race Driver 2 for instance. I bought a copy of this while on vacation since it was only 50p. Unfortunately, due to the DRM it used (specifically StarForce), it litterally will not run on Windows 7 and no one has been able to remedy this. Not even using cracked .exe's or no-cd patches will do anything. Even the company that produced the DRM used in the game don't give a shit, and won't update it or make a patch to the DRM scheme make the game run.

Yet, the PS2 version doesn't have this issue and never will.[/footnote]

Now I'm not trying to argue that consoles are inherently better than PCs because of this. I play on both and I believe both of them have their uses and I'm savvy enough to be able to operate both no problem. The thing is, it doesn't matter if you're more tech savvy with PCs than most people. Consoles simply are more accessible and have always just been easier to use regardless of your technical proficiency. It is a fact that is not made redundant at all.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

PC has the better service and mods. And consoles have first-party games and accessibility.

If you are tech savvy enough to run a gaming PC, isn't the accessibility of a console made rather redundant for you? The accessibility isn't really a benefit anymore when you have both.

I would have to totally disagree there. While I am tech savvy enough to operate a gaming PC, sometimes I don't want to deal with having to wait for my PC to boot up, fiddle with the OS, wait for Steam to start, etc. etc. Yeah, I may be perfectly capable of doing all those things even in my sleep, but sometimes it's just nicer to stick a disc/cartridge in a console, plop myself down on a couch, and just play. Not wait for a bunch of extra crap, just... play.

Pretty much this. Sometimes pc offers me great things like cheap older games off Steam or GoG or mods for games like Bethesda titles, but when it takes all of 5 seconds to boot and play a game on my ps3 and my pc takes a few minutes for Windows to boot, another few minutes to finish loading my start up programs, a little more time to start Steam, and finally playing with setting to get my controller to work and adjust the graphics then there's no reason to buy a game for pc over ps3 for me. The funny part is, I work in tech support and people try to tell me I'm wrong about this bullshit or calmly explain to me how to fix any problem like I'm a dumb ass when I deal with Windows bullshit for a living. If I buy or build a fancy gaming pc, it'll be for my interest in computers, not gaming.

Hell, the ps4 will play games while downloading and installing and it'll update everything automatically while in a low power state. How are consoles losing their "convenience" compared to pc's again?

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Partisanship is usually easily explained by having a look at its specific roots in any given case.

For consoles, back in the days, people/parents/families usually only bought one console. Not all of them. Instead of facing their own financial ineptitude and limited capabilities, it was much easier to just hate and pick on anyone doing anything different, such as buying a Nintendo when you found yourself the proud or not so proud owner of a Sega. I bought my Neo Geo used as well as almost all carts for it, and I financed it retroactively by renting it out to people for a hundred bucks a pop, complete with all games. These days, you can't even do that without fear of getting screwed over... so... my guess is that we've pretty much degenerated in the last couple of decades, making the hatred and total intolerance pretty much the only thing that has grown in sync with our capabilities to exchange news and unite against anyone or anything as long as we can do it using our keyboards or keypads.

I'm with OP - the true master race uses every technology available that fulfils and entertains them, even if it's just about playing games. I like PC and easily favour it for all my strategy and Full HD needs. For most racing games and competitive multiplayer rides, it's been strictly console as it is just less likely to generate any headache beyond the scope of, say, Battlefield shenanigans.

 

[nevarran]

Many people have both PC and consoles, they just tend to favor one over the other.

I would have to totally disagree there. While I am tech savvy enough to operate a gaming PC, sometimes I don't want to deal with having to wait for my PC to boot up, fiddle with the OS, wait for Steam to start, etc. etc. Yeah, I may be perfectly capable of doing all those things even in my sleep, but sometimes it's just nicer to stick a disc/cartridge in a console, plop myself down on a couch, and just play. Not wait for a bunch of extra crap, just... play.

Not very "tech savvy", if your PC boots slower than your consoles

p.s. Hm... I apologize, my 360 is booting faster than my PC. It's 55 seconds for the PC (with my 2 years old Win 7) and around the same time for my 360, but that's because my internet connection is rather bad right now and the console is checking for stuff when it starts. I'm hooking up my PS3 tomorrow and I'll do a quick tech race.