Why so much hate for consoles?

[TehCookie]

Uhh... no. PCs don't fuck up, period. Ok, if you're stupid or really unlucky they can, but not often, and there is always a way to fix it.
There is no such thing as Computer error, merely user error. I've been running my previous 2 PC builds for 8+ years without an antivirus, no problems. Its not 'cause I'm lucky, its 'cause I don't click any "You've won 1 million dollar" links, or anything else suspicious or stupid on the Internet.
Then there's the console side of things, where my PS2 and PS1 would stop working after 2 hours or so due to heat, the X360 with its RROD, PS3 with its system bricking firmware updates - yeah, consoles are so immune to fuck ups its not funny. Oh wait...
The difference is on the PC its 90% you that's fucked up, and there is 90% of the time a way to fix it. On a console its the company that fucked up, and 90% of the time the only way to fix it is to call in a warranty and get it replaced.

So my entire family is stupid? I had my liquid CPU cooler decided to break and spray all over my PC. My brother caught his computer on fire and my dad had his harddrive needle grinding into the harddrive. They're not immune to screw ups and they're not more stable than consoles. Except the 360 because that is plainly terrible, but consoles also have the indestructible Gamecube and Gameboy.

 

[VodkaKnight]

You don't NEED a £1500 PC to run a PC game, unless it's Far Cry 3 or something similar.
You can buy a good gaming laptop for about £400 where I live, the same price as the console pre-orders.

 

[Joccaren]

So my entire family is stupid?

Possibly, but seeing as they're hardware errors I'm going more for "Really Unlucky" - unless you bought unreliable, cheap, budget components from brands known for their failure rates. That's like buying a PS3 placed in a Microwave that starts every time you turn it on. Its asking for trouble.

I had my liquid CPU cooler decided to break and spray all over my PC. My brother caught his computer on fire and my dad had his harddrive needle grinding into the harddrive.

As said, I'd guess custom liquid cooling loop there, in which case likely assembly error, or if its closed loop then either a bad brand or bad luck. PCs catching on fire hasn't happened since the old AMD processors without safeties. Modern PCs, if they get too hot, automatically shut off to prevent this. Harddrive likely from a bad brand, or just really bad luck.

They're not immune to screw ups and they're not more stable than consoles. Except the 360 because that is plainly terrible, but consoles also have the indestructible Gamecube and Gameboy.

A well cared for PC made from quality components should not break. Unless you are really unlucky, components from reliable brands will not break, and often come with 1-5 year warranties to guarantee this. From there that leaves software problems, which are 98% user mistakes like viruses, and rarely something like the RAGE driver issues.
Consoles yes, you have things like the Gamecube [I wouldn't count the Gameboy as that's a handheld, which is IMO a different platform], you have things like the 360 [Equivalent of your not-so-reliable brand PC], and you've got ones in between like the Playstation series; some overheat, a lot don't. At the same time a console being bricked by a new firmware update isn't uncommon, and is completely beyond user control. This is the main reason I find PCs more reliable; If I build it myself, I am in complete control of it. If it fails, its 'cause I've done something that couldn't be considered smart, or was incredibly unlucky and have a warranty covering that so I'm good. With a console, everything is beyond my control, and if its going to brick its going to brick. Its a gamble.

Granted this is a bit too complex of a situation to properly compare failure rates, seeing as you've got everything from budget $150 computers to your $16000 super-rigs, each failing different amounts thanks to the different brands and parts in them, and on the console side you've got your numerous brands, some failing significantly more than others. Really they can both break, and often both do. PC you can be in more control over that though, which I find preferable.

 

[Xarathox]

I blame consoles for shitty UI's, QTE's, low-res textures and unconfigurable video settings - when applicable, of course.
See: Saints Row, Skyrim and any game that wants you to switch weapons through a "wheel".
Like this:

This shit needs to die. Or atleast removed when ported to PC.

Yeah, console designed UIs are complete suck. As well as odd FOVs that have to be fixed via mods (See: Mass Effect).

 

[schtingah]

I have both a PS3 and a PC but I really do prefer playing games on my PC. Not because I think it's a 'superior platform' or anything. I just grew up with PCs and a controller just doesn't feel as natural to me as a mouse and keyboard.

Sadly though there is a growing trend of games being lazily ported over from consoles to PC where the shitty controls and the very limited options can make games nigh unplayable.

Other than that, I have no problem with consoles at all.

 

[Soxafloppin]

It could be from jealously from how content most console gamers are with there choice, even if PC gamers consider it to be blissful ignorance. Most console gamers are completely unaware of the benefits or PC gaming.

Things like DRM, no used games, later release dates are probably harder to ignore than not having the shiniest graphics possible.

The PC vs Console bitching matches need to stop though.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I knew someone would say something like this...

Here's the thing: Even if you dislike all the games that have come as a result of the expanded games industry, how many incredible smaller developers wouldn't exist?

I consider all the problems absolutely worth it for an industry big enough to inspire millions of game creators.

I would like it a lot more if there wan't such a large pile of corpses at the bottom of the hill and that the the phrase 'formed from the refugees of..' wasn't so common. I'll also like it more if it didn't try to homogenize everything in the name of 'a wider audience.'

 

[loc978]

...still pretty sure I'll be able to build a PC that performs as well as the PS4 for around the price of an Xbone when they actually launch. So long as you're not demanding absolutely top-of-the line discreet graphics hardware, a decent PC build is amazingly affordable these days. Still, I'm waiting to see the price point of the Kaveri line (and the motherboards they'll require). It's possible that the build won't be possible for under $700... which, considering the price and availability of games on the various competing PC districution platforms is still a win in the long run, if not on entry.

As for the hate... I blame publishers for pushing horribly restrictive deadlines on ports (that, and the ones done through outsourcing). The more flexible input methods available on PC really do necessitate a different sort of UI, or at least the option to swap to a different sort of UI. Thankfully, that's often doable with mods.

 

[beez]

Technically speaking, consoles are PCs now. And the console game market is really trying to bring PC gaming down, no wonder people are frustrated. When you support a developer for years and all you get is shitty quality ports that run like crap (maybe even a delayed a lot), or judgement over you based on how they are trying to justify cutting costs on PC ports (Or the lack of them). Let's be honest here, every console player clings to the fact that PCs cost most.

Well, guess what, you don't need to sit on a golden Razer chair that has GAMING written all over it just to enjoy games. You can buy a modest PC that will run all your games for X years on, even if on medium after 3-4-5 years. If you don't bother, don't blame the PC. If you really believe that the skill to use a PC is too hard to acquire, even in 2013 and you might not use it anywhere else, then please gtfo.

This generation is really holding back games by now, admit it. That's it. I'm a PC gamer, yet I sometimes use a PS3 controller to play stuff, just because I prefer things that way. And I game on my laptop, which isn't even the highest end, yet runs everything I throw at it on high. It's portable, so that argument is shot down. It didn't even cost 2k $. When you buy a console for 5-600 dollar and buy games for 60 dollars, I don't think any argument that says you're playing a console because you are cost-efficient is valid.

Okay, you've grown up liking that. I've grown up liking mine. But when the industry tries to suffocate mine, because they are too lazy to make business on my platform viable, then please, do think about why people are prone to defend PCs.

And of course, in the future every nextgen console user is going to own a PC. I would love it tho if Microsoft justified their high price of the 180 and enabled people to separate X GB and install a windows on it. Or even on an external drive. I think that would justify the price of it.

Can we be friends now?

 

[Talvrae]

I'll be brief, I recognize PC's as superior platforms on multiple levels. However, I think the prices to buy good PCs are too high for me to afford. Instead of buying a $2000 PC, I buy a console for (lets use the PS4 as an example) $400, plus a nice game to go with it, landing at a total of $460. I still have $1540, still get reasonably good quality and I am able to play games that I enjoy. I see so much hate on consoles, but I don't quite understand why. Isn't the point to play games? Why do people seem to treat consoles like the apocalypse of the game industry? Are they? If so, why?


EDIT: I'm only using $2000 because my friend is building his own PC and this was the price he ended up with.

2nd EDIT: Actually, the price tag is more like $1300, however even if I bought a PS4 I'd still have $840 left over.

Actually thanks to the wonder of capitalism now you can have a good gaming PC for only 800$ It's still twice the price of a console... but a farcry of 2000$

 

[Yopaz]

It's simply the nature of the internet where no-one is ever wrong aout anything they say. When someone got a different opinion they are just wrong.

Now a PC is superior to a consle in almost every way, but preference is actually more important in these things. As long as we don't accept that this thread is bound to be reposted every once in a while.

 

[stabnex]

$2000 is far, far, far too much money to spend on a gaming PC. I don't know why that's the "go to" number in these discussions, but good gaming PCs don't cost nearly that much.

But to answer your question, PC fanboys are dicks just like console fanboys. You'll see a bunch of arguments about "holding the tech back" but I kinda like that. It means I can keep the same PC for years on end instead of having to upgrade every year.

Mine cost $4,000 once you include the over-sized monitor. It's a tank, within a beast, with lots of adoring fans.

OT: I think the argument at its core has to do with the limitations of the console that PC has always enjoyed. For example, in a PC game one can EASILY go into a game, mod it, hack it, re-arrange it to your own amusement, leisure, and modesty with little effort and lots of community backing. Whereas if you were to try that with a console you're GOING to end up where our poor friend George Hotz did when he tried it.

NOW the PC vs Console argument has boiled down to "Who's going to fuck up more?" because the companies that drive the consoles life are making said consoles their sole focus and bringing down all their corporate policies with them.

To put it bluntly, it's a genre war. PC is sandbox, Console is linear. Some like it one way, some the other. And we are a war-like species.

 

[SycoMantis91]

I don't know where you people have been, I'm rarely on here and I see it all the time. In short, because elitist jackholes exist, and it's annoying, nonsensical, and lessens the chances that you're a tolerable person. I don't have much in the way of a capable PC, it can run most indie games and MMOs, but it's nothing near say the newest Alienware behemoth. But I've always preferred the console experience. It's more comfortable, it's more streamlined (I've never understood why people complain when things are easier to do, at least in cases where nothing's outright removed), a lot easier to play local multiplayer, and they're catching up and getting more and more titles that would be PC exclusive 10 or 5 years ago. But Steam is hard to argue with.

 

[unindexedsearchengine]

It goes both ways you know. Some console gamers (usually the fanatical fanboy type) generalize PC gamers as all being elitist "glorious master-race" snobs who eat baby seal while sipping expensive wine. In some cases this may be true, but those PC gamers who are decent human beings tend to disavow these bigots. I'm a PC gamer. Never had any consoles besides handhelds, but I, for one, have nothing against consoles, or console players. Hell, i'm thinking of getting a console soon (probably not next-gen, though. I might get one of those new "slim" PS3s). I hate the typical PC elitists particularly because they give us a bad rep. PC has certain advantages over consoles. Consoles have certain advantages over PC. For my particular tastes and way of life (moving around weekly), PC, specifically a laptop, was the only way to go.

Also, gamer PC's being stupidly expensive is somewhat of a misconception. Some PC gamers think having 2 meter high pure titanium cases with 5 million assorted LED lights, plus 3 glowing fans and 2 separate liquid cooling systems to accompany their in-built fishtank is necessary. You can get decent PCs capable of running pretty much anything on high-ultra at acceptable prices if you spend 30 minutes on google.

All-in-all, I think you're overblowing the hate aspect. The situation isn't that bad, but to answer the question in the title with one word: Fanboys.

 

[Dragonbums]

One thing I have observed is some of the PC folks hate on the consoles is because they have become "cheap PC's" well who's fault is that exactly?

The "PC Master Race" meme/fandom/crew/whatever the fuck it is have been loud and vocal about how "PC's can do things consoles can't" and as such devs and publishers alike have said "how can we make our consoles more like PC's" hence why they are now trying to do these things.

Consoles had their place, but people on the other side of the pond weren't satisfied with that and took it upon themselves to shove their superiority into everyone else's face whether they gave a shit about hardware/graphic superiority or not.
The same way you guys complain about consoles bringing over shitty UI, and DRM practices the same could be said for PC users- if it wasn't for your graphics superiority soapboxes and how "oh so much better" your PC's are at graphics, we probably wouldn't still be sinking shit loads of money into graphics because devs want to make games stand on par with the PC.

Also why is Steam Sales even a pro for PC's.
I can get games as cheap as $5.00 at Gamestop all year round on a console. PC gamers literally have to wait until summer or holiday sales to get games at that low a price.
Now is such a thing true for newly released games on consoles? Not necessarily, however it's not like newly released games on Steam are that much cheaper anyway.

At this point I'm so tired of it. No one platform is holding the other back. It's all on the devs on how they want to run things.
PC only people whine about console exclusives taking away games they want to play (get a console then), yet when a game is exclusive for the PC and console owners complain all we get from them is a sneer and "that's why your stupid for playing games on such inferior hardware." Like, get fucking real here. You sound like an ass. Stop it.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I have both, and I like each for different reasons. I don't have to worry about viruses on my Xbox or PS3, don't have to add memory consuming protection programs to them to keep them running smooth. I don't have to deal with multiple DRM sources (just the disc-based DRM that is inherent in the system). By the way I am not listing reasons I prefer console, because I don't. I use both, equally, for my own reasons.
There are a lot of things that bother "other people" about consoles that I find to be no issue for me.
1. Locked out of changing software in the system: Its a console built to play games made for it, why the fuck do I want to mess around with that unless I'm going to do something like *insert word that can describe a guy with an eye patch, peg-leg and a penchant for saying "arr"* games or other things that aren't for gaming.
2. Can't upgrade hardware: Fine with me, no need to run out and buy a new video card every 2-3 years so I don't suffer frame-lag. And I can save the money for a next-gen system if I so choose to buy it. Thats also an upgrade.
3. Backwards compatibility is either hit/miss or not there at all: So what? I still have a PS2, NES, SNES, Genesis and Dreamcast. Thats backwards compatibility for you.
4. Graphics aren't at their full potential: Despite this argument, I've still seen some damn nice looking games on console. So what if they aren't using every slider at max? I still can't do that on my PC for most games, especially if they're multiplayer. Why? Because I don't have the cash to invest in sli/crossfired video cards, a motherboard that supports it and a PSU that will power the system. I love my PC tho because it runs pretty much every new game at mid-level settings. Don't need to break the 3dmark benchmark test to feel good about my life.

In the end, I love my PC and my PS3 and my 360, and my Wii and all the other consoles I own.
One last argument, the difference in graphics in most games is about as tough to distinguish as the difference between the Hobbit movie's framerate versions for most people. So who the fuck cares?

 

[J Tyran]

So my entire family is stupid?

Possibly, that is one hell of a catalogue of hardware errors and its unlikely its random coincidence.

I had my liquid CPU cooler decided to break and spray all over my PC. My brother caught his computer on fire and my dad had his harddrive needle grinding into the harddrive. They're not immune to screw ups and they're not more stable than consoles. Except the 360 because that is plainly terrible, but consoles also have the indestructible Gamecube and Gameboy.

Do you and your family by overpriced pre-built junk by any chance? You know crap like Alienware, "gaming PCs" or cheap pre-built systems? All of those systems use the cheapest possible components often from unbranded manufacturers or ones known for high failure rates. Either this or you and your family are bodging them together and doing it wrong.

 

[Megacherv]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. A decent PC will cost more than a console. To get something that's superior to one of the newer consoles (if someone simply compares clock speeds and the sort I'm going to kill a *****) you'll need to spend quite a bit more.

PCs aren't superior, spending more money is.

And that makes simple fucking sense.