Your gaming platform and you.

[VeneratedWulfen93]

360 has been my gaming platform of choice for a while. I'm playing my PC a bit more because of Planetside 2 but I'll be going back to 360 for Dead Space. I'm actually impressed by the fact that the thread is two pages long and only one elitist claiming opinions as fact has reared his ugly head. Today will be a good day.

 

[ScruffyMcBalls]

Well I'm a collector as well as a gamer so I tend not to favour any one platform over another. The only ones I'm missing are a PS3 and a Wii U, so what I'm playing on is purely dictated by the game I want to play. Fancy some Resident Evil? Then I bust out the PS1 or Dreamcast. Wanna play some Gears? 360 gets hooked up. JRPG? PS2 etc.
The only time I make a specific platform choice is on the rare occasion that I can get a game for console or PC for basically the same price, and I usually get it for the console. I dunno, I just prefer the feel of a dedicated games system, but it's not for everybody.

 

[Starik20X6]

I primarily play on Nintendo consoles/handhelds. Why? Because:

- Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Metroid, Pokémon, Star Fox, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, F-Zero, Earthbound, WarioWare, Balloon Fight, Excitebike, Ice Climber, Advance Wars, and lots of others.

- I find a mouse and keyboard setup uncomfortable to game with.

- I don't have to worry about my console not being able to play the games I bought for it.

- I can game from my couch.[footnote]Yes, I am fully aware that I could hook up my computer to my TV, but I don't want to do that, because I don't have to, because I have my console.[/footnote]

- I can invite friends over and play games with them, without them having to bring anything other than themselves.

I also have a PS3, for:

- The handful of exclusives and other games not released on Nintendo consoles.

- Use as a media-hub and Blu ray player.

 

[DarkenedWolfEye]

I asked for a PS3 for Christmas (and to my shock, received it; my parents usually know better than to spoil me) simply because the PS3 exclusive titles sounded more up my alley, InFamous in particular. XBox 360 meant online FPS games, PS3 meant superhero sandboxes. No other reason, really; I've never even played with a 360.
And now I'm sitting here with no Skyrim DLC, so that kind of bit me in the ass.

 

[tahrey]

PSX ... because it was cheap, and at the time had the best games, and I could borrow scads of them off my brother / other family / friends.

PS2, because said brother handed it down to me, and again it had my favourite games. There wasn't much on the EggsBocks that actually interested me much. Plus the controllers were comparitively gimpy next to the dualshock.

PC, because I've had continual PC user experience going back to the early 90s (when we gradually transitioned from an at-the-time-fairly-similar Atari platform), and it quickly became that the main reason we bothered upgrading the machine was to keep up with the gaming market. But for Final Fantasy 7 and Need For Speed we might still have been using a 486 come the turn of the millennium, because it's not like anything else we did with it really stressed the processor, memory, disc or graphics card. So it's only natural that some PC interest is retained, even though with a far more limited upgrade budget these days I'm kind of limited to increasingly old, or low-resource-demand indie titles.

Amiga ... because it came free with some other hardware, and I figured I may as well. Strangely the games I've ended up playing the most on it are those that were also available on the Atari and/or PC also. I guess quality really is cross-platform.

Gameboy, because... well, who doesn't?

SMS because it's like the old GG we got given for Christmas one year, but on the big screen. Yet somehow, still in apparently worse resolution thanks to the RF cable.
Sonic 1 will stomp all over your Mario and Megaman nonsense. And the colours and sounds are much nicer than on the NES.

Phone, because I ended up being given a hypersophisticated touch-interface cyberspace-connected pocket computer for free along with a remarkably cheap phone contract. Why wouldn't I put a few interesting diversions on it?

Not: PS3 or X360. Because I'm not made of time or money. Sorry. They all seem to be focussed around online services that charge a monthly fee in order to play samey games where you blow stranger's heads off over the internet. I got internet deathmatching out of my system in the late 90s already, and really can't be bothered with it. I know the XBLA and so forth have a lot of cool titles on there, but that's a shitload of money to pay out for what is basically the TV-based equivalent of downloading freewares thru my PC's web browser. And I know there's various non-gaming entertainment options available via the deck, but I already have Smart TV and a Blu-Ray player, so that ceases to be any kind of USP. Can't be having with COD or FIFA, the PS2 version of GT is barely distinguishable from the PS3 one in any meaningful way, and I still haven't got thru FFX let alone having the time to invest in story heavy stuff like Mass Effect (gods you shoulda seen how long it took me to get thru Monkey Island 1+2 when I rediscovered the CD)... hence... "feh".

The "modern" console I've played the most of is actually the Wii, at friends' houses, as it's a lot more focussed on people actually doing stuff together in the same room. Like it was back in't day. (Yeah, OK, you have things like Mashed, but like hell am I going to spend all that cash on recreating the days of Micro Machines 3D on the PSX, when I can just plug in the PSX and pull Micro Machines 3D off the shelf) ... Haven't got one myself as my lounge is embarrassingly pokey, and flailing about with a Wiimote (let alone a kinect, or a dance pad, or a load of rock band instruments) would just be a liability.

EDIT:
Incidentally, given some comments above about "gaming from your couch"... Hmm, yeah.

Old 32" LG HDTV, meet a longish pair of VGA and audio cables, and the old PC I keep in the lounge next to the couch (removing the need for wireless controllers) for classic gaming purposes. Ditto the miggy... In fact of late I've been testing some old projectors from the work stockroom in my off hours, shooting an 80-ish inch image from that nearly 20 year old hardware right onto the wall, whilst eased back on the cushions. Ain't no pixel like a pixel the size of your pinky thumbnail...

 

[Frybird]

Mostly Xbox 360.

I occasionally play on the PC, but i do not really like it that much, tbh. I have a Laptop set up like a Desktop (Monitor, mouse, keyboard), and the Laptop USED TO BE kind of a "lower high-end" Gaming Laptop some 5 years ago. Nowadays, whenever i buy a PC game that has any kind of modern 3D graphics, i just worry that it will not run well and end up being disappointed...so i end up playing mostly small indie games on PC.
Now, of course, the obvious solution would be to buy a new PC, wich i often planned but never really did because, in the end, i would buy one JUST for gaming since my laptop does everything else alright. And...well, i do not really like it as much. I prefer playing on my larger TV and my home cinema setup, i prefer playing with a controller because i think it's a far more universal device for gaming and never really had the need to "max out mah mad gaeming skillz" that would need me to use a mouse in shooters for faster aiming and such. And also, i prefer the "plug and play" kind of experience you get with a console. When i want to play, i want to play. I'm adept enough to build a computer and to fiddle a bit with drivers and settings and .ini files, if need be. But that does not mean i want to. Of course i am aware that the situation there isn't as bad as it used to be, still, i'm happy to get rid of that altogether.
And while i am thinking to make a HTPC my "next console", the inconveniences to it and the additional costs that come up, for example, JUST to build a HTPC will make this a hard decision.

(Also, PCs don't have Rockband)

As for the PS3, it seems a nice console to me and the more varied exclusives do make me a bit jealous sometimes...but i bought my first Xbox 360 back in early 2006...and despite me being a former PS1 and PS2 Gamer, there was no way i would've bought a PS3 back then. Sony did admirably to improve thier console offering over time, but my god, in the year before and after it's launch, the PS3 was stunningly weak.

That said, i've been thinking a few times about buying a PS3, but given that nowadays i have more unfinished games than free time as it is, i guess i'll always pass...

 

[tahrey]

Mthe Laptop USED TO BE kind of a "lower high-end" Gaming Laptop some 5 years ago. Nowadays, whenever i buy a PC game that has any kind of modern 3D graphics, i just worry that it will not run well and end up being disappointed...

Why... Why would you do that? Surely you know that the usable lifespan of a gaming rig which doesn't receive meaningful upgrades is about three years? And if it's a laptop, you're unlikely to be able to upgrade anything but the RAM and disk (both of which I long ago maxed on my own). If you can change the CPU, or particularly the GPU, it'll be hella expensive and may give you power supply or cooling problems.

Buying those games for a 5-year-old gaming laptop is a surefire path to disappointment, I could tell you that without even hearing Word One of its actual spec.

My own one was midrange in terms of hardware (or in other words: strong enough to not become embarassingly useless after 18 months, but not so powerful that it required me to carry a backup generator to keep it running away from AC power), and was alright for gaming at first, but the warranty hadn't even expired by the time I started seeing games that categorically either wouldn't run at a playable speed, or in fact wouldn't run on it AT ALL. One of the more modern big name titles that's just-about usable on it is the Orange Box...

You bought yours about a year and a half after mine I reckon... even with the added multiplier of it actually being a games laptop, it's time as a host for triple-A titles has long passed, and it's time for it to kick back and accept the inevitable fate of playing indies, classics, and being used as a web browser and media server. Old PCs don't die any more, they just become somewhat more "embedded" into the fabric of the home. I'd have replaced mine already, but other things keep breaking and taking the money away (like my household central heading system, just as the snow started to fall)...

This is one of the arguments for consoles: The hardware's fixed, and devs HAVE to make their titles work within those boundaries, because that's all anyone in the target market is going to have. Whereas PC game makers have a lot more flexibility - now and then they'll misjudge it a little, and you'll end up with a Quake or a Crysis, but even then it's not a sales killer... people WILL eventually have the necessary hardware to cater for the increased requirements. The PS3 owners won't. Ever.

 

[Frybird]

Mthe Laptop USED TO BE kind of a "lower high-end" Gaming Laptop some 5 years ago. Nowadays, whenever i buy a PC game that has any kind of modern 3D graphics, i just worry that it will not run well and end up being disappointed...

Why... Why would you do that? Surely you know that the usable lifespan of a gaming rig which doesn't receive meaningful upgrades is about three years? And if it's a laptop, you're unlikely to be able to upgrade anything but the RAM and disk (both of which I long ago maxed on my own). If you can change the CPU, or particularly the GPU, it'll be hella expensive and may give you power supply or cooling problems.

Buying those games for a 5-year-old gaming laptop is a surefire path to disappointment, I could tell you that without even hearing Word One of its actual spec.

Well...yeah, you don't need to tell me that.
And actually, i never would've bought a gaming laptop...and i never did, because i won it ^^.

And as i said, i never upgraded because, well, my laptop still does everything well EXCEPT gaming, i am happy with my 360 and reluctant to buy a PC anyways for reasons stated above.

And i don't buy a lot of games (with modern graphics) for it anyway, just stuff i might play with friends like XCOM (works alright, even though it suffers a bit), Dawn of War 2 (doesn't run well at all, but playable) or Shogun 2 (boy, that was a big mistake)

This is one of the arguments for consoles: The hardware's fixed, and devs HAVE to make their titles work within those boundaries, because that's all anyone in the target market is going to have. Whereas PC game makers have a lot more flexibility - now and then they'll misjudge it a little, and you'll end up with a Quake or a Crysis, but even then it's not a sales killer... people WILL eventually have the necessary hardware to cater for the increased requirements. The PS3 owners won't. Ever.

And that's something i just sort of miss with PC games. Sure, it is restrictive, but you know what you'll get. With PC Hardware, you can never be quite sure what you'll get...even if you put research behind upgrading your system (what you will have to anyway), there is still always the chance that a game won't run as well as it should be thanks to some specific problems a specific game has with your specific setup.

 

[Bob Thenecromancer]

I mostly play games on my PS3 because my laptop is a piece of shit.

 

[blackrave]

PC and PC only
keyboard+mouse
advanced options
mods
other stuff (work, education and porn related )

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I'm a PC guy. I like upgrading it, I like choosing my peripherals and I like all of the other things that the PC does so easily. It does everything, even connects to my telly, with a controller, for the console experience.

I have a PS3 as well, which was cool years ago, but now is just a blu-ray player that occasionally plays those exclusive games that I can't get for PC.

edit - Capture is making me type programme listings... I feel so dirty, despite Black Mirror being something that I would actually want to watch.

 

[BrotherRool]

We bought a console for a couple of reasons.
1)4 children in the house we would have had to buy a second PC and hook it up to a TV or something, which would be a lot of space, a lot more work and more expensive than just buying a console.
2)No fuss. You put it in, you play the game, it runs and it runs as it's been designed to run
3) Having a cheap gaming PC involves a little bit of effort, a little bit of tech know-how and the ability to replace circuit boards without staticing the whole system, something we all lack.
4) I prefer playing with a controller (I know you can get controllers for the PC, but that's another thing to add to the price.

Why it was a PS3
1) I liked Sony more than Microsoft and the PS2 earned them some goodwill.
2) The chances of a PS3 dying were much lower
3) I prefer the controller. I don't like the bumpers on a 360 and it feels ugly to my hands (I have quite small hands)
And then when we had it, it turned out to be the correct decision because
4) Free internet. We play online, but not enough to be worth paying for Live. This way we get to play games to their full extent without feeling like we're wasting money if we don't have Live
5) PS3 exclusives tended to be more story based and more innovative to the 360 which mainly sports shooters. Specifically Heavy Rain, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Valkyria Chronicles are PS3 experiences. Uncharted isn't innovative, but it is awesome.
6) Little Big Planet. My sisters spend hours every day playing that game and it's offered them creative opportunities that are unavailable pretty much anywhere else.

Why I game on a laptop.
1)Because my laptop is with me when I go to university.

 

[Doom972]

As a kid, I had a PC and an NES, and as a teenager I had a PC and a PS1. For almost a decade I've been playing exclusively on the PC when at home.

Consoles just feel very limiting to me. You can only play with a controller, no mods, no backwards compatibility (buying the same game again each generation doesn't count), no private servers for multiplayer, etc.
While I can understand why some people would prefer it, it's really not for me.

I love the huge gaming library I get for the PC - Even if you count out the Windows PC's huge game library, every console game that came out before the current console generation can be played on a PC through emulators. I also like the freedom to use mods, user-made patches, private servers, and many other features that the PC has as an open platform.

 

[Specimen-X]

My primary console is the PS3. I got it for two reasons: 1) I had some friends already on it and 2) online is FREE. I got nothing against the XBOX, it's a great system but I'm really in favour of non subscription based online (saves on money after al). Recently though I have journeyed into the realms of PC gaming by playing FTL and TF2.

FTL was purchased because I had some extra cash on a gift card I needed to get for something else, plus it was half off on Steam . Thus, now having Steam I figure "why not?" and got TF2 and been playing it like mad ever since. Granted I'm only playing on a laptop that's pretty old by now, but they still play great.

 

[jdogtwodolla]

I've transitioned from PS3 gaming to PC gaming because of the price point. I would much rather play a game (Bar certain experiences like Skyrim or Far Cry 3) On a console because I personally feel more engagement in it. But I played all of my PS3 games that I care to at the moment and I'm strapped for cash to buy any more.

But PC sales? oh man, PC sales let me tell you. (I won't actually tell you but still)

 

[SquidVicious]

While my preferred gaming platform has always been (and will always be) a PC, I've just never cared much for the updating part. I've also been a native Linux user for a few years now which has made gaming problematic. Having Steam work on Linux is a start, but it will take a very long time for the game library to expand to make it a viable option. I do want to get a new PC sometime this year and I will probably try to make it a mid-ranged gaming PC and just bite the bullet and put a Windows partition on it so I can keep up with some of the games I want to play. Other than that I use my Xbox 360 for everything else, and with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, and HBO GO, it gets as much use helping me keep up with TV and movies as it does playing games.

 

[Little Gray]

I have a ps3 because I had a ps2 with a decent amount of games. Plus My three favourite franchises were sony exclusives. I prefer consoles because I dont think they could possibly create a worse control system for games then a mouse and keyboard. Not having to worry about hardware or the plethora of other problems that comes with PC games is a really nice bonus. Oh yeah and it is so much cheaper for me. Being able to buy used, resell, rent, and borrow games makes it absolutely dirt cheap. The free games on ps+ also a nice bonus.

 

[thesilentman]

I play my PC more lately as the crawl of console exclusives has stopped lately. Normally, I split my time between the two depending on my games. If my games are recent, console time. If it's something I'd like to keep forever and won't rape any of my other computer's GPUs, then I'll take the PC.