PC Gaming vs Console Gaming

[Mister Jack]

If it cost a little less I might do it but I don't really want to pay 16 bucks every month for something I probably wouldn't even use every month.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Fair enough. I think if you game enough it's a good deal. I've done the Redbox thing and it's not that expensive per day but it definitely works better for shorter titles where you can tear through them quickly. You certainly don't want the game to just sit around and not be played and get charged for it. It would be cool if OnLive let you buy hours of actual playtime rather than days.

[deanb]

 

Man the PS2 was a beast. Wonder if Sony will ever be able to do that again.

[Mal]

I knew it was high but not that high. There are a few thing that hindered the PS3 from achieving anything like its predecessors.

1. $599. It may not be as much when accounting for inflation but that number was a sticker shock none the less.
   
2. HDTVs. They were just starting to shoot off when the PS3 arrived.
   
3. ????? (Maybe I'm missing a few)
   

I think those first two points shouldn't be much of an issue now. Back when the PS3 came out, my family could only afford a 19" 720p TV. Now we got two 40+" HDTVs. I also personally have my own at my place. I think by now, most console folks will had gotten one. Onto the price, I think in another thread we all pretty much agreed that the next gen consoles will be much cheaper than $599.

 

As of right now, I think Microsoft and Sony (I'm totally discounting Nintendo. Sorry, I'm just not impressed.) are more or less on an even footing with each other. I think what could really effect their sales is hardware failures. I really think the RRoD really put off people from getting the 360 for a while, I know it did for me until I knew it was fine or at least had a good warranty service in place.

[CorgiShinobi]

I'm pretty sure that's what happens when you keep a console alive for a decade rather than discarding it to the wayside in favor of its successor.

 

I believe I've said this before, but you'd be surprised how often PS2 related content stayed alive in the last couple years for consumers. It became a cheap, but strong, family centric alternative to the PS3 and even the Wii. A $100 console that still got multi-platform releases that were tailored for kids and the would-be "casual" market given the expansive library that became dirt cheap to stink your teeth into.

 

It's not like the PS2 was strong competition for any seventh generation console, but it stayed relevant thanks to Sony keeping it alive and having a strong presence from its own generation. Not to mention it being an early DVD player gave it a strong start much like the PS3 became a great Blu-ray player alternative.

Edited September 14, 2012 by Atomsk88

[deanb]

 

It's two hours long though. Even I'm not sad enough to sit through all that (yet). But could probably jump back n forth for vague look over it all.

[madbassman39]

Related to the PS2: In some countries, up until a few years ago, the PS2 was the best gaming machine they could buy. If you wanted a better one you would have to import the machine. Sony made that machine last 10 years, and good on them.

 

I think the reason the PS3 didn't do so well out of the gate was partially because of the price, but because Sony phoned in the launch. Microsoft was just gaining momentum, Nintendo's Wii was met with a lot of skepticism by the gaming community, and Sony was the reigning champ two generations in a row. Microsoft came out a year earlier and spent a disgusting amount of money to get exclusives for their system, advertised it and got it in the hands of as many people as possible. The Xbox 360 is the epitome of how to launch a system. Sony seemed like they assumed people who chose the PS2 would just buy a PS3, they really did not put up much of a fight for almost a year. Not to mention that multiplatform games suffered terribly because of the new cell architecture.

 

The 360 had more games, the games ran better, had more people playing, and cost less. The PS3 is a different beast today, but boy Sony kind of didn't know what to do with the competition running circles around them.

[deanb]

Yeah! Just like current PC's are enjoying Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted, Halo, and the upcoming GTAV.

Oh we want to do this do we? How about we settle it over a nice little game of Civ V?

[TCP]

One game, nice! 

[deanb]

That game is all you need.

Well can play Halo if you really want to. Bit of a sparring match in Just Cause 2? Dota 2? Maybe you're a Sega guy and prefer DoW and Total War? Or you just want to go all out thermonuclear war in DEFCON?

[TCP]

I don't even know what "DoW" is and I don't care about boring strategy games. If I wanted to play a Sega game I'd play Valkyria Chronicles, you know, on my PlayStation. Hell, if I get bored enough and actually wanted to do a strategy game, I'd play Xcom Enemy Unknown, which I didn't pay for thanks to PS+

The best part of PC gaming is in the indie games, but the best indie games most often end up on console anyways, usually improved. So... if you want to waste your time and money in the bullshit abyss that is PC gaming, you go ahead Dean. I don't get it, but if it makes you happy, that's good, I guess. 

[Mr. GOH!]

The Cowboy Poet has not thrown off his console slave mentality. PC gaming is the only right and true way to game without being beholden to a terrible anti-consumer console manufacturer. I mean, the fact that he thinks strategy games are improved for consoles is evidence enough to demonstrate that he's in the grips of console Stockholm syndrome.

[Mister Jack]

Windows and OSX aren't made by terrible anti consumer manufacturers?

[TCP]

Yes because if I'm looking for a pro-consumer experience, I'm totally going to turn to a Windows based computer. 

I think $0 is better than whatever the lowest price your Steam sale got to. I also think that the PS3 version of Valkyria Chronicles is far superior to the non-existent PC version But I like I said, strategy games aren't my cup of tea.

[TheMightyEthan]

And the consoles have no exclusives that I care about (except Halo).  So opinions.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

The best part of PC gaming is in the indie games, but the best indie games most often end up on console anyways, usually improved

 

 

It's safe to say that you have no idea how huge the variety of indie games that are worth playing on PC is.

 

Yes because if I'm looking for a pro-consumer experience, I'm totally going to turn to a Windows based computer.

 

 

Is this sarcasm?

[Mr. GOH!]

PS+ isn't free, last I heard. And all those non-strategy multiplat games look pretty fantastic on my PC in 1080p. It's one of the reasons I haven't turned on my 360 in years and my PS3 in months.

[TheMightyEthan]

 

The best part of PC gaming is in the indie games, but the best indie games most often end up on console anyways, usually improved

 

It's safe to say that you have no idea how huge the variety of indie games that are worth playing on PC is.

 

Yeah, I was confused by this too.  Improved console version?  I'm sure there have been some, but unless I've seriously missed something the norm is not having the console version be the superior one.

[TCP]

Should have stated console/handheld, since most of the indie games to come to Vita in the past few months have been the definitive versions. Check out Hotline Miami and Limbo if you don't agree.

 

And yes, FDS, it was!

 

And Goh, no it's not, but I still didn't pay anything for Xcom.

[deanb]

I've paid around about $7 (shoot me I'm a horrible person) for:

 

And Yet it Moves

Anomaly Warzone Earth

Aquaria

Atom Zombie Smasher

Avadon: The Black Fortress

Bit. Trip Runner

Bastion

Braid

Canabalt

Cave Story+

Cogs

Cortex Command

Crayon Physics Deluxe

defcon

Darwinia

Dungeons of Dredmor

Edge

Eufloria

Gish

Gratuitous Space Battles

Hammerfight

Jack Claw

Jamestown

Lugaru

Machinarium

Multiwinia

NightSky

Osmos

Penumbra Overture

Revenge of the Titan

Samarost

Shadowgrounds

Shank

Splice

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution

Super Meat boy

Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery

Swords 7 soldiers

Toki Tori

Trine

Uplink

VVVVV

Waking MArs

World of Goo

Zen Bound.

 

 

And none of them will disappear (and $7 is less than $50).

 

I'm actually curious on what the Vita version of Hotline Miami has that the PC version doesn't, I've heard the claim the Vita version beats out PC version a few times.

 

Also just because I'm vaguely unsure on the level of seriousness that's going on here, there's this.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

I would guess Hotline Miami on Vita has all of the stuff that's in the  Hotline Miami beta?

[deanb]

That's my only thinking at the moment, which'd mean the Vita version wouldn't have any extras over the PC version at the end of the day.

[deanb]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=88868188&postcount=177

[Strangelove]

Weird question, but I just saw theyre updating WoW. Is there a reason why WoW has crappy graphics for everyone? Is it impossible for people with old PCs to use the old WoW, but people with better PCs can play it with better textures, character models and resolution? Kind of like people playing AC4 on PS4 and PS3 together? Would that work? Or is that possible but Blizzard are just lazy?

[deanb]

They have upgraded the character models. The problem is the entire engine the game is running on is old as hell, which means it runs extremely inefficiently and even with a beast of a PC you're still going to have issues when you reach populated areas because it renders everything (or at least it did last I looked, which'd be around Cataclysm). Your modern average game only renders what you're looking at, and a bit around to the edge of that.

They'd need to completely rebuild the game from the ground up, and to that end you might as well just make a brand new MMO. Hence Titan.