I understand this is a blog post, however..

Post » Wed May 08, 2013 11:40 pm

I would love your arguments/agreements to my 5 points that I am about to make and to see other peoples opinions on PC gaming in general compared to consoles.

I QUIT PC GAMING

As of today, I am quitting PC gaming. To be clear, I am not quitting because I dislike PC gaming, I have a beefy PC myself and understand why it is good and the advantages it brings, but the reasons I am quitting are for the disadvantages (in my opinion), which are as follows (DISCLAIMER: THESE ONLY APPLY TO ME, IF YOU HAVE OTHER REASONS PLEASE SHARE, IF YOU DISAGREE PLEASE SHARE YOUR REASONS)

1. Price.

It is really expensive to get into PC gaming, once you have a powerful rig sure it will last you for a good 3-4 years with games at the highest quality and thats great, but eventually its going to come to a point where you need to upgrade, and thats where price comes in, as it can be so expensive.

2. Compatibility & Troubleshooting

Another problem is that you need to make sure that all your parts of your PC go well with each other and that nothing is going to conflict with one another. Of course when you have this problem sorted, you then need to think about air flow when building, and over heating and making sure that temps are fine. Sure you can buy a PC custom built and avoid point 2, and in that case we will refer back to point 1. Also, when you have your PC all up and running, you then can run to into so many problems, such as java glitching on you when trying to set up a minecraft server, or your drivers just all of a sudden stopping working and you have to re-install or your game that worked fine this morning, now is not starting up and you are scouring the forums figuring out why. All of these headaches are what I do not wish to deal with anymore, I am getting to that age in my life now where I have university and my career to think about, I just want to come home and play a game, not trouble shoot. I will also quickly touch on framerate, as this can be difficult to also, with a console you know what your getting, with a PC you need to troubleshoot more and play with settings in both the game and the nvidia or ati control panel to get the best look and framerate that suits you. Another hassle I refuse to deal with.

3. Peripherals + competitiveness

Now this can be said for consoles also, but to a lesser extent. With a PC however, you need to make sure you have a mice and a keyboard - obviously - but you also need to make sure you have a decent set up with minimal lag input and quick response time, and if you haven't you are then at a disadvantage when playing online games that are competitive such as COD or BF. This also refers back to point 1, that these keyboards and mice from Razr, or Rocco, or steel series are really expensive.

4. Accessibility + Comfort

With a PC, you have alot of power in your hands and your able to make games look as good as you want them to look and thats fantastic, however to play PC games most of us are in the postion of sitting at our desks upright in our chairs and not really comfortable, at least not as comfortable as you could be if you was lounging on your couch, or your bed or even the floor. Consoles offer this, you can just pick up your controller and go anywhere, sit anywhere and be as comfortable as you want to be. Now I know that some people like to fit their pcs up to the TV and and set up a wireless controller to go with that, and play their PC as a console, this is great, however we then refer point 2, which can be even more a pain in the ass if you have set it up as if it was a console because then you need to get your keyboard and mouse out, or if its in another room go in there and fit it up to a monitor or what have you.. argh, just more work.

5. Popularity

This will probably be the biggest controversial statement in post, however I am using it because this is my experience and my reasons for quitting. I find that alot of people that i come into contact with, play console alot more. Whether its COD, Fifa, or Skyrim, they all either play on an Xbox or a Playstation and as a matter of fact all my friends play on console. In my years of PC gaming, I have only ever made 1 'real life' friend who plays PC, whereas it would take me ages to name you all the people I know who play consoles. Due to this, its more easy to get together and play and have a good time, and gaming is best enjoyed - i find - when its with other people.

So those are my top 5 reasons why I no longer want to play PC gaming, I will be stripping my it apart sometime this week and selling them on Ebay. I thank you all for taking your time reading this, and please feel free to leave your opinions on wether you agree or not with my reasons for quitting.

have a great day guys : )

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Camden Unglesbee
 
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Post » Wed May 08, 2013 10:48 pm

I can see those as reasons not to get into PC gaming, but as justification for stripping your computer apart and selling it? You don't use it for anything else, or would like to play the odd session of modded Skyrim? Sounds like there's more to it than those 'top' five reasons.

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Jeff Turner
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 6:41 am

This isn't going to cause a [censored] storm amongst the community or anything.

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Charles Mckinna
 
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Post » Wed May 08, 2013 11:37 pm

Thats a good question, part of the reasons I have started this blog of sorts was because of the problems I have had and are still having with my PC. It just came to a point where I thought 'I cant take this no more' and have since gone back to consoles where I am finding it to be a a much more relaxing experience where games 'just work' and I don't have the aggro or stress of trying to get things to run properly on my PC.

Whilst t creating my list though, I decided to include things in general of what I believe is troublesome for PC gaming, and why I believe console gaming is best suited to me. Though I also believe the points I have made do apply to everybody who is into PC gaming or wants to get into PC gaming as most of my points are in fact more factual statements of what it is like trying to get into the PC scene (if that makes sense!)

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TIhIsmc L Griot
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 9:34 am

I'll bid $2 and expect free shipping

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asako
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 7:55 am

I'm mostly a console gamer, but I also play some games on PC. I don't see the point in declaring oneself solely a console gamer or PC gamer. If you can afford to have both platforms why limit yourself to just one?

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Ian White
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 4:01 am

Price is not an issue for me. My gaming rig that I built in 2007 lasted until last month. It still works and my GF is using now. In the 6 years, I only replaced the video card twice. And, I bought the cards at the end of the product cycle (last years top of the line card costs what the new mid level cards do) so it was a cheap upgrade.

Compatibility is not an issue if you dedicate/focus your machine to gaming. It's when you try to do everything else, at the same time, on your rig that gaming performance suffers. Sure, my gaming rig does all the other PC stuff, it just that none of that is running when I game.

I don't play multiplayer shooters, so Lag issues are not a problem. Besides, that's why you can still run any shooter at 640 by 480 to get the max FPS.

Comfort, well, you have to buy a good chair for your desk. Spend less than $150 and your back will hurt after a while. Good posture helps here also. If I really want to be on my couch for gaming on the PC, I could manage that, but I have the gaming consoles in my living room.

Popularity, well, there are no games that are console exclusives that I want to play, so it does not matter how popular games are that I don't play.

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Jake Easom
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 7:36 am

Because then you run into the problem of "which platform do i get it on?" and you research over which looks best, which has the most features and which will be the most supported. Though again, this is just my opinion, if people are happy owning both then I am happy for them, after all who doesn't like choice? For me personally though, it is just too much hassle, and again the reason I no longer choose to own both is for my 5 reasons which I spoke about.

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sam smith
 
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Post » Wed May 08, 2013 7:35 pm

Half the time I am trying to help someone with a in game issue or wants a certain something that a mod could do, they reply that they play on console. Nothing bad, obviously, just svcks that I have an awesome suggestion with a console command or a mod but find out it cannot be applied :(

As IRL, I have yet to meet anyone that is a PC gamer. The gamers I knew in HS were all console.

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Kelly Osbourne Kelly
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 1:53 am

Touching on your compatibility response for a moment - as most of your other responses are more bias which I respect and understand - however even if it is a gaming machine, you still have the trouble waiting for your new drivers to come out so your game runs the best it can, sometimes if you wish to get the game looking good you need to tweak the settings, maybe even go as far as changing the cfg files and other such things. I had a purely gaming machine - I still do - however thats not to say I don't still have problems. Sometimes a windows update will get released that screws my computer up and I have to either roll back or work around it and find a soultion, Anti - Virus software and firewall settings tend to be a mix bag and this sometimes require alot of fiddling about with as it conflicts with many pieces of software (though going into anti-virus discussion is a whole another story) on top of that.

These things and a bunch of other things can really hamper your enjoyment and experience, even if it is just a dedicated PC gaming machine. Though I understand many people do not bother messing about with windows updates or other such software and just open steam or install games and click play. Though there is bound to be - at some point - a problem that you will need to fix, big or small its bound to happen as it is the nature of the beast.

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Causon-Chambers
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 7:06 am

Most people I knew in high school gamed on PC. Hung around Electronics Class.

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Verity Hurding
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 9:51 am

In other hand, the games are cheaper (both in retail and digitally thanks to Steam, Green Man Gaming and other alternatives). And you don't need to spend much to get a gaming capable computer either, just get the cheapest one you can find but make sure it got a mid-range graphic card and not something integrated.
If you get mid-range hardware (which is still good enough for games), you don't really need to worry about the heat. And hardware incompabilities are much rarer these days than back in the 90s. Windows 7 is a very stable OS.

I disagree, input lag is a larger issue for consoles as TVs have generally a noticeably worse input lag than monitors. Even with the "game mode" turned on.

Not to mention that the consoles kinda remove a lot of the competitiveness thanks to auto aim and other things that helps the players to play better than they really are. PC gaming is a lot more about skill.

I have a really comfortable chair and have no problems sitting there for 10+ hours when I'm really into a new game.

Console gaming is more popular, as far as most high budget games are concerned. However, I mainly play single player games (like Skyrim) so what others play on is irrelevant, I'm in the games for the stories and multiplayer games generally offer very little story.

That said, I do enjoy multiplayer games you can play together with people in the same room a lot, which my Wii is used for. It's unfortunate that most of the multiplayer games today do not offer a shared screen or splitscreen, but require an internet connection. Lame.
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Amy Siebenhaar
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 8:18 am

$10 and I'll even chip in $5 for shipping. Do I win?

On topic: Umm...I relly don't have anything to add. I own a console and the last time I played it, I mean really played it was in 2010 for any length of time. I always defaulted to PC. Sure, it's upfront cost is a lot but like you said, 3-4 years down the road and it's time to upgrade some parts. Big deal. What are you going to do when your next gen console won't play your back log of games?

Both have good points and bad points. But I'm a PC gamer at heart. Always have been, always will be. I've also never really experienced any of the issues you're describing. I also don't pay attention to frame rates either.

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Neil
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 4:35 am

What was really odd was there were a lot of PC geeks I knew, but none played games on them :blink: Maybe I am wrong and I missed it or misheard them but it was still weird, considering.

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His Bella
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 9:07 am

As someone who grew up playing PC games, it saddens me that I now play almost exclusively on consoles.

The main reasons for me, are:

- it's easier and quicker to shove a game in a disk tray and get playing, rather than installing, modding (inevitable for games like oblivion and the sims for example) and faffing on a PC

- I find console gaming is much more sociable. Not important when you live with your parents/on your own etc. But I like to spend my evening in the same room as my other half, and so playing games on the sofa while he's on the laptop, or playing on the DS while he's watching football or whatever is just more appealing for me.

Cost isn't really a factor, as PC games are now so cheap (and go into sales quicker) than console equivalents.

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Anna Kyselova
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 4:58 am

Devil's advocate time, woo!

It's a big initial cost for sure, but it does get cheaper over time. If you start out with a good PC, you may only have to upgrade the graphics card in a few years, and maybe the CPU (+ motherboard/RAM) even later. I upgraded my graphics card last December and Bioshock Infinite for example still runs great on my 5 year old dual core CPU at near max settings (ambient occlusion turned down to medium).

You can keep the case, power supply, hard disk, monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard and windows OS license for a long time.

And this assumes you want to play on the highest quality graphics. If you're okay with graphics equal to the current consoles you can last a lot longer without upgrading (though we'll have to see how that goes with the next gen consoles being around the corner) or buy a cheaper PC to begin with, those graphics options can be turned down for a reason. Bioshock Infinite still looks pretty good on lower settings.

In addition, PC games are $10 cheaper by default and tend to get deeper/earlier discounts on digital stores. You also don't have to pay for 'HD' rereleases of old games, you can just buy the original games cheaply and run them at max settings and high FPS.

If you get someone knowledgeable to put together your PC then part compatibility, air flow and overheating shouldn't be an issue. Especially if you're not overclocking. The rest I have to agree with, that can be a hassle that is hard to avoid. Though I heard Nvidia has this new software that is supposed to automatically select the ideal graphics settings based on your PC.

If you're going to play on a couch with the TV you'll probably want a controller anyway. A 360 controller can just be plugged in and will work immediately AFAIK. Steam has this Big Picture mode now that is made for this which allows for easy navigation of your games library on a TV with a controller. The main issue controls wise is playing competitive multiplayer shooters, since a controller puts you at a disadvantage against your mouse using opponents.

In the end it's your personal choice what to play your games on, do whatever you want. :)

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Heather Stewart
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 1:06 am

I was a console kiddie growing up, mainly with Nintendo so I know what you mean when you just want to kick back on a chair and game on. I was close to returning to consoles before I got my new PC because I was getting fed up with all the things the OP mentioned in point #2, but then things turned around :mellow:

I am, however, thinking of getting a Xbox controller for my PC in the future but they are so dang pricey (Cheapest was 50 bucks on Newegg).

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Johnny
 
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Post » Wed May 08, 2013 9:25 pm

Price: Consoles end up costing a lot more once you factor in the games.

Compatibility & Troubleshooting: I don't really understand the problem :tongue: You obviously just don't buy a CPU that won't fit your mobo's socket.

Peripherals + competitiveness: ?This really isn't a big deal unless you're playing in a competitive tournament or something. Besides, selecting expensive brands to prove the point serves no purpose, I could say the same thing about clothing.

Accessibility + Comfort: Use a controller or sit properly on your chair.

Popularity: Can't really comment on this since it different for each case.

EDIT: In the end it all comes down to what you want though. If you want convenience then consoles are your best bet. If you want freedom then PC is the way to go. There'd be no point buying something which doesn't fit your needs.

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Stay-C
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 2:59 am

Heh, the rig I built in 2004 lasted me until 2011 when I replaced it in anticipation of Skyrim and Battlefield 3. The one I built in 2011 was only to hold me over until I could build a new rig which I just built in 2013. My son is now using the one I built in 2011. I'll probably get another 9 years out of my current rig.

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courtnay
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 7:58 am

Just buy PC exclusives for the PC, and multiplatform/console exclusives for the console. That's pretty much what I do. I'm predominantly a console gamer though, for most of the reasons you posted. MMOs, indie games off Steam, PC exclusives = PC, everything else = PS3.

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kasia
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 10:16 am

rigs only last that long if they're top notch or you don't play newer games on high settings. Almost every big name game requires a big money rig or requiring you to update graphics cards and other things.
I could say that my laptop has lasted me 10 yrs but that's because it only runs games like the first Medieval Total war and Age of Mythology.

The OP makes a point, consoles are more "pick up and play" while PC requires much more maintenance and trouble shooting knowledge. Any number of things could go wrong on PC while the list for console failure is much shorter
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FITTAS
 
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