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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Is the PC a console?

 

Is the PC a console?

yes, if it plays games its a console 10 17.54%
 
no 47 82.46%
 
Total:57
toastboy44562 on 08 April 2010

Should games on pc/360 say only on 360? Should games on ps3/pc say "only on ps3"? discuss



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heedstone on 08 April 2010

erm no, it isn't.

 

 



The dude abides   

Beuli2 on 08 April 2010

My DVD player plays some games too



Above: still the best game of the year.

alekth on 08 April 2010

I don't consider it a console. But I also don't think pc/360 and pc/ps3 games should say "only on..."



twesterm on 08 April 2010

No.

Is the DS a considered a console? Nope.

Does the DS play games? Yes.

So then is anything that plays games a console? No.



 

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Reasonable on 08 April 2010

I don't think you can say 'only on 360' if the game can be bought elsewhere. For example I buy all Valve games on PC - stating that L4D2 is 'Only on 360' would be simply incorrect.

Same for PS3/PC titles (are there any?).

I don't like to mangle language and for me 'only on' means exactly that. If I can get it elsewhere then it's factually not 'only on'. Semantics about consoles/PCs don't cut it.

I'm wondering how long before this thread descends into a "consoles are cut down PCs - PCs are overpriced consoles" argument. Hopefully it won't. You never know.

EDIT: I didn't vote as I clearly think the vote and the topic don't match.  The "is / isn't" argument is semantics when it comes to whether you can say 'only on'.

 



Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...

Metallicube on 08 April 2010

No, the PC is a PC.



Foamer on 08 April 2010

I was just loading SQL Server and Visual Studio on the Wii and thinking the same thing...



TWRoO on 08 April 2010

It's a platform, not a console.

Arguably there are two ways of looking at it I suppose:

One is that a [gaming] console is something built for playing games on, not used for anything else.... in that sense the last proper console was the GameCube, as even the Wii is a hybrid device now.

The other way of looking at it is what something is used for. If you connect your machine, be it Wii/PS3/360 OR PC to your display device, and ONLY use it to play games then it is a gaming console. In that sense a PC can be a gaming console, but it is far more unusual for someone to use a PC only for games than someone to use a Wii/PS3/360 only for games... Some people with lots of money may have a special gaming PC that they only use for games in addition to the normal web browsing and working PC, but for most a PC is a multimedia device.



twesterm on 08 April 2010
TWRoO said:
It's a platform, not a console.

Arguably there are two ways of looking at it I suppose, 1 is that a [gaming] console is something built for playing games on, not used for anything else.... in that sense the last proper console was the GameCube, as even the Wii is a hybrid device now.

The other way of looking at it is what something is used for.... if you connect your machine, be it Wii/PS3/360 OR PC to your display device, and ONLY use it to play games then it is a gaming console.... in that sense a PC can be a gaming console, but it is far more unusual... some people with lots of money may have a special gaming PC that they only use for games in addition to the normal web browsing and working PC... but for most a PC is a multimedia device.

I believe the proper way to think of it is that a device that is made primarily a devoted home gaming device that is not a portable.