The best next-gen gaming system is also the most expensive. FACT!

[Shoestar]

famousringo said:
I've enjoyed quite a few PC games in my day, but there are limits which the PC has which consoles do not have.

The PC is trapped with the keyboard and mouse interface*. It has been for two decades now, and looks to be hooked on it for the forseeable future. That's a pretty good interface to be stuck with, but it isn't optimized for gaming. In fact, it can get downright uncomfortable, since it demands you sit at a desk and many of us use a keyboard and mouse for hours every day at work and wouldn't like to risk injury by using them for even more hours in our leisure time.

Oh sure, you can hook up any input device you like to a PC as long as you can find drivers for it. Just don't expect any software to take full advantage of that device, because all the developers will assume their customers will use a keyboard and mouse.

The second weakness of the PC is multiplayer. PC kicks major ass at online multiplayer, but it absolutely stinks at local multiplayer. The assumption is a single user sitting at a desk, and you almost never get a game which will accept multiple input devices or display a split screen. LANs are fun, but they require a pretty massive effort to get all that hardware together. **

The final issue with PC games is quality control. Supporting the myriad of hardware configurations is a challenge, and playing driver roulette to try to get a game to work sucks for the consumer. Furthermore, some of us really don't like the "publish it, then patch it" model which is now creeping from the PC onto the HD consoles. I know some people like this model for the bug fixes and added content, but some of us prefer to buy games which are finished, polished, and full-featured on release. ***

In the end, it comes down to values. I've been a PC gamer for quite a while, and I still play a few games on PC, but I'm swinging towards consoles now in a major way. I just find that consoles better represent what I want out of games these days.

 

* I have a dual shock style controller which I use to play devil may cry 4 on the PC. It is available for less than $8. I also have a logitech driving wheel + pedals + gears that I use for racing games. Nothing stoping anyone from getting the same however, it would be more like the consoles are only stuck with some sort of crontrolers which they have been for the last 20 years. A keyboard and mouse would open brand new possibilities for the console.

 

** that is also untrue. I have a LOT of games which I love with the split screen like heliheroes for example but the real fun games that are played with others are sports games which is also available with multiple controler. Even more fun is the fact that a lot of PC games allow you to connect with your friends and allows better customizations and modifications to games which would never be possible with a console.

 

*** I'll agree with you on that but... while it is true that now there are more bugs on the console games it is mostly because it is only now that the high lvl console games(for ps360) are reaching the complexity that the PC has enjoyed for the past 4-5 years. There are companies developing pc games such as Blizzard for example that have level of polishedness(!) that I've never seen on any console games. Aswell, even companies like ubisoft or EA actually give out fairly polished games even though people are sometimes unfairly criticizing them. When did u last see a nastily bugged EA sport or NFS game? or an unplayably bugged prince of persia game.