PC gaming is a real pain

[NintendoTogepi]

naznatips said:

Also, I have a mediocre PC but it still plays games better than my PS3. I suggest you use Steam. Here's why:

Installing and updating: Steam does it automatically. No hassle at all. I've not had an installation error in like 5 years.

Drivers: Steam will detect when you need an update, and link you to your drivers page. Very easy to install.

Glitches and Patches: As was mentioned above, they exist on consoles as well, but again they are done automatically.

Reinstalling: Steam again will make this insanely easy. You can log into your Steam account and re-install anything whenever you want. No discs, no issues.

Key Codes: Again, never used on Steam.


And lets not forget all the benefits of Steam: Pre-installing games before release, prices that can be as much as 1/3 below retail, insanely easy access to all your games without swapping a single disc, and the awesome Steam overlay. These are all conveniences you can't get on any console.

For your last couple complaints such as upgrading, you really don't need to upgrade much. Upgrade a graphics card every couple years and you're good to go for a whole generation with everything else. If you aren't sure whether or not you can play a game there are a million websites that can test that for you with reasonably high accuracy. I prefer this one.

 

Not every game is on Steam, but I agree it's pretty nice (although still kind of hassle-filled).

I agree with everyone that says PC-Wii is cool, that's what I've got right now. (although admittedly I play my cousin's 360 and PS3 a lot when I go over to his house...and his PC sometimes too)

It's just that the hassles sometimes...

Take Spore. It's coming out in what, 2 weeks?

First I'll need to defragment my computer, but since I got a stupidly small hard drive on this laptop (I'm getting a desktop next time!) I have too little space to defragment. I hardly have any games left on this hard drive, I've transferred most over to my little external. (some breaking, some still working)

So now I need to take an hour transfering over all of my Sims 2 files over to the external (Which I did yesterday...I'm still too scared to check if it'll work...if I have to reinstall every Sims 2 expansion I WILL explode) harddrive...

Then I'll need to defragment for an hour.

I finally go to the store to pick up the game, and put it in the computer. I go through the steps, type in DJDF-11K2-LEEL-8G90 (or whatever) code and hope it works. Judging how my past few PC installations have worked, it will most likely freeze (Spore Creature Creator and like 90% of any game I've ever installed). I try again, restart install, and it will hopefully work. Alternatively, it will install near to the very end and freeze. At this point, I will need to go into the half-installed folders of the game and delete them. (it took me seven hours to install CivIV and BtS because of crap like this)

Finally, I'll get the game installed. EA commands me to use their crappy download service that will probably lock up. It will have shipped full of bugs so I'll be forced to immediately download a patch, which will probably not be compatiable and ask me to reinstall the game. Or more likely, it will not be patched and be even buggier.

I will now attempt to start "Spore" up. Hopefully it will not crash while starting up at the EA logo, like Spore Creature Creator.

Hopefully I can register it online, and there will be no stupid invisible rules. (Spore Creature Creator would not let me register for 2 days, till someone on the forums informed me "Does your username have "Spore" in it? Remove it and see if it works." I removed it, and of course, it worked...why wouldn't they tell you not to put Spore in your username?)

If for some reason it has installed faulty and I need to reinstall, I might be in trouble because of EA's lousy new policy where you can only install things 3 times or something. I also now have SecuROM on my computer, a dangerous anti-pirate software that has been known to ruin computers.

Anyway, so now Spore works. Unfortunately, because my computer isn't upgraded recently, it looks lousy-ish and chugs sometimes. It's also probably full of EA's typical bugs, which will cause my entire species to turn into purple blobs with the with only a mouth and legs when I reach the tribal stage. (EA's Sims 2 Open for Business expansion is probably one of the glitchest games ever made. I swear they didn't beta test it in the slightest. All of the Sims 2 expansions- scratch that, EVERY EA game is like that)

Hopefully I can get past these minor performance issues and now play "Spore" and explode into ooze at the amazing, and I will completely forget about all of the bad parts of PC gaming...only to be reminded when "The Sims 3" comes out...

It's so longwinded compared to getting a new DS or Wii game.

Let's say I want a DS game:

I go to store. I buy game. I go home. I open game, glance at the manual, put it in DS. Play game. I don't have to worry about installing it, or reinstalling it, or my DS not having been upgraded recently enough so it looks ugly, or defragmenting, or hard drive space or any of this PC frustration!

Let's say I want a Wii game:

I go to store. I buy game. I go home. I open game, glance at the manual, put it in DS. Play game. I don't have to worry about installing it, or reinstalling it, or my Wii not having been upgraded recently enough so it looks ugly, or defragmenting, or hard drive space (Well, actually...stupid VC and WiiWare) or any of this PC frustration!

/rant

P.S. PC has the best games