PC gaming is a real pain

[Domicinator]

Part of the fun of PC gaming is getting things to run the way you want them to. It is a hell of a lot of fun to build your own PC, get everything set up exactly how you want it, and then opening up a fresh new game and playing the hell out of it. Along with that feeling of accomplishment comes driver updates, game patches that usually drop on the same day as the actual game, etc.

Here's my take. For a lot of years, I was exclusively a PC gamer. Before I got my 360, the last console I owned was the SNES, and I had been playing PC games before that as well. Why all the PC love? Because the PC offers the best graphics and the most versatile gameplay. It's even better now that we have HDTVs with VGA and DVI ports on them. If you have the power for it, an HDTV makes a terrific PC gaming monitor.

However, there is a downside. The money. And I don't care what you say, PC gaming is expensive, at least for a guy like me. If I'm going to spend money and time building a custom rig for myself just so I can have the very best possible gaming experience, then I'm going to be upgrading every year. Yeah, I know you can go out and get a $150 video card these days and build a box that will merely "handle" PC games, but for me that completely defeats the purpose of PC gaming. If I can't have at least 8x AA with smooth framerates at HD quality resolution, then why bother with a gaming PC?

Here's another thing that goes along with that. People often mention that multiplat games look better on the PC, and they do..........if you have the hardware. If I buy Gears of War on the 360, and then buy Gears of War 2 two years later, I don't have to get new hardware even though Gears of War 2 is supposed to be a gorgeous graphical upgrade compared to the first title. Now if I bought Gears of War for the PC (which I did), and then bought Gears of War 2 with that same graphical update two years later, I may need a new video card. My other option is to turn the settings down until the game will run. So yes, you can get the same games on the PC, but they will constantly need more power, and they are NOT being optimized to run well on PCs these days.

My point is that no matter how you stack it, these days PC gaming is a lot more of a "pain" than it used to be. It's a console world now. In my eyes, the PC is the ultimate gaming platform, but to truly take advantage of it you have to have cash flow, time, and patience. Yes, you can build a $600 box that will play PC games. But it will only play them for about 6 months. If you think otherwise, you probably don't have much experience with PC gaming.