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Forums - Gaming - The advantages of a gaming console over a gaming PC

Jumpin on 27 July 2014

You don't really need to build your own computers, it doesn't really save money these days, it's not 1998 anymore. Most PCs and Macs work directly out of the box as well. You just need an HD cable to hook them up to an HD TV. As soon as you have the Internet you have access to services like Steam with much cheaper games and greater genre variety.

Also, OSX will update everything you need just like a gaming console does, and more recent versions of Windows should do the same.

Where the advantage lies is in price, but only if you plan on just gaming and only buying a few games. If you're going to buy dozens of games, and take advantage of non-gaming features on your PC/Mac, then the price advantage melts away.

 

There is one remaining advantage, that's the availability of certain types of games (like motion control games) and other functions that would be unique to a gaming console (like Street Pass). Then there is the industry itself, a lot of gaming companies release games only on gaming consoles. Gaming consoles do not sell very well today though.



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generic-user-1 on 27 July 2014
Jumpin said:

 

You don't really need to build your own computers, it doesn't really save money these days, it's not 1998 anymore. Most PCs and Macs work directly out of the box as well. You just need an HD cable to hook them up to an HD TV. As soon as you have the Internet you have access to services like Steam with much cheaper games and greater genre variety.

Also, OSX will update everything you need just like a gaming console does, and more recent versions of Windows should do the same.

its called WINDOWS, OSX isnt for gaming... and the savings are litte when u buy ur pc on the internet. if u go to a store it costs u a lot.

and if u cant build the pc by urself, some sites charge u 100€ for installing all the PC parts u chose and testing.



VanceIX on 27 July 2014

Seeing as that the new consoles are essentially weaker PCs...

Yeah, no. PCs are now pretty easy to set up and much more affordable. They have tons of advantages, and saying that consoles are easier to play is nonsense.

And your "Trying to inform a #pcmasterrace follower that consoles have advantages over PCs is like trying to explain the minutiae of space travel to a rabid, legless ocelot" is borderline flaming.



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Xbox One - PS4 - Wii U - PC

okr on 27 July 2014

It's interesting how people always forget about games when it comes to this kind of discussion.

You can't play Civilization IV or V, Anno 1404 or 1701 or 2070, Total War: Shogun or Rome 2, Divinity: Original Sin, King's Bounty, Might & Magic, Age of Wonders 3, League of Legends, Deponia 1-3, Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: TOR, TLotR Online, DOTA 2 and many others on console.



BlackyCat on 27 July 2014
okr said:
It's interesting how people always forget about games when it comes to this kind of discussion.

You can't play Civilization IV or V, Anno 1404 or 1701 or 2070, Total War: Shogun or Rome 2, Divinity: Original Sin, King's Bounty, Might & Magic, Age of Wonders 3, League of Legends, Deponia 1-3, Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: TOR, TLotR Online, DOTA 2 and many others on console.

I personally find console exclusives much more intersting than pc exclusive.. and games are the only reason why i buy a console. You can't play fire emblem awakening or demon's souls on your pc. You miss a lot of great game if you only play on pc.



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archer9234 on 27 July 2014

PC's are still not fully easy. They still have problems playing *all* games. For me to play one old game from 1996 (A-10 Cuba) I have to run Windows 95 in Vmware. The sounds or the graphics won't function in W7. Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed and Star Trek Armada still won't work on W7 and my nVida card period. nVida screwed soemthing up with Direct X 6/7 at some point, in their drivers. Fans usually are the ones who fixed compadibitly in old games. But not all games have a fan base that do it. A-10 Cuba is Dx2. The game won't evne install because the isntaller is 16-bit. And windows removed support for that. So you gotta go threw a whole mess to bypass that.

Which for a console, no matter how old. It just works. People can't hang into their old PC's. And you must realize there are a lot of people who just don't get PC stuff. No matter how dumb easy it may look. My mom can never remember how to shut off the Wifi to switch to 3G. No matter how many times I show her. And she still clicks on fake site ads and thinks her android phone is infected with shit.



SvennoJ on 27 July 2014
Scoobes said:
I might have agreed with the points raised by the article a couple of gens ago, but not any more.

Firstly, consoles have become far more complex whilst PC has become far simpler. The PS4 and X1 are now at a point where the patches, updates, DLC, apps and multimedia features are as complex as they are on the PC. On the flip side, PC has been simplifying in terms of ease of setup (patching is just as easy and automatic as it is on consoles with programs like Steam) and interface.

Consoles still work by putting in a disc and play after 40 seconds, at least on WiiU and ps4 (don't have XB1). Steam makes things easier, not everything is on Steam though. A lot of people can't or don't want to download 40GB games and you still run into compatibility and launch issues, see Watch dogs for example.

On the price issue, they're actually a lot closer than you might think. The initial cost of a PC is higher than a console, but a PC is also a far more capable machine in terms of productivity and alternative functions which has to be taken into account. If you're buying a PC for work anyway, it's only an extra $250 to upgrade the graphics card and you're ready for "next gen" gaming. If you then look long-term, you make some pretty significant savings; new games are $10-20 cheaper than their console counterparts; massive sales (Steam sales) and discounts occur far more frequently; and you don't have to pay for online play.

If you buy a PC for productivity / work it's usually not in the living room where you want to play games. I have to carry the pc over every time I want to play a game in comfort. You have steam sales, but you can't sell or trade in games to finance the next game. Plus most people buy laptops nowadays for productivity, not well suited to newer AAA games, not upgradeable.

As for stability, if you pay for a decent gaming PC now, it'll last until the end of the gen. The PS4 and X1 are effectively weak PCs, so a half-decent PC will last until the end of a gen. You may not be able to play everything on the highest graphics settings, but neither will the consoles. For instance, I built my upper-mid range PC in 2011, before the start of the gen yet it's still playing all games on the highest graphics settings, either matching or beating the console graphics in equivalent games.

PC games are far less optimized, no guarantee that you will get the same performance throughout the console gen. You need to manually adjust graphics settings and might still get considerable slowdown in places. All that balancing work has been done for you on console.

And controls? Most games come with controller support so that should be a moot point at this stage.

Most, not all. A lot still require keyboard and mouse for some functions. Not convenient on a couch.

The main problem with PC now is one of perception. In the last 10 years, PC has become cheaper, easier and more user friendly than ever before, yet people still see it as the complex mess because it still presents you with multiple options in virtually everything (graphics settings, hotkeys, game platform etc.). This freedom to choose everything makes it appear more complex than it actually has to be.

See The paradox of choice. Console is ease of mind. Plug it in, no more decisions to be made, just play the game. No fiddling with control options, graphics options, should I upgrade the GPU, am I more competitive with higher res or higher fps.

Bottom line: If you want to play games on PC, it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.

Bottom line: If you just want to play games, console will make it easy for you.

PC games really need demos much more than console games. Simply to see if you can run it comfortably and the control scheme is to your liking. I know they have recommended specs, but I have no clue how my GPU compares with hundreds of GPUs out there.



Conina on 27 July 2014
archer9234 said:

PC's are still not fully easy. They still have problems playing *all* games. For me to play one old game from 1996 (A-10 Cuba) I have to run Windows 95 in Vmware. The sounds or the graphics won't function in W7. Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed and Star Trek Armada still won't work on W7 and my nVida card period. nVida screwed soemthing up with Direct X 6/7 at some point, in their drivers. Fans usually are the ones who fixed compadibitly in old games. But not all games have a fan base that do it. A-10 Cuba is Dx2. The game won't evne install because the isntaller is 16-bit. And windows removed support for that. So you gotta go threw a whole mess to bypass that.

Which for a console, no matter how old. It just works. People can't hang into their old PC's.

So which playstation model can play *all* the playstation games? Every PS game of the 1990's, 2000's and 2010's?

Which Nintendo console can play *all* the Nintendo games? Every Nintendo game of the 1990's, 2000's and 2010's?

Which Xbox console can play *all* the Xbox games? Every Xbox game of the 2000's and 2010's?

If you want to have access to *all* games, you need several consoles. The backwards compatibility of PCs is much better than the backwards compatibility of consoles or handhelds... not every old PC game works on a new PC, but most of them. And for the problematic games you could keep an old PC with Windows 98 available... just like the old consoles.



okr on 27 July 2014
BlackyCat said:
okr said:
It's interesting how people always forget about games when it comes to this kind of discussion.

You can't play Civilization IV or V, Anno 1404 or 1701 or 2070, Total War: Shogun or Rome 2, Divinity: Original Sin, King's Bounty, Might & Magic, Age of Wonders 3, League of Legends, Deponia 1-3, Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: TOR, TLotR Online, DOTA 2 and many others on console.

I personally find console exclusives much more intersting than pc exclusive.. and games are the only reason why i buy a console. You can't play fire emblem awakening or demon's souls on your pc. You miss a lot of great game if you only play on pc.

And vice versa. BTW: I never said I only play PC games. I have a DS, 3DS, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PS3 and X360. It's not me who's missing consoles exclusives, it's people like the guy who made this thread who will never get the best of both worlds.



MoHasanie on 27 July 2014

I don't see why PC vs console is always such a big deal. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.



    

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