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Forums - Gaming Discussion - So I just built a PC and here's my take on the whole Consoles VS PC argument

bigtakilla on 19 October 2015
Conina said:
bigtakilla said:
Conina said:
bigtakilla said:
Interesting read, makes me glad I'm a Nintendo gamer which makes buying a pc obselete. I know if I want to play a Wii U game, the only place I can do that is Wii U.

Sure, if you ONLY like the games Nintendo is offering, you don't have to waste any thoughts about which is the best platform for you to play the many many many good 3rd-party-games on.

But most people have a bit wider range of game interests and want to play some other popular and/or good games like Grand Theft Auto, The Witcher, Metal Gear Solid, Batman: Arkham Knight Star Wars Battlefront, FIFA, Madden, NBA, The Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout, Wasteland Tomb Raider, Just Cause, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Metro, The Division, Rainbow Siege, DOOM, BioShock, Borderlands, Saint's Row, Dark Souls, Diablo, Dishonored, Hitman, Alien: Isolation, Ori, Rocket League, Half-Life, Portal, The Talos Principle, Minecraft, Life is Strange, the Telltale games... and these people have 3 choices to play most of these games: PC, PlayStation or Xbox.


You can hit pretty much all genre of games on Nintendo consoles, so a lack of variety isn't an issue.
  • Which open world western RPGs for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as The Witcher 3, Fallout 3 + NV + 4, Skyrim...?
  • Which open world action games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as GTA IV + V, Saint's Row III + IV, Just Cause...?
  • Which stealth games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as MGS V, Dishonored, Hitman, Alien: Isolation...?
  • Which sport games (soccer, american football, basketball) with up-to-date teams for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as FIFA + Madden?
  • Which open world FPS games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as Far Cry 3 + 4?
  • ...

Don't kid yourself, there are many genres on Wii U lacking of good games. And most genres that have a good game don't really offer much alternatives/choices of similar games.

Open world western RPGs you got Mass Effect

Open world action games you have Assassin's Creed and Batman Arkham City, and Origins, Wind Waker HD, and the new upcoming LoZ

Stealth games you have Splinter Cell, Deus Ex, and Devil's Third

Sports games you got Fifa 2013, Madden NFL 2013, ESPN Sports connection, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (which is funny because you mentioned Fifa and Madden. With up to date teams isn't a genre).

Open world FPS games you got a point, but that's pretty rare on all systems. Minus the open world part and the Wii U has them. 

Looks like that hit pretty much all the genres. Why don't you try not to fool yourself.



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sc94597 on 19 October 2015

I think one thing you are not considering is that many of the addons you needed are due to replacing your laptop, not a gaming console. You needed a monitor because you wanted to do PC things (things which the consoles don't do very well.) All in all you saved money because you have a PC and gaming system in one, and do not need to purchase them separately.



bigtakilla on 19 October 2015
zero129 said:
bigtakilla said:
Conina said:
bigtakilla said:
Conina said:
bigtakilla said:
Interesting read, makes me glad I'm a Nintendo gamer which makes buying a pc obselete. I know if I want to play a Wii U game, the only place I can do that is Wii U.

Sure, if you ONLY like the games Nintendo is offering, you don't have to waste any thoughts about which is the best platform for you to play the many many many good 3rd-party-games on.

But most people have a bit wider range of game interests and want to play some other popular and/or good games like Grand Theft Auto, The Witcher, Metal Gear Solid, Batman: Arkham Knight Star Wars Battlefront, FIFA, Madden, NBA, The Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout, Wasteland Tomb Raider, Just Cause, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Metro, The Division, Rainbow Siege, DOOM, BioShock, Borderlands, Saint's Row, Dark Souls, Diablo, Dishonored, Hitman, Alien: Isolation, Ori, Rocket League, Half-Life, Portal, The Talos Principle, Minecraft, Life is Strange, the Telltale games... and these people have 3 choices to play most of these games: PC, PlayStation or Xbox.


You can hit pretty much all genre of games on Nintendo consoles, so a lack of variety isn't an issue.
  • Which open world western RPGs for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as The Witcher 3, Fallout 3 + NV + 4, Skyrim...?
  • Which open world action games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as GTA IV + V, Saint's Row III + IV, Just Cause...?
  • Which stealth games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as MGS V, Dishonored, Hitman, Alien: Isolation...?
  • Which sport games (soccer, american football, basketball) with up-to-date teams for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as FIFA + Madden?
  • Which open world FPS games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as Far Cry 3 + 4?
  • ...

Don't kid yourself, there are many genres on Wii U lacking of good games. And most genres that have a good game don't really offer much alternatives/choices of similar games.

Open world western RPGs you got Mass Effect

Open world action games you have Assassin's Creed and Batman Arkham City, and Origins, Wind Waker HD, and the new upcoming LoZ

Stealth games you have Splinter Cell, Deus Ex, and Devil's Third

Sports games you got Fifa 2013, Madden NFL 2013, ESPN Sports connection, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (which is funny because you mentioned Fifa and Madden. With up to date teams isn't a genre).

Open world FPS games you got a point, but that's pretty rare on all systems. Minus the open world part and the Wii U has them. 

Looks like that hit pretty much all the genres. Why don't you try not to fool yourself.

Thats a good list if all you want to play is them old games from them companys. Still doesnt make the posters original point invalid and is more like you picking at straws. Id ask you where is the newer versions of each of them games??.

Also Mass Effect isnt an Open World WRPG its just a WRPG thats become more like a FPS with RPG elements.

His post didn't make point invalid where I said there are pretty much every genre on the Wii U, so a lack of variety isn't an issue. I'm picking at straws in a response to someone picking at straws.



yoscrafty on 19 October 2015
zero129 said:
sc94597 said:
I think one thing you are not considering is that many of the addons you needed are due to replacing your laptop, not a gaming console. You needed a monitor because you wanted to do PC things (things which the consoles don't do very well.) All in all you saved money because you have a PC and gaming system in one, and do not need to purchase them separately.

This pretty much. This is the one fault i always see when price of PC discussions come up and thats whats the PC's usage going to be for. If you are going to be using it for Work too then you should only add the costs of the parts you need for gaming since you will have to get a PC anyways.

If your just using it just for gaming, watching videos etc then you do not need a monitor as you wouldnt need one to game on a PS4, X1.

I also dont like when people use the excuse that PC's are too big to go under your tv. Have none of them people seen how small some PC cases can be??.


That's a fair point. Definitely more utility and programs like flash and movie editing should work much better.

About cases, a lot of time cases have to be big if you're going high end as graphics card tend to be really big. I had to squeeze mine in. And the case was  retty big already!



method114 on 19 October 2015
SvennoJ said:
method114 said:
I've gone from consoles to pc back to console and am currently back to pc. Pc is superior there is no argument here. The cost is cheaper easily much cheaper. I spent $250 on ps4 games that all sucked and I couldn't get any of my money back no refund policy which steam now has. No demos on ps4 as well which pc also has. I get to try every game before I buy it right now something my ps4 would have saved me over $250 if the option would have been available. Honestly the demo thing is just something that is required these days for me. I like to buy games soon after release and reviews are unreliable and I can't watch someone play games to see how good they are I need to physically play it myself.

Don't know where you live but half money back is guaranteed within a month or so after release via trade ins. And you can easily get more if you take the effort of using Ebay or equivalent. Steam does not offer that. Sure with less than 2 hours of play time you can request a refund, yet for a lot of games that's hardly enough to sample the game.
Where can you try every pc game before you buy it? I would love to try out Dirt Rally, but am not paying $55 for early access. Or do you mean try it for an hour then request a refund?

PC is just another platform for me next to consoles. It has its advantages and disadvantages. They both compliment eachother. No need to choose one over the other.

There are ways to try out PC games for free if you know what you are doing. Some people will say it's illegal but I disagree. If all I'm doing is trying the game to see if I like it before I buy it I don't see what the issue is with that. I've bought many games simply because I got to try them out first before I had to pay. 

I buy everything digital so trading in games on PS4 wasn't an option. Having to change disc just to play games is something I'm not doing anymore. My money was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. I seriously sold my PS4 after I paid for GTAV, Shadow of Mordor, Sleeping Dogs, and there was one more game but I forgot what it was. All those games were not good to me. I hated them and they were games that were highly praised/reviewed online. It just taught me that I can't trust reviews.  Thief was a game that I liked but online and reviews basically made it sound like garbage. Maybe I have a unquie taste when it comes to game I don't know.



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method114 on 19 October 2015
zero129 said:
Mummelmann said:

Been a long time since I saw the "you need a monitor" argument, easy to forget that consoles actually require screens too and these are quite a bit more costly in most cases. Yes; you use your TV for other purposes as well, but that argument also easily covers a PC as a platform.
I'm also amused that OP was startled when he realized that you need an OS to run any platform!

Personally; I find the PC to be a far superior gaming platform, regardless of cost. I chose to spend a ridiculous amount on my current gaming rig but the gaming in and on itself is actually quite a bit cheaper than on consoles. Plus there is a myriad of accessories and peripherals for every need and everything can be customized, free online, connects with pretty much everything and the backlog/gaming library is quite simply unbeatable; you have access to literally every game ever released (or very close, at least).

A 300-400$ PC is not a gaming PC, that's a cheap common desktop at best, I paid that amount for my laptop and that has piss poor specs and I use it for writing, media and browsing. The cheapest gaming PC I ever bought cost about 1000$.
Ramp it up to 700-800$ and you're talking a rig that can best One and PS4 on performance and the excess cost of purchasing hardware is easily covered by free online and much cheaper games (don't even get me started on Nintendo in this regards, their software pricing is ridiculous, especially on older titles) with the added bonus of flexibility and a lot more functionality and compatibility.
The whole complexity issue is also largely a thing of the past, doubly so with digital purchases, and the patch craze has hit the consoles just as hard.
If someone is able to operate their smartphone and buy and install apps and use them; they are more than smart enough to purchase, auto-install and start and play a PC game, people who aren't tech savvy enough for this are largely the ones who have trouble finding the right buttons on a simple gamepad as well.

PC gaming is certainly not for everyone, so naming a "winner" in this perpetual debate is impossible; it comes down to preferences in the end.


Its cos of the Bolded plus the fact he likes to use "Pc elitist" an awful lot in his posts plus them other "Hidden" costs of his being made out to look like they where super expensive leads me to believe this thread might have another motive .

I honestly do not understand how a person can say "I dont need a Tv for my console i already have one" and yet use the excuse they need a monitor for a PC..

If they are using that PC as a gaming platform, well then clearly it can be plugged in and used the same as any console on your TV thanks to steams Big Picture mode makes this even more simple and more like a console.. Now if they need the PC for other stuff then that cost should still not be included, since they need a PC anyways, and the only part of the cost they should include is the parts they need for gaming..

Yep when I was reasearching about steam cause I planned on going back to PC gaming I made sure to setup big picture mode. In fact I have it setup so that as soon as I turn on my PC it goes straight to steam big picture.



AnthonyW86 on 19 October 2015

I've noticed that PC gaming seems to shift a bit more to budget these days. And the hard fact is, development in PC hardware just hasn't been that fast or interesting in recent years.

I used to be a real PC hardware fanatic, upgrading on a regular basis. But now i have a PC that i upgraded for the last time 5 years ago. And it's sitting still ever since i got a PS4.

I think that's a big issue to these days, there just isn't that much for hardware enthousiasts to be enthousiastic about.



Angelv577 on 19 October 2015

To be honest, I think saying I don't want to play games on PC because of the cost is getting overrated now. If you really know what you are doing, it's obvious you can build a decent PC at a decent price. I think the reason a lot of people (including me) don't want to play current gen games on PC is because they don't want to go through the hassle of researching and assembling a PC. I really don't know shit about CPU, GPU, graphics card, let alone build it. This why console gaming is perfect for me because I'm not interested in learning how to do it.



Roronaa_chan on 19 October 2015

The main issue that I don't think you mentioned (I skimmed some parts) is the BS about matching or exceeding console specs.. It's always nothing more than an half truth. What is the point of having the same or higher raw power if less of it is used. Without fixed specs anything short of an ultra high end computer will never perform up to its theoretical capabilities because there's nothing devs can do about that no matter how much they optimise, there are simply too many HW combos. And what was once a mid end component quickly becomes outdated crap that they don't bother taking into account. So the performance efficiency just keeps getting lower and lower, while on the console development side it gets higher.

But the even bigger issue exclusive to this gen is how memory works on these consoles with the unified system vs the compartmented RAM + VRAM on PCs. It was the reason why I shied away from PC even more, knowing what was coming in terms of quality (performance of PC ports). It's gonna keep getting worse as less games coming out are cross gen.



SvennoJ on 19 October 2015
zero129 said:
sc94597 said:
I think one thing you are not considering is that many of the addons you needed are due to replacing your laptop, not a gaming console. You needed a monitor because you wanted to do PC things (things which the consoles don't do very well.) All in all you saved money because you have a PC and gaming system in one, and do not need to purchase them separately.

This pretty much. This is the one fault i always see when price of PC discussions come up and thats whats the PC's usage going to be for. If you are going to be using it for Work too then you should only add the costs of the parts you need for gaming since you will have to get a PC anyways.

If your just using it just for gaming, watching videos etc then you do not need a monitor as you wouldnt need one to game on a PS4, X1.

I also dont like when people use the excuse that PC's are too big to go under your tv. Have none of them people seen how small some PC cases can be??.

Sure they can be small, though not with a good and still affordable gpu, and you're likely limiting yourself a lot with upgrade possibilities.

Most people use laptops nowadays, a pc will be specifically for gaming (and/or home media server/storage) And it's true you can play most games on tv, but games like Civilization work a lot better on a monitor, sitting at a desk with a mouse. There's a reason those games don't do well on consoles. I have tried playing Tropico 4 on my projector and soon went back to playing it behind a monitor.