It can get tricky when you get into Windows 9x and especially DOS territory. But with enough patience and DOSBoxes, you should be able to set it up.

The issue with the PS1 is that they had significant hardware defects in the early console revisions. (Case in point: Disc Drive wear, which required the console to be tilted just to keep reading the disc.)
And now that console is a few decades old, their failure rates are getting higher as optical disc lasers and capacitors don't last forever... Sometimes having newer more modern hardware is not a bad thing.
I could have the entire PS1 games library on my PC and switching between all of them is just a few clicks away... How can you get anymore convenient than that? Plus the games look better to boot.

As for compatability on PC. What you needed was DosBox and/or Virtualised Windows 98. Or you could just buy the games from GoG.com which have been reworked to work on modern systems and it's just a case of a download and install.

But even with the newer consoles... There are significant amounts of large patches, allot of games launch with a bugs or server issues, PC has gotten more convenient and consoles have gone in the opposite direction.

But this is side-stepping the entire conversation.. I don't see how ANY of this is relevant to multiplayer gaming?

The point I was making is that... People make the claim that you can't play with "friends" on PC. That it is a "Loner" platform.

Do those people look like "loners"?

Well, the majority of people I know only bought 1 console. In fact all of them only bought 1 console. I've had 7 consoles in total and never had to replace any.

Also, replacements and returns at GameStop wouldn't count as a new sale.

I dunno man - is that something that you feel people who aren't "loners" would do? These gatherings are for extreme hobbyists. Like the people who gather to play remote control cars or something. Nothing wrong with that but it's not like a friend or 2 is popping over and you're playing some couch co-op and having some drinks. You have to carry your computer somewhere to do that.

7 of the same consoles? Or 7 as in 7 different consoles?

Replacement meaning going into a shop and buying a new one to replace there old one.

Your lucky if you only buy 1 console thoughtout a generation. I wish i could do the same. Instead my consoles are never perfect and falter after afew years. Maybe i over use them.

Same goes for bundled games. Alot of people brag about game sales especially if a game does exceptional well when being bundled heavily. Go into your nearest Game store and see how many bundled games get returned or traded. But by then it doesnt matter the game has counted as a sale.

The industry numbers are never accurate. Thats another debate for another time.

What? I'm sure they all have their unique stories and ideas about life and things.

Oh, you meant superficial things, like skin color and genitalia. You are right, we should probably force all varieties in there, because some of them seem to have other priorities for some reason and don't want to participate willingly in this open event.

I know. Just pointing out that both were really similar--two PCs vs two consoles.

No they havent, just compare the size.

Plenty of games still support splitscreen like Battlefield, Cod, Resident Evil etc. not to mention fighting games

Yes console has an advantge if someone comes to me, the person can immidiatley see what i am playing on a big screen and listen to the sound etc. Its not comfroatable at all to put the person into another PC set and explaining him/her everything. And have fun building (or keeping) multiple PCs which would cost a ton more money overtime.

Money, building and maintenance isn't the argument. Don't shift the goal posts.

Great. And the PC has split screen games as well.

Not everyone needs something to be explained to them. Also not the argument.
PC can be played on whatever display you use your console on.

These first two kind of sum up my mixed feelings on it. I do enjoy keeping my PC up to date, but one of the biggest selling points for consoles were their simplicity... buy one device every half decade or so and the games will all be optimized specifically for that hardware. It's a little disappointing to see Sony and Microsoft take that approach with their consoles while Nintendo has already been doing so with their handhelds (and will absolutely have to do so with the Switch in the not too distant future).

Modestly improved hardware that is held back by outdated hardware which requires the same library just doesn't hold much interest for me; for instance, I was excited for the Scorpio until they said all games would have to release for both systems, so we really won't be seeing the best of what it can do until it's also become replaced by a successor.

There's often deals that make the adoption of the latest version less costly, of course, but it feels rather wasteful. I'm still on the fence with the whole practice myself.

lol if there isn't some snide comment from Vivster within the first page of any thread I begin to worry for his health... pretty sure he sweats vinegar :p

Still, he makes me laugh. The forums can't be all rainbows and honey if they're to be interesting.