matrix563
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Piracy and Console rant.
- Thread starter DeadByDawn
- Start date
Azureth
Supreme [H]ardness
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I think it's funny that people think:
A) You need to spend thousands to get a decent gaming computer
B) It's meant JUST for games.
First off, you don't need to spend thousands, hell, for under $1,000 you can get a better machine than the 360 or the PS3.
Second, a PC is an investment, you can use it for hundreds of different things, PC gaming is just a small part. You buy a good comp and it'll last longer and do a lot more for you than any console will.
Another thing is games are cheaper on PC. Games on consoles are $60 while on the PC they're $50 (if not lower). Not to mention the PC games will go down in price much faster than console games will. You also get the better controls and have access to much better communication programs than anything the consoles could hope to provide.
And a good monitor is much cheaper than a good HDTV.
Methinks the console fanboys here are <18.
A) You need to spend thousands to get a decent gaming computer
B) It's meant JUST for games.
First off, you don't need to spend thousands, hell, for under $1,000 you can get a better machine than the 360 or the PS3.
Second, a PC is an investment, you can use it for hundreds of different things, PC gaming is just a small part. You buy a good comp and it'll last longer and do a lot more for you than any console will.
Another thing is games are cheaper on PC. Games on consoles are $60 while on the PC they're $50 (if not lower). Not to mention the PC games will go down in price much faster than console games will. You also get the better controls and have access to much better communication programs than anything the consoles could hope to provide.
And a good monitor is much cheaper than a good HDTV.
Methinks the console fanboys here are <18.
jonneymendoza
Supreme [H]ardness
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are u smoking? fc2 on the pc looks FARR better then the consoles. so does fallout 3 and this has been discussed and reviewed by ign, gamespot etc all saying that the pc version looks miles better,
toss in crysis and u have a game that laughs at the likes of halo 3
jonneymendoza
Supreme [H]ardness
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POST OF THE YEAR!!
You clearly havn't played anything in 2560x1600
Apart from a relatively low resolution (Full HD, or 1920x1080 is actually about 1/2 as many pixels as 2560x1600) PC variants of games released on both platforms tend to have further draw distances, less pop in/fade in, sharper more detailed textures, more advanced and higher levels of Anti Aliasing, and better texture filtering,16x Ansiotropic is practically standard now.
Thats the elite end of the PC scale, not everyone has that, but as with everything you get what you pay for.
Not to pick on you Azureth but this is a common point I have seen people bring up time and time again. While it is true people are over looking the fact that services like Gamefly can really cut in to that. I mean for what 14 bucks you can play a few games a month (assuming you can play through them that fast) and that does help to save the over all cost. You also have Live to factor into that cost as well. I personally don play much on-line (I am 40 and the kids are just too good for my slow but but do enjoy a co-op terrorist hunt in Rainbow 6). But that only breaks down to about 3 bucks a month which when you tack on other things live does its not that bad. In the end I think different setups work for different people. And there is no one best setup for everyone...
AlmostEvil
Gawd
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- Oct 18, 2005
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- 813
i have seen farcry 2 played in 1080p and it looks worse than when i play it in 1680*1050. my computer is 2+ years old and far from top of the line. my friend recently picked up Bad Company and in my mind, this is pretty much a crysis ripoff concerning what u can do (shoot down trees, blow everything up). even how the missions presented themselves reminded me of crysis
rozal for mod for '08!
Stereophile
Supreme [H]ardness
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- 5,116
There is nothing on PC that has the graphics and sensation of speed like Wipeout HD much less wrapped in such a fluid package. It's not that PC is incapable of doing it, it's that nobody is doing it.
I don't care that multi-platform games almost always look better on PC, everyone knows that. My point is not every type of game is always better on PC. Consoles still have strengths. Racing, fighting, and platforming games are some of them.
evanisthecoastie
Supreme [H]ardness
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*popcorn*
continue the fighting plz
continue the fighting plz
RustedAngel
Limp Gawd
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- 145
I love how the thread got way away from the original topic of piracy detracting from the quality of PC game development. Hooray for e-penis measurements about which gaming system is best!
jonneymendoza
Supreme [H]ardness
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- Sep 11, 2004
- Messages
- 6,415
horray for stating the obvious
I don't see why anyone would buy a PC game. Doesn't everyone know by now that if you buy a $400 GPU, you get the content for it for free via torrents?
Seriously, bit torrent is the reason why PC gaming is in the suckage. Why buy a game when you can just download a torrent of the game quicker and easier and on top of it, it will be free? No, really, why would you? Besides that you are an honest person, why would you?
The best thing that could happen is that torrent's would become illegal. But of course, people hide behind "I download my Linux distro's with torrents". Yaa right.
This weekend, I told my clan mates how great Fallout 3 was. And within a few hours, several of them had it as well, and not one of them bought it, they all got it from a torrent. Pretty sad.
Seriously, bit torrent is the reason why PC gaming is in the suckage. Why buy a game when you can just download a torrent of the game quicker and easier and on top of it, it will be free? No, really, why would you? Besides that you are an honest person, why would you?
The best thing that could happen is that torrent's would become illegal. But of course, people hide behind "I download my Linux distro's with torrents". Yaa right.
This weekend, I told my clan mates how great Fallout 3 was. And within a few hours, several of them had it as well, and not one of them bought it, they all got it from a torrent. Pretty sad.
jonneymendoza
Supreme [H]ardness
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yea sad indeed but yea u are right though. why buy a game where u can get it for free and with no DRM?
And taking away the DRM doesn't miraculously make people want to buy the game instead of pirating it as you see said so often around here. DRM is just an excuse.
People still pirated the hell out of Company Of Heroes. It had no DRM. Fallout 3 has very simple CD check, no real DRM. DRM is not the issue, the issue is "Do I want to pay for it?" The answer is far too often a no.
Until publishers can figure out a sure fire way to protect their games, as long as super duper easy pirating means exist, people will steal it long before they buy it. Consoles are the closest thing to that protection so far.
RustedAngel
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2007
- Messages
- 145
I really agree with this. Pirating is just too easy. I've been trying to think of ways they could encourage more legal behaviour to protect Intellectual Property owners that align incentives for everyone better, because right now DRM tends to harm the honest game purchaser as much or more so than pirates. Maybe some kind of revision to the business process and payment cycles, so you don't buy the game up front but pay for extra content/community/participation a la MMO? They seem to be doing well financially 
snaggletooth
Supreme [H]ardness
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- Aug 16, 2005
- Messages
- 4,767
farcry2<wipeout HD
the argument was for wipeout HD... you came out with another farcry2 comparison and somehow thought it was relevant.
i say make pc games only compatible with internet enabled pc's. call home every time.
This argument is stupid, you can get all console games pirated via torrents as well, there needs to be some decent reason why consoles are somehow an exception to this, oh boohoo you can't connect to the internet after you've chipped your box, end of the frikken world, consoles are so cheap you could pirate about 3 games and using the savings buy a 2nd console for legit games and connectivity to the net.
The only reason console piracy is less prevalent is because most console users simply arent aware of piracy or are too stupid to know what a torrent is or to unpack rar files.
I promised myself I wouldn't post in any more of these asinine threads, but I also promiosed myself that I wouldn't go to Burger King today.
If only the world was perfect.
You're doing it wrong!
If only the world was perfect.
You're doing it wrong!
First off I don't even own a console.
Now, can you really buy a PC that can make UT3 look as good as it does on the 360 for less than $1000?
I think not.
Monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, it all adds up in the little stuff. Versus.. Using your existing Tv (Don't even say people don't have a TV in their house. They do.) and paying $400 for said console.
Can't you pirate console games?? (I know you can I have seen it LOL) but still just my two cents PC gaming is better for me because I don't want to use anything but a mouse and keyboard for gaming. I play FPS and MMORPG's thats all. I do have a Wii for my son and I play with him on it and I do have fun because of the interaction but the games look like crap with all those jaggies everywhere.
PC graphics will always be better then console graphics but that realy doesn't matter to me I like setting at my desk with a mouse and keyboard.
For Drakan290's post about the less then $1000 pc post. Umm yea you CAN lol my daughters little dell playes UT3 AWSOME and it looks WAY better then what the 360 looks. Also you can hook most pc's up to most HDTV's that people have in there houses now so you don't have to buy a monitor, You can hook a pc up to your HTSpeakers as well.
My daughter had her system hooked up to my HDTV and man it was awsome looking
PC graphics will always be better then console graphics but that realy doesn't matter to me I like setting at my desk with a mouse and keyboard.
For Drakan290's post about the less then $1000 pc post. Umm yea you CAN lol my daughters little dell playes UT3 AWSOME and it looks WAY better then what the 360 looks. Also you can hook most pc's up to most HDTV's that people have in there houses now so you don't have to buy a monitor, You can hook a pc up to your HTSpeakers as well.
My daughter had her system hooked up to my HDTV and man it was awsome looking
Everyone has a TV? I didn't have one for 5 months, I broke my little old CRT 20" moving and just didn't want to watch tv enough to justify replacing it for that time span. I went with the 1080p HDTV with the intent of getting a PS3(BR player), over a 720p or standard resolution tv's which are much cheaper.
So $1000 computer that includes everything or just happen to have a $1500+ HDTV and $300-400 for a Xbox/PS3, oh you wanted to play that game online for the Xbox, that will be $100 for the wireless adaptor and $10/mo for xboxlive.
I have UT3 for the PS3 and PC, when I had my 8800GT graphics card yes they looked the same and about the same FPS, but now with my 4870x2 the PC looks far better and with the fps limiter turned off I am getting a solid 120-140fps on most maps in the VCTF game type playing online.
The reason developers are making games for the consoles over PC is all about effort, the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii have a nailed down hardware set that can be developed for and not have to worry about 10000+ different hardware configurations like they must with the PC.
How do these threads keep sucking me in....
You can build a pc <1000$ that kicks the living shit out of a console. I have done it several times in the last few years, especially more so today with all the competition. You can also use your computer on a TV, or play the xbox 360 on a monitor via free if your mointor supports HDMI or via <$15 VGA adapter. I do both on occasion.
However owning several computers (mid-high end) I buy the majority of my games on the xbox 360 for convenience. To me it's a decisions of eye candy vs convenience. I work in front of a computer >40 hours fixing server environments for a living and the last thing I want to do when I have free time to game is do the same thing. What I once enjoyed, tweaking, I'm now burnt after doing it for 15+ years. When I want to game I find placing a CD in the console is the quickest for me to get my gaming on.
A perfect example I still have friends that play PC or Console. This weekend I played some C0D4 with some friends. I didn't even need to pick up the phone to start a game, join a game they were playing, and have a few hours of fun. Saturday night my friend and I wanted to spin up some Medal of Honor Breakthrough on the PC. I sent him an email with my IP teamspeak. We both recently upgraded hard drives so we both needed to install Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Breakthough, and Patch. When we thought we were ready to go we both launched break through and both of our games crashed. Turns out in the latest drivers, both Nvidia (him) and ATI (me), there's a known issue with this game that required him to perform some registry changes to change the extension limit on the driver and for me I needed to download older drivers, expand a ati opengl driver using the dos command, and past that file in the game main directory. Once we got that going we needed to adjust video configurations, controler options, and then we were finally able to game. Process took us close to an hour to get everything going the way it took me <5 minutes on the console.
Not to mention I grew tired of all the hoops you had to jump through on a PC when your a paying customer. I still have at least 20% of my retail PC games unopened as I found them on Sale but lack any motivation to go through a install, cd key, CD check, online authentication, and who knows what else to start playing the damn thing. Now I justify not purchasing any new releases that are not well recommended and/or receive great reviews. So I know I have been contributing far less comapred to previous years. I have even read lately that EA has made shipping errors with providing wrong keys for NBA and Red Alert 3. Just adds more fuel to buying a console game.
I admit if you play with the same group of friends on the PC, stick with the same games, and each person keeps up with patching the impact of all this is limited. However, when someone gets a new box, someone new decides to join the party, decide to play a new game, or patched is release you have to go through the same process all over again. This is not the same experience on a console where both of you can buy a game on a console and no longer than it takes you to turn on the xbox, and open the cd package, you could be playing. I'll gladly pay the 5$ xbox live fees if I can prevent another 30 minute telephone call with a friend to get his ventrillo/teamspeak working as nobody could hear him on the mic.
So to me the lack of keyboard, mouse, and higher graphics is gladly sacrificed if I can game with having minimal prep time compared to a PC. So in comparison I bought >30 Console games in the last 2 years compared to <5 on the PC. And all the console games are opened where as I have some of those 5 still new sealed, including Orange box as I have the same game on the console.
You can build a pc <1000$ that kicks the living shit out of a console. I have done it several times in the last few years, especially more so today with all the competition. You can also use your computer on a TV, or play the xbox 360 on a monitor via free if your mointor supports HDMI or via <$15 VGA adapter. I do both on occasion.
However owning several computers (mid-high end) I buy the majority of my games on the xbox 360 for convenience. To me it's a decisions of eye candy vs convenience. I work in front of a computer >40 hours fixing server environments for a living and the last thing I want to do when I have free time to game is do the same thing. What I once enjoyed, tweaking, I'm now burnt after doing it for 15+ years. When I want to game I find placing a CD in the console is the quickest for me to get my gaming on.
A perfect example I still have friends that play PC or Console. This weekend I played some C0D4 with some friends. I didn't even need to pick up the phone to start a game, join a game they were playing, and have a few hours of fun. Saturday night my friend and I wanted to spin up some Medal of Honor Breakthrough on the PC. I sent him an email with my IP teamspeak. We both recently upgraded hard drives so we both needed to install Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Breakthough, and Patch. When we thought we were ready to go we both launched break through and both of our games crashed. Turns out in the latest drivers, both Nvidia (him) and ATI (me), there's a known issue with this game that required him to perform some registry changes to change the extension limit on the driver and for me I needed to download older drivers, expand a ati opengl driver using the dos command, and past that file in the game main directory. Once we got that going we needed to adjust video configurations, controler options, and then we were finally able to game. Process took us close to an hour to get everything going the way it took me <5 minutes on the console.
Not to mention I grew tired of all the hoops you had to jump through on a PC when your a paying customer. I still have at least 20% of my retail PC games unopened as I found them on Sale but lack any motivation to go through a install, cd key, CD check, online authentication, and who knows what else to start playing the damn thing. Now I justify not purchasing any new releases that are not well recommended and/or receive great reviews. So I know I have been contributing far less comapred to previous years. I have even read lately that EA has made shipping errors with providing wrong keys for NBA and Red Alert 3. Just adds more fuel to buying a console game.
I admit if you play with the same group of friends on the PC, stick with the same games, and each person keeps up with patching the impact of all this is limited. However, when someone gets a new box, someone new decides to join the party, decide to play a new game, or patched is release you have to go through the same process all over again. This is not the same experience on a console where both of you can buy a game on a console and no longer than it takes you to turn on the xbox, and open the cd package, you could be playing. I'll gladly pay the 5$ xbox live fees if I can prevent another 30 minute telephone call with a friend to get his ventrillo/teamspeak working as nobody could hear him on the mic.
So to me the lack of keyboard, mouse, and higher graphics is gladly sacrificed if I can game with having minimal prep time compared to a PC. So in comparison I bought >30 Console games in the last 2 years compared to <5 on the PC. And all the console games are opened where as I have some of those 5 still new sealed, including Orange box as I have the same game on the console.
The main reason piracy on the console is less prevalent is that console piracy isn't easy enough for the typical Joe to do since you have to physically modify your console.
Compare how easy it is to snag yourself a warez copy of let's say Fallout 3 and use it on the PC vs the Console. Historically, the hardest thing about warez on the PC was finding it, nowadays, it's as easy as using a search engine.
Great point and that does play a huge role in this whole thing. People like it to just work the first time and not to have to spend ALOT of time hunting down this and that.
You know, this is partially the reason, but it's not nearly as complex as you make it out to be. If you look at cross-platform development on the X360 and Windows Vista, for instance, there are very few differences. Yes, the X360 is a fixed hardware platform, whereas the Windows Vista PC is a varying hardware platform, but they're eerily similar at the API level. There are extra steps involved for publishing games for each platform, but nothing Earth-shatteringly difficult.
There are tens of thousands of different PC hardware configurations, but, realistically, there are very few key differences that really affect the PC development pipeline. When you're doing all the talking through DirectX, and using high-level toolsets/APIs, you end up with less than a handful of configuration differences you actually have to concern yourself with. In 2008, a PC game needs to be written around hardware that supports DirectX 9.0 and optionally support insanely-archaic DX8 paths for some devices (though the latter may not apply to some AAA hardware showcase games). Having a D3D10 path is always an optional though typically desirable step. Not that big a deal.
What's more complex than PC development is doing multi-platform development across all the console platforms, which is all too popular these days with the major publishers. The X360 may be quite similar to a Windows PC, but the Wii and the PS3 are entirely different animals, and they, in many cases, require a ground-up solution for each. These console-to-console ports are ultimately the most time-consuming and most expensive to produce.
None of you guys are addressing my point. You're talking about $500 video cards, expensive prebuilt computers and stuff THAT IS NOT $1000 SHIPPED TO YOUR HOUSE.
If you don't have a TV you are an exception.
99% of american households have at least 1 tv. The average amount is 2 per house.
http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html
Also, please read this:
http://internetgames.about.com/od/hardware/a/pcvsconsole.htm
If you don't have a TV you are an exception.
99% of american households have at least 1 tv. The average amount is 2 per house.
http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html
Also, please read this:
http://internetgames.about.com/od/hardware/a/pcvsconsole.htm
mid-range c2d cpu - $150
8800gt - $200
decent mobo - $100
RAM - $50
Case/PSU - $100
$600 and you've got a PC that can run everything on the market
For $1000?
Quad Core CPU
GTX260
Decent Mobo
4GB name-brand RAM
Very nice case/PSU
I'm not seeing how your point hasn't been addressed. The machine in my sig cost $750 shipped at Christmas 2007 and can run everything on the market on high settings at HDTV resolutions.
That aside comparing these things is completely pointless, good luck playing Halo 3 on your PC or playing WoW on your XBox.
8800gt - $200
decent mobo - $100
RAM - $50
Case/PSU - $100
$600 and you've got a PC that can run everything on the market
For $1000?
Quad Core CPU
GTX260
Decent Mobo
4GB name-brand RAM
Very nice case/PSU
I'm not seeing how your point hasn't been addressed. The machine in my sig cost $750 shipped at Christmas 2007 and can run everything on the market on high settings at HDTV resolutions.
That aside comparing these things is completely pointless, good luck playing Halo 3 on your PC or playing WoW on your XBox.
You do realize that PC's can use the same TV that the 360 uses right? Mouse and keyboard is like $20 bucks, which you quickly make up the difference when you buy a couple of games. Speakers, can also be bought on the cheap, but thats an extra for either 360 or PC.
As already illustrated, building an extremely competent PC doesn't cost that much more than the console.
You forgot a monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, dvd drive...
I play most of my games on the 360. After using a controller for so long the buttons make it easier than using wasdqerfTabCtrlSpaceShift. I suppose I could use the controller on my PC and enjoy the better graphics. Over the past year I've only used the PC for random multiplayer games like crysis, all RTS's, etc. And I do a lot of tweaking and custom binds/scripts. So yes, both systems have their advantages in my opinion.
I play most of my games on the 360. After using a controller for so long the buttons make it easier than using wasdqerfTabCtrlSpaceShift. I suppose I could use the controller on my PC and enjoy the better graphics. Over the past year I've only used the PC for random multiplayer games like crysis, all RTS's, etc. And I do a lot of tweaking and custom binds/scripts. So yes, both systems have their advantages in my opinion.
from what I have seen people as a whole are RETARDED and can't operate/build/buy/problem solve/ or even turn on a computer.
As people become more familiar with computer PC gaming will pick up.
As soon as hooking up PC to a TV is a standard PC gaming will pick up.
As soon as a good standard controller is around for PC gaming will pick up.
As soon as parents/kids are able to build a gaming PC for christmas PC gaming will pick up.
Multiplayer games/ party games on 1 computer not a LAN.
Piracy isn't that big of a deal because it can be stopped nearly completely with a little effort from the creators, and if it was stopped completely PC still wouldn't get the same numbers as console because of reasons above.
Until then any retard can and will plug in a console and play.
This is just from what I have seen personally.
As people become more familiar with computer PC gaming will pick up.
As soon as hooking up PC to a TV is a standard PC gaming will pick up.
As soon as a good standard controller is around for PC gaming will pick up.
As soon as parents/kids are able to build a gaming PC for christmas PC gaming will pick up.
Multiplayer games/ party games on 1 computer not a LAN.
Piracy isn't that big of a deal because it can be stopped nearly completely with a little effort from the creators, and if it was stopped completely PC still wouldn't get the same numbers as console because of reasons above.
Until then any retard can and will plug in a console and play.
This is just from what I have seen personally.
snaggletooth
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2005
- Messages
- 4,767
^^ absolutely.
everyone always looks so amazed when i fire up a webpage from my couch with my pc hooked into my hdtv.
it took me one dvi-->hdmi cable, two power ons and a couple taps on the tv remote source button to set my pc to display on my hdtv.
but it amazes people who haven't seen it done/wouldn't have thought to do it.
then i fire up farcry2 and ask them how it looks on their xbox360... heh.
everyone always looks so amazed when i fire up a webpage from my couch with my pc hooked into my hdtv.
it took me one dvi-->hdmi cable, two power ons and a couple taps on the tv remote source button to set my pc to display on my hdtv.
but it amazes people who haven't seen it done/wouldn't have thought to do it.
then i fire up farcry2 and ask them how it looks on their xbox360... heh.
Ocellaris
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2008
- Messages
- 19,075
If you remember when the first Hollywood decoder cards came out, people were like "Finally, PCs will be in every living room!"
This same argument has been going around for about a decade, and its not really because people are retarded. The flexibility of component selection and ever changing nature of the PC market is simply its Achilles heel when it comes to gaming and living room use. People just want shit that works, and its a significant amount of effort to setup a new PC for gaming and seamless HTPC use. Then once you set it up, the number of things that can go wrong and need troubleshooting is completely bewildering compared to what can go wrong on a console. This just means people do not want to deal with a bunch of shit, they want to hit buttons and see things work. I put the blame more on the PC vendors for refusing to standardize on any common platform or UI compared to blaming normal consumers for being retarded.blottingpaper
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2007
- Messages
- 270
there will always be piracy...... that's how nature intends it to be....Man is greedy --> want more for less ---> find any means to achieve that ---> high demand for large quantity at cheap prices drives supply in terms of piracy! look at the level of outsourcing to china and you will realize that demand for cheaper prices has already involved piracy, in terms of labor!
as long as there are people signing up for torrents and rapidshare, there will be piracy.
look at the level of outsourcing to china and you will realize that demand for cheaper prices has already involved piracy, in terms of labor!as long as there are people signing up for torrents and rapidshare, there will be piracy.
Apathy
Gawd
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- Oct 29, 2004
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- 890
some guy told me i could score some crack around here.
c/d?
c/d?
DeadByDawn
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2004
- Messages
- 477
It looks decent..., but just like most console games of this nature, its just another 3rd person console shooter (like tomb raider) with updated textures. This is typical for console fanboys to get excited about:
- Ooohhhh! Multiplayer! (been there, done that since Quake 2). Dont forget about consoles weak 16 player limit. WFT is that. Try a game with 32 or 64 players on the PC.
- Oooooohh reward system with achievements (been there done that, BF2 and other games)
- Oooohhh 720p! Beleive it or not thats a slight upgrade from 640 x 480. I used to run that on my IBM PC Jr.in 1985. Games should be played at a minimum of 1900x1200 imo.
- Oooohhh my gamepad rocks! Aiming my rifle with a thumb mushroom or a plus-sign will never feel as natural as a free moving mouse and some WASD.
You are correct if you take the crappy watered down PC games that have become console ports.
But a game like HL2, Crysis, BF2 (hopefully soon BF3), thats 100000x better.
DeadByDawn
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2004
- Messages
- 477
My friend, based on what you described, you have become the typical as i call "Old man gamer".
I am married and in my late 30's and have seen this happen with all my former hard-core gaming buddies. They dont want to commit serious time, or just want to play for 10 minutes (although they probably get laid more).
-If you were into PC gaming, you wouldnt be applying the patch the day you go to play the game with your friend, it would alread be patched.
-If you were into PC gaming, you would have the latest drivers.
-If you were into PC gaming, patches are like gifts on christmas morning. Your getting the sweet improvements and sometimes content.
-If you were into PC gaming, you would know that time to time to gameplay is less because you can actually install the game on a 10,000rpm drive verus and old mechanical optical drive. Pretty soon, solid state drives will be the norm and this will become super fast. Hell, Atari 2600 has more advanced technology with the cartridge than an optical drive.
-If you were into PC gaming, you wouldnt be buying games out of the bargain bin, you would be pre-ordering. (i got a great story: my coworker who thinks he's a gamer came to me the other day and said "Hey! i picked up 2142 yesterday and want to round up some people and play Thr night! Want to jump on?") To comment on this, 2142 is a great game, but cmon, its years old. The fact is this guy used to be hardcore, but he is now "old man gamer".
To be honest, I own a PS3 and really want to use it. I keep buying games from gamestop and returning them cause either im bored, weak gameplay, or i cant stand having to load a game off a bluray. I recently returned Madden 09. Great game but i couldnt stand having to constantly load off the CD.
Lastly, i read some of the rants on RPGs not being owned on the PC. You are completely wrong. D&D went straight to the PC in the 1980s. Games i played like Wizardry, UItima, Bard's Tale, Bauldurs Gate, Diablo, NWN, etc. were what defined electronic RPGs in the first place.
Games like Final Fantasy and Zelda are popular but a disgrace to D&D regardless of platform. If Barney and Hello Kitty wrote some D&D modules, you would get Zelda and FinalFantasty, Dont even bother arguing about this.
PC games will always dominate, but the gamer population is looking for less complexity in gaming, thus will drive console games.
I don't have a TV either, I dont watch regular UK TV because quite frankly it's crap, not having an actual TV just makes it easier not to have to pay the TV licence in the UK.
I found myself watching mostly american TV shows online and so opted for a 30" monitor, with the unbeatable quality of 2560x1600 over 30" and S-IPS panel for awesome viewing angles and colour for gaming and just about big enough make a decent sized TV for my average sized living room.
Never needed a TV since
Actually I have several friends who dont have TVs either and watch all of their entertainment through their PCs or laptops, possibly a growing trend with newer generations as entertainment starts to get redefined.
Im just going to add my comments in red.
Essentially you're right, consoles are easier to setup, I wouldn't say they're easier to use on a day to day basis because once you have a PC setup there is little to no difference, but yes I understand your point.
And this is where I'm going to come over as an asshole but I'm not going to lie about it - while I dont really like consoles myself for various reasons, I understand why we have them and to be honest I'm glad we have them. Because they keep all the people who can't even configure teamspeak, or work out how to install patches/drivers, off the servers. PC gaming is hardly perfect but thank god we don't have the xbox kiddies running about on our servers.
Essentially you're right, consoles are easier to setup, I wouldn't say they're easier to use on a day to day basis because once you have a PC setup there is little to no difference, but yes I understand your point.
And this is where I'm going to come over as an asshole but I'm not going to lie about it - while I dont really like consoles myself for various reasons, I understand why we have them and to be honest I'm glad we have them. Because they keep all the people who can't even configure teamspeak, or work out how to install patches/drivers, off the servers. PC gaming is hardly perfect but thank god we don't have the xbox kiddies running about on our servers.
Console gaming is the cheapest way to game.
Initial cost is cheaper.
Games retain value longer for resale/trade.
You have the option of renting games.
If you think PC gaming is the cheapest route, you need to get your head checked. It maybe fun, but its still expensive.
edit: As for personal preferences, it seems pretty silly to argue whose is best.
Initial cost is cheaper.
Games retain value longer for resale/trade.
You have the option of renting games.
If you think PC gaming is the cheapest route, you need to get your head checked. It maybe fun, but its still expensive.
edit: As for personal preferences, it seems pretty silly to argue whose is best.
I disagree.
I think which is more expensive differs from person to person. I'll explain why...
You're right when you say consoles have an initial cost which is cheaper, and the reason for this is largely because the console business model is based around selling cheap hardware (often at a loss) and then getting the profit back through game royalties. This means developers have to charge more for their games to the public. There is an obvious price difference between games in the UK, PC games are just a lot cheaper on average, even for the same titles.
I recently orderd several games from www.play.com, so you can confirm these numbers yourself, these are about the best prices you can get on UK games, for both the consoles and PC.
Fallout 3 £24.99
Far Cry 2 £24.99
Dead Space £26.99
Quantum of Solace £24.99
Total £101.96
Had I bought these for the xbox360 that would have been
Fallout 3 £39.99
Far Cry 2 £39.99
Dead Space £39.99
Quantum of Solace £39.99
Total £159.96
I saved approx £60 on 4 games, thats £15 per game on average...to put that in perspective, a top of the line ATI 4870 costs about £180, so at that rate of savings I would only need to buy 12 games to get that essentially for free, and the quality of the games would look a lot better.
The more games you buy the more the gap closes, eventually if you buy a lot of games the console will overtake and cost more overall.
*edit*
And HEY!! you can rent games on the PC as well!
All EA games are now for rent