While Xbots and the Sony Defence Force argue among themselves, and Wii-mers (Wii-ers?) throw ever more ridiculous shapes pretending to play the tambourine or something, there is another group of gamers who quietly, happily, enjoy the best gaming platform yet invented - the PC.
And while, granted, some huge percentage of PCs are never used for anything other than Outlook and basic web, PCs remain the most flexible and happiest way to game. And, unlike Wii Sports, it won't cause you permanent physical damage.
1. Mouse and keyboard support
Well, duh. Console kids who have grown up with a controller in hand might argue, but there's still no better way of playing just about any game in any genre – not just shooters – than the combination of keyboard and mouse. It just works, offering orders of magnitude more precision and speed than fiddly analogue sticks.
2. High screen resolutions
While Microsoft and Sony scream about 'true HD' in their games – but in many cases don't actually deliver it – the PC has been happily running games at 1080p and above for yonks. In fact, the near-HD default res of 1,280x1,024 is very 2001; even a medium rig can handle 1,600x1,200 or more these days.
3. Free mods
Were you a raw naif, you might be forgiven for thinking that LittleBigPlanet et al single-handedly invented the idea of (nnnggh) 'user generated content'. But guess what? PC gamers have been coding mods (modifications) such as add-ons, total conversions, unofficial levels and all manner of other gubbins for… well, pretty much forever. And then distributing it for free, for the sheer love of it.
4. Upgradeable hardware
With the aforementioned higher resolutions and textures, chances are a new PC game already looks better than its console counterpart right now. But even if you can't run it with all the visuals tweaked to the max, processor and graphic cards prices drop so quickly that it's hardly bank-breaking to refit your rig in a year or so, for better graphics and more speed.
5. Cheaper games
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo's licensing and publishing costs inevitably drive up the cost of every single game released, and even pre-owned games tend to be far pricier than the PC equivalent.
6. You're not tied to one online service
Imagine not having to rely on a single, central server such as Xbox Live or PlayStation Network whenever you go online. Imagine not having to suffer downtimes, silly licensing agreements, or daft console-restricting DRM. Oh wait… that's the PC online, isn't it?
7. No extra dosh needed for playing online
Okay, this only applies to Xbox Live, but who's to say that Sony might not start charging for PSN as it keeps haemorrhaging money? And yes, Xboxers can use the free Silver service, but really – why would you?
8. Unlimited storage space
The Xbox 360 is limited to whatever can fit on a DVD (or, if you're unlucky, more than one). The PlayStation 3 has to struggle with turgid Blu-ray access and enforced installs. PC games, meanwhile, just sit happily on the potentially unlimited storage space of your hard drive. Easy.
9. Save game hacking
Like modders, PC gamers are rabidly enthusiastic about pulling apart save games and data files, fiddling therein, and finding ingenious ways to cheat or fix corrupted files. Try doing that with your Wii.
10. Unofficial fixes for older games
PC games such as Vampire: The Masquerade often get unofficial, free, support long after publishers have gone kaput and official support is abandoned, thanks to the tireless efforts of their fans. Bug fixes, enhancements, new hardware support – it's all there.
11. Abandonware
The geek term for 'old games which you can't buy any more'. There are a huge number of classic PC titles out there from years gone by, and many thousands are available to download, legally, for free.
12. No red ring of death
Well, you only get this on the Xbox, of course, but the last thing you want your gaming machine to do is to completely konk out. At least when a PC goes wrong, it really goes wrong. Like, with fire and everything (possibly).
Your comments (63) Click to add a new comment
monkeybushes
November 12th
63. PC Gaming is the Best. To the guy who says you cannot connect the PC to the computer, you can and when you say waste energy, you don't have to have both screens plugged into the tv!!! And YES you can watch a dvd at the same time as playing a game, all you need is a dvd player along side your computer connected to a different port on your tv. PC Gaming rules. Hands Down. Just think: Anything and Xbox or PS3 can do is 50x better on the PC! And also to the same guy, you can download games! You don't need a stupid DVD to play!!! It's a lot easier. And also with the patch comment, a lot of games on the PS3 and Xbox have been patched!! Hey man my 400 dollar computer plays games just as well as a ps3 or xbox, and is a laptop!!! PCs are just waaay better!!
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a.n.other
October 10th
62. There are very few PC-only exclusives. Most games start out on consoles and are moved to
PC releases after a while (if the games are good on consoles) which are always delayed one way or another. Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 have both been delayed on the arrival of the PC version, maybe up to to 2010.
When you say "online mulitplayer, I assume you're relating to using cracked servers in order to play illegally online. Speaking of illegal, most PC gamers just use torrents downloaded off of pirated sites.
And it IS still illegal to download a game for free just because it's "abandonware". The games company still has full rights to the game and can revamp it and resell a newer version of it anytime.
You can't claim that the PC is the most popular games console just because there's one in everybody's house. The PS3 is a dedicated gaming engine, but can still do most of the things you mentioned above like watching videos or searching the internet. People complain about how expensive the PS3 is, but the cheapest gaming laptops are usually 2-3 times its price. There aren't enough dedicated gamers willing to spend £1000 for a gaming laptop. Normal people will buy a PC for £400 that does what they need it to do, then buy a dedicated games console for their casual life.
Besides, Games for Windows and Xbox 360 are built by the same company. Not only will the Xbox have the same games its PC brother has, but games the older versions of those games on Xbox, which are shipped on PC. Not every server on a PC game is free, and PCs get nothing like Xbox Arcade or the Playstation Store.
Really, the only exclusives for PCs are MMOs like Runescape and WOW, which require an expensive continuous subscription.
And PC games still come on a DVD ROM. Still no high definition discs for PC games. Console games can work on a 50 inch HD flatscreen Plasma TV, and you can watch TV or a DVD at the same time without lagging your game. PC games are stuck to a 17" LCD screen. Even if you connect your PC to a TV, you're still wasting energy with two screens on, and have the distraction of both of them as the controls are right next to your primary screen.
Plus the mouse and keyboard are very slow in turning and unusable. None of it's portable or comfortable.
Console games just work. Thy don't need extra hardware or overpriced graphics a=cards to help them manage the high quality
There are so many PCs, and only a few can actually play games as well as console games. As well as that, the Xbox is cheap and easily
When your controller breaks, you buy a new one. What happens if your keyboard breaks and you're using a laptop?
With Console Games, there's no need to a) insert a license key to check the authentication of the game you've bought and b) need a patch to fix every error that comes with the PC game.
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pixel
July 8th
61. @cyberakuma
I would just like to say, your points fail. "The PS3 can do everything a PC can since you can install Linux on it, it can also do many things that a PC can not such as play PS3-exclusive games."
WTF? Linux is not for gaming at all, and then you think of how stable it is on PS3, its hard to get linux working fully on PC so I can just imagine it on PS3.
"You realize I could list thousands of console-exclusive games too right?" Do it then, I very much doubt it, keep in mind you can 100% emulate game boy, GBA, Nintendo DS, N64, NES, Dreamcast, PS1, PS2, XBOX & to answer "Where is my Wii emulator?" It is here and you can run games on higher graphics than on the wii. link to the Dolphin emulator(which does Wii & N64: http://www.dolphin-emu.com/news.php
"Actually, no it has not, arcades created many genras as well that did not exsist in PC before."
You idiot, the first ever game was made for PC so without it there would be no games, also how do you think games for console are made? on a console? NO!! on a PC!!
"That costs you a second mortgage"
Stop whining just because you can't spend $600US on a gaming rig that would outdo a console.
"No you dont(in reply to "We have the best games")" Yes, OK Starcraft (2 soon), WOW, Diablo games (3 coming soon) Heaps of RTS games you never had. anyway i was going to address the rest of your points and probably will later but i'm going to a PC lan party and I have to go, so yea
just a few for you, and don't argue when you use atrocious spelling and grammar.
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louis058
January 28th
60. it seems that PCs can not only play almost ALL games that you can play on the consoles, there are also a lot more PC-exclusive games than console-exclusive games, the PC has more power too, and better graphics, if you get a good rig, and everyone has a PC anyway, but maybe not a console. Xbox Live and Playstation Network are also **** compared with things like Xfire, and even without Xfire, on the PC, you can play multiplayer for free anyway, the only two advantages the console has over the PC is that the console is cheaper (but the games for PC are cheaper... and the PC isn't just for playing games, its for watching videos, writing, making movies, going on the internet, and doing a load more stuff than playing games, so PC seems to be worth it despite the increased price) and consoles crash less apparently... (but pc errors can be easily be fixed by looking up a solution online)
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itsbobross
January 20th
59. "Actually, most consoles have custom-made hardware. On top of that, the Cell CPU used in the PS3 is so efficient for certain tasks that it is going to be put into PCs."
The 360 uses what is essentially a triple core ibm power pc cpu, and a radeon 2000 series gpu. Both are grossly outdated and you can really notice the lack of performance/visual quality in games like GTA 4. The ps3 uses the cell processor and a modified geforce 7800 gpu. The cell processor may be powerful, but it is insanely complicated to design programs for it, it is very doubtful that mainstream or even workstation computers will use this type of processor in the near future.
"Sony has mad far far more than they have lost from consoles."
Explain why sony has lost 2 billion in market value.
"How is a console game selling any different from a PC game?"
www.steampowered.com
"How many pc games are DESIGNED with motion control in mind?"
How many ps3 games actually implement the six-axis well? The Wii is an exception because it isn't really a hardcore gaming platform.
"Actually, Xbox Live does this far far better than PC games do."
So you like being limited to a relatively small community that costs money to be a part of? You like paying for dlc that is free on pc?
""We have the best games"
No you dont"
Opinion
""the best genres"
Actually, you have like 3 while consoles have pretty much every genra avaliable to them."
What does this even mean, 3 genres? How many good rts's have you seen on console? mmorpgs, simulation games, compared to the number of titles for pc? There's also the vast amount of shooters, rpgs, puzzle, action, sports, strategy, racing, adventure, fighting, etc, games.
""even our game devs are the best in the gaming world"
Thats just being a fanboy."
Many major game engines used for console games were adapted from the original pc versions (the unreal engines, havok, source, etc.)
"You realize I could list thousands of console-exclusive games too right?"
Thousands? All the classic console exclusives can be emulated on pc. Many former console exclusives are ported to pc eventually. I can only list a handful of console exclusives I would actually want to play on pc (final fantasy plz come to pc)
"The PS3 can do everything a PC can since you can install Linux on it, it can also do many things that a PC can not such as play PS3-exclusive games."
So you can run windows games right? Running linux on a ps3 isn't practical and is too hard for most users to use.
The only reason I play consoles is to play face to face with my friends, and for party games.
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dreamhunk
November 27th 2008
58. here are some facts about pc gaming over consoles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-j69RnEBAc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GPI9xDmRjk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y2nJmKzOVY
no need to worry there is meny people who say that console will dy off. more and more people are online than they watching tv. Try google future consoles there is tons of topics and reasons why console gaming is dying off.
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