Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
Well, there are a few reasons.
1. First person shooters control better with a mouse + keyboard. Some consoles release mouse/keyboard combinations, but they are usually released late with little fanfare, and not up to the level of PC components. Even given that the PS3 and Xbox360 can accept inputs from PC mice and keyboards, the majority of gamers will never use them, and the games are not designed to take advantage of that control scheme.
Definitely True...although I've learned to appreciate sitting back with a wireless controller rather than having to be near a hard surface to slide my mouse and somewhere to balance an ungainly keyboard. Controllers have there advantages too...especially for nearly every other game genre other than FPS and RTS
2. LAN parties are fun. Can you imagine trying to get a bunch of consoles and TVs wired for a giant LAN party? It doesn't work. PCs are easy to transport because of the relative smallness of the screens (as opposed to a TV for a console). They have been designed to network for decades rather than in the last few years, and it is generally much easier to set up a large network of PCs than it is to network a lot of consoles.
You can always use a PC LCD or small LCD TV for "LAN" parties. A lot of people have a second TV in the house other than there big HDTV that is portable...at least as portable as a PC monitor. Plus the console hardware is usually much more compact than the typical computer case. And setting up consoles on a network is the easiest thing imaginable relating to networks.
3. Downloadable content. This is rapidly increasing on consoles, but it is much larger on the PC, especially when talking about user-created modifications (which are non-existant on consoles). If I can choose between running Oblivion on my PS3 with no mods, or on my PC with any number of the hundreds or thousands of mods out there, I'm going to opt for the PC version. Granted, it would be nice to see it running on a big screen TV, but since most HDTVs now accept inputs from a PC, that's a moot point.
While certainly valid, this is becoming more and more of a mute point. There is the occationsal mod or user content worth it...but its getting rarer and rarer these days. Most worthwhile downloadable content (from the actual developers) is available to the current generation of consoles
4. Tying in to downloadable content is customizability; from user modifications to changing specific graphics options, PCs have a clear advantage in configuration variety. Most console games allow you to set numerous options, like control scheme, sound options, even resolution scaling (ie 720p vs. 1080p). But when was the last console game that let you change anisotropic filtering settings, or anti-aliasing, or let you decide whether you wanted volumetric fog or soft shadows? Some modern console games use HDR, and stutter when you try to run at 1080p; where's the option to disable the effects at higher resolutions? PC games give the user a high level of customizability (and if they don't, someone's probably created a workaround).
I actually think this works against PCs. I'm happy to not have to troubleshoot every game I have or wondery why my latest video card drivers are missing textures, not properly filtering, etc. Now every game I buy plays the way the developer intended it to play on my platform...nothing I have to do to get it that way. In terms of controls and other customizations...developers often still give you many options here.
5. Computers do other things. If you buy a console, you're not using it to type up a term paper, review an Excel document for work, update your NetFlix queue or file your taxes (granted, you can do more and more of this on today's consoles, but using a web browser through a console is much more cumbersome than doing it on a PC).
Buying a computer for everyday tasks costs you $400-500 at the most. That computer will perform those tasks for years to come (my parents are still using a 8 year old computer and probably won't replace anytime soon because they can do all there everyday stuff with it. Keeping up a gaming machine is a whole different story where it is easy to spend over $500 every couple of years just to keep it "up to date". In the time you buys two consoles (10 years), you could easily have spent $2500 on computer hardware. This is my personal experience and why I stopped with PC gaming even though I'd been playing PC games since I was a teenager. I was spending way too much money for the fun I got out of it. now I spend a lot less and have a lot more money to spend on actual games.
So yes, consoles can play games, and many genres (sports, racing, action/adventure) play much better on consoles than PCs. But PCs have their place. If someone (and I would imagine this applies to many people on these forums) wants to shell out thousands of dollars to have the latest and greatest PC, who are you to say it's a waste?
I agree that you can't argue it is a waste any more than whatever your personal indulgence is...and everyone has one in some way or another. For me, PC gaming just wasn't worth the money I sank into it anymore as consoles had caught up enough in certain areas to make me happy and had many advantages that PC gaming was missing.
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