PC Perspective makes a mockery of console ownership.

[Pacman4]

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/General-Tech/Five-Stages-Griefing-Death-Consoles

The Five Stages of Griefing: Death of the Consoles

 

[wuliheron]

PC Perspectives has some of the best technical articles. Too bad most console users will never read them and couldn't understand them even if they did. That's the biggest problem with PC gaming and always has been. Its just not as user friendly and until it becomes significantly more user friendly consoles will remain more popular.

That is happening, but we've still got a long way to go. When people no longer have to think about what parts are inside the box or what operating system it uses anymore then you do for a microwave or alarm clock then console gaming will do the way of the dodo bird and console gamers will finally overcome their denial and find acceptance.

 

[Veliko]

That article is embarrassing, it's like reading an article by a cutlery fanatic on why spoons are better than forks.

If he can't honestly see why it is easier to connect and use a console on a TV than it is to do the same for a PC then he is fooling himself.

 

[Arkaign]

That article is embarrassing, it's like reading an article by a cutlery fanatic on why spoons are better than forks.

If he can't honestly see why it is easier to connect and use a console on a TV than it is to do the same for a PC then he is fooling himself.

I agree that the article is fairly bad, and that the largest points he tries to make come off poorly.

I do think that it's not hard at all with any modern pc to hook it easily up to a TV. Then what do you need, a cheap Xbox controller and cheap wireless kb/mouse. No biggie.

The real difference is that with console, you can play console titles like Madden, Tekken, etc, etc. And those games do well on big tvs with lots of friends. Playing Skyrim or BF3 on a big TV adds nothing over playing it on your 27" monitor. In my case, it's actually worse, as I greatly prefer 1920x1200 to 1920x1080.

Apples/oranges. There are some cases where there is rollover, but the general truths remain : consoles are best for exclusives (duh), party type games, and generally racing, sports, and fighting. PC is better for almost everything that is available on multiple platforms, but not always. Probably about 90% of the time though. That assumes you have the hardware to run it on. And there are always the oddities like Halo. Personally I thought Halo was shit, but I acknowledge that the Xbox fanatics loved it. I hate FPS on gamepads. Anyway, Halo on PC was a pretty shit port, and the real fun appeared to be playing on the Xbox with the hugely larger community there. PC gamers had much better options to play anyway.

It reminds me of the MW3 vs. BF3 shenanigans. If you have a PC, well BF3 is 10,000,000,000x better than MW3's cheap recycled paper-thin garbage. If you have a console, well BF3 there is hugely cut down, controls aren't what they should be, and many more of your friends and competitors will be chowing down on MW3, so MW3 is the clear winner there.

 

[BD231]

Consoles will never die, kids love them and they're a third to a tenth the cost of PC's decent enough to play the same titles. If they never know what they're missing they're not missing anything at all.

 

[Pacman4]

consoles are best for racing,

Are they?
I think that depends on what you want, for example if your prefer simulators, it's pretty barren on console, also the best MP is on PC.
There's also the quality of forcefeedback and wheel support, so if you have a quality wheel like a G27, then every PC racing game works with it, but logitech wheels are incompatible with the xbox.

 

[mmntech]

Or you can just be a real gamer and enjoy the fantastic titles both platforms have to offer.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Yep, it's not a competition. And if it was then PC lost a long time ago. I have all three (PC, PS3, X360) and I play on the PC 95% of the time, only taking breaks for stellar PS3 games like Uncharted and MLB The Show. Resistance is also really good. Xbox, I almost never play anymore. I bought Forza 4 but just couldn't get into it.

I also have my PC hooked up to my TV. Works fine, though it isn't exactly as user friendly as a console.

 

[darkewaffle]

Holy crap that article sucked. I skimmed like the first few sections and couldn't take any more. What a nutjob.

 

[Genx87]

PC Perspectives has some of the best technical articles. Too bad most console users will never read them and couldn't understand them even if they did. That's the biggest problem with PC gaming and always has been. Its just not as user friendly and until it becomes significantly more user friendly consoles will remain more popular.

That is happening, but we've still got a long way to go. When people no longer have to think about what parts are inside the box or what operating system it uses anymore then you do for a microwave or alarm clock then console gaming will do the way of the dodo bird and console gamers will finally overcome their denial and find acceptance.

I agree and will say right now the user interfaces on the PC side are in a hurt locker. Trying to get anything done is like pulling teeth. In the last few months I have setup my GFs son with two games. World of Tanks and BF3. Both were a giant pain in the ass due to broken account creation problems. It should never be as difficult as it was to install and play a game. While on consoles games just work.

 

[s1njin]

I agree and will say right now the user interfaces on the PC side are in a hurt locker. Trying to get anything done is like pulling teeth. In the last few months I have setup my GFs son with two games. World of Tanks and BF3. Both were a giant pain in the ass due to broken account creation problems. It should never be as difficult as it was to install and play a game. While on consoles games just work.

I think this is my biggest gripe. I don't want to buy a title on release and fight with it only to find out they rushed it and it needs to be patched (if they patch it at all).

 

[obidamnkenobi]

I agree and will say right now the user interfaces on the PC side are in a hurt locker. Trying to get anything done is like pulling teeth. In the last few months I have setup my GFs son with two games. World of Tanks and BF3. Both were a giant pain in the ass due to broken account creation problems. It should never be as difficult as it was to install and play a game. While on consoles games just work.

Really? I have a PS3 which I don't really game on much, but it requires patches all the time (and I have to pay a subscription to update in the background??! wtf?) which take forever. Then the game has to update, also a pain. Netflix account info disappear and I have log in again blah blah.

And I feel like I constantly hear stories of bugs, crashes etc on xbox and PS3 games too and I go: what?! I thought that didn't happen on consoles, and that's why they're so great??

Not saying PC is better, but seems like the "just works" advantage is getting less relevant.

Beside the fact that I find it impossible to control anything other that racing games with a controller, most of my spare time to play is while the wife is watching TV so I couldn't even play in console if I wanted to

Also: strategy games..

 

[Pacman4]

Or you can just be a real gamer and enjoy the fantastic titles both platforms have to offer.

Consoles are way too gimped for me to take seriously....maybe the next round might make sense if the console has a huge power boost, otherwise I'll stick to 1080p+mods/texture packs on PC.

I have a PC LCD and a HDTV connected fulltime to my 6850, it took seconds to set up and seconds to switch between either.

 

[Pacman4]

I think this is my biggest gripe. I don't want to buy a title on release and fight with it only to find out they rushed it and it needs to be patched (if they patch it at all).

Funny how many times the pro console crowd use LIES or exaggeration to score cheap shots.

 

[Pacman4]

I bought Forza 4 but just couldn't get into it.
.

Do you have a wheel?

 

[Genx87]

Really? I have a PS3 which I don't really game on much, but it requires patches all the time (and I have to pay a subscription to update in the background??! wtf?) which take forever. Then the game has to update, also a pain. Netflix account info disappear and I have log in again blah blah.

And I feel like I constantly hear stories of bugs, crashes etc on xbox and PS3 games too and I go: what?! I thought that didn't happen on consoles, and that's why they're so great??

Not saying PC is better, but seems like the "just works" advantage is getting less relevant.

Beside the fact that I find it impossible to control anything other that racing games with a controller, most of my spare time to play is while the wife is watching TV so I couldn't even play in console if I wanted to

Also: strategy games..

It wasnt the patching as much as the requirement for account creation and then the failure of the account systems to work properly. The systems PC gamers have to deal with just to play games have become a burden and in some cases prevent us from playing games.

 

[s1njin]

Funny how many times the pro console crowd use LIES or exaggeration to score cheap shots.

Pro console does not automatically mean anti-PC. As you can see from my signature I did my part w/ regards to stimulating the PC economy. Just because I have some negative things to say about the PC experience does not necessarily make me 100% anti-PC.

Sure, I have gripes about installs, CTDs, connection issues with servers, etc. If nobody complains about them, what makes you think they'll get fixed in the future? If I spend 'X' amount of dollars on something, it is not unreasonable to expect that something to work out of the box. Going through a install routine, making sure my drivers are optimized and everything is part and parcel to the PC experience - that's fine. Having big issues after all that? Unacceptable.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

It wasnt the patching as much as the requirement for account creation and then the failure of the account systems to work properly. The systems PC gamers have to deal with just to play games have become a burden and in some cases prevent us from playing games.

Sounds like my experiences with games for windows live.. Ugh! That made playing DoW2 a pain. Don't know about WoT or BF3 though, although Origin seemed to work decently when I tried the BF3 beta.. (apart from the spyware part of course.. ) Mostly using Steam, Impulse or just a Humble bundle exe I have no problems. Except for GFWL, and possibly EAs BS log in crap for BC2 I don't feel like I have to suffer through systems that make my game playing unbearable. I find the whole thing pretty comfortable 99% of the time..

I think if I timed it the PC is probably faster too. Wake from hibernate, start steam, click play. PS3: start up, change discs etc, start game (which is slooow). If it needs a patch it's basically over and I give up and leave.

 

[Pacman4]

Pro console does not automatically mean anti-PC.

You suggested PC devs don't patch games, but not only isn't this true, consoles also require patches.
If any game ships with intrusive DRM, I don't buy it.

 

[wuliheron]

I agree and will say right now the user interfaces on the PC side are in a hurt locker. Trying to get anything done is like pulling teeth. In the last few months I have setup my GFs son with two games. World of Tanks and BF3. Both were a giant pain in the ass due to broken account creation problems. It should never be as difficult as it was to install and play a game. While on consoles games just work.

The biggest drawback to consoles is that they are all proprietary. Imagine only being able to play certain movies on your DVD player or certain music on your iPod. The only reason people put up with such nonsense is because consoles offer significantly more instant gratification then PCs. So much so that the recently released game "Rage" was unplayable for many PC gamers for weeks after its release due to bad drivers.

The result is that consoles are beginning to offer more functionality and resemble PCs more, while PC games are steadily becoming more idiot proof and instant gratification oriented. Rage again presents a great example with almost no graphics settings whatsoever for PC. If you can get it to run, it automatically adapts the graphics settings to the PC not only when you install it, but dynamically as you play the game. If your frames per second drops below 60 it reduces the quality of the graphics until they go back up again.

 

[Genx87]

Sounds like my experiences with games for windows live.. Ugh! That made playing DoW2 a pain. Don't know about WoT or BF3 though, although Origin seemed to work decently when I tried the BF3 beta.. (apart from the spyware part of course.. ) Mostly using Steam, Impulse or just a Humble bundle exe I have no problems. Except for GFWL, and possibly EAs BS log in crap for BC2 I don't feel like I have to suffer through systems that make my game playing unbearable. I find the whole thing pretty comfortable 99% of the time..

I think if I timed it the PC is probably faster too. Wake from hibernate, start steam, click play. PS3: start up, change discs etc, start game (which is slooow). If it needs a patch it's basically over and I give up and leave.

Oh god setting up AOE Online was a pita. It took 3 attempts before it would associate a userid with my windows live account. Origina was a nightmare. Somehow their system created 2 gameids for the same email. And the first gameid which had the BF3 game key didnt work. And world of tanks created an account but it didnt work until we recreated.

My GFs son asked me why I play games on the computer instead of PS3. I tell him my reasons and his first three impressions of PC gaming has been a damned disaster. I cant defend it anymore.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I think this is my biggest gripe. I don't want to buy a title on release and fight with it only to find out they rushed it and it needs to be patched (if they patch it at all).

When I installed Crackdown 2 on my 360 a couple of weeks ago it needed to be patched.

I needed to update the firmware on my PS3 last night and will probably need the Fall update for my 360 when I turn it on tonight.

Your troll-fu is weak.

 

[Jules]

Or you can just be a real gamer and enjoy the fantastic titles both platforms have to offer.

Indeed love my pc + ps3 + 360

 

[s1njin]

When I installed Crackdown 2 on my 360 a couple of weeks ago it needed to be patched.

I needed to update the firmware on my PS3 last night and will probably need the Fall update for my 360 when I turn it on tonight.

Your troll-fu is weak.

Why is it considered trolling if I present a opinion contrary to the general accepted view? I mean really? This is a forum which by definition (either immediate or implied) means it as a platform to discuss views and opinions.

For instance, just because I think it is easier to play Batman AC on my 360 than the PC, doesn't mean I'm trolling. Hey - you put the disc in, it auto patches itself, and just runs. The PC? You get to futz with graphics settings, exit and enter the game to try them out, only to find that my DX11 rig runs the game like complete garbage and YES, I'm waiting on a patch to get the most out of my hardware. The 360 version looks as good as its going to, but that's what I expect when I buy it. My expectations for the purchase were met - not a let down.

If my troll-fu is weak, its b/c I'm not trying to troll. If you can't bring up a alternate opinion on anything don't call this a forum. Call it the 'Everything is la de dah w/ PCs' board or something else. You'd probably get more opinions that match your expectations.

Somewhat related, I do intend to buy Skyrim for PC. Even though the CTDs were in large part fixed by the modding community by the 4GB .exe. Note, I think its just awful that the people who bought the game have to fix it to make it run properly. Imagine buying a car that had a 6 cylinder engine in it and it only ran on 4? With no communication at all from the car company about it. And you have to take it to your local mechanic to light the other 2 cylinders up. PC Gamers somehow find this acceptable. I'd knock the dealer into next week.

But hey. I'm just sayin'.

Oh, and I can't say enough about RavenSeal's efforts w/ the mods and helping out the community. What a nice guy for bundling up everything for us and keeping it updated. That's top notch stuff.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You said:

> I think this is my biggest gripe. I don't want to buy a title on release and fight with it only to find out they rushed it and it needs to be patched (if they patch it at all).

Since many 306 and PS3 games need patching these days, implying this is unique to PCs seemed like trolling to me.