The State of PC Gaming | NEW POLICY POLL, VOTE NOW

[mismajor99]

yeah, there's plenty of PC games coming out to warrant a brand spanking new Video Card, that's for sure, and that's all that really matters. In Fact, even though i'm saddened by the shift in PC Gaming, the overwhelming shift of multiplatform development, there's no shortage of quality games on the horizon and foreseeable future. These ought to many plenty of people happy in the coming months, exclusives:

STALKER Clear Sky
Starcraft 2
Spore
Space Siege
WoW: Wrath of the Litch King

Coming next week is the MMO Age of Conan and Mass Effect (PC version) as well....

Than there's some multi's better on PC like Alone in the Dark, Fallout 3, Left4Dead...etc...etc...that I personally would rather play on PC anyday of the week, and are all coming to a PC near you...

 

[DanInPhilly]

Originally posted by: Jack Flash
I think a major issue with PC gaming versus console gaming is longevity. When a consumer buys an Xbox 360, he or she is buying a system which will support every game available for it for four to five years to come.

With a PC, a hardware configuration that runs a game at full settings one year is wholly unlikely to do the same with a new game even one year down the line.

But can't a PC mimic what a console does? Suppose I get a new PC which plays all current games. Then, after a year or two, new games will come out with higher requirements. Can't I just lower the specs on those new games so they play on my PC? And won't they look just as good as the games I played when the PC was new?

(I don't know the answer to this - I just began playing PC games on a new rig four months ago).

 

[jzodda]

I have a system I built last year and an Xbox360 both connected to a 37 inch 1080P display. I bought the Xbox because I didn't want to miss out on those games that were good and not getting released to the PC. What I have found is that I have 6 total 360 games bought since July 2007 and 3 of them still wrapped up, never touched. I just can not get used to the controller and the only games I have enjoyed on it are sports games like Baseball 2K7 and Fight night. I have not bought GTA4 as of yet even though I am tempted.

I am saddened that PC games are not what they used to be. I remember fondly the days in the mid to late 90s getting a Computer Gaming World mag that was hundreds of pages in length. By the end of its life the mag was as think as a brochure. I think that sums up the state of PC gaming these days. The amount of money they make on console games is staggering when compared to PC games outside of MMORPG's like WoW. As much as I love PC gaming and I have enjoyed the upgrade process as well, I can't continue to justify the cost to the small amount of games they give us. I don't think I will build a high end system anymore, or if I do I will wait more then 3 years between major upgrades. There used to be major games coming out every month, too many to keep track of but not anymore. The action is all in the console games.

What amazing games did April or May 2008 give us? Not much-we get Age of Conan and thats sort of in a different category anyway. What we did get is a steady stream of articles from devs stating they won't make games for PC's anymore, or blaming piracy and computer hardware for their trouble. All the while we see the huge amount of units that sell month to month on the consoles. I think that within a few years PC games will mostly come from indys and MMORPGs. The rest will mostly be ports, if we even get many. Reading that Lucas arts has no plans or seeming interest in PC games right now is lousy. Those guys were making games at the beginning and if they have gotten out its a bad sign. I am delighted that Sins of a Solar Empire is selling well and doing so without any copy protection, but it seems to be a small drop and not likely to change anything. The money people go where the money is and PC gaming is obviously not where its at right now outside of the MMORPGs.

I guess I have to learn to like the lousy controller

 

[Pia]

Originally posted by: mismajor99
The main thing we can do as PC Gamers is BUY software, lots of software, and make sure to spread the word.

I think the main thing is to buy lots of that software that does not come with draconian DRM (such as Bioshock, ME and Spore). That stuff, when it gets entrenched, has real potential to hurt the platform long term. People start to think twice about when they're paying normal price for a glorified rental, and when their last game didn't even run claiming that your standard optical drive isn't good enough or barfing because you have other software installed.

It's no secret the PC has the largest install base, but the lousiest attach rate. This is the exact reason why many developers would rather make console games or dev them multiplatform. If PC Gamers bought their software in numbers like console gamers, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. That's not to say we should buy bad games, we should buy good games and support these developers. If Nvidia is selling millions and millions of 8 and 9 series GPU's, games like Crysis should be selling 5 to 10 million copies, not 1 or 2. There's just no excuse for the lousy numbers, none, as there are plenty of PC gamers out there.

Like the Stardock guys said - only legit users count, the rest is irrelevant. How many pirates there are *in addition* doesn't make or cost money.

 

[Cheex]

Yes, hot topics are cool (pun intended).

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Seriously, its such a tragic situation. PC gaming used to be incredible. Consoles used to be like cheap toys compared to them.

I apologize for quoting something many pages back.

To be honest, this was never true. We look at the PS3 and the Xbox 360 and see an amazing piece of hardware, but really, consoles have always been very powerful. Don't believe? Let's review.

Nintendo Entertainment System came out in 1983 (Japan). Comparable computer at the time is the Commodore 64. If you do a youtube search for Commodore 64 then compare the graphics and sound with the NES, it's actually a pretty close match. PC gaming ~ console gaming. I had a both of these, and they both rocked

Super Nintendo came out in 1990 (Japan). Comparable PC is the Intel 80486 (486). I didn't have a 486, but I played 486-generation games on my Pentium. The graphics are very similar to SNES, and sometimes the SNES graphics were actually better. Wolfenstein came out for the PC in 1992, and it was also released on the Super Nintendo. It worked just fine. Doom was also ported to SNES, and it worked great too. The SNES was a very powerful system when it was released.

Sony Playstation 1 is from 1994 (Japan). Comparable PC is the Intel Pentium Pro. Best game from the Pentium-1 generation is Quake. Does the Sony Playstation have Quake 1 graphics? Of course it does. I had Syphon Filter 1-3 on my Playstation, and the graphics were way better than Quake 1 in software mode (since hardware video didn't really exist until later). For this generation, console hardware > PC, except the PC had better controls, multiplayer, and was easier to hack and modify.

Sony Playstation 2 was from 2000 (all regions). A comparable PC game from the time is Hitman Codename 47. Since I own both Hitman and a PS2, I can tell you the graphics and sound are about the same quality.

I don't need to go over the current generation, since anyone who has seen an Xbox 360 hooked to an HDTV knows what it looks like. Consoles currently have amazing online play, they get patches, and all 3 current consoles support digital purchases.
The consoles haven't really changed. They've always been awesome.

The only real change is that the PC market is getting crappier for a lot of people.
-Why does this game run like shit on my new computer? (integrated graphics)
-Why does the game say the disc is not in the drive when it clearly is (SecuRom)
-Why is this game not Vista compatible? (StarForce games do not work on Vista since UAC blocks rootkits)
-Why does this game take so long to load, and why does it lag when I turn around? (PC only has 1gb of ram)
-Why does the online play not work? (Windows Firewall, or other, is poorly configured)

The last nail in the coffin is done by the PC itself, because the PC provides full backward compatibility for game consoles. I downloaded a Playstion 1 emulator, and it perfectly ran Metal Gear Solid from start to finish with absolutely no glitches, and the graphics were awesome. I had unlimited save space since the hard drive array is almost 1TB, the emulator has save states, my USB controller is exactly like a playstation controller so the controls were perfect, and the emulator could read my original Playstation discs; no warez or anything required.
If even a low-end modern PC provides full backward compatibility for all game consoles, then the PC gamer's argument of having backward compatibility doesn't apply anymore since the consoles have that too.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: IL2SturmovikPilot
I started out on consoles,getting a PS1 for a Christmas present in 99',had a lot of fun playing Spyro and Crash Bandicoot series,later moved on to the PS2 in 03' and was a fan of games like SOCOM,San Andreas,Ace Combat and the like,later bought a Xbox 360 a little over a year ago,but there was very few games on it i liked,the Community sucked,the games were overpriced,so when it RRoD'ed back in August,i didn't even play 360 ever again,last Christmas,i sold my PS2 + Several games for it to my cousins combined for $80.

First PC Game was Carnivores,a FPS game where you hunt down Dinosaurs,then later on i bought Sim City 3000,then later on i bought Blitzkrieg,the game that bought me into RTS/RTT,the following year i bought Rise of Nations Gold,getting me into RTS/RTT even more,and a couple years ago,i bought Rome: Total War,i like dthe game,but it,along with Empire Earth II,made me realize that i needed a better PC to play those games good,and to be able to play newer games like Medieval 2: Total War and even Crysis,so i began looking into building my own PC,however,to no real success since i couldn't afford it since i was (And still am) jobless,but eventually my parents bought me this Dell PC in my sig,and now i could actually play games,and thus,is my PC Gaming History up to now.

Personally,i consider consoles the home of JRPG's/Sports/Fighting game,and good for people who don't want to deal with the complexity/cost of PC,while PC is for people who like MMO's/RTS/FPS/Simulator games and the like and don't mind troubleshooting and the extra cost.

That's a good story, I agree. I was in a similar boat. I just realized that when it came to the games I wanted to play, the PC was not a platform that could be beaten.

Valve is not bitching about the PC, they think it is the gaming platform to own.

Meanwhile, statistics have demonstrated that the PC has sold more games in 2007 then the xbox 360, and I recall correctly, the Wii, but I'm going to have to fish out that link.

Originally posted by: isxis
pc games are dead. for now. I miss the old days of the fps games like quake 2/quake 3 and unreal and unreal tournament. It was the back in like 95 to 2000. :-( what is there now?nothing. wow? cod4? and omg quake wars and ut3? what the hell happened?

Consoles came in.


Besides, if you think about it, those games were rather primitive, I think CoD 4 is hardly more advanced, but games are just developing right now, they're not going to be these massive affairs for a while. First the consoles have to catch up because their hardware is more than two years old.

 

[coreyb]

I don't have much to add to this discussion. However, I have to say that I've always loved PC gaming much more then console. Most of my gamer buddies play both console and pc, but the pc takes up the majority of their gaming time.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: isxis
pc games are dead. for now. I miss the old days of the fps games like quake 2/quake 3 and unreal and unreal tournament. It was the back in like 95 to 2000. :-( what is there now?nothing. wow? cod4? and omg quake wars and ut3? what the hell happened?

Consoles came in.


Besides, if you think about it, those games were rather primitive, I think CoD 4 is hardly more advanced, but games are just developing right now, they're not going to be these massive affairs for a while. First the consoles have to catch up because their hardware is more than two years old.

For starters, PC shooters have more online players than ever before. While it's true that Quake 2/3 and UT died off due to poor mod support, the living games like Counter-Strike still have millions of players. Team Fortress 2 may not be in the millions, but it's still more popular than Quake or UT ever were. Quake Wars seems to be about par with what Quake 2 and 3 were in their time; somewhat popular but still small.

While I absolutely agree that consoles are improving on all fronts, I think a lot of these articles that claim the death of the PC are based on an incorrect assumption. Their assumption is this:
"number of players is directly proportional to number of sales for new titles"
This is wrong because PC games heavily rely on a mod community, and this makes older games better than newer games. This is why Counter-Strike for Half-Life (mod released in 1999) has 10x as many active players as Counter-Strike Source (retail released 2004). World of Warcraft is probably the biggest somewhat-RPG game on the PC, and that game is 4 years old. Eve Online has over 200,000 active subscriptions, and that game is 5 years old. What would you think if GTA San Andreas was the most popular console game? That's how crazy this is, but that's just the way PC gaming works.

As well as older games being better because they have mods and updates, they become a lot more diverse, so someone can play just 1 game at a time. For over a year, World of Warcraft was literally the only game I played. That means for the entire year I did not buy a single game. There are some (lots?) of people like me who play 1 game at a time then rotate, and it makes the stats for PC gaming look really bad. I did the same thing for Diablo 2, Neverwinter Nights, TFC/Counter-Strike, and Battlefield 1942. I'm playing games like crazy, but I'm not buying very many of them.

While it's obviously true that making PC games isn't very profitable, it's wrong to assume that a shrinking community is the cause of this.

 

[IEC]

Consoles just work. Less fuss, easier to just sit down and game after a long day at work/school/etc. The games also tend to have much simpler controls and interfaces than PC games, which cuts down on the learning curve. Consoles work well for quick and easy entertainment with a minimum of downtime figuring out issues/patching/cursing at the monitor.

That said, a few reasons why I stick with PCs...
1. Hardware/software is infinitely customizable. I can use whatever HID I choose, whether it be a mouse/kb or joystick. I can program custom controls/scripts/etc.
2. Game updates/patches/community content/mods are just outstanding. I would not be able to stand Oblivion without the 24+ mods I use with it.
3. Games like Sins of a Solar Empire are currently not feasible with consoles. I like the complex strategy and tactical options available, and don't mind a higher learning curve.

PCs aren't even that much more expensive than their console counterparts any more. Even Joe Low-End can buy a $299 dual-core AMD system, slap in a 8800GS, and get a very reasonable gaming system.

 

[Chosonman]

PC games are usually better for online gaming, mostly RPG, MMROPG, and FPS. Hence PC gamers usually stick with one game for a long time. (ie, I've been playing CS for almost 8 years now, I played Diablo 2 for almost 2 years, Star Craft for almost 2 years, Civ 4 for almost 2 years (5 years for the entire Civ series), currently playing COD4 (3 months).

Console games are better for the casual gamer who doesn't like to fiddle around with technology. Most console games are "Play once and throw away" (or trade in). I remember the days when I would finish a title in 2-3 days. The only truly long lasting console game I know of is Halo.

The one complaint I have about PC gaming is there's no universal interface where I can plug in a gamepad pick a game and play from system load.
I have installed Media Portal custom configured it to launch my games using the Media Portal interface but it still needs a MCE remote or keyboard to work. Not a biggie though.

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
anyone who has seen an Xbox 360 hooked to an HDTV knows what it looks like

crap?

The low resolution and lack of filtering on console games bothers me.

 

[Jack Flash]

Originally posted by: schneiderguy

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
anyone who has seen an Xbox 360 hooked to an HDTV knows what it looks like

crap?

The low resolution and lack of filtering on console games bothers me.

But you need to consider that the majority of computers sold are notebooks with "crap" 1280x800 screens.

 

[pmv]

Surely the number one advantage of the PC is the potential for user-made mods? Its kind of amazing the wealth of stuff that's out there for the likes of Oblivion or...well, actually almost any PC game, regardless of genre. PC owners tend to be more technical-minded and surely constitute a huge post-release unpaid work-force for any game good enough to grab their interest.

It must be a bit disturbing for anyone who makes a living working on games, just how much work people are prepared to put into a game without being paid anything (e.g. the various 'unofficial patches' made for great but bug-ridden games).

Of course, much of the modding effort seems to go into undoing the game makers' efforts to dumb-down PC games to console level (e.g. the ridiculous crappy low-resolution GUI of aforementioned Oblvion)

 

[syn0s]

I don't post a whole bunch on these forums, but I just had to respond to this thread.

For myself, let me answer your questions with a question: Where do you Work all day?

If your daily grind consists of raiding in WoW or playing PC or Console games for 8 hours straight. I myself work in information technology. That coupled with school made for 14+ hours on a PC straight. The last thing I wanted to use when I got home was hunch over a desk and use a keyboard and mouse. This kind of killed the PC gaming vibe for me.

I do agree that people overexaggerate (sp?) the cost of PC gaming. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars a year to keep up with gaming trends, even to enjoy decent graphics.

I'm in the console boat nowdays. Simplicity and time have played factors in my life like so many of you, and I enjoy being able to sit down on a comfortable couch or bean bag and play some games.

Also, the controller isn't so bad. Once you get used to it and you become absorbed in any game, the controller becomes a non-existent problem. Trust me when I say that you will get used to it rather quickly. The other good thing is that it puts everyone on an equal playing field (Sounds familiar PC gamers? Diablo 2? There's a reason they only allow up to 800x600 resolution). Nobody will be better than you because they have an input device advantage. It actually takes skill and tactics to succeed instead of a quick twitch finger on a 4000dpi gaming mouse.

I was a hardcore PC gamer like so many of you, but simplicity, lack of time and long term enjoyability became my primary deciding factors. As a matter of fact, I loaded up the Bioshock demo on PC just the other day to see how my 7900GT would handle it on my 22" LCD. I had driver issues to begin with and artifacts in game. Then I also realized that the mouse smoothing and acceleration issues still haven't been worked out in Bioshock PC. I just didn't feel like dealing with it.

The user created mods can definitely be a great addition, but I find that most PC players will stick to the majority of default maps and environments. Once in a blue moon will you find a mod that really catches on (Team Fortress or CTF for Quake, Counter Strike for Half Life, etc.) but most others are rather... meh.

Once again, this is just my 2 cents. It is all a personal opinion and completely and totally depends on your wants and needs. Don't make one or the other exclusive to yourself though. Specialize in one or the other and keep the other more moderate. I myself keep a decent laptop with a decent GPU on hand just in case I get that keyboard and mouse craving.

 

[Fenixgoon]

^diablo2 is 8 years old (LOD is 7). 8 years ago, 1280x1024 was the 2500x1600 of today. part of the problem for diablo2 is the way the textures are drawn. a completely new set would have had to have been developed for higher resolutions, which is time consuming/costly. diablo2 is far from the most competitive game, and you would expect resolution-locking on more competitive games if it were such an issue, no?

a laser mouse and twitch reflexes only get you so far. skill/strategy will get you much farther.

 

[FuryofFive]

Originally posted by: syn0s
I don't post a whole bunch on these forums, but I just had to respond to this thread.

For myself, let me answer your questions with a question: Where do you Work all day?

If your daily grind consists of raiding in WoW or playing PC or Console games for 8 hours straight. I myself work in information technology. That coupled with school made for 14+ hours on a PC straight. The last thing I wanted to use when I got home was hunch over a desk and use a keyboard and mouse. This kind of killed the PC gaming vibe for me.

I do agree that people overexaggerate (sp?) the cost of PC gaming. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars a year to keep up with gaming trends, even to enjoy decent graphics.

I'm in the console boat nowdays. Simplicity and time have played factors in my life like so many of you, and I enjoy being able to sit down on a comfortable couch or bean bag and play some games.

Also, the controller isn't so bad. Once you get used to it and you become absorbed in any game, the controller becomes a non-existent problem. Trust me when I say that you will get used to it rather quickly. The other good thing is that it puts everyone on an equal playing field (Sounds familiar PC gamers? Diablo 2? There's a reason they only allow up to 800x600 resolution). Nobody will be better than you because they have an input device advantage. It actually takes skill and tactics to succeed instead of a quick twitch finger on a 4000dpi gaming mouse.

I was a hardcore PC gamer like so many of you, but simplicity, lack of time and long term enjoyability became my primary deciding factors. As a matter of fact, I loaded up the Bioshock demo on PC just the other day to see how my 7900GT would handle it on my 22" LCD. I had driver issues to begin with and artifacts in game. Then I also realized that the mouse smoothing and acceleration issues still haven't been worked out in Bioshock PC. I just didn't feel like dealing with it.

Once again, this is just my 2 cents. It is all a personal opinion and completely and totally depends on your wants and needs. Don't make one or the other exclusive to yourself though. Specialize in one or the other and keep the other more moderate. I myself keep a decent laptop with a decent GPU on hand just in case I get that keyboard and mouse craving.

i couldnt agree more,i work in IT, not sure what level ur at, heh i work helpdesk but regardless still sit in front of a pc for 8 hours a day.. and lately ive found myself leaningback into consoles after probaly a 10 year run of hardcore pc gaming(23 yr old here)
I played all my games pretty much online, because Computer AI sucks compared to human reactions.but finding a good server and good people to play sometimes can be a chore or a task
i still play PC games, just very scarcely now,been playing PSP/PS2/Wii/DS/ lately... just wanna turn it on and play,i mean games are fun, but not as fun as the pc games i play, nothing can compare to COD4 or UT2004.. but they will suffice
i will never get away from PC gaming, but we need more top titles. that might make the devs start making even better games

 

[ochadd]

Consoles are becoming computers for the weak. Where the computer fails the weak is by having too many cooks in the kitchen in just about every aspect. Most folks I know who own these consoles are people who used to be computer gamers. Their computer serves no other purpose other than a MMO delivery system. (Damn you WoW!)

The PC platform will always be the undisputed king of gaming. At the point a "console" becomes competitive in the resource department it will have become a PC.

People complain they can't relax on the couch and game on their PC. Have you tried? My computer chair has been a recliner for the past 8 years and it seems pretty relaxing. I'd wager to bet most people complaining about the comfort issue havn't tried anything other than other office chairs.

Gaming computers are too expensive? Who doesn't have a computer these days? The difference between a standard desktop and a gaming rig is in the $250 range. Add an extra 2Gb of RAM, 200 video card, and a set of headphones and you are off and running. Three years down the road you are going to need another upgrade. Even for those that are weak minded a computer shop would charge you a few bucks to stick it in for you.

Consoles are a novelty and DVD/BD player, nothing more. They serve a purpose here. Give them to the kids that don't know any better and the vegetarian tree breeders who adore them.

 

[FuryofFive]

Originally posted by: ochadd
Consoles are becoming computers for the weak. Where the computer fails the weak is by having too many cooks in the kitchen in just about every aspect. Most folks I know who own these consoles are people who used to be computer gamers. Their computer serves no other purpose other than a MMO delivery system. (Damn you WoW!)

The PC platform will always be the undisputed king of gaming. At the point a "console" becomes competitive in the resource department it will have become a PC.

People complain they can't relax on the couch and game on their PC. Have you tried? My computer chair has been a recliner for the past 8 years and it seems pretty relaxing. I'd wager to bet most people complaining about the comfort issue havn't tried anything other than other office chairs.

Consoles are a novelty and DVD/BD player, nothing more. They serve a purpose here. Give them to the kids that don't know any better and the vegetarian tree breeders who adore them.

no one disputed it, im on both sides, but like the other IT guy said. were already in front of a pc for 8+ hours we dont wanna sit in front of it for more time

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: FuryofFive

Originally posted by: ochadd
Consoles are becoming computers for the weak. Where the computer fails the weak is by having too many cooks in the kitchen in just about every aspect. Most folks I know who own these consoles are people who used to be computer gamers. Their computer serves no other purpose other than a MMO delivery system. (Damn you WoW!)

The PC platform will always be the undisputed king of gaming. At the point a "console" becomes competitive in the resource department it will have become a PC.

People complain they can't relax on the couch and game on their PC. Have you tried? My computer chair has been a recliner for the past 8 years and it seems pretty relaxing. I'd wager to bet most people complaining about the comfort issue havn't tried anything other than other office chairs.

Consoles are a novelty and DVD/BD player, nothing more. They serve a purpose here. Give them to the kids that don't know any better and the vegetarian tree breeders who adore them.

no one disputed it, im on both sides, but like the other IT guy said. were already in front of a pc for 8+ hours we dont wanna sit in front of it for more time

I'm also an IT guy and in that context my time infront of a keyboard tops 18hours some days. The way I perceive it is that I'm either gaming or Im working and not just "on the computer". I can certainly understand this and some people just can't make the seperation work.

 

[FuryofFive]

Originally posted by: ochadd

Originally posted by: FuryofFive

Originally posted by: ochadd
Consoles are becoming computers for the weak. Where the computer fails the weak is by having too many cooks in the kitchen in just about every aspect. Most folks I know who own these consoles are people who used to be computer gamers. Their computer serves no other purpose other than a MMO delivery system. (Damn you WoW!)

The PC platform will always be the undisputed king of gaming. At the point a "console" becomes competitive in the resource department it will have become a PC.

People complain they can't relax on the couch and game on their PC. Have you tried? My computer chair has been a recliner for the past 8 years and it seems pretty relaxing. I'd wager to bet most people complaining about the comfort issue havn't tried anything other than other office chairs.

Consoles are a novelty and DVD/BD player, nothing more. They serve a purpose here. Give them to the kids that don't know any better and the vegetarian tree breeders who adore them.

no one disputed it, im on both sides, but like the other IT guy said. were already in front of a pc for 8+ hours we dont wanna sit in front of it for more time

I'm also an IT guy and in that context my time infront of a keyboard tops 18hours some days. The way I perceive it is that I'm either gaming or Im working and not just "on the computer". I can certainly understand this and some people just can't make the seperation work.

i dunno man, i play both, and 18 hour days is crazy..which i think is BS, because, u would have no time to play games, that would put u at almost 100 hours a week or elaborate ur 18 hour days.
i play COD4 actively at least 4 nights aweek on the pc...so dont bark my way, we were simply stating that some people would rather not spend umteen hours in front of the computer.
werent discussing your individual threshold for gaming, we were talking about the group as a whole

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: FuryofFive


i dunno man, i play both, and 18 hour days is crazy..which i think is BS, because, u would have no time to play games, that would put u at almost 100 hours a week or elaborate ur 18 hour days.
i play COD4 actively at least 4 nights aweek on the pc...so dont bark my way, we were simply stating that some people would rather not spend umteen hours in front of the computer.
werent discussing your individual threshold for gaming, we were talking about the group as a whole

I meant to say that i can understand why someone who works on on a PC all day might not want to spend all night on one as well.

The 18 hours is 10 hrs at work and another 8 occasionally on Friday nights. My typical day goes 9 hrs at work and 3-5 a night gaming. There are also 30+ hour weekends when I find something good. Mass Effect for example I had 42 hours played from Friday night to Monday morning. I took the day off when Half-life 2 was released and went 20 hours straight.

(Im not exactly proud of any of that but it's the truth I'm probably on the more extreme side of the map.)

I believe that people who know how to use their computer to it's best can spend tens of thousands of hours on them and still find something to do. Gaming or otherwise. If you are going to own a computer it might as well be able to game. The difference isn't what it used to be.

 

[FuryofFive]

Originally posted by: ochadd

Originally posted by: FuryofFive


i dunno man, i play both, and 18 hour days is crazy..which i think is BS, because, u would have no time to play games, that would put u at almost 100 hours a week or elaborate ur 18 hour days.
i play COD4 actively at least 4 nights aweek on the pc...so dont bark my way, we were simply stating that some people would rather not spend umteen hours in front of the computer.
werent discussing your individual threshold for gaming, we were talking about the group as a whole

I meant to say that i can understand why someone who works on on a PC all day might not want to spend all night on one as well.

The 18 hours is 10 hrs at work and another 8 occasionally on Friday nights. My typical day goes 9 hrs at work and 3-5 a night gaming. There are also 30+ hour weekends when I find something good. Mass Effect for example I had 42 hours played from Friday night to Monday morning. I took the day off when Half-life 2 was released and went 20 hours straight.

(Im not exactly proud of any of that but it's the truth I'm probably on the more extreme side of the map.)

I believe that people who know how to use their computer to it's best can spend tens of thousands of hours on them and still find something to do. Gaming or otherwise. If you are going to own a computer it might as well be able to game. The difference isn't what it used to be.

yeah man,i useto play games literally all day... kinda sickening

 

[hotdogchef]

Originally posted by: IL2SturmovikPilot
I started out on consoles,getting a PS1 for a Christmas present in 99',had a lot of fun playing Spyro and Crash Bandicoot series,later moved on to the PS2 in 03' and was a fan of games like SOCOM,San Andreas,Ace Combat and the like,later bought a Xbox 360 a little over a year ago,but there was very few games on it i liked,the Community sucked,the games were overpriced,so when it RRoD'ed back in August,i didn't even play 360 ever again,last Christmas,i sold my PS2 + Several games for it to my cousins combined for $80.

First PC Game was Carnivores,a FPS game where you hunt down Dinosaurs,then later on i bought Sim City 3000,then later on i bought Blitzkrieg,the game that bought me into RTS/RTT,the following year i bought Rise of Nations Gold,getting me into RTS/RTT even more,and a couple years ago,i bought Rome: Total War,i like dthe game,but it,along with Empire Earth II,made me realize that i needed a better PC to play those games good,and to be able to play newer games like Medieval 2: Total War and even Crysis,so i began looking into building my own PC,however,to no real success since i couldn't afford it since i was (And still am) jobless,but eventually my parents bought me this Dell PC in my sig,and now i could actually play games,and thus,is my PC Gaming History up to now.

Personally,i consider consoles the home of JRPG's/Sports/Fighting game,and good for people who don't want to deal with the complexity/cost of PC,while PC is for people who like MMO's/RTS/FPS/Simulator games and the like and don't mind troubleshooting and the extra cost.

I agree, it seems to me that a majority of gamers start out with a rather outdated PC and game get hooked on some game thats cheap and you can have fun with modding and taking to LAN with friends (for me it was CS 1.4). It was LANs that really made me want to get a quality gaming PC and got me into PC gaming. After I got a decent Pc the last console I bought and have played a fair amount was N64. However, I have the personality that likes to tweak/overclock and see what I can do while I'm tired and or bored of the games I play.

The catagories of what is dominant on PC vs Console is a great comparison, except for FPS. There have been some great FPS games over the years for console as well; Goldeneye, SOCOM, Halo just to name a few.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: pmv
Surely the number one advantage of the PC is the potential for user-made mods?

Truth. That game Doom 3 sucked balls until I modded it to hell and back. Game is too dark, let's install the flashlight mod; not just the shotgun and machine gun, but the one for all weapons. The shotgun is useless, let's change the spread from 22 to 5. I don't like reloading this often, so let's make the clip size 1000 for all weapons (just like Doom/Quake). The machinegun is pretty useless, so let's double the firing rate. I think the plasma gun is cool, but let's change the spread from 0 to 3, make it do 1/3 the damage, and fire 3 shots at a time (it's like a shotgun).
I need to play the game on hard to compensate for all of my cheating, but it's a really fun game.


You guys who are complaining about not liking to hunch over to play PC games, is it possible you need a new computer chair? The one I'm sitting in right now has really big arm rests, and there's a cross bar under my computer desk. I have my legs on top of the bar and touching the wall, and I'm slouched so much that much of my body weight is resting on my left arm, which is on the arm rest. If I was using an armless computer chair, there's no way I would even want to play computer games. Slouching is half of the experience.