jordanecmusic
Senior member
Hide yo PS3's Hide yo 360's cuz PC rapin' e'rebody up in here!
Who the hell plays COD on PC? The game was designed for optimal performance within the boundaries of current consoles.
Which is one game. You keep ignore games that do really well on PC.
From titans like WOW and SC to indie games. The PC is a flourishing platform. Does the occasional crappy console port sell more on consoles then a PC? Yes... so what?
Not everyone plays the generes and games you use as shining examples of console superiority, either.not everyone plays those genres.
1) I enjoy gaming in the living room on a large screen TV, sitting 7-9 feet away as opposed to staring 1 foot away into a tiny monitor;
2) I enjoy gaming with friends in a social setting;
3) I enjoy just picking up a game and playing it without having to tweak anything, or mess around with driver issues;
4) I enjoy the convenience of not having to upgrade any parts for 5-6 years of owning the device;
5) I don't have a desktop (I have a smartphone, a tablet and a laptop). So to get into PC gaming, I'd need to drop $800+ (including the monitor) vs. $200 for a console.
6) I don't care for strategy or MMO games. The consoles just have more of the types of games I like to play.
Not everyone plays the generes and games you use as shining examples of console superiority, either.
1. PC can plug to a TV, I have done it. Console can plug into a monitor, I have done it.
2. LAN parties.
3. For most games you don't have to tweak anythings on the PC, but the option exists if you want to.
4. You don't have to upgrade the PC either, its an option many chose to exert. 8800GTX came out for less money at the same time as the PS3 and is still superior to it today. You would have to lower some settings but its still a superior experience.
5. You don't need a monitor, you can plug it to your TV, and it doesn't cost 800+$...
nor does a console cost 200$ (you need to get a HDD and a second controller and and HD cable so on). However, the cost for someone without a desktop at all is indeed slightly more expensive, slightly, to buy a premade PC.
6. Good for you. Has nothing to do with the discussion.
I don't fail to realize it, it is simply false. The PC is still better.you fail to realize that for genres where PC isn't the best (FPS, strategy, MMOs, puzzles), consoles are arguably better.
Yelling a lie doesn't make it any less of a lieFor most people, the upfront hardware costs between a decent gaming desktop PC+Monitor and a console is 4-6x the investment.
Hide yo PS3's Hide yo 360's cuz PC rapin' e'rebody up in here!
I think there is plenty of room for both and each platform has their strengths. Personally like the PC platform and its strengths but understand why some enjoy playing on consoles as well. As long as consumers are having fun and entertained, well, it moves the gaming industry forward.
I can build a nice 300 - 400$ computer that does more than an xbox but still has higher graphic settings.
it's pretty insane what PC gamers spend just on video cards. a video card can cost the same or more than an entire PS3/360. all these $1,000+ rigs, all the questions and research on cooling, power consumption, SSD, and so on, when you can just buy a PS3 for $250 and turn it on and be done with it.
not to mention the dearth of games for PCs in the last decade. when i did most of my gaming on a PC back in the 80s/90s, there were new titles left and right.
it's pretty insane what PC gamers spend just on video cards. a video card can cost the same or more than an entire PS3/360. all these $1,000+ rigs, all the questions and research on cooling, power consumption, SSD, and so on, when you can just buy a PS3 for $250 and turn it on and be done with it.
not to mention the dearth of games for PCs in the last decade. when i did most of my gaming on a PC back in the 80s/90s, there were new titles left and right.
Amazing how this thread keeps going.
Strike one against PC gaming: Increased fixed costs for PC gaming is overwhelming the cheaper variable cost of PC gaming.
A decade or two ago, people got desktop PCs for other reasons (word processing, Excel, internet access, etc.) and since they were going to buy the desktop and monitor anyway, they essentially got PC gaming hardware at no additional cost. So desktops were sunk costs.
At the same time, PC games were cheaper than console games, especially for PC game pirates.
Zero fixed cost + low variable cost mean PC gaming had an edge against consoles, which had significant fixed costs and higher variable costs.
Fast forward to today.
An increasing proportion of the gamer population lacks desktops. Cheap laptops and tablets are powerful enough to do routine computing/websurfing tasks, and a basic desktop + monitor may cost MORE than a basic laptop.
With the exception of casual games that can run even on cheap hardware (Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, etc.), and except for people who spent a small fortune on gaming-grade laptops, that mobile population can no longer write off the cost of PC gaming hardware as a sunk cost. For them, the decision is between:
a) console (which can be partially written off as a Blu-Ray player, in the case of the PS3) + expensive console games + TV (but for many people the TV is a sunk cost)
b) desktop + monitor + keyboard + mouse + cheaper PC games
Unless you spend a lot of money on games each year, option a) is cheaper.
Strike two against PC gaming: no exclusivity and often no major advantage from playing on PC
Increasingly games are developed for consoles first (or ONLY in the case of exclusive titles) and PC second, thus not taking full advantage of PC gaming rigs abilities, which means less of an incentive for people to buy PC gaming rigs. It is irrelevant WHY developers do this--whether because they got bribed to go exclusive, fear piracy, or whatever; the point is that they DO do this and the trend doesn't seem to be changing.
Strike three: Consoles are easier to install and use.
Imagine how stupid the median person is, and then realize that half of all the people in the world are EVEN STUPIDER. Do not underestimate the importance of ease-of-use. Deserved or not, Apple's resurgence in computing has a lot to do with its reputation as being easier to use, with less viruses, bugs, etc. Consoles enjoy similar reps compared to PCs.
Pop fly (could go either way):
Some games just lend themselves better to one platform or another. Examples: WoW, StarCraft, RTS games, etc. for PC, versus MarioKart, games that use Wii/Kinect-style controls, and casual social games like Rock Band.
Summary: Like it or not, fewer and fewer people are buying desktops with decent CPUs, so the cost of PC gaming is going up, in the aggregate. For desktopless people, it may be cheaper to plug in a console, and certainly it involves fewer headaches/bugs/driver fixes/etc. Given the above, it's not surprising that the audience for PC gaming is stagnant at best, and development interest is stagnant at best, too.
That said, I dislike consoles for everything except social games like MarioKart. I paid plenty for my desktop so that's a sunk cost, and I don't have a TV, either, plus I pick up games for cheap a few years after they come out, so the economics of PC gaming work better for me than console gaming would. But that's just me.
You're talking like PC gaming has struck out but may lead in revenue potential in the future.