Comments on: With All These New Consoles Coming Out, Why Not Just Get a PC?

By: cary

cary — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:46:43 +0000

That’s the ultimate question (and paradox)! Whether you prefer consoles or PCs, how does one keep up with games these days? I don’t know of any good answer to that. And you’re right about the backlog issue. Having easy access to cheap, downloadable games through Steam and other services is a surefire way to end up with waaaaaay more games than one has time to play. Though, a nice thing about a lot of, say, Indie games, is that they tend to be much shorter than your standard RPG. Still, having a dozen short games waiting in queue might be more stressful than having one RPG waiting!

And I’m with you on the PC use thing. Since I spend practically all day on a computer at work, it’s hard for me to want to be back in front of one at home. I’d much rather lounge on my sofa then, controller in hand.

By: simpleek

simpleek — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:40:04 +0000

I would say consoles, but I’m starting to get swayed into also dabbling in PC gaming. Plenty of people keep saying I need to get into Steam, and I use a Mac computer at home. I have seen a good number of games on Steam have become Mac compatible and my current computer has the right support to operate them.

The thing is, as much as I see the benefits of becoming a PC gamer, I kind of don’t want to get sucked into that either. I spend so much time on my computer already with blogging, watching streaming videos, Facebook, etc. I kind of don’t want another reason to be glued to my computer.

I rarely watch TV these days, but at least when I do fire up my TV set, it’s because I’m playing my console games or watching DVDs. Another reason why I’m reluctant to get into PC gaming is I know I’ll end up seeing tons of games I’ll want to buy and my backlog will just continue to grow uncontrollably. Seriously, how does any serious gamer keep up anymore?

By: cary

cary — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:12:02 +0000

I’m also in the convenience camp; and I’d much rather game while sitting on my comfortable sofa rather than at my desk. Also, I really don’t think I could go back to keyboard controls. There’s nothing quite like the ease of using a game controller, especially when you find one that perfectly fits you.

And though I’m not on Steam, more than one (like dozens) of interesting PC games have caught my eye. I certainly like the idea of getting a gaming PC in order to snap up an occasional Humble Bundle or two. But then again, I’m on a computer so much at work I’m not sure I could stand looking at one any more often than I already do during my free time!

I will certainly be interesting to see if/how next gen consoles affect the PC market.

By: cary

cary — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:02:19 +0000

Well said. :)

By: cary

cary — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:01:00 +0000

That sounds like a bad time indeed. Computers certainly have a mind of their own sometimes, much to the detriment of games. And no amount of help from “Shaggy” or “Scooby” ever seems to be enough. For a very short time I had DOOM 3 running on my computer; and then, one day, something in the computer ate my saved game. I presume the chips and transistors were hungry or something. Anyway, I was so upset that I uninstalled the game. I still have it though, original box and everything — it’s the only remnant of my final attempt at PC gaming, and I can’t bear to part with it yet.

By: gimmgp

gimmgp — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:08:39 +0000

I definitely agree with you on the convenience issue. I think that many of the consumers who currently prefer consoles to PC do so because a console is dedicated and optimized to playing games. After a childhood balanced between classic PC adventure games and Nintendo, I fell completely into the console camp around high school and never looked back… until now. Thanks to channels like Steam and independent publishing, there are so many interesting games that are only available on the PC market. Additionally, certain consoles *cough, cough, Xbox, cough cough* have been pushing games further and further back in priority to where it takes four clicks to get to a games menu, and that’s just on current consoles.

Long story short, unless the next generation of consoles provides enough fresh and exclusive video games to the market, it looks like history will repeat itself, and I will be playing older consoles and PC games once more.

By: renxkyoko

renxkyoko — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 05:42:47 +0000

Consoles only.

By: Hatm0nster

Hatm0nster — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:24:47 +0000

I’m not exactly opposed to PC. As a kid I played a lot of PC games; not real games like Doom, but mostly learning games like Yukon Trail and DK Pinball Science (good times….). Since then I’ve enjoyed KotOR II, and several Valve games on PC (especially the fan made levels for Portal). PC has a lot going for it and I could potentially see myself moving to it eventually.

However, I love what consoles offer: convenience, disc-based games that I can easily share with my friends, and games optimized for controllers. Really, they’re just easier and that’s why I’ll always choose them first. I love the simplicity of a controller over a keyboard, being able to just turn the console on and get started rather than booting up the computer and getting distracted, and I especially love being able to play on my TV (which is larger than my monitor) from my chair or bed.

Above all else, convenience is what makes dedicated consoles worth the cost.

By: duckofindeed

duckofindeed — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:30:13 +0000

I’m a console person. Many of the games I love are only on consoles. Also, I once was in the middle of a move, so everything was in storage but my computer, so I decided to get some PC games. Not only could I not find any good ones (strange, because there are a decent number of console games I love that are available on the PC), but my computer hated me. I played this one game, and it would freeze for a minute every few seconds, and then one day, it resized the whole screen so the toolbar was off the screen, and I had to “feel” around for the start button. It made me so upset, that I never played a PC game again. Even though, it wasn’t the game’s fault. My computer was just possessed. Still. Bad memories. I had to get some IT guy named “Shaggy” of all things to email me the directions for fixing the screen but it freaked me out for some time, nonetheless.