Gaming on PC vs Console?

[FearoftheNight]

Video? Experience? Opinions? Be heard! Who's the winner? I'm saving my own opinion until I hear urs? So I can jump on the bandwagon. ;D hehehe...j/p.

 

[nemesismk2]

I prefer PC gaming because I like strategy games.

 

[Soulkeeper]

computers are faster and better as far as hardware is concerned
computer games can thus be more realistic and stuff cause they have more cpu/mem resources to work with

i think the lure of consoles comes from the many many constantly released game titles and the support of the one big company that makes the console
consoles are simple and cheaper than computers
some may argue that console game play is much better than pc game play, but i think pc games are just as fun if not more fun


btw i'm thinking about picking up a PS2 tomarrow

 

[JammingJay]

Personally I prefer PC gaming as well for strategy games, and online multiplayer games. It just seems the depth of games are greater for me personally on a PC. HOWEVER, nothing beats playing Madden on a big screen...say on a Sunday afternoon with 3 of your buddies sipping a cold one, and screaming how your Chicago Bears team will throw 500 yards on ther Tampa Bay defense. Only in the land of video games...haha.

 

[BenSkywalker]

It depends. First person shooters, flight sims and real time strategy games are better on PCs.

Racing games, action games, fighting games, sports games, adventure games, platformers and survival horror are better on consoles.

RPGs depends on what type you like. Mainly you either like the PC style(NeverwinterNights, Elder Scrolls etc) or you like the console style(FinalFantasy, Dragon Warrior). PCs have a huge edge in hardware, consoles still overall hold the edge in visuals as developers don't have to worry about if a game will run on xxx hardware. There are exceptions, Unreal2 is more impressive then anything on the consoles. That said, the average XBox title is certainly on a visual basis more impressive then the average PC title. Resolution is a big issue that you will hear as a downside for consoles, for the most part those people don't have a HDTV with the proper cables to allow them to run their games in high res mode(which most GameCube and XBox games support, although very few PS2 titles).

You also have the advantage of vastly superior controller inputs on the consoles. This comes mainly from the fact that all the games are designed to work on a set controller, not necessarily that the console controllers are better then what is available for the PC.

In terms of games, I would say overall consoles win by a landslide. Every month there are more games coming out for the consoles then I have time to play, I don't have that problem with the PC. Then again, while I am a big fan of the FPS genre, flight sims do nothing for me and RTSs offer limited appeal most of the time(although once in a while one will come along and grab me fairly well).

Overall your best bet is to own all of the consoles and a good PC, that way you don't have to worry about what games are coming out for which system.

 

[dguy6789]

I used to like consoles. I had a 533mhz K-6 2, and 64MB of ram running win 98SE, was a top of the line rig when i got it. I never played too many games on it because it had a crappy trident 8 meg integrated card. In fact wanna know a comparison? I bet a geforce 2 MX400 64MB will run DOOM 3, at 1280 X 1024 full settings faster then my trident would run quake 3 at 640X480 lowest settings. Anyways, i got a new vidoe card and WOW, games were like fast and smooth, so i went to pc games cause i was able to play em.

 

[nRollo]

" computers are faster and better as far as hardware is concerned
computer games can thus be more realistic and stuff cause they have more cpu/mem resources to work with"

Perhaps, but I'm REALLY impressed with the XBox.
A. I have it hooked up to a 32" tv, that's a full foot more screen than my monitor.
B. There are no jaggies on XBox games at all
C. I haven't noticed any slowdowns in XBox games at all

The saving is a hassle, but consoles have come a LONG way from the last one I had, Sega Genesis.

 

[gururu]

consoles are funner if friends are around. pc games if alone...unless your on a LAN with
starcraft or something. nothing beats those memories.

 

[NEVERwinter]

I don't know... both are different and the games feel different.
Playing Morrowind or SimCity on console is not fun... and look at those console games that goes into PC (FF7, FF8, GTA3, ...) they played well but they aren't as good as their console version. The type of games for both machines are made to be different.. well, let's compare Fallout and Final Fantasy as PC vs console RPG.
But I think that most of PC games are made to have longer gameplay and aimed at more 'mature' player. I have a PC and a PS2 and I enjoyed playing both system in different manner.

 

[nadrrkhan]

I have a PC, and I'm happy with it, but look at PS2 games and how they look! It's DARN AMAZING what they squeezed out of 300MHz and 32MB. And, yeah, comparing look as well as the feel of these games, PS2 can quite often kick PC-s B*T (no ofence meant) .
We may say, from our high and mighty 3.06GHz mountains (mine is 1700+ ), we most certainly have more horse power, but with everything taken in to account, it's often like that stupendous gas turbine in that crawling slug caled Abrams M1A2 (or something), ie no F1 GP.

 

[BoomAM]

They both have their pros and cons.

PC`s
--------
PCs are very powerful, and infinately upgradeable. They have a vast selection of games. They are backwards compatible with all pc games. There is a big choice of control interfaces. They can do more than just games. Games can be modded, made better, and new levels/units/weapons/items/ect; can be added as well. Massivly multiplayer gaming.
BUT
Games have to be able to run on a wide selection of hardware, meaning that a game cannot be optimised for a specific system. Crashing, no guarantee that a game will run well on a particluar system. Many incompatibilites.

Consoles
------------
Ease of use. Not incompatibilites. Guarantee that a game will run to its full capibilites on a console. No messing around with graphics/sound options to get it running well. No fiddly work to set one up, just a few cables.
BUT
Everytime a successor to a console comes out, you have to buy new, and start again. No backwards compatibilites for the most part. Limited choise of controller options. Games cant be modded.

As you can see above, which are just a few of the reasons, there are both pros and cons for both. And for alot of N00b gamers, the consoles option is easyier by far.
IMO, there will always be a market for both.

 

[Dulanic]

PC and Console will be vastly different for quite some time. It all depends on the types of games you like. Me personally I LOVE PC, I do enjoy my PS2, but not nearly as much. Stuff like Warcraft III, Red Alert 2, Age of Wonders 2, Mechwarrior 4, UT 2003, Morrowind, Baldur's Gate II, Diablo II, Dark Age of Camelot, and much much more.... Console just doesn't have them or if it does it cant compare IMO. But Consoles do have awsome games too, they just are very different.

 

[chsh1ca]

IMHO, Consoles have become far too much about single player. I remember when the N64 was new, there was a wealth of mutliplayable games, and for me, that's the reason I bought one. Nothing like tearin it up in Goldeneye with a bunch of friends, or blowing each other away in Mario Kart. The games were simple, but very fun multiplayer. Now, it seems like consoles are geared for single play, and aren't very I've-got-four-friends-over-and-we-wanna-just-play friendly.

In the PC world, everything has moved to online play, and it makes you get used to being able to just hook up and blast someone in your fav. fps game. IMHO, given the insane speed increase of PCs since the introduction in the last consoles, PCs are definitely the way to go. IMHO the gaming is simply better on the PC.

 

[Shade4ever]

PC gaming is far & away better in many things, however I like the controllers of the consoles for many games...except FPS/RTS, which along with role-playing stuff of all types are all I play (no sports/racing/puzzle for me). I've never played a console on HDTV, so I can't comment on visuals there...

I've considered more than once picking up a PS2 though, just for the likes of Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy N (N representing any integer from 9 to infinity). If/when a PS2 emulator is released, I'll be buying their games, screw the console (yes, I realize the last thought has little coherence to the rest of it, but that's my thought).

 

[BoomAM]

I remember when the N64 was new, there was a wealth of mutliplayable games, and for me, that's the reason I bought one. Nothing like tearin it up in Goldeneye with a bunch of friends, or blowing each other away in Mario Kart. The games were simple, but very fun multiplayer. Now, it seems like consoles are geared for single play, and aren't very I've-got-four-friends-over-and-we-wanna-just-play friendly.

I havnt played a multiplayer game that was as enjoyable as the ones on N64. Especially GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. The amount of time me and my mates just sat in front of the tely playing multiplayer on them for hours on end. Its just amazingly fun. Shame i sold my N64 to fund my pre-order on my GameCube.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker
In terms of games, I would say overall consoles win by a landslide. Every month there are more games coming out for the consoles then I have time to play, I don't have that problem with the PC. Then again, while I am a big fan of the FPS genre, flight sims do nothing for me and RTSs offer limited appeal most of the time(although once in a while one will come along and grab me fairly well).

Overall your best bet is to own all of the consoles and a good PC, that way you don't have to worry about what games are coming out for which system.

I agree somewhat there. There are some really killer console games that do come out, but few are able to hold me for as long as a PC game which is where you're statement starts to go wrong. Consoles don't have the upper advantage, even if they do pump out dozens of new games per month for consoles not only are the vast majority utter crap just pumped out to make $ but with PC games the best ones offer incredible single player campaigns and a near endless supply of multiplayer options (internet = good) and not to mention when you buy one game you are potentially buying a few dozen games thanks to mods. Half Life for example, arguably one of the best first person shooters of all time on the single player side of things, then you had access to the standard multiplayer options of which ontop of that you were eventually granted access to new mods such a TFC and the all might CS... Consoles are only beginning to breach into the internet multiplayer advantage the computer still has extreme advantages on, console games are still far from as flexible and customizable as PC games are, and they never will be without closing the gap between the two (ie the Xbox practically being a nuetered PC).

 

[NYHoustonman]

For me, the PC is better in every aspect. I am tremendously biased, though. About consoles having more games: Not every game works on every console system! So it's not as big a difference as you say. And, of course, PC's will always be more powerful.

 

[wicktron]

You can't play good ol' Nintendo exclusives on the PC though.

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: wixt0r
You can't play good ol' Nintendo exclusives on the PC though.

Good point.
Nintendo consoles allways have gaming classics on them, not matter what generation of console it is.

 

[FearoftheNight]

i like pc...but consoles are devoted systems like they're purely made for gaming...u never have incompatibility and driver problems....and its alot cheaper..u don't need a 3 gig processor and stuff.....but 2 pts that have been made is that in the area of rts/fps/and mmorpg console will never match my addictions w/ counterstrike, unreal tournament, starcraft, warcraft, and diablo.....not in 10000000 years.

 

[capodeloscapos]

In my opinion, it´s better gaming in PC all the way. In PC you use a keynoard and a mouse, and thats the most important thing about it. Besides, you can Mod a lot of games, download demos and play them, make On-Line or Lan Multiplayer sessions, you can play strategic games, and one thing I like about PC is the Options menu, I REALLY like that, thats the first thing I do with every game, I configure it.
I know that consoles have a lot of good games, for example, PS2 has Gran Turismo 3, Vice City (15º, May in PC ), and maybe a good version of NFS6, X-Box has Halo and some driving games, but consoles have that gamepads, which I really dont like...
Ohh, and the GameCube has no game that I really like, maybe for having some fun, I would try Star Wars: Rouge leader, or Pikmin, but that´s all, also games are too expensive (at least here in argentina).
The best games are made for PC: Doom 3, Mafia, Operation Flashpoint, Morrwind (Tribunal expansion is only for PC).
Well, the very best thing are the free downloadable mods for lots of games, like Need For Speed 4, OF, UT2003, F12002, etc.
Ohh, and the very best graphics are here, in PC, there is nothing compared with high resolution textures and all that stuff that not even X-Box can manage.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: BoomAM

Originally posted by: wixt0r
You can't play good ol' Nintendo exclusives on the PC though.

Good point.
Nintendo consoles allways have gaming classics on them, not matter what generation of console it is.

Naw, you can play the classics with the help of roms?

Originally posted by: FearoftheNight
i like pc...but consoles are devoted systems like they're purely made for gaming...u never have incompatibility and driver problems....and its alot cheaper..u don't need a 3 gig processor and stuff.....but 2 pts that have been made is that in the area of rts/fps/and mmorpg console will never match my addictions w/ counterstrike, unreal tournament, starcraft, warcraft, and diablo.....not in 10000000 years.

Yeah but with console games if they miss a bug that?s that and depending upon how extreme the flaw may be you?ll end up having to pick up a newer re-released version or just live with the flaws, with PC games you?ve been able to download updates and fixes for quite some time, not to forget about the loading of games onto a HDD reducing load times, Xbox was the first console to mess with such a feature but you cannot completely install a dozen games or so onto a console and play straight off the system without needing a disc.

Consoles do have their place, but so do computers, computers just have so many more advantages which is why the Xbox was so exciting in the early days. I definitely do not feel as though the Xbox is being pushed to boast its abilities to the fullest (and I?m not talking about just pretty graphics).

 

[chizow]

I enjoy consoles and PC equally atm. There was a span of around 5 years where I wasn't into consoles at all (skipped DC and PS2) after I was hugely disappointed by my N64 other than a few multiplayer titles (Bond, Mario Kart, etc.), but accessibility to human opponents dwindled once I graduated from college and moved out of the frat house. My friends I live with aren't interested in video games in the slightest, so the PC offered online multiplayer gaming on much grander scales.

There were a few titles here and there that made me wish I owned a PS or even a PS2 (MGS, FF, SF, Sports etc.) for a while, but I always managed to get my hands on one long enough to get my fix.

XBox has really blown me away though. Its closed the gaps between PC and console gaming tremendously, but there are still shortcomings from both. I find the biggest problem with PC gaming is online community support. A game will come out and online play will be great, but quickly dwindle if the publisher/developer doesn't patch the game in a timely manner or support the game online (gaming service, anti-cheats, bug fixes etc.). I think that console gaming provides much more polished games that stand the test of time on a more consistent basis.

Again, b/c I don't have constant access to people who like to play video games, I'm forced to look online for real competition, which the XBox does extremely well with Live. The interface could be better, and the community isn't as developed without a chat interface, but I've found the immersiveness of online play to be excellent. The headset is better than any PC implementation of real-time voice chat, the rumble pads are much less intrusive than any FF on the PC yet incredibly powerful, and the DD 5.1 sound is simply unrivaled by anything on the PC (I have an Audigy 2 running 5.1 analog out btw).

I agree with the others though, for any type of precision FPS gaming, I wouldn't consider XBox. RTS still work much better on the PC as well b/c of the need for macros/hotkeys/unit selection. But sports titles, fighting games, and 3rd person action are all preferable on a console IMO. Capcom vs SNK 2 is absolutely awesome online; its like going to the arcade back in the day. Splinter Cell looks and plays better on my XBox as well IMO, and MechAssault can be as intense as any FPS. NCAA Basketball 2K3 is also great online. I still haven't gotten into racing games, but MotoGP demo was pretty fun with Live. Another nice thing about Live is the time commitment is much lower than a PC game. You can start and end a game in 15 minutes. Online PC gaming is much more involved, and excelling in a game can suck away months of your life at a time.

Live also provides updates and downloadable content, and also eliminates the fixed/limited save issues most consoles have to deal with. I've never had a hardware compatibility issue with my XBox, and I also don't need to spend $1000 a year on it to get it to run the latest and greatest games at the highest quality levels. I can't count how many times I've shelled out cash enough for a brand new console upgrading just to play a PC game. Right now, I'm just glad to have both. I don't mind that some titles are on both platforms, b/c it offers me a choice of which I think would suit a game best. I also have access to exclusive titles for the PC or console. Works out well. Until I find an online PC game I simply can't put down, I'm perfectly content swapping between the PC and consoles.

Chiz

 

[bunnyfubbles]

PC gaming communities are far more developed and dynamic than you can ever have on consoles as they currently stand. My headphones and TS2 own voice chat (well at least for my team based competition, mic support often sucks when it is available through the games)

And as far as the sound on the Xbox, Chiz are you saying that the nForce APU > Audigy 2? That's what's in there, perhaps developers are just able to impliment to the fullest extent on the Xbox whereas they've got a wide host of hardware to cater to when they consider the PC environment...

The one perhaps unbeatable aspect about consoles is the multiplayer support they provide (not over network connections). Gaming with a bunch of your buddies crowed around a TV is a great experience that keeps bringing me back for more. I sometimes break out the n64 from time to time to play some of the "classic" 4 person multiplayer games with the friends. Good times hard to experience over a network where you cannot easily share enjoyment of the game with your fellow gamers.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
PC gaming communities are far more developed and dynamic than you can ever have on consoles as they currently stand. My headphones and TS2 own voice chat (well at least for my team based competition, mic support often sucks when it is available through the games)

I agree with you about the communities being more developed, but its harder and harder to find that type of community as more and more games/publishers move away from supporting online lobbies and gaming services. Zone sucks, GameSpy is a big piece of bloatware, and the rest have gradually died off. In game chat lobbies are a thing of the past, as companies simply don't want to support the bandwidth for massive dedicated servers. Battle.net is still the lone shining example of what an online gaming service should be. Things like stat and progress tracking is also lacking in PC gaming except for a rare few games. How much better would NWN have been if Atari/Bioware had dedicated secure servers and a real character vault? As of now, there's too much reliance on local servers and offline league/clan and stat tracking through websites. On the other hand XBox offers stat tracking and will also offer progress tracking (Fantasy Star Online as an example), which eliminates the server hunting required nowadays for most games.

Also, I've never found a very good team chat implementation on the PC. Most of the time, serving a voice client kills the hosts bandwidth, and even 1 poor internet connection from a teammate kills the experience. Also, I can blast my speakers full throttle w/out the reverb I've found with a similar set-up on a PC. I'm sure its as much a software limitation as it is hardware, but XBox got it right, whatever they did.

And as far as the sound on the Xbox, Chiz are you saying that the nForce APU > Audigy 2? That's what's in there, perhaps developers are just able to impliment to the fullest extent on the Xbox whereas they've got a wide host of hardware to cater to when they consider the PC environment...

Heheh no. Even though the XBox and nForce use the same APU, the quality of the sound samples and the encoded positional sound for DD 5.1 is much better on the XBox. Again, developers know exactly what hardware they are working with when programming for a console, so they can push the limits of the console in every way, which is why I feel console games are generally more polished out of the box when compared to the vast majority of PC games. Considering all the different audio APIs out there and the storage limitation of CDs vs DVDs, it'd be very difficult for PC game devs to accomplish the same quality sound for PC games.

The one perhaps unbeatable aspect about consoles is the multiplayer support they provide (not over network connections). Gaming with a bunch of your buddies crowed around a TV is a great experience that keeps bringing me back for more. I sometimes break out the n64 from time to time to play some of the "classic" 4 person multiplayer games with the friends. Good times hard to experience over a network where you cannot easily share enjoyment of the game with your fellow gamers.

Yep, miss those days. But console online gaming is vastly improved with XBox, again narrowing the gap with PC online gaming. Multiplayer support extends way beyond 4-player action, and it provides better competition as well (the friends of mine that do play once in a while quickly give up after I throttle them a few times).

Chiz