Gaming on PC vs Console?

[BenSkywalker]

I think that's what BFG10K meant, and he is absolutely right.

BFG was focusing on how HDTV shouldn't be a consideration as it is too rare, which it isn't. BTW- That list on that site is far from complete, the PS2 has somewhere between 300-500 games available now. It only lists the ones they have information on it appears.

And, even if not that, 17" monitors can be had for relatively cheap nowadays, too.

And despite all the advances in technology a 17" monitor is, and will remain incredibly tiny.

A few things I noticed, 1-That's factory-to-dealer, 2-Not sure about this so don't kill me if I'm wrong, are they including ONLY the actual televisions?

That is a TV sales number, not the additional equiptment. The difference in factory to dealer and units sold tends to be fairly small in percentage terms(at least at any properly run business).

And 3-thats close enough to $2,000 per unit to make it not worth it to the vast majority of TV-owners, at least now, but admittedly, soon, I think it was like 2007 or so, TV stations will be required to broadcast in ONLY digital.

That average price includes $20,000 plasma displays, and it still is a number that covers ~15% of US households in one year. HDTVs are far from niche products.

And, even with these HDTV's, most are not 1080i, and even at that level, computers will beat out consoles, as only one (1) XBox game supports that. More support the lower resolutions, and, again, at that level, computers still look better in my eyes.

So you enjoy uber low poly, no pixel shader, poorly animated higher res images over the alternatives?

Pretty much everyone I've talked to that complains about resolution issues on consoles has never seen one hooked up properly to a HDTV(they think you just plug it in using the included cables although almost every HDTV owner I've talked to about it has no problems with consoles resolution). A guy I work with went out and bought himself a decent 52" Panasonic 1080i HDVT along with a DolbyDigital sound system and a few weeks later progressive scan DVD player. He even recalled to purchase the proper cables for it. He talked to me a bit about it and stated that he didn't notice much of a difference at all between it and hit previous DVD player until one of his friends noticed he was running it in 480i mode, halving the resolution. The XBox will autodetect the best resolution in can run at and enable it on its own. The GameCube you actually have to turn it on each time you play the game.

Ever seen FinalFantasy The Spirits Within running on a progressive scan DVD player hooked up to a HDTV? Can you point me to a PC game that looks one tenth as good running at any resolution? DVDs run at a max 480p.

 

[NYHoustonman]

Now we are comparing DVD's to PC games? Of course there will be less detail, but the resolution is still higher. And, no, I would not prefer lower detail, that's why I choose to run Splinter Cell in 1024x768 with all details at max rather than at 1280x1024 with less detail. Let me also mention that a 17" monitor is NOT tiny, because you sit ALOT closer to it than you would a large TV, as I mentioned before. And, again, if you want to compare visual quality, hook up your computer to a TV or your XBox to a monitor and then compare. I have done this and there is no comparison, granted not with an HDTV, but that limits the PC and XBox equally in such a test.

 

[BoomAM]

Alot of people in the US/Canada probably have HDTVs, but here in the UK, i dont know a single person who has one. They are insanely expensive here, for some reason everything is far cheaper in the US.

This may come to a shock to many of you, but the Xbox was NOT the first home console to offer downloadable extra levels and stuff for games.
The SNES was. If you lived in Japan, and owned both a SNES and a Satellaview X. You could use the bulit in modem to connect to the St Giga Satalite TV Station between 4 and 7pm, and view games news, chat, and download free games, and game addons. Alot of the games were special editions, and would be written to a special re-writeable memory cartridge, which slotted into the Satellaview, which in turn plugged into a cartridge adaptor that got put into the normal game slot. They pulled the plug on this service in June 2000.

 

[specktre]

both have their own personality, its like apples and oranges to me. I can play ut2k3 and own. but when i play Halo on my X-box with friends it is preatty even. consoles can be just as fun as pc's. I play pc games with a totally different group of friends than I do with x-box.

 

[BFG10K]

Around here(in my physical area, not on these boards)? Quite a few. I'll say this, I know several more people who own HDTVs then who own DX7 or higher level video cards.

But I'm willing to bet that even in your area monitors and standard TVs are still far more common and cheaper than HDTVs.

Almost every XBox game supports multiple resolutions, it simply doesn't offer to change resolutions(it will auto select the highest res available for your display that the game supports as long as you have it hooked up porperly). A great deal of GC games also support multiple resolutions(you actually do have to select it also) as do a few PS2 games

So how many of them support resolutions greater than 1024 x 768 @ 85 Hz?

Perhaps where you live, HDTV is far from rare in the US. Hell, Wal-Mart sells HDTVs. It is a rather mainstream consumer product at the moment.

HDTV marketshare is not higher than standard TV market share in the U.S. The fact is that more people have more standard TVs than not.

 

[touchmyichi]

NYHoustonman, I own both of those games and they are great games. I play PC gaming and it is a very good platform for gaming. Console however is exclusive to titles by some of the most talented developers in the world. Console gaming has been around much much longer than PC gaming. Gaming online w/ consoles is going pretty well right now, I however don't see it touchting a PC anytime soon.

 

[Johnmcl7]

Originally posted by: specktre
both have their own personality, its like apples and oranges to me. I can play ut2k3 and own. but when i play Halo on my X-box with friends it is preatty even. consoles can be just as fun as pc's. I play pc games with a totally different group of friends than I do with x-box.

I am in the same situation, I have a group of friends who enjoy sitting round a big TV to play Halo or Project Gotham Racing multiplayer, but aren't interested in playing network PC games.

John

 

[moogle077]

They need to bring back classics like legend of zelda: link to the past, mario bro series, FF6, and joust. All the old NES/SNES/genesis games ... no more talk about :

So you enjoy uber low poly, no pixel shader, poorly animated higher res images over the alternatives?

 

[Johnmcl7]

Originally posted by: moogle077
They need to bring back classics like legend of zelda: link to the past, mario bro series, FF6, and joust. All the old NES/SNES/genesis games ... no more talk about :

So you enjoy uber low poly, no pixel shader, poorly animated higher res images over the alternatives?

I would really like to see a new Mario, Zelda and R-type on the GBA, although it's great to see the Snes classics available again for the ones who didn't see them the first time around, I'm not buying a GBA until I see some new material from Nintendo.

John

 

[Keysplayr]

Consoles are great, until you try to balance your checkbook or check your email with them.

 

[YoungChowFun]

ROMS BABY!!!! I dont play much of the new generation gaming consoles, but i used to hella be into the snes and genesis days. ROMS BABY!!!! The best way to combine the console gaming world (the older ones at least) and the computer gaming world. I think there may also be a GBA rom available right now, haven't been keeping updates with it. ROMS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Johnmcl7]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Consoles are great, until you try to balance your checkbook or check your email with them.

That's because they're for gaming...

John

 

[moogle077]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Consoles are great, until you try to balance your checkbook or check your email with them.

Eh ... what's the point of saying that when consoles are made to game ...

 

[Metalloid]

I prefer PC gaming due to the Radeon 9700 Pro that I have. I just laugh when everyone exclaims that X-Box has the most amazing graphics ever.

 

[moogle077]

Originally posted by: Metalloid15
I prefer PC gaming due to the Radeon 9700 Pro that I have. I just laugh when everyone exclaims that X-Box has the most amazing graphics ever.

Unfair generalizations ...

 

[MustangSVT]

depends.

they are both good.

only if i can play gt3 on pc..

 

[specktre]

it's apples and oranges ppl, apples and oranges.

I like PC gaming just as much as console, but its like comparing arcade gaming to PC gaming, it doesn't have the same feel, eventhough each can be just as engaging as the other.

if you like playing console games but hate computers thats cool, and vice versa. it's all about preferance, not biase.

 

[chsh1ca]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

You want to talk average then the average PC is running an Intel i810e or TNT2M64, and are limited to low resolution with graphics options turned down.

Ah, so now we're reversing direction and talking about the overall level of all existing hardware then? Okay, your average console probably has playstation 1 level graphics by your statements.

Yes, and a 25" one too(although it was much nicer on a 50" setup). Game was still lots of fun.

Whether it's fun or not wasn't the point I was trying to make, it is extremely hard to see any detail if you weren't sitting right close to the TV.

If you want to talk about average then the average PC gamer hasn't been playing MMORPGs for years either. PSO has been around for years.

First of all, we are not discussing the average GAMER, we're discussing the average SYSTEM. How long ago was UO released, and how long ago did an average system suprass the 'recommended' system setup?

I stated additional content, not mods.

You stated that in reply to what I had said regarding mods. So I'm presuming you're conceding the point that indeed, no console has mod capability at the moment.

Ever tried to configure a Win2K box running IIS with remote administration and file sharing enabled for your local LAN and convert it over for a LAN party in half a minute?

Not on my home machines, no, but it could be done quickly. Then again, I would never game on a Win2K machine with IIS/Remote admin enabled.

Every part in my PC is limited time. For that matter, my SNES from the early 90s still sees gaming time, my 286 sure as hell doesn't.

True, but I would argue that any new video card will have a longer lifespan for the games that require that level of hardware than will a console.

More expensive games? I was in BB the other day and they had Turok for the GC for $9.99. I picked up NASCAR Thunder 2K3 for $19.99 within a couple months of its release. When looking at strictly games, WarCraftIII and NWN both cost over $50 when they launched, which I haven't seen on console optical media games for quite some time.

Let me invite you to reality.

Compare like sizes.

Okay, so your 1920x1080 on a 19" HDTV is better than my 1600x1200 on my 19" CRT for more money?

Updates are stored on the Hard Drives.

Meaning you have limited update/save game storage space? Doesn't sound like a good tradeoff to me. I like making archive CDs of game patches, it simplifies things, and if I need to move a game to another one of my machines, it takes no time to pull the patch off the CD and patch it.

The XBox has built in LAN and is very easy to set up for LAN based gaming.

You missed the 'average console user' bit didn't you?

You can hot swap controllers on consoles.

Meaning you go from Joystick 1 to Joystick 2, or you have to unplug/plug in the controller? See, on my PC, I can have all my controllers plugged in at the same time, without any problems.

The N64 shipped at nearly the same time as the Voodoo1(a little before actually). It's akin to someone criticizing PC games whose most powerful rig is a Pentium 133 w/Voodoo1 and 16MB of RAM.

LOL, I wasn't criticizing the N64, I was actually saying that it was the last console I liked! It had bar none the best games in terms of playability IMHO.

Originally posted by: touchmyichi
chsh1ca; battlefield 1942 and warcraft III are not killer apps. Killer apps are games so good that the platform is bought just for that. For instance, I would consider the upcoming doom III a possible killer app. These games need to be instant classics. For me I would only rank a few games in this category: final fantasy 7, Zelda: Ocarina of time, grand theft auto vice city, and super mario bros. A killler app would be doom III, People will be upgrading their system just for it. I like PC games too, don't think I don't. I don't see any console game that can compete w/ something like counterstrike. In fact a game like counterstrike could never be done on console, just like zelda could never be done on PC. Those games that you thought had good story's on PC's...I'm sorry man. I have never seen any game tell a story and have as good of voice acting as metal gear solid and metal gear solid 2. What I also like about consoles is being able to play on a 32 inch TV. Yeah yeah I know you can do that on a PC too, but its not as common as on console.

You missed my point entirely. There are *NO* killer apps for the PC, unless you want to consider WWW access to be the 'killer app'. PCs are designed from the ground up to be versatile, consoles are designed to play games. I'm simply saying that a PC geared for game playing is, in my opinion, far superior to a console, whose sole purpose is to play games.

 

[NYHoustonman]

I would also like to add that a rep from an NBA HDTV service stated that about 800,000 households have HDTV-ready televisions.