Is pc gaming really more expensive than consoles????

[Drunken Monkey]

a load of crap by ign interesting none the less... mostly due to the angry comments >.<

tbh the amount of pc games i bought 347238974238974238943728 million and the amount of money i saved

i have enough to buy this

:'( cant wait for my next pay day


ps. that wasn't sarcasm i've saved a ridiculous amount of money on pc games , which i wasted on clothes and bills ;( damn you bills

 

[Wozza63]

the one thing that i took into consideration is the £400 computer you would need to buy every 3 years just to browse the Internet, PC games (discs) are also a tenner cheaper, plus you dont have to keep buying crappy accessories over and over, like the headsets, then there is an xbox subscription and the PS Plus

then there is the graphics difference, max settings is 10x as good as console, meaning you have a much better experience, for a lower price

so much more, jsut cant be bothered to say

PC GAMING FTW

 

[Tracker]

the one thing that i took into consideration is the £400 computer you would need to buy every 3 years just to browse the Internet, PC games (discs) are also a tenner cheaper, plus you dont have to keep buying crappy accessories over and over, like the headsets, then there is an xbox subscription and the PS Plus

then there is the graphics difference, max settings is 10x as good as console, meaning you have a much better experience, for a lower price

are you sure that's true though? how much did you pay for your gaming-grade pc, including keyboard/mouse/all the accessories you use with it, speakers and monitor? versus how much you shelled out for a console that runs with your tv setup? whilst PC gaming undoubtedly looks better when you crank up the settings, the monetary aspects are more debatable, the Xbox cost you next to nothing compared to that PC, and whilst you're saving £10 on each game (buying brand new each and every time at full RRP), you'd still need quite a few games to recover that outlay, and maintenance for a pc is alot more expensive too, more electricity, parts and upkeep costs more (need to replace pieces every now and then, even in the best kept rigs) whilst you may replace the console every couple of years (if not, then each upgrade of the consoles lifecycle).

The xbox is hands down a far more money efficient way to play games, except when you buy enough games to recoup the costs (which means costs running into the thousands combined with the initial outlay for your pc).

I'll agree here that the IGN article is ****, there's so many things wrong with the logic there (32" HDTV =\= 21.5" Monitor, both are capable of working on a console! buying three controllers? breakdowns? (More expensive pc parts), not to mention the guide assumes you'll build the PC yourself, versus plugging a Console into a socket, when the journalist himself is suggesting buying a single ram stick versus dual channel / triple chanelling ram, on a six core pc no doubt, ignoring pre owned games and 2nd hand markets which can easily half a games price), gah, makes my head explode.

if you're looking at the monetary aspects alone and you don't buy a new game every week, there's no way you can say the pc is less expensive, it just isn't..

but the PC will look prettier, will run more happily, will do more things for you (Internet emails flash content office applications art design music mixing video editing any type of development,,,,...., and give games that are both more flexible (Starcraft II anyone? or a decent MMORPG?) and customisable (Mods, tweaks, etc) and in an interface that for a good majority of games are that much more comfortable!

 

[Psynocide]

I've been an avid console user through all the PS models, prior to this I did dabble in some early-days computer gaming (Age of Empires: Rise of Rome, Cossacks series).
Up until the point where this old mac I am currently using started to show its age, I was content with my Ps3 for any gaming impulses and would have vouchsafed its gaming experience as being the highest on offer to date.
Now however, as I look to replace this knackered system of mine with a bestial gaming rig and after having suffered 170 hours of tormented gameplay on the Skyrim Ps3 port (feel my pain), I'm less certain.

To answer the initial question - "is gaming via console cheaper than PC?" I would say yes, it is easily cheaper.
"Is it a better experience?" however is debatable.
Generally speaking, consoles are the optimized method of gaming - they provide neither the best nor the worst experience but are an equilibrium between the two values of experience and cost.
The other angle that must be taken into account is that the average computer purchased would provide a value of gaming inferior to that of a current generation console.
Essentially, where as a consoles general gaming experience is the fixed median, PC gaming has much higher potential but it is a variable dictated by your budget - if you aimed to exact a higher level of experience from gaming on a PC, you would almost certainly end up paying substantially more.

Is it worth the price you pay? That's not something determinable.

 

[Keenhail]

One thing I do miss about my console is that you run into very few hackers/modders compared to PC gaming... Was playing MW3 last night with Drunken on Resistance and everytime I go anywhere near this sniper he headshotted me without scoping in

Not saying it wouldn't have happened on 360/PS3 but it is much less likely to occur

 

[SrgColman]

One thing I do miss about my console is that you run into very few hackers/modders compared to PC gaming... Was playing MW3 last night with Drunken on Resistance and everytime I go anywhere near this sniper he headshotted me without scoping in

Not saying it wouldn't have happened on 360/PS3 but it is much less likely to occur

True that, but the modding community is what keeps many games alive much after their vanilla version is gone.

 

[Mattyp]

They both have their pros and cons. Overall I prefer a PC mostly because I find it tidier and it doesn't have to compete with my girlfriend for the TV. Modding is also awesome. However hacking does kill multiplayer games, Battlefield 3 is a huge example of how a huge release which should be a benchmark for PC multiplayer is getting torn apart by hackers.

 

[Kalisnoir]

PC vs Console gaming at the end of the day comes down to opinions and personal preference.

But lets start with technicalities though, technically a PC is more expensive, but this whole argument that consoles last longer is absolute bollocks, consoles and PC's use the same components to create them and therefore have approximately the same life span, so lets use my PC as an example, I can pretty much play any games cranked up with much better quality then a console, now whether its now, or 5 years down the line, my PC will STILL play games at a higher quality then the console at the time of purchase can, sure it won't be able to play the newer games as cranked as it used to be able to, but that's besides the point, the PC will still be higher quality than a console.

Having a PC is only as expensive as you make it, if you want to constantly have the latest hardware so you can play new games cranked is up to you, and that's what makes it expensive, but the fact remains the same that consoles have been pushed to their limit time and time again and won't be getting any better now without new hardware and therefore my current PC, as it is, will ALWAYS be better then a PS3 or a 360.

Now, is it worth paying the extra for a gaming PC over a console? It's all personal preference, if I want better quality then a console then yeah, in my eyes its worth it but then I've been a gamer all my life, and I know that most modern gamers (not all) prefer to play consoles. I enjoy using a keyboard and mouse, not only do I find it better, it's a proven fact that a mouse & keyboard is more responsive AND accurate, and if I want to use a game pad for Racing games? Then I'll buy one for it.... simple as that, but I know that some people do prefer a game pad purely because they find it "impossible to play with WASD" which is silly because it would take a literal retard to not be able to use 4 keys in the same setup as the arrow keys, but that's another story and something that can be overcome easily.

Literally all of my real life friends are modern day console gamers who never used to play video games (or atleast not often) till the latest gen consoles came out (minus 2 that I've met since going back to college recently) and therefor I have no problem playing on my PS3 (or my 360 when I used to have one) but at the end of the day, purely because of personal opinion and because there is literally no other reason to pick one or the other I prefer PC gaming.

 

[pr1s0ner]

I recently put together a pc for my son, its not by any means a crazy gaming spec but its solid and has had no trouble at running new games at reasonable (usually high) specs. It cost £300 and runs on the same screen he was using for his PS3.
The whole cost comparison is very flawed: if your trying to compare ferrari's to skoda's there both cars but...

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

 

[Gorman]

This thread is done.

 

[Shurko]

Perfect example: I had purchased Skyrim on my old Xbox 20GB. It needed to apply an update to run it. That update caused my console to RROD. I traded in, bought the PC version. Runs perfect, not only that within weeks mods are released. Not only does my PC Skyrim look better I have all the addons I could possibly wish for. Oh wait, my PC is immune to RROD. Pwned.

Another example: Xbox players wishing to make gameplay vids for YouTubby or such like must purchase external kit to capture it (apart from some in-game features). PC? Fraps, a 2.19MB download. Cost? Nil.

 

[Kalisnoir]

Perfect example: I had purchased Skyrim on my old Xbox 20GB. It needed to apply an update to run it. That update caused my console to RROD.

What makes it even more depressing (on the developers behalf) is that it was originally developed for the 360 then ported over lol.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

Which is a travesty in itself seeing as who TES is a PC series