Sell me PC gaming...

[Peggle2]

Hello,

I have always been a console gamer but I have held off buying a PS4 or Xbox One because I was fed up with the direction the industry is going - day 1 DLC and half finished games being released etc..

I have finally decided to get a new gaming machine as there are enough decent, finished games now I can get from the last 3 years or so.

I'm thinking however, that maybe this might be the time to try PC gaming instead of a console. I currently have an old PC which I just use to surf the web. But if I could be persuaded that PC gaming is the way to go, I would replace that with a better machine.

I need to know though, why PC gaming is worth the extra money. From what I can see, a good setup will cost about 3 times as much as a PS4. What do I get for the extra money? The big thing it seems is mods. What else do I get aside from that?

Bear in mind, they are going to bring out the new PS4 / Xbox One soon with 4K abilities but these will still be much cheaper than a good gaming PC.

Also, I'm not interested in stupid PC or console fanboys just arguing for the sake of it. I just want some clear reasons why people would choose to game on a PC rather than a console.

Cheers

 

[simon12]

As you already said yourself there are a huge no of already released games there for PC compared to consoles. You can buy games in steam sales at a huge discount and there already cheaper so in a few years it could be cheaper than a console plus there loads of free to play games to. Games play at higher frame rates and resolution than consoles, ie they look better. On PC you can use a control pad or keyboard and mouse, FPS games are just so much better with a mouse and games like fallout 4 are so much easier to manage your inventory. Games like starcraft just don't work on consols due to the control pad. You can upgrade as required as games slowly get better over time, this is what puts some people off but late in a consoles life cycle games look so dated compared to PC. A PC is also a multi purpose device you can use for much more stuff than a console.
Consoles have there place but I think I have outlined the main advantages in PC.

 

[Peggle2]

As you already said yourself there are a huge no of already released games there for PC compared to consoles. You can buy games in steam sales at a huge discount and there already cheaper so in a few years it could be cheaper than a console plus there loads of free to play games to. Games play at higher frame rates and resolution than consoles, ie they look better. On PC you can use a control pad or keyboard and mouse, FPS games are just so much better with a mouse and games like fallout 4 are so much easier to manage your inventory. Games like starcraft just don't work on consols due to the control pad. You can upgrade as required as games slowly get better over time, this is what puts some people off but late in a consoles life cycle games look so dated compared to PC. A PC is also a multi purpose device you can use for much more stuff than a console.
Consoles have there place but I think I have outlined the main advantages in PC.

Okay thanks. Now what about disadvantages?

 

[_JakeDavies]

The big disadvantage is the setup cost. If you want PC that will play most games on Ultra at 60fps then you will need an RX480 and a decent quad core CPU. Also there can be bugs with certain hardware setups, where as console are already setup and every console is the same. The last is playing with friends. Playing with friends is as easy as a console but more of your friends will probably have consoles rather PC's. Here's a few more advantages:

Complete control over what inputs you use. I.E. You can change the button layout to whatever key you want.
Torrents are available if you wished to break the law and pla games for free (not advised)
Games are ridiculously cheap compared to consoles and there are no physical disks.
You have complete control over what peripherals you use, what brand keyboard and mouse etc.
You have complete control over your settings so you can go for the highest graphics quality or you can drop the settings to console quality graphics and then achieve way higher fps.

It really is up to you but most PC's nowadays have 4K output. The new consoles will only have 4K video out because even project scorpio's 6teraflops of performance isn't enough horse power to run games at 4K.

It's totally your choice but if you have funding and want to play all sorts of game, PC gaming is the way to go.

 

[simon12]

As you already said yourself there are a huge no of already released games there for PC compared to consoles. You can buy games in steam sales at a huge discount and there already cheaper so in a few years it could be cheaper than a console plus there loads of free to play games to. Games play at higher frame rates and resolution than consoles, ie they look better. On PC you can use a control pad or keyboard and mouse, FPS games are just so much better with a mouse and games like fallout 4 are so much easier to manage your inventory. Games like starcraft just don't work on consols due to the control pad. You can upgrade as required as games slowly get better over time, this is what puts some people off but late in a consoles life cycle games look so dated compared to PC. A PC is also a multi purpose device you can use for much more stuff than a console.
Consoles have there place but I think I have outlined the main advantages in PC.

Okay thanks. Now what about disadvantages?

Consoles are plug and play you can just plug them in buy any game for it and just play it without worrying about what hardware to buy. With a PC you have to have a basic knowledge of what hardware to buy and if its a extreme budget build (especially if you bought the wrong hardware) you may have to keep an eye on what games are even playable a few years down the line (thats where forums like this can help massively). PCs can have software issues that consoles don't. As far as I know you can still borrow or rent games on console and buy and sell used games which you can't on PC (the lower price should more than make up for this).

 

[Anarkie13]

For me it's the use and customization. Yeah, the startup cost is much more. But, the benefit of faster, smoother gameplay is huge. Mods that can make the game even more amazing (or hilarious) are easy to find for many popular games. I use a program called Tridef to re-encode many games into stereoscopic 3D on my TV, which looks great and the games weren't even programmed to do. There's also the choice of hardware. Xbox 360 controller: Sure! XBone? no problem. And there's different options, the Logitech G13 or Steam Controller.

Then there's the ongoing cost. This is so much less, it's incredible. Steam sales, Humble Bundle, Indiegala, all places you can find games for incredibly cheap prices (Current Humble Bundle got Borderlands Pre-Sequel and Battleborn and several other games for only $15!)

Cost wise, in the long run, hardware included, you can make it much less expensive than console gaming. But this involves patience in waiting for the sales, etc...

Now the bad part... It's not like a console, it doesn't always "just work". Some incompatibilities that you may need to research and work around. It may take more time and effort to make work the way you want. Of course, the cost. You will pay a console's ransom just for the GPU. Another for the CPU/MoBo. And one more for the rest. You also lose the console exclusive titles which are lots of fun. On the flip of that, many games are PC only, so you get a new set of exclusives.

Either way, I can't blame anyone for their choice. Both have their merits. For me, the PC is just more fun. I can spin off from gaming and design something I want to build in 3D. More flexibility.