• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Console only gamers, what keeps you from PC Gaming?

Status
Not open for further replies.
NullPointer said:
Its a good question judging from the size of this thread, and I'm sure both sides (to the extent there are sides here) are flabbergasted at not having their points understood.

I care about graphics, animation, production values, depth, and choice. But, I only play games on the consoles, as my current PC setup doesn't feel comfortable for gaming (although that may change). That's a form factor thing - I prefer using a gamepad, on a couch, for a game designed specifically for HDTV viewing from several feet away, and tailored specifically to my hardware configuration and controller. I know when I buy a console game that it will work with my setup, out of the box, and if it doesn't, I'd hear about it on GAF long before I'd buy it (hopefully ;P)

By this measure, which is based upon personal preference, the PC is not superior, even though I appreciate graphics and options - I don't appreciate them more than I appreciate the standardized and integrated experience of console gaming, and the comfy couch form factor that all console games are developed for. And its not just some or most console games that fit this description, but all of them.

Believe me though, were I a primarily PC gamer, I'd extol its virtues just as many are doing here. I just wouldn't call people's differing choices objectively wrong, or claim one platform to be objectively superior. It doesn't work that way.


My teenage years were all spent with KB/Mouse and they were like an extension of my nervous system. But now that I've played consoles for the past several years I have a hard time understanding how I could have liked it so much. KB/Mouse feels very alien to me now.

can you mention a game within the last year on PC that has been a broken mess that's unplayable?
because your argument is sounding again like you just prefer "comfy couch"
 
"master race" is rather laughable, when i look at some arguments. Going by the name, I'd expect intellectuals who are playing the console equivalent of chess with a glass of wine or something.

This reminds me of the whole PC/Mac thing.
It not that people don't know how to keep a PC running, secure, fast, it's just that they moved on. People fail to realize that almost every mac owner, was once a pc person.

The same with PC gaming.
Most gamers grew up with parents having powerful PC's or working a whole year to buy their own pc, carefully selecting each part, building it with love, knowing every single thing about it.
I've been there.
My PC was everything; even aside from games, it was my portal to the world (internet), it was my TV, my DVD player, my MP3 player. I really loved that machine. I even loved updating it, getting faster memory, doing special partitioning in order to have XP always booting within 25 seconds.

But as I got 'older', I moved on. When I had my own apartment, with more than 1 room, the PC became just a study/internet tool. I got more comfortable with console gaming, even though I had my PC next to my couch for years!

My laptop can play Crysis on it, but I don't care about it.
I also don't care about rts or wow or farmville.
No recent PC exclusive game is worth installing windows on my laptop, that is the reality.
 
Game Guru said:
I think the problem is with the whole casual/hardcore dichotomy. Most people on this board believe that there is only two options when in fact it works more like a sliding scale that actually differs with genre.

Look at the post I made before the one you quoted.
 
evil solrac v3.0 said:
can you mention a game within the last year on PC that has been a broken mess that's unplayable?
because your argument is sounding again like you just prefer "comfy couch"
I do prefer comfy couch, and a controller.

I'm not saying that PC games are a mess, just that there is no one standard to PC games. They are not 100% designed for my personal setup like console games are.

When you pick up a PC game you can't be positive it will run well on any set of hardware, or that it will work 100% with your gamepad, or that the UI will be designed perfectly for your viewing distance and controls. But you can rest assured of this for all console games, with a very few exceptions (Lost Planet text, Supreme Commander framerate woes, etc).

I'm not knocking PC gaming, as what makes it problematic also makes it awesome in terms of being able to tune it and tweak it and extend it to your desire.
 
What I don't like about the "i know it will work on my console" is that it only applies to the very short term.

I mean... Red Dead Redemption 'worked' when you loaded it. But uhh.. we all know the problems that came along with it and made it unplayable for some for a while, not just the multiplayer but freezing in cut scenes. There's also choppy as shit framerate in some games, even in Heavy Rain, super bland textures, and bugs/exploits that also need patches down the road.

I know MGS4 will 'work' when I put it in the PS3, but I have to go make a fucking sammich every goddamn install. I'll be a sumo wrestler if I beat the game 5 times.
 
Secks4Food said:
You'd be hard pressed to find a more pro consumer/overall cheap ass than me. Almost every console game I've owned this gen was acquired on an online trading site or a Bargain bin of some sort. Be that as it may, when games go to 80% off on Steam sales, they're impossible to ignore. Most of the time, the game costs less than the difference between buying and reselling a console game, or even less than the postage I had to pay to trade games. If you have any regard for your wallet, Steam provides the most value this side of the app store.
it is more than just getting games for cheap. It is jobs and local business. I grew up with my record store and it is still managing to get by this digital age. College kids working to pay the tuition, parents paying the bills etc. Trade and resell is important to these shops.
 
mr.hands said:
But as I got 'older', I moved on. When I had my own apartment, with more than 1 room, the PC became just a study/internet tool. I got more comfortable with console gaming, even though I had my PC next to my couch for years!
I think this is a good point, and can maybe reconcile the hardcore/casual duality. I consider myself a hardcore gamer, but I am in the older crowd on GAF so I have different expectations and comfort levels with gaming then I did when I was younger.

IchigoSharingan said:
What I don't like about the "i know it will work on my console" is that it only applies to the very short term.

I mean... Red Dead Redemption 'worked' when you loaded it. But uhh.. we all know the problems that came along with it and made it unplayable for some for a while, not just the multiplayer but freezing in cut scenes. There's also choppy as shit framerate in some games, even in Heavy Rain, super bland textures, and bugs/exploits that also need patches down the road.

I know MGS4 will 'work' when I put it in the PS3, but I have to go make a fucking sammich every goddamn install. I'll be a sumo wrestler if I beat the game 5 times.
I can't argue with this. Only to say that like PC gamers we rely upon patches nowadays to smooth these wrinkles out. Although PC has the advantage here in that some games have a community that will provide fixes and patches and mods to take care of the problem before the devs do. PC patches also have a quicker turnaround.
 
mr.hands said:
"master race" is rather laughable, when i look at some arguments. Going by the name, I'd expect intellectuals who are playing the console equivalent of chess with a glass of wine or something.

This reminds me of the whole PC/Mac thing.
It not that people don't know how to keep a PC running, secure, fast, it's just that they moved on. People fail to realize that almost every mac owner, was once a pc person.

The same with PC gaming.
Most gamers grew up with parents having powerful PC's or working a whole year to buy their own pc, carefully selecting each part, building it with love, knowing every single thing about it.
I've been there.
My PC was everything; even aside from games, it was my portal to the world (internet), it was my TV, my DVD player, my MP3 player. I really loved that machine. I even loved updating it, getting faster memory, doing special partitioning in order to have XP always booting within 25 seconds.

But as I got 'older', I moved on. When I had my own apartment, with more than 1 room, the PC became just a study/internet tool. I got more comfortable with console gaming, even though I had my PC next to my couch for years!

My laptop can play Crysis on it, but I don't care about it.
I also don't care about rts or wow or farmville.
No recent PC exclusive game is worth installing windows on my laptop, that is the reality.

witcher2_216402b.jpg
 
I'm completely comfortable with building my own capable PC and playing on the master race platform, but I'm so used to total simplicity nowadays. Consoles for games and computer for whatever else.

I just don't care anymore, to be honest. I'm fine with whatever is the most accessible from the get go.
 
I have been a console gamer all my life, I didn't even dabble in PC's, never even touched one before this week to game on. I just got an iMac (yes, I know it isn't typically a gaming PC), installed Windows, and thought I may as well try out Steam after everyone is always raving about it.

I download a demo off Steam just to test it out, the process was incredibly easy, I would say easier then searching for content on XBL/PSN. Clicked download on the Bulletstorm demo and anxiously waited to see how well it would look and run on my iMac. I plugged in the 360 controller naturally :) and the controls were perfectly preset, even displaying the 360 icons on the screen. I then clicked an option for optimal settings and it automatically picked the recommended specs for my machine (I later refined these for better quality graphics). It was ridiculously simple, remember, I had never done any PC gaming before and everything seemed intuitive.

When I loaded it up, I was just shocked. How the hell have I been making do with consoles? It was such a graphical/framerate improvement over what I'm used to, and this isn't even a gaming machine. I have since played Crysis (again through Steam which is easier than XBL/PSN) and I don't know how I'm going to go back. I think I'm going to play most of the games on the PC if the option is available.

This is seriously coming from someone with no PC technical knowledge (that's why I got an iMac) ;)
I really recommend that people put off by the supposed difficulty of it all, give it a try, you won't be disappointed.
 
IchigoSharingan said:
It's not intimidating. If you know what the term means, it is highly probable you know how it will affect your system. And if you know how it will affect your system, it is also reasonable to assume you actually know enough about the components to get a 'feel' for how many FPS you will get. It's all intuitive after a little while.

And if you're a PC gamer, obviously you're partially in it to see how much performance you can crank out while sacrificing FPS. It's fun. It's always a pleasure to know the hardware you invest in can still crank out more juice and oomph just by your very desire.





very true. The Crysis config scene is ablaze with that very notion.
I think it's hilarious that he said it's intimidating and you told him, no, it's not. Right. Good thing you're inside of everyone's heads here.

And that shit isn't fun for a lot of people. Shortsightedness is bad!
 
NullPointer said:
Thread title should be "Console only gamers, what keeps you from Steam Gaming?"
Steam is massive, no question, but it's not the only source of PC games -- not by a long shot. D2D has occasional comparable deals, and GOG has a great selection of old, otherwise inaccessible titles. Steam is the general go-to distribution platform, but it isn't the only one.

In saying that, the Steam UI can be used across retail boxed titles and games bought through other digital services. It's essentially become the PC's "guide button."
 
IchigoSharingan said:
That's okay. Enjoy the games and resolutions that you do. At the end of the day we're all gamers.

But Master Race must move on to bigger and better things.

lol lol
All this for looking at a screen from 3 feet away. Move back a couple of feets again and your eye won't be able to tell a difference from 1080p. I suppose Panasonic can still sell of couple of those just by the psychological effect.
 
NullPointer said:
I do prefer comfy couch, and a controller.

I'm not saying that PC games are a mess, just that there is no one standard to PC games. They are not 100% designed for my personal setup like console games are.

When you pick up a PC game you can't be positive it will run well on any set of hardware, or that it will work 100% with your gamepad, or that the UI will be designed perfectly for your viewing distance and controls. But you can rest assured of this for all console games, with a very few exceptions (Lost Planet text, Supreme Commander framerate woes, etc).

I'm not knocking PC gaming, as what makes it problematic also makes it awesome in terms of being able to tune it and tweak it and extend it to your desire.

That's quite an interesting point to be trying to make, when the PC is at least a unified platform. Last I checked I need 3 consoles if I want to play all the latest games, and countless more if I want to play older games. Doesn't sound like a single standard to me.
 
kpop100 said:
That's quite an interesting point to be trying to make, when the PC is at least a unified platform. Last I checked I need 3 consoles if I want to play all the latest games, and countless more if I want to play older games. Doesn't sound like a single standard to me.
Each console is a standard.
 
Sutton Dagger said:
I have been a console gamer all my life, I didn't even dabble in PC's, never even touched one before this week to game on. I just got an iMac (yes, I know it isn't typically a gaming PC), installed Windows, and thought I may as well try out Steam after everyone is always raving about it.

I download a demo off Steam just to test it out, the process was incredibly easy, I would say easier then searching for content on XBL/PSN. Clicked download on the Bulletstorm demo and anxiously waited to see how well it would look and run on my iMac. I plugged in the 360 controller naturally :) and the controls were perfectly preset, even displaying the 360 icons on the screen. I then clicked an option for optimal settings and it automatically picked the recommended specs for my machine (I later refined these for better quality graphics). It was ridiculously simple, remember, I had never done any PC gaming before and everything seemed intuitive.

When I loaded it up, I was just shocked. How the hell have I been making do with consoles? It was such a graphical/framerate improvement over what I'm used to, and this isn't even a gaming machine. I have since played Crysis (again through Steam which is easier than XBL/PSN) and I don't know how I'm going to go back. I think I'm going to play most of the games on the PC if the option is available.

This is seriously coming from someone with no PC technical knowledge (that's why I got an iMac) ;)
I really recommend that people put off by the supposed difficulty of it all, give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Reminds me of the first time my friend tried Modern Warfare on my PC. Before then he had always trolled me about how everything's easier/better on the 360, and how the experience is too good via Live. I bit my tongue, and gave it time. We were at my house and I told him to play COD:MW on my machine. At first he didn't do so well as he was adjusting to the KB+M and my mouse's settings were pretty high for him. Not even 20 minutes later he was absolutely addicted and in love with the Master Race experience. I had to yank him out because we were gonna go eat with some ladies that night, and if I let too much time pass we would have pissed them off.

Needless to say later on he confessed he had NEVER had it that good (in terms of gaming). He couldn't believe the framerate, and "lack of bullshit" since consoles mostly don't have dedicated servers. He loved how his shots connected and the turns gave him the ease of actually taking care of enemies he spotted. I don't think he even cared about the graphics...never mentioned it. Just the fps and flow of the game was utter nirvana.


CoffeeJanitor said:
I think it's hilarious that he said it's intimidating and you told him, no, it's not. Right. Good thing you're inside of everyone's heads here.

And that shit isn't fun for a lot of people. Shortsightedness is bad!

I am the voice inside your head that says YES WE CAN


evil solrac v3.0 said:
woooaaahh. how much?!

How much do you want for your leg and your best performing kidney?
 
Slappers Only said:
What keeps me from PC gaming: the fact that, inevitably, someone will quickly come back at me with some breathy retort any time I say that I don't ever want to have to read anything to investigate whether I will be able to play a game I've paid for.

Steam, antiquated argument, et cetera. Whatever.

It's not like the "console > PC" arguments are any less antiquated or more true.
 
Ranger X said:
lol lol
All this for looking at a screen from 3 feet away. Move back a couple of feets again and your eye won't be able to tell a difference from 1080p. I suppose Panasonic can still sell of couple of those just by the psychological effect.


You kidding me? I want that shit 1 foot away from my eyes!



kpop100 said:
And there are a lot of consoles no? Which means there isn't one standard.

All I know is PC has super duper backwards compatability, and it sure as shit beats the 'standards' of the consoles.
 
kpop100 said:
And there are a lot of consoles no? Which means there isn't one standard.
Uh...No. Every console is its own standard. Like, every person has the same console. People have different setups for their PCs, which makes PC, the platform, variable.
 
Opiate said:
Absolutely, I'm not a fan of them either. I'm just not sure we can really do any better in this particular case.

The problem arises from the fact that we have no way to objectively measure "intuitiveness" or "ease of use."

It's like measuring a book's intellectual sophistication. Can we produce a specific, objective metric which proves that Brothers Karamazov is a more intellectually sophisticated piece of literature than is, say Spiderman? No, we cannot.

But that doesn't mean there isn't a difference between the two. I use those extreme examples because I think virtually everyone would agree that there clearly is a difference, we just can't measure it.

And so we're left with very little objective evidence outside of anecdote, which is, I agree, the weakest possible form that still technically qualifies as "objective."

Opiate, I was being facetious.
 
NullPointer said:
Thread title should be "Console only gamers, what keeps you from Steam Gaming?"

I think we've had one of those threads already.

This whole thread has made me think of trying out different things with my PC again. Good ideas and all.
 
Akainu said:
Because the games I want to play aren't on it. And I'm not made out of money.

if Civ 4 and VVVVVV are games that people don't want to play, then I need to be ejected from this planet asap

jokes and stuff but there are so many games to play on PC, it's kind of hard to buy that someone isn't interested in all of them, but it is what it is
 
For me it's a mix of stuff:

- I don't have a reasonable place in my apartment to hide a pc tower hooked up to my tv

- I really don't like using the mouse and keyboard as a gaming interface

- I don't like knowing that the game could potentially look better, run better and be better if I had better hardware. I will just end up tweaking stuff more then I would be playing it (thats the primary reason I play on consoles, the experience is the way it is, and thats it)

- Building a PC is expensive. It would cost close to 2200 dollars to create the recommend GAF PC build here in Scandinavia (if there's a place that is import friendly and is cheaper, I would love to know).
 
Here's why I dislike pc gaming. No matter what my computer is, there always seem to be some sort of problem running any game and it's random. Months ago BF2 worked, not for no reason it dosen't. I'm installing the Witcher 2 right now, and of course it's stuck on it's patcher. It's annoying and this is why I dislike pc gaming.

I put in my game disc into my console and it goes. No problems.
 
Rahxephon91 said:
Here's why I dislike pc gaming. No matter what my computer is, there always seem to be some sort of problem running any game and it's random. Months ago BF2 worked, not for no reason it dosen't. I'm installing the Witcher 2 right now, and of course it's stuck on it's patcher. It's annoying and this is why I dislike pc gaming.

I put in my game disc into my console and it goes. No problems.

Put your LA Noire disc in your console and your dog will catch fire!
 
Snuggler said:
if Civ 4 and VVVVVV are games that people don't want to play, then I need to be ejected from this planet asap

jokes and stuff but there are so many games to play on PC, it's kind of hard to buy that someone isn't interested in all of them, but it is what it is

you do know that you need to drop that money into Civ V eventually, right ? ;D
 
Rahxephon91 said:
Here's why I dislike pc gaming. No matter what my computer is, there always seem to be some sort of problem running any game and it's random. Months ago BF2 worked, not for no reason it dosen't. I'm installing the Witcher 2 right now, and of course it's stuck on it's patcher. It's annoying and this is why I dislike pc gaming.

I put in my game disc into my console and it goes. No problems.
Assuming you don't have RROD, e74, YLOD, your console bricked from bad firmware, dud drive that doesn't want to read discs, etc. I've had far more issues with my 360 alone than PC gaming as a whole.
 
Rahxephon91 said:
Here's why I dislike pc gaming. No matter what my computer is, there always seem to be some sort of problem running any game and it's random. Months ago BF2 worked, not for no reason it dosen't. I'm installing the Witcher 2 right now, and of course it's stuck on it's patcher. It's annoying and this is why I dislike pc gaming.

I put in my game disc into my console and it goes. No problems.


Sucks for you, I don't have those sort of problems.
 
WEGGLES said:
Assuming you don't have RROD, e74, YLOD, your console bricked from bad firmware, dud drive that doesn't want to read discs, etc. I've had far more issues with my 360 alone than PC gaming as a whole.
My last PC can also died because of a bad power supply and my friends Laptop randomly craped out on him. Hardware can go bad. I'm not going to compare a pretty equal con of both.

Combichristoffersen said:
Well, I guess it was your neighbour's dog who caught fire then!
Which version, 360 or PS3?
PS3 80Gig.

kpop100 said:
Sucks for you, I don't have those sort of problems.
Good for you I guess. But it's an obvious common reflection of pc gaming.
 
WEGGLES said:
Assuming you don't have RROD, e74, YLOD, your console bricked from bad firmware, dud drive that doesn't want to read discs, etc. I've had far more issues with my 360 alone than PC gaming as a whole.

Yeah I don't get it either. Potential driver issues that aren't really that prevalent, omg I might have to use google and put in a little effort to fix it.

Complete console malfunction? Entire online infrastructure crippled at the hands of hackers? Yeah sure, okay, I don't mind that, it's out of my control so at least I don't have to worry about fixing it!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go play LA Noire and hope it doesn't overheat the console for which it was specifically designed.
 
Rahxephon91 said:
My last PC can also died because of a bad power supply and my friends Laptop randomly craped out on him. Hardware can go bad. I'm not going to compare a pretty equal con of both.
I'm hard pressed to find a case as bad as the RROD in regards to PC. At least not recently.

I went through 4 360s. That's not even some rare case.

Hardware can go bad, but it's not as big of a deal on PC. Much easier to keep backups to prevent losing games, and much easier to fix (and quicker too)
 
SalsaShark said:
you do know that you need to drop that money into Civ V eventually, right ? ;D

maybe but I still have several playthroughs of Civ 4 vanilla and like 3 expansions so I'm set for a while bro
 
I own a gaming HTPC or, as I like to call it, a GHTPC. I mainly game on Consoles a good 75% of the time for three reasons.

1. I'm sick and tired of issues getting the games to simply work. There are just too many of them on the PC, when I put a game in my 360 or PS3 they simply work and, this is rarely the case for PC gaming)
2. Not enough PC games are 'Games for Windows' compatible. This means they don't conform to Xbox360 controller standards or support any controller at all and, the menus aren't designed for a lower resolution display. (My PC monitor is 2304x1440 but, I usually game in 720p on the TV so I can sit my fat ass on the couch.)
3. Consoles end up having the "most" games I want to play.

Also of note, I'm on my 4th Xbox 360 and my 4th PS3 fatty and, I still prefer to game on my consoles.

PC elitists don't get it. It's not that my OC'd quadcore & GTX460 Amp can't get the job done it's the software itself that can't.

And claiming that it's usually a driver issue or you need an update or whatever is complete and utter bullshit. I know it and you know it so stop lying about it. Game X doesn't work with a controller so I'm required to download some software that forces it to work then spend a good half hour setting up the software so it does work with game X. Game X also has some odd graphical glitch because I'm using driver version 3.001 for my video card so I download the new and improved beta driver only to find out that it broke game Y that I've been playing recently so I have to wait for driver 4.0 before I can play both games. I wait a week for the driver and find out it broke scaling so I cant play my games in the proper aspect ratio on my TV. It's a bunch of fucking bullshit that I do not and will not spend any more time on.

Why should I have to Google a fix and apply that fix which could potentially break something else on my PC? Why should I be forced to spend a few hours or even a few minutes to correct a bug or glitch? Oh sure your going to say "Then don't fix it" and I'll say "I won't, I'll just buy the console version and play the game" which is usually what I do unless Steam has a sale. Or you might say something like "controllers are stupid anyway" and I'll say "So you use a mouse and keyboard to play Street Fighter?" I could go on and on to prove a point that has already been made that many PC elitist seem to be completely blind of.

All games on PC should be setup like Metro 2033. That game does it right in my book. It installed without a hitch, didn't require me to enter some stupid code to verify I purchased it, worked flawlessly on boot up with the Xbox360 controller and, the text was clear and readable on my 720p CRT. It's the perfect example of how future PC games need to be created. Even the graphical settings were simplified.
 
Snuggler said:
if Civ 4 and VVVVVV are games that people don't want to play, then I need to be ejected from this planet asap
Civ Rev is all kinds of awesome too. Simplified and accessible but still rewarding and deep.
 
MidgarBlowedUp said:
I own a gaming HTPC or, as I like to call it, a GHTPC. I mainly game on Consoles a good 75% of the time for three reasons.

1. I'm sick and tired of issues getting the games to simply work. There are just too many of them on the PC, when I put a game in my 360 or PS3 they simply work and, this is rarely the case for PC gaming)

Really?

Rarely works? As most of the time something fucks up?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom