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[joecanada]

It seems to be lost on people that they can potentially use ANY controller on the PC, yes it may take a bit of configuration but it can be done.

But if you really want an easy time just buy a goddamn wired 360 controller lol.

no one wants a wired controller in 2017. this is probably the most limiting factor to me using my pc more. I do have a Bluetooth adapter though just got to get it going.... but that xbox wireless controller is a pos.

however I do have to say that regarding older games, yes some of them frustrated me with lack of controller support or didn't launch properly, I refunded dead rising 2, civ 3, and one other I believe.... but to be fair we have to remember something important....

you wouldn't be playing most of those older games on a modern console. so having some/most that works is still pretty cool (although I don't play many older games myself).

 

[ArtHands]

Here's a video of me booting up vice city directly after downloading on Steam.
https://youtu.be/Rg5QY8aYgCE

 

[Grim Patron]

Here's a video of me booting up vice city directly after downloading on Steam.
https://youtu.be/Rg5QY8aYgCE

Easier and quicker to do that on iOS.

 

[Fess]

Any barrier, no matter how small, is too much of a barrier for a lot of people.

True for a lot of things in life, unfortunately.

That's actually very insightful. And if you really want something there are no barrier big enough to stop you.

In this thread I guess lots of people simply don't want to use a PC for gaming.

Like I said, I had no prior knowledge of new PCs, just 486s and some Celerion back in my youth. But I really _wanted_ to take the jump to PC gaming, went to a serious custom PC shop and let them build the PC for me.

Then I prepared myself for the hurdles people talks about in here. 4 years later I'm still waiting on those hurdles to show themselves.

I could just be lucky I guess, or maybe those with issues are unlucky, who knows?

I do know that if I didn't _want_ to take that jump to PCs I could've easily been like everybody else in this thread taking the negative stance, just focusing on all kinds of issues that could happen and go "Nah it's not for me, I have no time fiddling with drivers and patches etc"

Today I'm so glad I took that jump! PC gaming is seriously gaming bliss for me. Like I said, the only hurdle I've had are the high costs, because nobody could or should claim that PC gaming is cheap.
Console gaming starts to get expensive too though now that you might want a 4K TV and upgraded console mid gen all of a sudden.

 

[pinballsummer]

Maybe next time you join a thread you can drop the snarky as fuck attitude and stop getting riled up when people bring up legitimate flaws in your arguments and point out your goal post moving, and you can join the rest of us in the land of debate off of your high horse.

Jesus dude - maybe contribute rather than calling out peoples attitudes. You're incredibly sensitive and boring. Everyone is a dick on here!

 

[mxgt]

Curved UW G-Sync monitor is fucking amazing.

Best purchase I ever made for PC gaming

 

[Animagne]

As someone said, this is two extremes arguing. With one side not acknowledging existence of the other side.

If you build (or buy) a powerful rig and only play modern games, you are likely to be lucky to never see any issues with games. It doesn't mean that everyone else has no issues with new games, when you just brute forced through issues.

If you want to play an old game and it's available to buy on a modern platform (not an old disc), you are not sure if the game will work on your modern machine. It could work outright, it could require minimal tinkering it could require a lot of searching. Even with GoG it's not guaranteed to run. If it is available to buy on a modern console, you know it will run.

Whether the fix is 5 minutes or not is irrelevant, because there are plenty of people who would either be incapable to do that or just don't want to deal with that off work (especially if they are working in IT and doing similar stuff during work).

So if you don't have any issues with your modern pc, or think that minor tinkering is acceptable, good for you. Not everyone has the same experience. And people tend to stick to negative experiences more than the positive ones.

 

[pinballsummer]

In all seriousness, I love everyone on here. It's a message board though - so of course I'm going to get a little testy. Can't stand when people get up in arms over 'rude comments' or 'snarky attitudes' on a forum like this. How can you even bare to read 99% of the content here?

I think this thread is a really great example of why people don't want to get into PC gaming though. I mean, what's the matter with you people? What's the matter with me? Gross!

 

[GrayDock]

The average joe is not going to get an ultrawide monitor. If you buy a non-16:9 monitor you expect you are going to have to tweak things as they are not the majority monitor

One of the selling points off ultrawide is the larger screen for productivity, my boss, a non gamer, love it for being able to keep a web browser and a excel sheet at the same time with great view area, I even didn't bought for gaming first but to watch movies at full screen.

I agree that most people will buy a 16:9 anyway, but one could expect to work with less annoyance.

 

[Fess]

I am running on a acer predator g3 605 with a new gtx1070.
Here's a video of me booting up GTA3 PC directly right after it finished downloading that i just recorded
https://youtu.be/kOTqm8RqtZ0

Here's me booting up Vice City directly right after downloading on Steam
https://youtu.be/Rg5QY8aYgCE

Lol
Almost makes me want to buy the games just to see if I get those games to run directly too or if that would finally break my 4-years-without-hassle streak.

 

[kubev]

Steam is for steam games. you can not add games not on PSN to PSN list as well.

Steam specifically allows you to add external games, though. This is less so a gripe about Steam and more so a gripe against maybe Microsoft for pushing gaming so much on PC and still not having the sense to make a controller-friend UI with an API that would allow third-party storefronts to easily integrate their offerings into it.

So, no settings is better ? Default settings (low, high, ultra) works well most of the time. Some settings are also quite difficult to test without context.

I don't mind there being a ton of settings. I do, however, mind there being a lot of different settings and it taking far too long to see the results of the changes. For example, a lot of games allow you to change the color and general appearance of HUD elements, yet they don't allow you to preview them on that same screen. The same goes for graphical settings, especially when you're first starting a game. Just have a graphical settings screen with something close to the highest level of effect detail in effect, and let users see what enable or disabling or otherwise altering a setting will do without forcing them to reload the game.

 

[ArtHands]

I will love to record more vids but unfortunately its midnight here and i am in bed now. I can record more tomorrow if needed

 

[pinballsummer]

Lol
Almost makes me want to buy the games just to see if I get those games to run directly too or if that would finally break my 4-years-without-hassle streak.

Please do, would love to hear what happens.

I'm one of roughly 10 people I know personally who couldn't launch these games after seeing them on a Steam Sale 6 months ago and deciding it would be fun to revisit.

After reading several forums, everything is good to go now. Definitely took a bit of struggle though!

 

[Primethius]

I think the thing with PC gaming is that the experiences vary far more than console gaming. The latter is far more standardized.

Like I love PC gaming but I definitely have to tinker with it far more to play games than I do consoles. Right now I'm trying to fix Prey because it keeps crashing at startup (possible driver issue?).

Even things that PC gaming typically as a leg up in, such as support for a multitude of controllers, requires a bit of tinkering to setup properly.

It's sort of both the pro and the con of the ecosystem. It's highly versatile but that versatility does come at a cost.

 

[CyberChulo]

It's time for one of those threads again.

Just play on what you feel most comfortable with.


PS4 Pro for me! hahahahahaha.

 

[Demoskinos]

Sure, modern PC gaming is incredibly streamlined especially with stuff like Steam which automatically grabs patches and all of that jazz but even still I still just prefer consoles.

Why? Because even though PC gaming is way more streamlined and way easier there is also still room for way more errors. The other side of the coin to much greater upsides in performance means you also have to deal with potentially trouble shooting to get specific games to work (especially older ones) not being standardized the way consoles are are both a huge benefit and bane in my eyes.

I much prefer buying a 4-500$ console and knowing its just going to work for the next 5-7 years that its the relevant console on the market.

 

[pinballsummer]

I think the thing with PC gaming is that the experiences vary far more than console gaming. The latter is far more standardized.

Like I love PC gaming but I definitely have to tinker with it far more to play games than I do consoles. Right now I'm trying to fix Prey because it keeps crashing at startup (possible driver issue?).

Even things that PC gaming typically as a leg up in, such as support for a multitude of controllers, requires a bit of tinkering to setup properly.

It's sort of both the pro and the con of the ecosystem. It's highly versatile but that versatility does come at a cost.

^--- this guy nailed it.

Can we just change this thread to a poll?

- Who has tinkered
- Who has never tinkered

 

[Fess]

As someone said, this is two extremes arguing. With one side not acknowledging existence of the other side.

If you build (or buy) a powerful rig and only play modern games, you are likely to be lucky to never see any issues with games. It doesn't mean that everyone else has no issues with new games, when you just brute forced through issues.

If you want to play an old game and it's available to buy on a modern platform (not an old disc), you are not sure if the game will work on your modern machine. It could work outright, it could require minimal tinkering it could require a lot of searching. Even with GoG it's not guaranteed to run. If it is available to buy on a modern console, you know it will run.

Whether the fix is 5 minutes or not is irrelevant, because there are plenty of people who would either be incapable to do that or just don't want to deal with that off work (especially if they are working in IT and doing similar stuff during work).

So if you don't have any issues with your modern pc, or think that minor tinkering is acceptable, good for you. Not everyone has the same experience. And people tend to stick to negative experiences more than the positive ones.

Even if there are problems, which I personally haven't noticed yet, it's a bit odd to use old games as an answer to why PC gaming should be seen as problematic. Personally I think it's amazing that those games are still for sale, I bought Space Quest on GOG awhile ago, worked perfectly, a game from 1986 (!!!). Amazing.

 

[Tecnniqe]

^--- this guy nailed it.

Can we just change this thread to a poll?

- Who has tinkered
- Who has never tinkered

If you've never tinkered with anything ever you're a liar, therefor pool is mute.

Even if there are problems, which I personally haven't noticed yet, it's a bit odd to use old games as an answer to why PC gaming should be seen as problematic. Personally I think it's amazing that those games are still for sale, I bought Space Quest on GOG awhile ago, worked perfectly, a game from 1986 (!!!). Amazing.

Pretty clear by now people see options and possibilities as a hassle compared to being told yes or no by X company.

 

[pinballsummer]

I will love to record more vids but unfortunately its midnight here and i am in bed now. I can record more tomorrow if needed

No offense, but your videos are a bit pointless. I'm glad to hear you had zero problems - I'll admit, I'm surprised - considering everyone I know had to perform the same series of workarounds, modifications to settings / game files to get them all to work (especially GTA IV).

It doesn't prove these issues don't exist. It just shows you are one of the lucky ones (for unknown reasons). Cool - but.. a waste of your time.

 

[rtcn63]

Tinker, tailor, soldier, PC gamer

 

[pinballsummer]

If you've never tinkered with anything ever you're a liar, therefor pool is mute.


Pretty clear by now people see options and possibilities as a hassle compared to being told yes or no by X company.

True - but I seem to be one a few PC gamers in this thread who will actually admit that 'shit is always as cut and dry as you want it to be'. Am I mad about it? Hell no. Can it be frustrating? Absolutely.

To the people saying they don't every have to change settings, update drivers, re-configure software, troubleshoot hardware - just get over it. We're all nerds. It's OK. We can admit these things.

 

[shawnbuddy]

One thing that made me feel dumb after getting a gaming PC was that I guess I expected that if I downloaded an old game on Steam it would "just work." Like maybe they'd made adjustments to get it to run on modern configurations. Lol. I've got several games in my Steam Library, such as the original Bloodrayne, that simply don't play or don't play in any kind of acceptable state.

 

[jonscrambler]

sure lots of reasons people would prefer consoles over PC, except in XB1 threads where people say there's no reason to get an XB1 just get a PC

 

[pinballsummer]

Even if there are problems, which I personally haven't noticed yet, it's a bit odd to use old games as an answer to why PC gaming should be seen as problematic. Personally I think it's amazing that those games are still for sale, I bought Space Quest on GOG awhile ago, worked perfectly, a game from 1986 (!!!). Amazing.

I think my point was misguided and misinterpreted. I could have brought up examples of current games that required some 'tweaking' to get to run without issues - but the GTA series was something that I played just this Saturday and it was fresh in my memory.

It was well worth the tweaking, lemme tell ya!

 

[Magwik]

No offense, but your videos are a bit pointless. I'm glad to hear you had zero problems - I'll admit, I'm surprised - considering everyone I know had to perform the same series of workarounds, modifications to settings / game files to get them all to work (especially GTA IV).

It doesn't prove these issues don't exist. It just shows you are one of the lucky ones (for unknown reasons). Cool - but.. a waste of your time.

I have no idea what your argument is supposed to be here

 

[Fess]

Please do, would love to hear what happens.

I'm one of roughly 10 people I know personally who couldn't launch these games after seeing them on a Steam Sale 6 months ago and deciding it would be fun to revisit.

After reading several forums, everything is good to go now. Definitely took a bit of struggle though!

I had some issues with Dirt 3 which I bought at a summer sale, I could start it but couldn't log in to a Windows online service which had closed down (Games for Windows maybe?), but the devs updated it to a proper Steam version and then it worked perfectly.

So I absolutely understand that some older games can have issues.

But considering the state of backwards compatibility on consoles today I'd still say that PCs are the better choice even here.

You got your old GTA working, I got the old Dirt 3 working.

On consoles we're mostly forced to rely on HD remasters for old games, except for XB1 which "everybody" here hates anyway. (sorry that might be a bit too harsh, but you get the point)

 

[Tecnniqe]

True - but I seem to be one a few PC gamers in this thread who will actually admit that 'shit is always as cut and dry as you want it to be'. Am I mad about it? Hell no. Can it be frustrating? Absolutely.

To the people saying they don't every have to change settings, update drivers, re-configure software, troubleshoot hardware - just get over it. We're all nerds. It's OK. We can admit these things.

Nothing is 100% cut and dry regardless of system. Never.

Someone will always run into issues on the most dummy proof thing ever, however using old games as argument, driver, .ini and whatnot as being a hassle, is for the most part dumb.

If something breaks, you have an option to fix it, closed systems you might not.
If something isnt working properly, you have options for that as well be it drivers or community fixes.
and on and on and on...

Everyone wont like a PC and that's fine, but at least be up front and honest about it and stop hiding behind whats mostly BS excuses that haven't really existed for years because as PCs become easier and consoles more complex, even the most closed systems prove to have issues even with "oversight" and "approval" processes.

 

[pinballsummer]

One thing that made me feel dumb after getting a gaming PC was that I guess I expected that if I downloaded an old game on Steam it would "just work." Like maybe they'd made adjustments to get it to run on modern configurations. Lol. I've got several games in my Steam Library, such as the original Bloodrayne, that simply don't play or don't play in any kind of acceptable state.

Bingo. Just like when you buy a game on PSN - it just works. This is precisely the point I was trying to make with my GTA example. I assumed it was 'just work'. It didn't. I tweaked. Now we all good!

(now i realize they're not available on PSN - literally did not know that - which is apparently why everyone is jumping on my ass about for that example)

 

[pinballsummer]

Nothing is 100% cut and dry regardless of system. Never.

Someone will always run into issues on the most dummy proof thing ever, however using old games as argument, driver, .ini and whatnot as being a hassle, is for the most part dumb.

If something breaks, you have an option to fix it, closed systems you might not.
If something isnt working properly, you have options for that as well be it drivers or community fixes.
and on and on and on...

Everyone wont like a PC and that's fine, but at least be up front and honest about it and stop hiding behind whats mostly BS excuses that haven't really existed for years because as PCs become easier and consoles more complex, even the most closed systems prove to have issues even with "oversight" and "approval" processes.

Again - I assumed older GTA titles were available on PSN and XBN. Which would make them 'older games, but available for current consoles'. Kinda' like how they're older games but 'available and still go on sale regularly on Steam'.

I don't have any consoles, so I was assuming. My bad. If you are still missing the point after this explanation - I give up.

 

[perfectsil]

Just like some people like tinkering their cars and some just want a Carolla that works.

 

[dock]

I've had so many headaches with PC gaming.

I bought an Alienware Alpha R2 at the start of the year to avoid headaches as much as possible. In terms of statistics it matches all the stats of the most common configuration on Steam's user hardware test. Despite this I still managed to get plenty of games on Steam that simply don't work correctly, or even work at all.

I've been grateful for Steam's refund policy, but whenever I buy a PC game I still expect some degree of friction, especially if using the PC without a keyboard and mouse.

 

[Tecnniqe]

Just like some people like tinkering their cars and some just want a Carolla that works.

Yeah, but as long as they say they just want a Corolla and not start talking about how that other car require daily maintenance nobody will have an issue with it.

 

[wonderful103]

Bingo. Just like when you buy a game on PSN - it just works. This is precisely the point I was trying to make with my GTA example. I assumed it was 'just work'. It didn't. I tweaked. Now we all good!

(now i realize they're not available on PSN - literally did not know that - which is apparently why everyone is jumping on my ass about for that example)

There have been plenty of poorly working or outright broken games on PSN over the years. Only difference is that you can't fix or improve it yourself.

 

[Fess]

Just like some people like tinkering their cars and some just want a Carolla that works.

I guess I have a Skoda Superb in that case, always get great results and even winning in some tests but maybe not the sporty BMW kids dream about.

 

[jim2point0]

sure lots of reasons people would prefer consoles over PC, except in XB1 threads where people say there's no reason to get an XB1 just get a PC

I'm pretty sure those people are attempting some sort of reverse psychology hoping that the "just get a PC" mindset will work it's way back to Microsoft and they'll miraculously decide to keep their console exclusives off the PC platform.

 

[Tecnniqe]

I guess I have a Skoda Superb in that case, always get great results and even winning in some tests but maybe not the sporty BMW kids dream about.

 

[Animagne]

I am retro gamer and I find that older games work better as example, because you can run into issues more frequently with them and you are unlikely to ever get a fix. I love CD Projekt, enhanced editions of crpgs and even blizzard (both for new patch and incomming remaster for scbw). They are preserving old games. I could keep old PC hardware to preserve those games, like I do with consoles, but it's arguably much more difficult to do so.

People still run into with these issues with modern games. Whether that game is a few years old when you got around to playing it and you are hoping that someone ran into same issue as you. Or it's a new release that could require you waiting for a patch or newer drivers. Those issues do exist, but not at the same scale, therefore it's higher variance how often you run into them.

 

[Jams775]

Bingo. Just like when you buy a game on PSN - it just works. This is precisely the point I was trying to make with my GTA example. I assumed it was 'just work'. It didn't. I tweaked. Now we all good!

(now i realize they're not available on PSN - literally did not know that - which is apparently why everyone is jumping on my ass about for that example)

There's some PS2 game on PSN that I heard people saying to stay away from because the emulation adds so much lag it was unplayable. I think it was a shoot'em up. Nothing anyone can do themselves to fix it and no hope for somebody else to post a fix like you can on PC.

 

[deletethis123]

So I have better than average computer. 5820K, 1070, etc. I tend to buy single player games on PC to get the best experience possible, so I bought Nier Automata.

Now, the PC version of Nier automata lets me fix performance by using FAR and changing global illumination, which is great!

But I was playing on my TV, monitor off. Started the game and FAR had an update so I had to find the keyboard/mouse in order to update/install the mod. That took like a minute at most but the point is I had to tinker with it. Most people do not want to do that because they're too lazy, scared or something else entirely and that's okay.

I plan on buying Destiny2 on PS4 because that's also where my friends play and that's okay too. PC gaming is not for everyone, same as console gaming is not for everyone.

 

[jonscrambler]

Just like some people like tinkering their cars and some just want a Carolla that works.

if tinkering means changing settings to find an optimal setting for my rig, sure I like doing that. but if you mean I have to tinker to make a game work at all or perform better than console versions that just rarely happens nowadays. Prey runs like crap on PS4 Pro and there's nothing I can do about it.

 

[KageMaru]

As someone said, this is two extremes arguing. With one side not acknowledging existence of the other side.

If you build (or buy) a powerful rig and only play modern games, you are likely to be lucky to never see any issues with games. It doesn't mean that everyone else has no issues with new games, when you just brute forced through issues.

If you want to play an old game and it's available to buy on a modern platform (not an old disc), you are not sure if the game will work on your modern machine. It could work outright, it could require minimal tinkering it could require a lot of searching. Even with GoG it's not guaranteed to run. If it is available to buy on a modern console, you know it will run.

Whether the fix is 5 minutes or not is irrelevant, because there are plenty of people who would either be incapable to do that or just don't want to deal with that off work (especially if they are working in IT and doing similar stuff during work).

So if you don't have any issues with your modern pc, or think that minor tinkering is acceptable, good for you. Not everyone has the same experience. And people tend to stick to negative experiences more than the positive ones.

Great post. Truth is PCs are quite as seamless as consoles and in reality we don't want them to be. The moment that happens is the moment we lose the open nature of the PC environment.

 

[Hux1ey]

Nope. I don't adjust anything there.

You don't even know what setting you are on in your pro games or if they're even enabled?

I've had so many headaches with PC gaming.

I bought an Alienware Alpha R2 at the start of the year to avoid headaches as much as possible. In terms of statistics it matches all the stats of the most common configuration on Steam's user hardware test. Despite this I still managed to get plenty of games on Steam that simply don't work correctly, or even work at all.

I've been grateful for Steam's refund policy, but whenever I buy a PC game I still expect some degree of friction, especially if using the PC without a keyboard and mouse.

That was your first mistake.

 

[Fess]

I'm pretty sure those people are attempting some sort of reverse psychology hoping that the "just get a PC" mindset will work it's way back to Microsoft and they'll miraculously decide to keep their console exclusives off the PC platform.

I sure hope not!
I'm still on Windows 7 but once I upgrade to Windows 10 I'll finally get the full blissful benefit of PC gaming. Already bought the game on XB1 digitally, so I'll get it for free on PC, triple 144hz screens and steering wheel with the best racer ever made! Talking about Forza Horizon 3!!!

 

[JimboJones]

There's some PS2 game on PSN that I heard people saying to stay away from because the emulation adds so much lag it was unplayable. I think it was a shoot'em up. Nothing anyone can do themselves to fix it and no hope for somebody else to post a fix like you can on PC.

Pretty common on European stores to get 50htz versions of the games, and I don't think you can even output in 50htz on modern consoles anymore.
Virtual console on Wii was particularly bad, some games just straight up did not display on a HDTV through component cables.

 

[KageMaru]

I'm pretty sure those people are attempting some sort of reverse psychology hoping that the "just get a PC" mindset will work it's way back to Microsoft and they'll miraculously decide to keep their console exclusives off the PC platform.

Or they are trolling like some do here assuming that there aren't people who are console only gamers and enjoy MS exclusives. Of all my console playing friend that use Xbox consoles, I'm the only one to move to PC but I can understand why they stick with the console.

 

[pinballsummer]

Pretty common on European stores to get 50htz versions of the games, and I don't think you can even output in 50htz on modern consoles anymore.
Virtual console on Wii was particularly bad, some games just straight up did not display on a HDTV through component cables.

I did not realize this. Every digital game purchased from PSN or XBL in my lifetime has worked without problems.

Well damn... that's surprising to me. Definitely something new I learned today.

 

[Joco]

I built a PC in late 2015 and 6 months into having it I was getting constant blue screens of death. After two months of having replaced my entire build part by part they finally stopped (I believe the motherboard was at fault). So after a lot of frustrating, hair pulling troubleshooting and spending double the cost of the original PC's price everything seemed to be ok. But it is not, in no way as simple as "everything just works".

 

[Clarkus Darkus]

It's been answered a few times in the thread already, Everyone's PC is different too the next, My personal experiences haven't been great whether it was laptops or desktops. Had the BSOD twice, Many crashes and overheating issues.

And in the UK they charge a fortune where i live to fix your PC.

I'll stick with the PS4 pro and PSVR, They just work unlike my previous PC's.

 

[wonderful103]

I built a PC in late 2015 and 6 months into having it I was getting constant blue screens of death. After two months of having replaced my entire build part by part they finally stopped (I believe the motherboard was at fault). So after a lot of frustrating, hair pulling troubleshooting and spending double the cost of the original PC's price everything seemed to be ok. But it is not, in no way as simple as "everything just works".

I call shenanigans. Computer parts have warranty. Minimum of 1 year, in fact.