I love the surface book. It's a very convenient platform, but it's really not close to high end laptops, or even in the same ballpark. It's a really nice ultrabook.
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Why is PC gaming still considered difficult with too much tinkering?
- Thread starter Fess
- Start date
I love the surface book. It's a very convenient platform, but it's really not close to high end laptops, or even in the same ballpark. It's a really nice ultrabook.
Fess
Member
I'm still on my day 1 install though so I can't relate to any of that, which is my point of view when starting this thread.
Like I said, maybe I'm just very lucky here, or maybe the ones with lots of issues are unlucky or tinkered with something they should've left alone, who knows?
Feels like the talk about silent/noisy PS4 Pros. Who do you believe, the ones complaining or the ones defending the complaints? Maybe the best thing is to give it a try and make up your own idea of how things are?
I'm most definitely sold on PC gaming from what I've seen so far, that's for sure. The cost is basically the only hurdle I've noticed.
Jest Chillin
Member
There are far more people who have run into issues on PC than those who have not. And "Just try it" is a tall order when the bar for entry is around $1k~
Because I just tried playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution the other day, and after spending 30 minutes trying to remove the god damn stuttering and wierd mouse controls I just uninstalled. All of this on a PC that should destroy the game.
After going back to consoles I really can't play PC anymore because I always try to get the best possible experience and many times it's just frustrating. On a console I just don't give a fuck and play it as it is.
The only thing I play on PC now is WoW and thankfully it is fairly well polished and runs pretty smooth-
After going back to consoles I really can't play PC anymore because I always try to get the best possible experience and many times it's just frustrating. On a console I just don't give a fuck and play it as it is.
The only thing I play on PC now is WoW and thankfully it is fairly well polished and runs pretty smooth-
Moon_frogger
Member
This is the thing. When we get a port that just 100 percent works with no tinkering it's almost like we have to create a thread celebrating it. That right there should tell you something about pc gaming. I mean, it's worth it to me but come on guys....let's not pretend the ease of use is comparable here. It's not very often I have to wonder if a game is going to run properly.... or at all, on my PS4
Huge Succeeded
Banned
I feel like a port that 'just works' is the norm and not the exception.
IronicSonic
Member
Even as a console gamer, I have an Steam account and I've played games on PC. And convienience is still champ on console enviroments even with those nasty day 1 update or PS4Pro configurations. This is fact IMHO
With the console versions I'm stuck with 30fps and terrible IQ, with the PC verison, even though it's a pretty lame port, at least the fixes are available at all.
The Futurist
Member
So many people here live in such ridiculous bubbles.
I have all the consoles and a pretty good PC and for every 10 people I know who play on consoles, I know 1 that plays the same types of the games on PC. I'd love to play BF1 at 4k60 with everything maxed out, but I don't because I don't know a single person that plays on PC, and I know 5-6 who play on consoles. So I bought it and occasionally play it by myself.
I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand that no matter how much easier PC gaming has gotten, it's still way more complicated than playing games on a console.
People don't care about IQ, resolution and whatever nonsense PC gamers think is important. Yeah, it's important to those people, but the average person doesn't care and doesn't want to deal with it.
I've tried many times to get my friends, especially the slightly younger ones to get into PC gaming, but they don't want to. They want to sit on their couch, put in a disc, pick up a controller and play. They don't want to deal with drivers, settings, resolutions and everything else that goes with PC gaming. They don't want to deal with Windows, steam, origin, ubisoft, and whatever other services they will be forced to use depending on the game.
Console gaming has always been easier than PC gaming and that isn't going to change any time soon.
I have all the consoles and a pretty good PC and for every 10 people I know who play on consoles, I know 1 that plays the same types of the games on PC. I'd love to play BF1 at 4k60 with everything maxed out, but I don't because I don't know a single person that plays on PC, and I know 5-6 who play on consoles. So I bought it and occasionally play it by myself.
I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand that no matter how much easier PC gaming has gotten, it's still way more complicated than playing games on a console.
People don't care about IQ, resolution and whatever nonsense PC gamers think is important. Yeah, it's important to those people, but the average person doesn't care and doesn't want to deal with it.
I've tried many times to get my friends, especially the slightly younger ones to get into PC gaming, but they don't want to. They want to sit on their couch, put in a disc, pick up a controller and play. They don't want to deal with drivers, settings, resolutions and everything else that goes with PC gaming. They don't want to deal with Windows, steam, origin, ubisoft, and whatever other services they will be forced to use depending on the game.
Console gaming has always been easier than PC gaming and that isn't going to change any time soon.
OmegaDL50
Member
There is also some folks that honestly believe if a port runs the same as the console version without any performance issues despite not getting visual or framerate improvements tailored for PC hardware, it's considered a "bad port"
Old Gimlet Eyes
Member
Quoted for the mutha fuckin Truth.
nextgeneration
Member
Well said. End of discussion.
pinballsummer
Member
Lots of PC Gamers drastically oversimplify every aspect of PC Gaming. I don't doubt building it was easy and 'everything just works' for them. That's cool that their level of technical proficiency is higher than most - but statements like that just come off condescending.
Anyone thinking of switching to PC gaming - I do highly recommend it - but understand you will very likely experience some headaches along the way. It takes some work initially (and maintaining it), but it's a great pay off. Take with a grain of salt the comments of people that say 'it just works', 'it's like plug & play' because you are most likely going to feel misled. Is it as easy the console experience? It can be. I just turned my PC on and it instantly booted into Steam Big Picture. Picked up my controller - and was into a game within seconds.
But overall, I'd be blatantly lying to say it's been as easy or as user friendly of an experience as what I have found on consoles. It's just not. In the grand scheme of things, there is more room for error on PC, more risks of conflicting drivers, software updates that go wrong, etc. If you don't want to ever have to tinker with anything (reconfiguring settings, uninstalling / reinstalling drivers, troubleshooting driver/os updates that cause issues), I can't recommend you switch to PC just yet. It's worth the payoff to me - and I've learned a lot about PCs because of my experiences building / configuring / troubleshooting. But I definitely wouldn't steer some of my less technical consoller friends in this direction... yet. They would be lost.
Consoles or PCs - they definitely both have huge pros & cons. But of course many refuse to admit that.
Anyone thinking of switching to PC gaming - I do highly recommend it - but understand you will very likely experience some headaches along the way. It takes some work initially (and maintaining it), but it's a great pay off. Take with a grain of salt the comments of people that say 'it just works', 'it's like plug & play' because you are most likely going to feel misled. Is it as easy the console experience? It can be. I just turned my PC on and it instantly booted into Steam Big Picture. Picked up my controller - and was into a game within seconds.
But overall, I'd be blatantly lying to say it's been as easy or as user friendly of an experience as what I have found on consoles. It's just not. In the grand scheme of things, there is more room for error on PC, more risks of conflicting drivers, software updates that go wrong, etc. If you don't want to ever have to tinker with anything (reconfiguring settings, uninstalling / reinstalling drivers, troubleshooting driver/os updates that cause issues), I can't recommend you switch to PC just yet. It's worth the payoff to me - and I've learned a lot about PCs because of my experiences building / configuring / troubleshooting. But I definitely wouldn't steer some of my less technical consoller friends in this direction... yet. They would be lost.
Consoles or PCs - they definitely both have huge pros & cons. But of course many refuse to admit that.
wonderful103
Member
Have you visited a digital foundry thread lately? Grassgate? PS4 Pro patch outrage threads? Xbone resolution trolling for the past few years? Switch threads with "lol 720p"? Seems that there are people that care.
Loading a storefront/launcher and plugging in an HDMI cable (and pairing/plugging in a controller) are things that are common on all platforms. Including PC. And all modern games/GPUs have auto-detection that generally works.
RichiRamjag
Member
Very well said, but we'll see another thread like this in a few months.
Lol. When you're using fanboy arguments that take place in comment sections as evidence, you've gone off the deep end.
Jest Chillin
Member
Even the craziest Digital Foundry thread on NeoGaf is still on NeoGaf, where 90% of the members are high level enthusiasts of gaming in general. This is not indicative of the average gaming populace. At all.
As a PC player mainly (who has had very little issues) I agree with most of what you are saying.
Except what i've quoted.
This whole console generation has lived and died on IQ and resolution. Its about to get wild with the Scorpio coming out too.
Anecdotally all my friends, most of which are "casuals" bought a PS4 rather than XBox One due to the perception (and reality) that PS4 was "more powerful"
pinballsummer
Member
Same. I'll admit - IQ / resolution was the biggest thing that drove me to PC from PS4. I love graphics and playing GTA V maxed out on a PC was a magical thing for me.
4 out of my 6 gaming friends mainly game on PC, PC is fucking huge where I live with CS:GO, LoL, Dota 2, and now Battlegrounds. Most of them actually know fuck all about PC's and never have, I help them when I can but they mainly buy pre-builts, stick the game to 1080p, set graphical pre-sets to max and go, and if the fps is lower than they like, they lower it to high/medium.
No arguing overall consoles are more simple but PC is as hard as you make it to an extent. I mean my 360 RROD'd more times than I've ever BSOD'd and all that did was reset my PC, not make me pay 30 quid each time to get the damn thing fixed.
I'd argue many of you are exaggerating how difficult it is to game on PC.
RichiRamjag
Member
Enthusiasts care. Fanboys care because it helps their silly arguments. It's going to get wild with Scorpio (in part)because of the people I referenced above. Many of the rest couldn't tell you a damn thing about frame rate and they only know resolution as a buzz word.
The Futurist
Member
I don't want anyone to get me wrong, I play games on PC because to me the hassle is worth it.
I've had friends come over and I've shown them games running in 4k. However, when I tell them I spent 3K on a PC and then try to very gently explain about resolution and other nonsense like that, their eyes rightfully roll back up into their heads.
It's obscene that a 1080 ti FE plus hybrid cooler costs almost as much as all three consoles.
Yeah, I loved building my PC. Getting all the parts, downloading all the software, benchmarking, trying different video drivers to get the best possible scores, overclocking, it's great.
Or absolutely ridiculous when the alternative is plugging in an HDMI cable, a power cable and connecting to wifi.
It's not difficult to you or me. It's a gigantic pain in the ass for the average person. Especially someone who is used to playing games on console.
I've had friends come over and I've shown them games running in 4k. However, when I tell them I spent 3K on a PC and then try to very gently explain about resolution and other nonsense like that, their eyes rightfully roll back up into their heads.
It's obscene that a 1080 ti FE plus hybrid cooler costs almost as much as all three consoles.
Yeah, I loved building my PC. Getting all the parts, downloading all the software, benchmarking, trying different video drivers to get the best possible scores, overclocking, it's great.
Or absolutely ridiculous when the alternative is plugging in an HDMI cable, a power cable and connecting to wifi.
It's not difficult to you or me. It's a gigantic pain in the ass for the average person. Especially someone who is used to playing games on console.
Yet those same people will often say how smooth CoD feels compared to other games they own, wonder why.
jonscrambler
Member
people don't care about IQ and resolution? must be a PC gaming thread
pinballsummer
Member
Oh man - I relate to this 10000%. Totally agree.
RichiRamjag
Member
Yeah, sure. We've all had many friends say that in casual conversations.
Lister
Banned
Lol, what a great argument... if you don't understand anythign about logical fallacies or cognitive biases.
1. The plural of anecdote is not data.
2. PC gaming is LARGER than console gaming.
Dark Souls comes to mind. No problems running it on console. All kinds of graphical issues running it on my PC setup "out of the box". The issue with PC gaming is there is so many different hardware configs out there. While you may never run into any issues, someone else with a different setup may run into issues.
Abilidebob
Member
I mean, you talk about others being in a bubble, while the biggest games on this planet are on PC. League of Legends alone has more players than PS4 and X1 users combined. It also makes more money yearly than any GTA V, while costing a fraction of the latter. When you take mobile gaming out of the picture(and that's a whole different beast), PC gaming is bigger than console gaming. In userbase, mindshare and profits. If your bubble is composed mainly of console gamers that's fine! But just remember that before talking about someone else's bubble you try and pop yours.
IronicSonic
Member
Probably on GAF
funkystudent
Member
I just think most people would rather have a laptop and a console versus a powerful desktop gaming PC.
Desktop PCs just dont seem like a thing most people these days buy and gaming laptops are so expensive and ugly I dont know who buys them.
And yeah. There is a argument to be made about how important POWER!!! is to the average consumer. Cheap entry cost + games has always seemed like what matters.
Desktop PCs just dont seem like a thing most people these days buy and gaming laptops are so expensive and ugly I dont know who buys them.
And yeah. There is a argument to be made about how important POWER!!! is to the average consumer. Cheap entry cost + games has always seemed like what matters.
I have, all my friends and past friends have been gamers.
I remember playing Gran Turismo 3 when I was 11 years old and having my jaw dropped at how smooth it felt compared to Gran Turismo 2. I didn't know why, but I know I loved it.
The Futurist
Member
Yeah, and cell phone gaming is larger than everything.
Huge Succeeded
Banned
Dude, it's a common sentiment. I've heard that shit in real life like a dozen times, I shit you not. And that's to say nothing of how CoD4 has been out for over a decade now, people have been discussing these games for over a decade now, and that is by far the most oft-cited difference between CoD and damn near every other shooter on the market - 'that it feels smoother'.
It doesn't really matter, I'm just sayin'
jonscrambler
Member
I would be rolling my eyes too, my PC costs nowhere near 3K, most people's gaming PC don't
That's the great thing about PC, you can go as big or small as you'd like! Options yay! Wait they're a bad thing to some right?
Tripolygon
Banned
Battlefield 1 Multiplayer Stats as of today.
28,179 = PC
47,461 = Xbox One
83,374 = PS4
The Futurist
Member
To be fair, I'm on the older side.
3K on a PC would have had me rolling my eyes when I was younger.
Abilidebob
Member
Lister
Banned
What the fuck does this nonsense have to do with the OP?
"Why is Pc gmaing still considered difficult?"
"Consoles are cheaper!"
Huge Succeeded
Banned
hoooooly fk
why are so many console gamers convinced that the only popular games that exist are AAA multiplats and bombastic exclusives
RichiRamjag
Member
No its not. You chill on gaf most of the time and deal with other gamers, so I'm sure it may seem so, but it really isn't. Just going to leave this one alone. What was it, insominiac that said frame rate had no impact on sales? There's a reason 60fps isn't a focus for many devs. The majority of consumers have no idea what frame rate is or its impact.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
But I love the idea of what it tries to do.
The idea of one device that acts like a touch enabled device you can draw and work on, but still have the power to video edit and do hardcore productivity, but still the battery to be a workhorse that last 10+ hours, and still be a consumption device with fantastic keyboard and mouse support.
If I could ditch my dedicated tablet, my wacom and laptop for this one device as a singular entity. That would be very special.
Jest Chillin
Member
LoL, Hearthstone, WoW, etc.. can and are played on average home computers. So touting their population numbers doesn't fit for this conversation which is about ease of use of Consoles compared to Gaming PCs.
Huge Succeeded
Banned
I've been on GAF for two years and have barely talked about Call of Duty in that time. This shit stems from personal experience IRL.
It's such a common sentiment that it boggles the mind that you believe otherwise.
People love CoD for it's fast paced, silky smooth gameplay. That is down to in large part the framerate. Whether they know it or not.
Disingenuous, both BF and CoD have geared gameplay to capture a console audience for nearly a decade. In the ecology of PC FPSes, nobody has the desire to keep playing or be good at Battlefield. That's what CS:GO and Overwatch do.
The best option for a console price is a console. That's the whole point.That's the great thing about PC, you can go as big or small as you'd like! Options yay! Wait they're a bad thing to some right?
Huge Succeeded
Banned
I can't even.
I just can't even. You actually just said that.
Did you read the chain of posts you were responding to before making that irrelevant post that wouldn't even make sense even if it were relevant?
Lister
Banned
Oh man. <insert face palm gif here>
Jack Scofield
Member
The bigger question is why do PC gamers have the constant need to feel validated for playing on a PC?