Gamernode: News - Mark Rein: consoles stealing hardcore PC gamers

Epic needs to cry more IMO. I personally don't care about all of their bitching.

I really like Epic, I feel like they "get me." I know it's not a big deal, but the fact that I can play UT3 without the dvd in my drive, and can speed through the into crap with just spamming left click.

I don't think PC gaming will die anytime soon, but it is ashame that the sales are not as good as they should be for titles like UT3 and Crysis.

The thing is that PC games always remind you of how crappy your computer is. Then you need to upgrade, than you realize the upgrade is now outdated, so you upgrade again, until your computer is beaten seven months later...

It kind of sucks to see this happening, because although yes, the PC will be supported as a gaming platform until the end of time, it's just not as good a choice for developers/publishers. I'm not going to pretend to know the actual breakdown of costs and profits for PC versus consoles, but the sales numbers speak for themselves.

And while I am pretty impressed with the level of sophistication I can get with a console these days, I don't like the fact that it's all pre-packaged stuff. Harder to mod, less flexibility with controls, licensing restrictions limiting what indie devs can come up with... It's just that much more commercialized and that much less freedom taken from the gamers.

Doesn't seem like anyone's in much of a rush to change things around, though. Consoles suck in more of the average Joes, companies post record gains, and nearly everyone is happy. Oh well.

i was a hardcore PC gamer, but i bought a 360 about a year ago just to have around when friends came over. i havent played a retail PC game since

meh PC is the only system I play...of course I have lots of consoles, I played like 90 hours of PC games in a month and like 30 minutes of console games

The only PC games I play nowadays are Source based games, emulated games of yesteryear and older games that pushed the Radeon 9600 to it's limit! That said I mostly play mods and map packs, which is what the Consoles have no grip on.

Yeah, my PC's old, yeah I need to upgrade but am I going to any time soon? Nope. Sad fact, PC's are all about upgrading. Luckily you can get top of the range gaming hardware much cheaper 6months after it comes out. Or you could just buy a console.

blusey just hit the nail on the head of the problem. Most PC users don't actually realise the fact of PC's have to be upgraded. Once you have accepted that and put you money down for doing that you'll realise it's not actually that expensive to upgrade.

£300 will buy you a PS3 in England. For the same price you can also pick up an 8800GT 512MB and a Core 2 Duo, which if you have upgraded in the last couple of years should fit into your system nicely. If not another £100 will future proof you long after the PS3 will.

I have to be honest here. If consoles ever come up with something to match the KB/mouse move/aim control on FPS games, I'm done with all PC gaming that requires me to upgrade every 6 months. I already prefer games like Assassin's Creed and Burnout Paradise on consoles. 3rd-person adventures and drivers are covered.

While I sympathize with the Call of Duty 4 example (every one of my friends has it on the 360 while I got it on the PC), but I love my consoles just as much as my PC. Consoles aren't stealing PC gamers, they're just pulling in people who find the whole "put in a disc, play the game" idea far more appealing than spending a couple thousand bucks for the same result on a computer, except with a little more hassle. It's not theft, its picking up another crowd. And I'm sure that sharing fans between consoles and PCs isn't that uncommon, right?

It's all overblown, yeah. And like the reviewer up there said, it's been the same cry for 10 years, or whatever. I have both. For FPS, and some games I'd just rather play on PC because I have better rez, it's more convenient, etc. I haven't shelled out the thousands for the same quality in an entertainment center with a new HD TV (and I sure won't anytime soon...), so I'd rather play what I can on the PC. I think upgrades aren't needed every 6 months, only if you really want to play things at the max, which is great, of course. The main thing, I've found out, that helps your PC is memory. You don't need the top, top of the line graphics card, or core duo, quad core, etc., if your PC is maxed out on memory. And, memory costs a hell of lot less than those. My PC is more than 3 years old now. It's an XPS generation 4. I don't have the capability of upgrading to dual core, but my processor's no slouch either. A hyper-threaded Pentium 4 is just about as good. The graphics card I had until a few months ago was the one it came with over 3 years prior – nVidia 6300. I could still play a game like F.E.A.R. on medium-high settings. I upgraded memory and got a lot better performance a few months back. Because I could, I decided to get a better graphics card also, in an 8600 GTS, so not the top one, and it was relatively cheap. All of this together, and a new sound card also, was a few hundred, first time in 3 years+. Suposedly, a PC that old is getting outdated. Fat chance, as it runs Crysis on high -- high, mind you -- for most of the sections (also upgraded to Vista a couple months ago any so have the option for very high, DX10 shaders, etc., but that would kill the performance, lol -- and that's true of even top of the line PCs now, so, not really an issue... *note: but Bioshock I can run with DX10 shaders on and everything maxed out with no choppiness, or anything, so not bad, indeed). Not bad for without dual core -- something supposedly required and will cost you an arm and a leg to get, if your PC doesn't come with it. Just remember, you can do a lot more with PCs than they say you can, if you really go for memory, which can be found relatively cheaply, and if you pace your buys. Note that installing new stuff can be a trial and error process also. The 8600 needed to be powered externally, and I knew there wasn't any spot on the motherboard to plug it in, and this PC has what wattage supplying it pretty hidden from regular view, so I thought I needed an external power supply, which I didn't, etc., etc. It came with a splitter connector for an SATA cable, which I am using my CD burner to power it, and I have the right wattage... But, even if I didn't do all of that, I could have gotten by on just memory playing stuff at high, or medium, but not maxed out, most likely. So, again, you can do more with less, is my point.

Anyway, consoles are great too, but I still play my PS2, and Gamecube, because I won't shell out the retarded amount of money for the new consoles now. I was thinking about an X-BOX 360 that's used, maybe a year, or two old, just because it's cheap. I still might *if* Mass Effect and Shadows of the Empire will stay their word of no porting for the PC. I find that X-Box games which aren't also being made for PC a little strange, actually. If a company makes it for a mini computer, it should have no qualms about porting it for major ones:p Imho. Anyway, if they aren't ported, I will get the 360 for them, because they look outstanding.

I think it all comes down to where you sit and what you use more than the other also. If you've invested in your entertainment area, living room, etc., and you don't use your PC for everything, or more than like 30% of the time, than you'll prefer consoles. If you use your PC for most everything, like work, school, playing movies, etc., then it's more natural to prefer that. For me, that makes sense, anyway. I prefer not to have to constantly change wires for this or that too like you do between your DVD player, your PS2, etc, and I also prefer to have the best picture and sound quality possible when viewing anything, so that naturally for me is my PC. For others who've shelled out thousands for their living room entertainment centers, then they naturally would want to be there more. I, consequently, have been going more and more away from my console wants.

Anyway, I'd better stop before I go on too long. Oh wait, too late:p