Thread: Mass Effect
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Old 10-12-2005, 09:04 AM   #37
SoccerDude28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk
I'm happier with TV output, even analogue if forced to it. I'm not sitting so close to a little monitor and squinting so I guess I don't need as high resolution. The chatting and the relaxed atmosphere in the living room probably helps a little too. If you're truly fixated with computer monitors, the 360 and PS3 plug straight into them also.
That's a personal preference you have. But if you are really fixated into TV output, your graphics card can plug into one too. It is a 2 way street you know. Get a wireless keyboard and mouse and you are set.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk
Being able to play old games is a pithy reason to assume the PC is a superior platform. Of the hundreds of games in my cupboards from a wasted youth the number of titles I revisit is very small. The number of revisited titles I actually finish a second time, and enjoy as much as the first time is smaller still. Being able to play years old titles means little to me (and to those willing to look past sentimentality - note to self take own advice and give away old games).
I don't play old games for sentimental value. I play them because some of them are very good and I have missed playing them back when they were released. Like I am playing now Gabriel Knight 2, a true classic. I don't need to go back and buy an old console to do that. I just plug it in, a small patch and I'm ready to go. Try playing a Sega game this way. Oh wait, you can on a PC. And with services like Turner's, it's even legal now.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk
User made mods for games are great, but along with no price tag comes hassles. For users and developers. That said, have you seen Far Cry Instincts for Xbox? It comes with a map editor... another divide closing?
What hassles for developers? Actually developers love people making mods, and they endorse it completely. For one it gives the game a longer shelf life. The best example I can come up with is Counter Strike. The mod itself might have contributed better sales to the original game, and it was so good that Valve bought the rights for it. They are even selling it now. How awesome is that? People to this day are still playing Total Annihilation because of the different mods you could get for that game. Take Sims 2 for example. My girlfriend plays it, and she loves downloading all these extra objects from EA's website. With the 360, you PAY for them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk
Prices for PC games may well remain a few bob cheaper than console titles at first release, but they hardly compare to console titles in retention of value on the second hand market. Putting the money saved on new release PC titles towards new hardware just to keep up with the Joneses hardly seems like an argument in favour of the PC as a platform.
Hmmm let's see, I bought GTA:SA for the PS2 back in 2004 for 49.99, 6 months later, I sold it on EBAY for 17 bucks. Great retention value huh?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk
I have already stated my dislike for managing video settings on a game by game basis, updating drivers etc, despite my competency to do so. Greater customisation of these things doesn't strike me as points in favour of the PC as a platform. Suggesting that updating drivers is optional is utter nonsense. Tell me with a straight face you could have avoided doing it over a 3 year period and still play every game released to the PC over that time.
Customisation isn't that bad unless you have a really old graphics card. Most games already detect the optimal setting for you, so you can play it straight out of the box if you want. But I personally customize to get an even nicer picture, no jaggies. Don't customize and you'll still get XBOX-like graphics quality.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk
My comments on boycotting where in response to people complaining about developers making titles exclusive to consoles (spurning the PC as a platform) so any discussion about crossover is moot.

Allow me to address your 'all in one' (my computer does it all) points with the following sarcasm:

I love playing a game only to be interrupted by an instant message, especially when it forces its way to the front stalling my game or worse crashing it. Not to mention breaking the mood. I woudn't dream of disabling the messenger while playing my game because I'm all about 'all in one'. Similarly I love hitting the windows key. Having access to my office applications at the touch of a button, even in the middle of a game is important to me.

Nothing makes me happier than when my PC hard crashes due to a system hog of a computer game (and aren't they all these days). Putting my applications, data and my livelyhood at risk... "All in one!"
I don't understand why you open instant messanger when you are playing games. That is just asking for trouble on your part. I was mentioning that computers are good at playing games, and office applications, BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME. Plus the talk about PC hard crashes due to a system hog is just unfair. Have a good enough system, and this won't happen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk
PC's make great Personal Computers. As a gaming/entertainment platform, they're not all that great. The notion that developers should support the PC by default independantly of whatever console they develop for is rediculous.
No in my opinion they make the best gaming/entertainment systems. They are versetile, network ready, open to everyone and not monopolized by a corporation. You only need one of them to play games not 3. Just go ask a developer how easy it is to get approval to make a game for a console, and how happy they are that the console company gets part of the profit on the games sold.
I am not saying that all developers should support PC's. For example, I'm totally fine with not having the latest Soul Calibaur on the PC. I am saying that if a developer like Bioware made its fame on the PC, and if a game plays well on a PC (like western RPG's usually do), and if there is an audience for the games (Bioware has a rabid PC fanbase), than it is just fair to make the game available for your fans. Just go to their forums and see how many posts asked for JE to be ported to the PC. So basically, I am saying that developers should support the PC by default independantly of whatever console they develop for if they are a PC developer to begin with and have a PC fanbase.

One last thing, if consoles are to be universal entities of gaming, than why do you have 3 of them? I don't have to buy 3 different DVD players to play 3 different DVD's. Especially when the overlap is 90% and the only difference is 10 %. That is absurd. And if they are to be universal entities, they should control well with all types of games. Like a First person shooter for example. Once we have that universal entity that controls well for all game types, that can be manufactured by different companies, and you choose which one you want to buy from, and that can play ALL games, than I will be all for consoles.
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Last edited by SoccerDude28; 10-12-2005 at 09:10 AM.
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