[imisssunwell]

Originally Posted by Gazzoid

I used to just stick to PC gaming myself. Older titles though. I never bothered with all the latest releases as they never interested me as much as they do now. When a friend inspired me, I decided to get an XBOX console (the 360) and everything eventually changed. My first 360 game was Hitman: Blood Money, which I enjoyed, but I didn't think I'd end up buying that many titles for the console and so I still used my PC. When I started looking into newer titles - researching them, checking reviews, trying them out etc - that's when I started giving my console more attention. I started playing PC games less and less.

Nowadays, I'd say I give them an equal amount of attention. My PC is medium range and I use it mostly for listening to music, surfing the internet, using the odd piece of software/program and playing older games - usually from 1990-2004/05. I am able to play the odd 2006-10 game if they aren't too demanding though, such as Machinarium, Sam & Max, Tales of Monkey Island etc. But I'll just stick to my 360 for the latest titles. I can't be bothered nor can I keep affording to update my PC all the time. As others have already said, at least games you buy for the consoles will work as soon as you insert the discs (so long as the discs aren't scratched, of course ). No upgrading components, no checking system requirements, no DRM etc.

Although the latest games will never look or run as great as they would if you had a high end computer, it's still great to have something like a 360/PS3 that's designed to play these games and where they still look and run fantastic.

And anyway, if this OnLive is as good as it sounds and it delivers, it may convert people back to PC gaming.

Exactly the same here, it's just too easy to play games on a console (xbox for me as well!) to bother with my computers.

I only use my computer for games which either don't exist on XboX or their PC version is vastly superior, like WoW, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Dragon Age (top down view is PC only!). Everything else is XboX, much more convenient, economical & enjoyable.

[jamiehavok]

the mistake most people make in buying pcs for gaming is buying them from retail stores which 9 times out of 10 use sub par components that are already out of date when you get them. if you want a pc that trounces the latest consoles in terms of gaming then do some research and build 1 yourself or get a custom 1 built for you and select the components you want. i built mine over a year ago and it still plays all games at max settings and it will play all games at max setting for another few years or more. pc games even those ported from consoles look way better on pc, if you've got the hardware, sharper textures and they actually render at 1080p or more depending on your moniter/tv rather than the upscaling from 720p or less like consoles do. plus it doesnt cost that much either. £600 ish will get you something decent that still plays better than consoles, a few hundred extra will trounce the consoles. y

[booB]

Originally Posted by jamiehavok

the mistake most people make in buying pcs for gaming is buying them from retail stores which 9 times out of 10 use sub par components that are already out of date when you get them. if you want a pc that trounces the latest consoles in terms of gaming then do some research and build 1 yourself or get a custom 1 built for you and select the components you want. i built mine over a year ago and it still plays all games at max settings and it will play all games at max setting for another few years or more. pc games even those ported from consoles look way better on pc, if you've got the hardware, sharper textures and they actually render at 1080p or more depending on your moniter/tv rather than the upscaling from 720p or less like consoles do. plus it doesnt cost that much either. £600 ish will get you something decent that still plays better than consoles, a few hundred extra will trounce the consoles. y

Agreed. Except I've never spent anywhere near £600 on a PC, and mine still trounces consoles.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by jamiehavok

the mistake most people make in buying pcs for gaming is...

It's good that it works for you. But remember, there are also those of us who know little or nothing about poking around the guts of PCs (i.e. we're not tech nerds), or don't have the time or money, or are even the least bit interested in poking around the guts. We're perfectly happy to have the convenience of the pop-in-disc-and-play feature of a console.

Each platform has its strengths and its weaknesses, no more so than each gamer has their own preferred way of experiencing games.

[jamiehavok]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

It's good that it works for you. But remember, there are also those of us who know little or nothing about poking around the guts of PCs (i.e. we're not tech nerds), or don't have the time or money, or are even the least bit interested in poking around the guts. We're perfectly happy to have the convenience of the pop-in-disc-and-play feature of a console.

Each platform has its strengths and its weaknesses, no more so than each gamer has their own preferred way of experiencing games.

yeah if you like consoles thats great, but i was just saying if you want a pc for gaming its best to do it properly and get a custom build (even if you get a company to build it for you) it will cost about the same price or less as buying from 1 of those big pc manufacturers and give you much better performance

my personal reasons for liking pc gaming over consoles

1. better graphics and speed
2. cutting edge technology first such as 3d vision and eyeinfinity
3. graphic adventures!
4. mmorpgs!
5. retro games (all my old big box classics can be played on my new pc 1 way or another!)
6. mods! (lots of mods available for games such as oblivion and with dragon age you get a big toolkit to mess around with etc)

[Burns11]

Originally Posted by jamiehavok

2. cutting edge technology first such as 3d vision

Sega Master System did this 8 years before NVIDIA was formed, and a decade before the NV1 was released.

[Sik]

In my opinion, it just comes down to preference in games.

If you prefer games that are best played with a mouse and/or keyboard, get a PC and keep it updated.

If you prefer games that are best played with a controller, get a console.

Of course, this is only really valid if most of the games you consider playing are cross-platform releases, and if so, you are almost certainly better off getting a console. After all, cross-platform releases are almost always optimized for consoles; both performance wise and with an interface suitable for controllers. If, on the other hand, most games you consider playing are *not* cross-platform, you have no choice other than getting whatever is required to play the games you want to play.

Performance-wise, the PC should be superior to consoles, but it is easier to optimize a game for known hardware, and knowing that there will be no conflict with other applications running in the background. A PC with similar specifications to a PS3 would not even get close to being able to run games at the same settings. Sure, a new high-end PC will always perform better than any console from the same generation, but the difference is not as great as the hardware specs suggest.

As for the price tag, I haven't done the math, but I'd say it's about the same over time depending on how many games you buy. Let's say a console lasts 5 years before you buy a new one. In that time you'd probably have to upgrade a PC bought at the same time at least once to play new games at acceptable settings. If you only purchase, say, 10 games in these 5 years, the console would be cheaper. Due to the more expensive console games, the difference would cover the initial higher cost of the PC and the upgrade costs at some point, though.