9th Generation Consoles.

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There we go, you can say better TECHNICALLY, but you can’t say it is flat better. If I gave the example of playing GC and Wii games, but you could say use a Dolphin Emulator. To that, I’d say unless you are playing on a TV sized monitor (godforbid for the sake of your eye sight), playing with others is a problem. And that leads me to group gaming. No, I’m not talking about each person having their own computers looking at their own BENQ/ASUS gaming monitor, I’m talking about all of you looking at one screen. Next, consoles are essentially computers engineered towards Video Games without the browsers and stuff. Consoles are much more reliable than a PC, and for PC’s to run at the same FPS as a 8th or 9th generation console, you’re easily paying double the price of the console. For the same money you paid for the console, a PC won’t perform nearly as well as the console. Consoles are for the more softcore, not to say there aren’t hardcore console players. I’m sure this is looked over by many gamers, but bringing us back to group gaming, consoles are much more family friendly. As a final point, PC is just too general of a term. So is console. PC’s range from $50-infinity, while consoles are pretty much set at below $500. If said a $2000 rig is better than a PS4, it would be mure more arguable, but even then neither can be subjectively called “better”. I could go on for ages how I could argue against PC’s being better than consoles. To wrap this up, I am a PC Gamer. I haven’t touched my Xbox since my brother and sister came home from college during break. I literally just built a rig for fun. So don’t think I’m biased, as if I were, I would be arguing for you.

Oh and one reason technically, a modular Hard Drive. Easily taken out, while non-PC afficiandos will struggle to upgrade their PC’s hard drive.

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All right, you make some valid points, but let me say something about a few of them.

That’s what I’ve been arguing the whole time. I never said it was straight BETTER. I just said it was a better platform.

Is that not what a TV is? Yes, I know the hardware is very different, but they accomplish the same purpose. Displaying a signal coming from a PC/Console/DVR/whatever. If you’re going to compare one thing to another, you need to keep all the variables the same. I own a PS3 to play games like Gran Turismo and MLB The Show, and I play it at the same desk that my PC sits at. I just switch the signal and boom, I’m good to go. Admittedly, a lot of PC games do not have same-screen multiplayer support. However, saying that a PC cannot do it as well as a console is simply not true, as the games that do support it can do it just as well as a console.

Most stories you hear about PCs being unreliable is either by someone who didn’t set up their PC right, or was pushing it beyond what it could reasonably do. A PC that is set up correctly and at stock settings will run just as reliable as a console (see RROD, yellow light on PS3).

This is partially true. Yes, a PC that will run next-gen game at the same settings and at the same FPS as a console will cost more than a next-gen console, but only by a little bit. If you want some examples of this, I suggest you head over to Reddit - Dive into anything. Search “PS4” or “Xbox One” and you will find a bunch of builds that come within $100-$200 of the retail price of a console. Now, you may think that that’s a big difference. However, you get an entire PC with that price. With a next-gen console you get the console, and that’s it. You will most likely have another computer in your house, maybe even just a $100-$150 Facebook/word processing machine. I’d say that that brings the prices to about even.

I agree with you on this one, although Home Theater PCs (HTPC for short) do exist, they are fairly difficult to set up.

Again, if you set up your PC correctly with proper cable management, a hard drive swap is quite easy.

I hope I’m not coming off as entitled or anything, I just want to have a friendly debate about this :slight_smile:

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It is a friendly debate, no hard feelings at all. I guess one of the main points I’m trying to get across are that the majority of gamers do not want to go through the process of building a PC. For consoles, you just straight uo buy it, plug and play. And I would say that a PC that’s the same price as Next Gen Console will not be as reliable running the same game, same resolution, and same graphic settings. And what I meant by the TV is that your PC monitor will not be the size of a TV.

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Yeah. I guess to summarize what I said: PCs, given the time and effort, can be a much more fun and rewarding platform than consoles. Consoles are good for those who just want to play games or don’t want to fiddle with stuff.

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And that’s why there would still be pc gaming (bacause realistically, the pc will never die) and cloud gaming would have a controller.

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Consoles: buy, fiddle with a few cables, turn on, play vidya, fun for whole family
PCs: buy, fiddle with lots of hardware, fiddle with millions of cables, turn on, install software, install drivers, get lost in sea of folders, fun for one particular person, no easy local multiplayer.


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Consoles: be inept at technology, still get your free prize for participating
PC: actually be an intelligent and capable human being who isn’t crippled by super scary decisions and tegnoloby xD

the choice is yours.

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Fiddle with lots of hardware: Not necessary, you can buy pre-built, although not as cost effective as building yourself

Fiddle with millions of cables: Again, not necessary if you buy pre-built. Even if you do build yourself, the only cables you really have to deal with is PSU cables, which aren’t hard at all to put in place. After that it’s smooth sailing.

Install software: This is a moot point, you have to do this on a console too. When I got my PS3 a few years ago I had to sit through a 2 hour firmware upgrade.

Install drivers: Yes, you do have to do this. It is a valid point, and I do find it to be a pain.

Get lost in a sea of folders: Not really, if you know what you’re doing. If you just walk into using a console you would get “lost in a sea of menus” if you didn’t know what you were doing.

Fun for one particular person, no easy local multiplayer: Fun for one particular person, maybe. No easy local multiplayer? Wrong. There are plenty of games that support local multiplayer. Sure, not as many as consoles, but to put it against the platform and no the developers is not fair.

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Realistically, its actually easier if your main device is both a computer and a game platform. Keeping everything running smoothly on one device is always easier than familiarizing yourself with two different operation systems, and having software updates on both (Which reminds me, I should get another HDD for other OS’s).

Pc in general is more upfront with its costs, and everything else is cheaper. PC’s may cost about 50% more on average than a console for a very good one, but the games are also around that much cheaper. Some games are also DIRT cheap (Like $1). You dont have those kinds of deals on consoles. Installing and running games is the same way for PC’s. On consoles, you simply put in the disc when you want to play it. On pc, you put the disc in, click install and watch the magic happen (Note, you may have to type in a serial number Shocked face). If you are downloading, you quite literally hit download, then wait. After you instal games though, you need merely hit a button. On consoles, you have to have a physical disc which can be lost/scratched/broken/stolen, that you don’t need to find when you which to play a game.

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There will ALWAYS be new consoles. The post Atari fallout and the Xbox one and PS4 are living proof of that. So fw people actually game on their phones on a world wide scale. and to access phone games, you need a data plan to download them. Kinda self defeating. While the Wii-U and the other two are seen as bad, it could just be us getting old. We always tend to over-glorify hat we had. AKA 90s kids. anybody born in 1993 or 12994 (the last years to be born and truly be 90’s kid at all) knows what I mean. We had like…4 good tv shows…the rest were dumb. Only good toy were ones based off shows geared towards already teenagers from their shows.

Now, to me the new consoles aren’t that bad. It’s a slow start…which has always been the case if anyone has truly examined console history for some year long project in their Video game programming ddegree. But if a console can bounce back up it;s fine. AKA why the Dreamcast sucked and the Genesis didn’t. I honestly think the Wii-U will hop up with the new Smash bros. for it and the 3DS. PS4 isn’t off to a bad start as much as the One. So, I’ll wait and see. Still saving for a PS3 though. xD

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To be fair, consoles are moving towards all digital anyway. The 10th gen consoles will not have disc drives at all.

But yeah, I forgot that point about game costs. Somebody did the math a while back and assuming you’re buying 2 games a year for 8 years (the projected life span of this gen of consoles), an $800 PC actually costs considerably less than a $400 console. I’ll try to find the picture.

EDIT: Found it http://i.imgur.com/GAFz4Gt.jpg

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Seeing as a 3K rig can last you over a decade plus gaming wise, it’s worth it on that end. Consoles were the original tech-pushers, not PCs. PCs were more for story driven gaming, Consoles based of arcade game way back. Things change I know but I still feel having both isn’t bad.

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You missed the part about cloud gaming. Its already coming to the PS4 (Mainly for old games), and will also likely come to the xbox one. The developers will definitely prefer this, as will publishers, because they can leech the most money out of the consumer that way. Most casuals won’t care if their system is playing the games, or streaming them like netflix.

Playstation now

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Cloud gaming can only do so much. And even with all Digital, there is STILL a high demand for physical discs/cartridges and always will be to some extent. That’s why PS4 and One still have discs in the stores. Cloud gaming won’t eliminate anything really, just split the people at most. I still prefer physical discs/cartrdiges. And there are plenty of gamers like me still. Sure, I use steam for PC games. But all my console games are Physical. Only two of my handheld games are digital…out of the hundreds of games total I have since 2002.

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Just wondering, but what are the limitations of cloud gaming as you see them?

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Not necessairly limitations, so much as there are a LOT of us gamers who prefer physical discs. The digitasl is fine and all, but clouding is similar to streaming in a sense, so lag time IS a possibility. In essence cloud gaming is smart to getmore peeps into it, but again. there will always be guys who prefer physical consoles and tangible game discs. I can only see lag and maybe server crashes being an issue, but that’s it really.

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Well, considering the changes in internet speed we’ve seen over the last decade, It’s likely it will come around before the end of the generation. Myself, I personally prefer having my own stuff, and would still own my own PC, I just expect that’s where the market will be.

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Think about it, for the next seven to eight years we’ll have these consoles. The iPhone didn’t even exist when the Xbox360 and PS3 launched, and look where phone technology is today. By the time this console generation is over, technology will have advanced and I also see it going towards cloud computing.

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Like I said, we are a few, but we’re still here. So there will still be physical consoels I feel, seeing as you have to have something to cloud to. lol

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On the software. When I got my ps3 a while back it took about an hour to install proper updates on boot up. Then 2-3 hours to install updates just to play Gran Turismo. So yeah.