A car is most definitely not a car. Only people with a crap car claim that.
If you're not paying a significant premium to game on a console then you either don't play much or you play old games.
-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: Will you be subscribing to the new Disney+ R49 streaming package?
When did gaming become so expensive?
- Thread starter InternetSwag
- Start date
A car is most definitely not a car. Only people with a crap car claim that.
If you're not paying a significant premium to game on a console then you either don't play much or you play old games.
cerebus
Honorary Master
I kind of get that, but to my way of thinking the fact that I work with PCs means that I'm able to maximize the gaming experience on my home PC. I mean, dealing with all the hassles that come with a gaming PC isn't a problem for an IT professional. At least, that's how I view it.
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
For me it's a case of because dealing with the hassles of PC's every day I don't want more of it at home.
Maybe now that I'm somewhat removed from IT directly my view will change.
I still despise Windows. Maybe the Steambox and OS wil change that.
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
All cars work the same. PC's are like that. Different speeds etc but all work the same.
A console is more like a motorcycle. Similar but different.
I play enough. Not brand new but not old either. Playing Dragon Age now, cost me R350.
That's like saying the difference between a Bentley Continental GT and a Polo Vivo is a bit of leather, suspension, horsepower, climate control etc. Technically there might some truth in the statement, but only the driver of the Vivo would delude himself into thinking they're comparable.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
But the difference between a console and a PC ain't the same as the difference between a Vivo and a Continental GT.
If a PC is average you could change it to a 3-Series. Still a big step up.
Polly101
Expert Member
Dammit
Will Steam give you a refund if you haven't started the DL yet? Bought Witcher 1 (again - lost the CD and want to reinstall) - haven't started DL yet... was R100
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
Both will get equally stuck in traffic, while the motorcycle cruises on by.
The difference, for all their similarities, makes quite a difference to the usage case.
The needs and application of each are quite different and suited to different people for different situations.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of hassles have you experienced with a gaming PC? In IT, you will obviously have hassles, because your job is to deal with only PC hassles, just like a doctor only deals with sick people. Doesn't mean PCs are always broken or that people are always sick.
Why? On principle? I'm asking, because I'm a regular user of both Windows and Linux (about 50/50 time division) and I see merits and failures of both. For example, I think late versions of Windows do an excellent job of catering for my plug-and-play entertainment needs at home. Linux absolutely sucks at this (with the notable exception of OpenELEC, which is a great media solution).
On the other hand, as a general office tool or a dev machine/server, I concur that Linux is leagues ahead. I would not even consider Windows for this, unless I am forced.
Fair enough. A better analogy I found on reddit:
A console is like a premade meal. You get a select combination of low quality ingredients that can't be changed, and takes little effort to set up. The end result is decent.
A PC is like a fully prepared meal; it takes time to choose each individual component, and make sure it all balances out. Then it takes time to set up, but in the end, it is amazing.
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
It's just more hassle overall. Not necessarily that something would be broken there are just way too many things that need attention.
Want voice chat? Okay go convince all your friends to use the new latest and greatest one available. OUTSIDE your game, separate friend list etc.
One universal friend list? Nope each publisher has their own app.
Drivers
Mice and keyboard .
Couch gaming? Yea you have Big Picture Mode....you still need a mouse and keyboard for everything else.
There is no uniformity.
I'm an OSX guy .
Windows just doesn't work properly or the same. Windows 10 is better but still not there.
Basic things like hibernate/sleep/resume are still broken in comparison.
Updates always needing a restart and taking ages to install while you can't work.
Drivers. Nobody should need to even know about these things.
Power management sucks.
Still slow and cumbersome. Still falls over itself when one app dies instead of just killing that app.
Just as a daily driver its rubbish. I ibky use it now because I have to.
Perfect analogy.
The Steam controller is designed to replace keyboard and mouse input, and even then, almost all games support gamepads on PC.
Drivers are a non-issue for gamers these days. Very few PC gamers use universal voice chat. Adding friends in Steam, Uplay and Origin takes a few seconds. One benefit of the inconvenience of separate clients is that my FIFA buddies don't take up space elsewhere - same with Ubi games etc.
Your Windows installation must be borked, because I've had Win 8 since day two and haven't had power management, stability or performance issues. In fact it's blazing fast, especially with an SSD. Only larger updates require a restart, and if you close the update window you won't even be aware of this. The PC will take care of it next time you power on.
cerebus
Honorary Master
Yeah you're right, PC guys love pointless analogies.
There are pluses and minuses either way. As a PC gamer I'm missing out on some of the best exclusive games out there like Bloodborne and Uncharted 4, and getting extremely late ports of other games like GTA V. On the other hand I have the power to upgrade my graphics card and boost the gaming performance, and blow any console's graphics out of the water including the GTA V port. And, there's a ton of PC exclusives that you also can't get on any console. I can't say either choice is better than the other.
Agreed. According to my WinAudit log, my Windows 7 laptop has only rebooted automatically 4 times in the last year (for updates) and there have been only 5 system crash events. This includes dead battery, which accounts for at least two of these events, and I strongly suspect one of the others - a USB driver crash - was my fault too, because I was compiling my own driver implementations and playing around carelessly with stuff I should have left alone.
I have never had power management issues with Windows 7, unlike Linux, which has some severe issues. Don't know about OSX, because I don't use it.
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
Yeah that's why I'm hoping the Steam boxes and SteamOS will change my view. But you missed my point completely. Even though games support controllers and you have Big Picture Mode in Steam AT SOME POINT you need to whip out the mouse and keyboard to navigate the reset of your system. Console wins.
They are still there and they do need manually installing and updating. Sure you can get these apps that do the work for you...but why are they necessary in the first place?
And why do you think nobody uses voice chat? Because it's a broken system that's why and not a standard. On console it's integrated and everyone uses it. Part of the reason I generally consider consoles to be much more "social".
You also aren't acknowledging the fact that multiple friends list is a problem and a pain...you simply do away with it by saying it's not that big a deal. Again...console wins.
I've run many many instances of Windows over the years. My comments are not specific to my system alone but the Windows environment in general.
Power Management I mean specific to laptop. Windows is terrible at it. Not to mention that standby is USELESS as it still burns the battery away. A Macbook can stay in standby for a month..even a two year old one. A Windows laptop can't get through a day in standby.
SSD's have worked a miracle I agree. It has however only camouflaged the inherent issues with the OS itself. It still takes an age for Windows to be genuinely ready to use...extremely painful with a non-SSD where you can wait up to two minutes even before you can bother clicking anything.
My problem with updates is exactly that part where it takes care of it at Power On or Shutdown...when you really don't have the time and it takes 20 minutes then on a "don't turn me off" screen to do it's thing.
But I'm going to bet Windows is all you've ever known...therefore your only reference point. This is a common problem, people are happy with Windows because they are accustomed to the mediocrity.
System crash events I must agree have been largely resolved since Windows 7. However it's those show stopping stalls that happen every so often when a random app crashes and eventually resolves itself that is a pain for me.
Like I said Power Management for laptops...it's terrible on Windows (in comparison to OSX/Apple). Linux is just as bad I have to agree.
RazedInBlack
RazedInBlack
Have to admit but thats quite a good analogy by Edwe, and I game on console but like you said, you can't really say either choice is better than the other. Boils down to preference rather.
