Personal Computers vs Gaming Consoles, Who will rise?
Nowadays the console vs console battle seems to be dissolving into a much different conflict. PCs vs Gaming Consoles. As Gaming consoles get closer and closer to PCs in terms of power, it is hard to decide between getting a new PC or a new Console (Including Portable devices). Both seem to be equal contenders, the PCs with the ability to multitask and the Gaming Consoles with some of the best games available. Ever since the inception of gaming and gaming consoles, this has been a topic of debate, some people believe that PCs are better for gaming whereas other others say that consoles are better. Gaming technology has improved exponentially for the past 15 years, for instance just look at this youtube video by HellfireWZ: The change is clearly noticeable. In such a short timespan we have been able to make games look almost real, this has made the argument worsen. Today’s consoles can do amazing things. A very good example would be the WipEout 2048 intro video above. The advantages of a Gaming Console are many:
- A standard platform
- Targeted at gaming so you get to play good quality games on any console
- Portability
- Cost
But then, PCs have huge advantages too:
- Power!
- Multitasking
- More value for money
- A useful tool
PC’s also do very good graphics, just look at these:
Clearly, it is a hard choice. Both consoles and PCs are getting better everyday, it is almost impossible to find any difference between games on a good pc and on a gaming console. In the end, I would expect that gaming consoles would become the preference for gaming because at the moment gaming consoles are only as good as 10 year old pc’s in terms of hardware yet the games are almost the same as pc.
How about you? Are you more of a PC or a console gamer?
Pc all the way consoles are for little boys and girls!
i wish there was a device that had an windows os and an app to play console games
there is, the alienware x51 is a pc console.
The problem with the wipeout videos, is that those videos are not rendered in real-time. Each frame may take several seconds, minutes or even hours in those videos for a computer to render. The graphics you see in the 1995 video, the PS1 could never render in real-time.
The GTA ones, however, are real-time. The computer graphics card is rendering many frames every second.
I like pc gaming because of modding freedom. Consoles are user locked and have to play on how developers want you to play. Console graphics will be the same for everyone but for pc you have the right to choose how much better it will look depending on how much you spent for your graphics card. Btw laptop gaming doesn’t count
I’m for pc’s being grater than consoles and here’s why. Lets take the Mass Effect Series as an example. The PC version of the game can scale up to grater than 1080p and then you can mod in HD textures to make the games look even better. Now take the console version and your stuck with 720p graphics and low res textures. That’s just an example of one game. This trend holds true for many games: Skyrim, Portal 2, half life 2, Left for dead, Grand theft auto 4 the list goes on and on. The only thing consoles have going for them is the convince factor and possibly multi-player (4 people playing on the same system). Will this be true forever? I think so with the ability to mod and the ability to upgrade GPU’s will ensure that pc’s stay on the PC enthusiasts desks.
One huge advantage of PCs over consoles for gaming is that PCs are far better suited to MMOs, keyboard and mouse just offer far greater complexity of control than a gamepad ever possibly could, yet with PCs you still do have the option of gamepads…… try porting a game like WoW over to a console, the controls would be awkward as all ***, and many people just prefer keyboard chat over voice.
As for graphics, a high-end gaming PC can crush any console, largely due to very powerful GPUs and a *** ton of video Ram, but the problem with that is that there isn’t a standardized spec, AND you’re talking alot of money, consoles are capable of delivering far more consistant framerates since the hardware is far more narrowed down, and for a bit less cash…. though if you ask me, consoles are approaching PC prices, and that’s not good, because a PC offers alot more….. also, you wanna run emulators or homebrew? No need to hack your PC, it will run whatever you want it to run.
Other than that, it’s largely the preference, do you prefer to sit behind a desk in front of a keyboard and mouse, or on the couch in front of a TV….. though I might mention the emergence of media PCs, custom built PCs designed to hook up to TVs and be used like game consoles.
On the other hand, consoles are far better for any type of gathering, if you invite friends over to play games, I don’t think your friends are going to want to all try to squeeze behind your desk.
Well it involves some money but what doesn’t, right?
I have my computer hocked up to my monitor and my big screen tv and when ppl come over to play i bring out the wireless joypads (either xbox or ps3 ones) and we play stuff like Trine, Dungeon Defenders,Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Left for Dead 2(bit annoying to set up but worth it) and many other games(there could be more, cmon devs!).
I wish there was more action rpg games that supported same screen mp thats what i miss the most i used to play those all the time back on the PS2 days (which can be emulated on PC)
I prefer gaming laptops I own a Alienware m17x I also wouldn’t even think of trading it in for a Xbox 360 or PS3.
If I really wanted with my computer screen to play console games!!! HDMI-In FTW!!!!!!!!!! Plus most big budget games come out for pc as well
Trust me. once you go PC. you’ll never turn back. i only ever turn on my consoles anymore for exclusives
First I’m back and second got this saying from the internet “Playing a game for the graphics, is like watching *** for the story”
U forgot a big feature of the PC. If you’re smart: PERFECT backwards compatibility and EMULATORS.
The problem is the much higher initial investment for it.
In the long run, the PC can be a cheaper platform (Game sales, sales, game sales EVERYWHERE!).. and captain Jack Sparrow gives some solution too if you’re into that.
Yup thats true bro. I’m using both platform Ps vita and PC. But i prefer PC coz its capability to custom your game’s quality with your own way. Besides, games developer always use PC to develope games for consoles. Thats da point 🙂
Consoles are the looser in the smart consumer’s eyes and pc’s the clear winner.
Consoles are stuck. How old isnthe hardware in that PS3 and XBOX now? Your cheapest actual “gameing” laptop’s hardware would blow them out of the water. What it does do is provide a set standard for games, so its much easier to pump out games quickly, and cheaply. A great example of how this helps companies generate obscene ammounts of money for little investment, minamum staff and little funding… Can be seen from the call of duty and battlefield franchises.
Take the costs of the first version of that game, woulda been expensive. The next, only a fraction of the cost because everythin they needed was allready done. All they needed to do to make a “new” game was to get a new plot, make new maps, and change textures. The bulk of the “hard work” would be adding NEW weapons, sounds and models into the game.
Yes it makes it incredibly easy to make games, but the copy + paste, poorly made games that we see today realy are becoming like flogging a dead horse.
This is where the PC wins. Because its so easy to upgrade parts of our pc’s, at fairly regular intervals, the standards bar keeps going up. Because this bar keeps rising, game developers have to keep upping their standards too. Yes its more expensive for them to make games for the PC than the console, but have you seen the paycheques for these company’s?? Let alone that of their parent company’s… The cost is easily affordable, its just that the modern market for developers is turning into a case of…. Not wanting to spend any money developin it, they prefer a cheap and quickly made product that they advertise, overhype, and quite frankly pay to have good reviews, as long as they make back more money than they spent developing it within 1mth of release its considdered a job well done.
TLDR: the quality, variety & standaerds of games will go down the shitter completely if consoles win this war as its all about profit, consoles are a killer for cash because its harder (in the company’s eyes anyway) to pirate, therefore more money, and less competiton from smaller developers because of how much it costs to release a game, and patches on a console. It is allways about how things can reduce costs, while inccreasing profit for the company, the end person doesnt matter as long as they keep offering up plates of cow pies and we keep gobbling them uo and asking for more because the advertising/hype/fanboi’s make it seem like roast chicken.
Consoles get outdated, I get tired of console ports.
You are playing games 5 years ahead on outdated architecture not to mention they overprice their exclusives.
Clearly many of the people commenting on PC’s are misinformed.
Firstly, a PC is not restricted to a keyboard and mouse as a control option, you can use almost anything you want to whether that is a controller or a joystick.
Consoles will never catch up with PC’s in terms of hardware power period.
I saw someone mention Far Cry 3 taking hours to load so they came to the conclusion that PC’s were some how no good. It’s simple really, in exchange for the major benefits you get with PC gaming, you are expected to do your homework.
If you want to be limited to 720p, have slower frame rates, physical CD’s, less control options, less multiplayer numbers, smaller maps and less ambitious games and you don’t want to know how your software / hardware works then the Console is for you.
The PC will live forever no matter what, I still play games on it from 2000 because some of the Mods are so good that they rival 2012 releases.
The PC leaves the power with the gamer, the Console leaves the power with the seller, which one would you rather?
This is such a poor article…even the video picked to illustrate its point was a bad choice. The last sentence is not only illogical, but untrue. The whole thing seems so lazy.
EX-pc gamer and got to say console all the way. Ever since switching from PC to Xbox, things are a lot simpler. I don’t have to get more components, or worry about updating directX or any other dependencies, no waiting for install either. No matter what Xbox 360 game I get, or any game that comes out in the future, it is guaranteed to work on my Xbox. And if my xbox dies, I still have the games and get another xbox.
Really, the only thing PC has is l33t graphics. Even then, I don’t really miss them as Xbox graphics are getting better all the time, for some reason, on the same hardware. I don’t even miss the graphics on PC because of how surprised I was by the xbox 360. If you need better looking games than Halo 4 or Crysis on the xbox, then you are definitely not playing the game, just looking for graphics.
The PC gaming community is like those kids in high school trying to tune up some Honda Civic with loud pipes and cold air intake and crazy lights. Glad I grew up and just bought something made for gaming.
Also forgot to mention that PC gaming is DYING very fast. Everytime I see a new PC game come out, all the entitled elite PC gamers whine about how they got a ‘sh!tty port’. Wonder why? Piracy? People tired of buying expensive components? People growing up? Probably the same reason why you don’t see as many people driving those wannabe Fast and Furious cars anymore.
“Consoles get outdated, I get tired of console ports.
You are playing games 5 years ahead on outdated architecture not to mention they overprice their exclusives.”
Ha! Xbox 360 has been around for 7 years, and still plays games beautifully coming out to this day and look great. How many people can play games today on a 7 year old graphics card? None.
“If you want to be limited to 720p, have slower frame rates, physical CD’s, less control options, less multiplayer numbers, smaller maps and less ambitious games and you don’t want to know how your software / hardware works then the Console is for you.”
720p – doesn’t bother me. I play games, not graphics. The games still look great.
Frame rates – again, still don’t notice slow frame rates on the 360. Matter of fact, games play better on the 360, instead of ‘tweaking’ or buying a several hundred dollar on the PC.
CDs – Actually it’s dvd’s now. And who would complain about having a physical copy of a game they bought?
Control options – what are you meaning? There’s plenty of options in games like changing controller input. BTW controller > m/k. Or do you mean the mundane task of tweaking the graphics so they don’t stutter on the PC?
Multiplayer – I’m sure you will find more players on Playstation network and Xbox Live than on any PC game.
Smaller maps – Last I checked, Halo 4 and Skyrim and any other game has the same maps.
Ambitious games – more and better games get released on Xbox or PS3. All the PC gets now-a-days is ports (console leftovers).
How the console hardware works – who cares? This is about playing games right? 1. Put in game 2. Play
a pc is a pc its does more things than the gaming console and it’ll always do , but when it comes to gaming . consoles will always win ..why ? because of 1st party studios . games like GodofWar HeavyRain Uncharted ..etc will never come to pcs that why ill always buy gaming consoles specially sony ones 😛 😀
If you want to get the most out of your games you need to spend the money on a good PC. Examples,
Battlefield 3, 2x the player cap online games. I only play 64 player servers on this game, try that on consoles.
Skyrim, HD Texture pack not available on xbox or ps3, also have you ever compared loading times for this game on console vs pc? Literally 10x slower on consoles.(only tested on xbox..)
RTS GAMES. #1 Right here. Try playing a good RTS on a console, I know there are a few that do okay, but its worlds better on pc. Company of heroes, Starcraft 2, Wargame EE, man could go on forever on this one.
I’ve been building my pc for the past 2 years putting in new parts when I can, fx8350 gtx560 x2 SLI, 16gb ram, 256 SSD and 1TB HDD.. Maybe next gen consoles will push specs better than this but until then I’m good with my PC.
Clearly, it is NOT a hard choice…you mean to say? Really hgoel? How is this even up for discussion. Some people really do not have a clear grasp of what they’re talking about sometimes before they commit to spewing nonsense. I can tell you right now, without a shadow of doubt, that my current rig can already outperform the next generation of consoles before they’re even released. This article is a bloated joke akin to reading some bullcrap fear mongering on Fox news. Really damn close.
Such rubbish.
Srsly,intros are a demonstration of graphics a console can make? I am very impressed to see an article this dumb here.
With consoles i cant:
Change my FOV
Disable graphic settings i hate (depth of field)
Use dedicated servers with my favorite map
Mods
Steam advantages.
PC is clearly the superior gaming platform just because it does everything that consoles can do, does it better, and then offers more. It’s a bit more expensive in the first place if you have to build one from scratch but games are so much cheaper that in the end I wonder if it’s not more expensive to play on consoles. (especially if you want to play online)
Let’s list the pros :
Better graphics
Smoother games
More game types
More, and sometimes better controls (M+KB for FPS and pad for action games for exemple)
Modding community
Better and free multilayer (check BF3 map size on consoles and PC)
More exclusive titles (indie games more often then not though)
Great indie scene
Multitasking
By the way, I hope all the people saying that consoles are dedicated to games, hence are better at it, have thrown away their smartphones to get a device dedicated to emit and receive phone calls.
What were are talking about is “which is the better gaming platform”. Technically speaking an i7 pc tower & your average Xbox are two different things. We are talking about TWO industries. One being gaming machines only used for that sole purpose. And the other for personal computing. It’s been many years and you can still go to Walmart and buy halo 4 and play it on your dusty Xbox 360 first gen from the closet. Why is this? Becuase this is how it’s designed. It’s remarkable efficient and low cost becuase this is the “video game” industry. It’s been happening for consoles. That’s their ONLY purpose, as a pc is a operating system used for whatever. Like someone said above me, it’s a tool. And does the PC have amazing graphics and mod capabilities? Yes,, even better than console. But it’s harder to code & costly to produce.
Two different things guys,, obviously the console industry will be on top.
•More Games
•Less Cost
•Faster Production
PC: Multiple Screen Support