Consoles vs. PCs

Actually, to look its best you just need to plug the Xbox into your PC monitor. HD right there.

 

Pfft, I don't get this "PCs cost too much" argument. Like Sn4tch said, you've got to add in plenty of other charges - and it stacks up. Five years of Xbox Live will cost you $400. Factor in accessories (HD DVD drive, online adapter, extra controllers) and the system will cost you as much as $1000.

A little bit of tech savvy goes a long way in the PC world. If you're tech-dumb, PC prices will add up fast. But if you know a few things (or have a friend who does), everything works out rather nicely. My friend and I got together a little over a year ago to build my computer. It cost about $500 total, and it runs Bioshock on high settings with a 1280 x 960 resolution. Beat that, console gamers.

 

Yeah, HDTVs are gonna have a significant impact on console gaming. A lot of today's games are not meant to be played on standard televisions.

 

Not to mention even with the HDTV it still looks better on PC, I would say... 100% of the time. Seriously, name one game that has looked better on console than on PC.

 

As far as I'm concerned, if you have a high end PC and compare it to the console counter-part playing on an HDTV; I don't see how it will look much different.

The graphics debate of it, is just pointless, IMO.

 

Xbox Live is $50 per year, not $80. But it's much better than, say, World of Warcraft, which charges $15 every month.

 

World of Warcraft is one game - a game which, mind you, is not at all a necessity for any PC gamer. Though it's a huge game (and a PC exclusive, might I note), it only represents a small segment of PC online gaming. For the most part, PC online gaming is free. To play online using an Xbox, however, you've more or less got to buy Xbox Live. Thus, the chief difference between WoW and Xbox Live is that WoW is entirely unecessary, whereas Xbox Live is absolutely necessary if you want to play online.

 

For me, the fact that I can play WoW on a PC but cannot play it on a console makes PC > console.

Cost? Meh. I need a computer anyways. And it's not like WoW needs a powerhouse to play.

 

I find FPS gams to be far easier to play on PC, and for the life of me, I can't understand how anyone can play RTS games on consoles with control pads. A mouse definitely brings precision to games. Then again, I've never had a console "blue screen of death" me at a critical point in a game when I haven't saved recently.

 

I've always played FPS games online and that's about it. It all comes down to my interface to the game. A mouse and keyboard is far superior to a paddle within FPS games. Theres no getting around it, as long as FPS games on consoles are mapping their functions to cumbersome controls, I'm going to stick to PC. Ever try playing CS with a paddle?

Now if I'm going to sit down and play some Soul Caliber 3, well... then I'll pick up the paddle. It has it's uses, thats for sure...but not for FPS.

 

I've tried both and it's obviously up to preference. (Played Halo and Doom) Personally, I find FPSs far more enjoyable on console then PC. To me the console controls are a lot easier to get used too. On PC there was a bit of a learning curve for me to get used to using the mouse and arrow keys to move around and it felt quite uncomformtable for me.

With console controls I don't have to worry about that. Everything is right in the palm of my hand and I can lay back on my phooton easier then laying back in my chair.

Plus, the multiplayer aspect I think is better on console then PC because as far as I'm concerned, it's a lot easier to hook up 2 or more 360s together then connecting PCs for LAN parties.

Personally, I find PCs more useful for RTSs.

 

I am having the hardest time figuring out how a FPS can be fun on a console. If you get used to a single PC FPS game controls, it's more or less the same for others. You can always configure too. Same can be said for a console, but the feel and experience is totally different. Precision for a FPS on console is terrible and if you FPS online you will surely get owned, no doubt.

Adventure, FPS, RTS, MMOP, RPG = PC
Adventure, Fighting, Sports, Racing, RPG = Console

The only thing I would use a console is for fighting games, but I am mostly a FPS, RTS and RPG kind of person, so PC wins for me.

 

Fortunately for me, when I FPS online I'm actuallly decent. About half the time I get owned, and others I get lucky. I guess I've just been so used to console FPSs that I don't think I could go back.

 

Quoted for fact.

I'm so used to FPS on a key/mouse that it just hurts playing them on Console. I'll be playing console for other things though.

 

approx. 50% getting owned + approx. 50% getting lucky = approx. 100% noob?

So you mean to say there is no skill involved on your end. Doesn't sound too fun.

I kid, I kid.

 

The first FPS I played was Goldeneye on the N64, so I got used to that kind of control scheme.

 

That is a legendary game.

 

That sucks about your 6150LE.

My computer currently has 2 gigs of RAM and a 256mb Nvidia 8600. Runs just about anything I've tried it on, usually with other programs running too, cause I'm too lazy to shut em off.

 

Maybe I should have worded that differently, lol.

 

When I play a console FPS, I have to turn the sensitivity on the analog sticks way up so I can look around at even a fraction of the speed I do with a mouse and keyboard. I mean turning around isn't an instant thing. Now, I'm no slouch at a console FPS, but I will bet that even the most experienced console gamer could never touch a mediocre PC FPS player.

 

I've always been a console gamer but after the Mega Drive ended, I got into the PC and skipped the 32bit era completely. I bought a PS2, then Cube and Wii, while keeping hold of my GB, and buying a GBC and GBA then DS but the PC kept me away from the Saturn.

But it wasn't for FPS or RTS games. No. I only had an interest in 2 games - Championship Manager (before Eidos and SI split) and Civilization 2 - Oh and of course, Day of the Tentacle

The simple point and click games really lured me in and, CM especially, kept me away from an analogue controlled game til the likes of GTA3 came out.

Nowadays I still cannot do FPS on a PC. It's certainly better to aim with a mouse and the Wii is the closest to PC aiming ever on a console - I hear Metroid Prime 3 is the best console FPS EVER! which is fine with me but in shooters, I still prefer a console controller.
Probably cos I've grown up with console controllers.

Despite really getting into so many more genres of games over the last 5 years, I still prefer a console to a PC. I cannot stand MMORPGs and I'm not interested in modding and that.

 

I personally prefer PC gaming simply because I like the controls better. For example, I'm a big RTS fan and you will never have controls for a console RTS even come close to the quality you get with a keyboard/mouse combo on a PC. I also prefer the keyboard/mouse combo on FPS games on the PC.

Otherwise, consoles work just great. If I ever bought another one, I'd probably get a 360...but that's not happening any time soon.

 

It's a mixed bag. I can play FPS games on PC and console just fine, both have their advantages and disadvantages. I'm very much interested to see how the FPS genre changes over time thanks to the introduction of the Wii. I haven't played Metroid Prime 3 as yet (hasn't been released locally), but it sounds terrific. I'd find it more enjoyable, and partly more realistic, to have an actual trigger and aim dynamic to the controls them simply point and click with a mouse or gamepad. Like the great arcade games of old, I guess.

 

I'm just a casual gamer, for what it's worth. I'm absolutely sure that the best, most immersive gaming experience is to be had on the PC. (The most immersive games I ever played were X-Wing Alliance and an early version of High Heat, and they were both PC.) However, I don't play games on PC anymore (other than Warcraft), and prefer consoles for the following reasons:

1) comfy couch with lots of leg room
2) big ol' LCD screen and surround sound (which I bought for movies and tv anyway)
3) I can play Wii games with my nephews and nieces and shove them around
4) I don't play online

and MOST, MOST, MOST importantly,

5) I will never forgive the four years of gaming HELL that was 1999-2002, when it seemed EVERY SINGLE BLOODY game (after game after game) demanded that I get a new video card. I don't know if it's still like that these days, I don't care. I'm never thinking about video cards again. Ever. Finito.

 

>>I'm very much interested to see how the FPS genre changes over time thanks to the introduction of the Wii.<<

Sadly, they're not changing fast enough. I'm just not overwhelmed by Halo, Gears Of War, FEAR, etc. I can stil play them more or less with my mind entirely clicked off. And the Wii has been a bust, as far as I'm concerned, in regards to anything FPS-ish. (And that gun-skin is not gonna cut it.) I'm floored that no game-set with a light gun has hit it big yet. Absolutely floored. I'd much rather that than guitar hero. I play guitar, I don't wanna do it in a game. I'd much rather squeeze off a few rounds at stormtroopers with a Han Solo replica blaster, or coke-trafficking maniacs with a .357.