PC vs Console

[garfield hates mondays]

Which is better? Vote now!

[Bordick]

two PC choices in the poll?

[Bordick]

much better......:) now, I gotta go with Console because my computer tends to freeze every 3 or 4 hours or so.

[crappertay]

Console for instant fun.

PC for first-person shooters.

[Ragen]

console...I just can't get comfy at the computer

[B1ade Runner]

Console, less management and fear of problems. You always hear about computer problems, you rarely hear about console problems.

[garfield hates mondays]

To PC options because its better:P

I mostly play FPS games so my fav is the PC. The nice thing about consoles is that you dont have to wory about system requirements.

[Josh]

And Consoles are easy to start up and use as entertainment when friends come over.

PC gaming is pretty solitary. Not a good group activity.

[Brian]

I dunno about that, Hobbs. There are plenty of ways to play PC games with your friends, and you don't even have to be in the same room.

[Josh]

And if you aren't in the same room... you are alone. :)

Unless you have a super-LAN set up all the time, you can't just be sitting around in the living room with your friends and go "hey lets all play a PC game!"

Wheras with the old Console you can.

[garfield hates mondays]

Those are both good points. My friend has a crazy lan setup and we all play unreal tournament over his house. Any other time we have to settle for consoles.

I think the main reason I prefer PCs is the depth to PC games. I mean look at a game like Deus Ex and compare it with Spyro the cutsey cute ****ing dragon... no contest.

Allthough its fair to say that there are exceptions to this on both sides...

[Josh]

Oh yeah, most of the time PC games have more depth, with occasional console exceptions (Knight of the Old Republic).

PC is also the ONLY place to play real time strategy games... which I love.

[garfield hates mondays]

Yeah... I was gonna say something about that...
An RTS with a gamepad would be a nightmare!

[Josh]

They had Starcraft for the N64.

Really bad idea.

[garfield hates mondays]

:lol I remember that!!
Oh man... for shame...

[Into]

PC for FPS, Console for fighting games and party games.

[Brian]

Anyone been to those setups where you can play videogames in a movie theatre?

[Josh]

Originally posted by Intolerance
PC for FPS, Console for fighting games and party games.
Console for FPS.

FPS sucks on PC. Just twitch gaming. mouse/keyboard is a shitty way to play any game and frankly makes aiming TO EASY. Console is closer to real life if you're playing an FPS. Less about "who twitches first" too.

[Valkary]

my thumbs are too stupid for consol gaming.

PC all the way.

[garfield hates mondays]

Originally posted by FilmHobbit
Console for FPS.

FPS sucks on PC. Just twitch gaming. mouse/keyboard is a shitty way to play any game and frankly makes aiming TO EASY. Console is closer to real life if you're playing an FPS. Less about "who twitches first" too.
Are you serious, Hobbit? Even if consoles are more like "real life" what does that matter? It's a game and games should be fun. Would you like a game that simulates how it feels to be shot just because its more realistic??

[garfield hates mondays]

Originally posted by Tripolie
Anyone been to those setups where you can play videogames in a movie theatre?
No, I've never even heard of them. One time I went to some sort of overnight church event and they had the PS2 projected onto a giant wall but thats about it.

[Josh]

Originally posted by smeagol wants fishess
Are you serious, Hobbit? Even if consoles are more like "real life" what does that matter? It's a game and games should be fun. Would you like a game that simulates how it feels to be shot just because its more realistic??
Dead serious. FPS on PC is lame. Mouse keyboard is the equivalent of pointing at the screen and watching someone die. Mouse is too accurate. It takes a lot of the strategy and skill out of FPS and makes it just who has the fastest reflexes.

I don't like it, and no longer will play FPS on PC anymore.

On the other hand I play tons of FPS on consoles and love it, and with Halo 2 coming to XBox Live I'll be doing it even more.

[garfield hates mondays]

What about a game like Deus Ex where you start out with sucky aiming skills and then build on them?

[Josh]

Sorry, I only think in terms of multiplayer when I talk. hehe.

[garfield hates mondays]

In that case i would agree. although as long as everyone is using the same controls its still fair.

[masterthes]

From the Atari to PS2, I have always had love for the console.

[Josh]

Originally posted by smeagol wants fishess
In that case i would agree. although as long as everyone is using the same controls its still fair.
I'm not even really talking about fair, just fun and variety. Point and click shooting isn't fun to me.

[Into]

Ok, let me clarify my preferences.

I prefer first person shooters on PC, but only single player and mission based. No multiplayer.

On consoles, first person shooter games like Red Faction, where you have to use both analog sticks to control movement, I absolutely hate. I'll occasionally get a few friends together and play some multiplayer shoot 'em up, but that's about it.

[Josh]

Originally posted by Intolerance
On consoles, first person shooter games like Red Faction, where you have to use both analog sticks to control movement, I absolutely hate. I'll occasionally get a few friends together and play some multiplayer shoot 'em up, but that's about it.
It's the only way to play!

It is annoying at first, but you get used to it quickly. Just like Mouse keyboard. It is annoying at first, but you get used to it.

Ever play FPS online on a console?

[Into]

I don't play any FPS games online, and using the mouse and keyboard was never annoying to me, whereas having to use both analogs to control movement on a console controller is extrememly annoying. I have tried a good number of games using those controls, and can never get used to it.

[crappertay]

I played Quake II on a PS2 for the first time after many years of keyboard/mouse on FPS's on the PC. It was the most excrutiating game of random luck I have ever seen.

It wasn't about skill or stealth was more about who's thumbs could fiddle the wildly inaccurate analogue sticks to the correct position quickest. Trying to run one way while looking and shooting in another is virtually impossible, as is alternating between turning and strafing.

Third Person Shooters like GTA and Enter The Matrix work on console better though I still get pissed off trying to aim the AKs.

[Into]

Exactly.

[Josh]

Basically the sticks give you too much control and you can't handle it. LOL

[Into]

No, I find that the analog sticks don't give you enough control, and they are wildly innacurate.

[Josh]

YES! Exactly my point. Mouse gives you TOO MUCH control in aiming.

Might as well use a light pen to shoot with.

[Into]

I LIKE control. I find it very frustrating, and hard to aim using two analog sticks. It's very annoying. The mouse really doesn't give you THAT much accuracy.. in a lot of games, the opponent is moving so fast that you need that accuracy. It just depends.

[garfield hates mondays]

Originally posted by FilmHobbit
YES! Exactly my point. Mouse gives you TOO MUCH control in aiming.

Might as well use a light pen to shoot with.
So basically you like FPS on console because it's suckier? Doesnt make sense. Of course a game should be challenging, but not to the point of frustration!

[Into]

My point exactly, smeagol. Hobbit likes the challenge of not having much accuracy, and getting frustrated, lol.

[Josh]

Don't blame me cause you don't have any skill. :)

[crappertay]

So basically what Hobbit is saying is he would rather play Time Crisis with a lightgun that kicked and vibrated wildly like a cat on speed WHILE you were trying to aim and shoot instead of just recoiling WHEN you shoot :p

[Josh]

No.

There is a difference between a mouse and a light gun.

[Link]

PC, hands down. Why, you ask?? Expandability. Not in the hardware, everybody knows you can upgrade computer hardware, but expandable GAMES.

Everyone here has heard of Counter-Strike. It's only been in the past three years or so that CS was even SOLD, before that, all you needed was a copy of Half-Life and you could download CS for FREE. Even now, you don't need to buy CS, because it's still avaliable for free download. And HL has spawned litrerally dozens of other modification games, all based on a single game, avaliable these days for under 30 bucks.

Example #2- EA games recently released Battlefield 1942. Good game, designed from the get-go as a multiplayer game. The single player version is just the MP game against bots. But, I digress. BF1942, less than a year old itself, has already spawned hal=f a dozen mods, including the very popular Desert Combat (http://www.desertcombat.com) . Desert Combat is also free. and it's gameplay and features are better than the many 'Expansion Paks' that EA has released for the original BF1942.

Well, I think that about does it. Let's see any of you console geeks write a post like that with you analog joysticks....

[fafhrd]

I prefer console games, for the most part. Why? Because I don't have a top of the line computer. Most games that come out now you need to get a new videocard or another program to make the game run. And then you'll have to download patches in order to make the game work.

Console? Just put the game in, and play. No fuss, no muss.

Seriously, I'm not a fan of the MMORPG's or online play. I have no intentions of playing a game online against some shitbrained kid who can barely type literate english. I don't know half the time if I'm playing against someone who's agreeable/realistic. And the other half of the time I don't know if they're not cheating in the first place. Plus, I want a game that has a STORY. Sure, running around in a FPS and blowing things up but at the end of the day, I want something to happen. Same goes for MMORPG's...storylines are stuck on A)working with a team, who could be compromised of dumbasses B)working on leveling up, and there are alot of players who won't work with you or want to be near you because you're a newbie and C)the storyline works only if you and your team want to make it work. Yup, sounds like fun!

In the meantime, I like RPGs and strategy games for the most part. For strategy games, my preference is TBS, and that gives me the Game Boy Advance/Player. I'll take Advance Wars 1 and 2, Fire Emblem, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance any day. Oh, and I'd also have my PS1/PS2 for Vandal Hearts, Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, Front Mission 3, Disgaea, Ring of Red, Dynasty Tactics, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII and VIII.

And RPG's, I'm old school. Give me Konami, Koei, Squaresoft, Capcom, and Enix's games.

Fafhrd

[Hayzen]

I don't care too much for FPS, but I did really enjoy Unreal Tournament 2003. Playing with a mouse and keyboard is the only way to play these types of games. Anyone who says that mouse/keyboard makes it "too easy" is insane and has obviously never tried to play a competitive game against good players.

Doesn't Halo on X-Box auto aim for you? :lol

As to the question at hand: I prefer both PC and console. I can get stuff on the PC that I can't get, or don't care for on consoles (like RTS, FPS, Simulation, MMO games, and online multiplayer), and I can get stuff on console that I can't get, or don't care for on PC (like RPGs, platformers, and ).




Oh yeah, and check this thing out: ApeXtreme Personal Gaming Console (http://www.gamespy.com/ces2004/apextreme/). It was showed at CES 2004. It's basically a console for PC games. You use it just like a console, that is drop in the CD or DVD and play, but it works with PC games instead of console games.

[AnneXu]

I prefer PC games altho I havent' played much console. When it comes to RPGs, and first person shooters and RTS, you can't beat the PC. Fighting games are cool for consoles

[Captain Murphy]

PC by a nose... I love my 360, but I'll always be a PC nerd at heart... I started out playing games like System Shock, Doom, Quake, MoH:AA etc.. I don't have those memories on console... Pluse I'm building a new PC now and it's going to kick ass.

[Into]

Hey...I remember this thread.

[GodNnelg]

Personally I do like both. Both PC and Console are great, but mostly for different reasons. However I feel I may have a preference more so for the PC..
Sorry, I hate using the gamepad for FPSes now.. not only is aiming screwed up on a gamepad but so is general movement.
One example of this is I get frustrated a lot when people I play against in Halo 2 move around behind me as the gamepad doesn't allow me to turn around fast enough.
Oddly however, I used to play FPSes on the computer using a gamepad - A gamepad that was programmable to keys on the keyboard.. but that was back in Quake 1/2 days and when that gamepad eventually wore out on me I learned the mouse keyboard way and became much better.

As well, there's quite a bit of extra free stuff from the mod community on the PC.. Have any of you played Neverwinter Nights?
There's a vast library of user made content for this game, which has helped keep it popular more than 5 years after it was first released. As well the editor that comes with it is both relatively user friendly and complex so simple levels can be made as well as the entire single player game.
If more console exclusive games showed up on the PC, I would vote for the PC hands down then but that isn't the case unfortunately..

The new Nintendo Wii however brings a great thing to the table that didn't exist in consoles before - the Virtual Console. I've enjoyed emulators in the past on the PC already so this is a great thing to have now.

[moviegirl11]

Holy Resurrected Thread!

You know, I would have disagreed with Josh at the time of this thread regarding FPS on consoles. Other than Goldeneye, they're usually a bit subpar compared to PC. But really, it comes down to the control design. Halo 2 has the best FPS controls of any game in the genre.

With my Wii I was hoping to immediately see awesomeness in the FPS arena on consoles in general. But then they come out with Red Steel. A game which is essentially a sweaty asscrack; smelly, annoying, and pulls your underwear into the brown darkness.

*sigh....yeah, whatever

[Into]

I still agree with my first reply to this thread. Nothing has changed. FPS on console is still a pain in the ass with most games.

But one platform isn't better than the other. They each have their strengths and weaknesses.