PC gaming compared to console gaming

PC gaming:
+Mouse and keyboard is better suited to certain genres like RTS, FPS etc
+Easier to use 3rd party mods
+Better graphics
+Better performance if you have good enough hardware
+Easier to use 3rd party tools alongside it e.g. Mumble audio, FRAPS etc
+Games are usually cheaper
+Huge backcatalog

Console Gaming:
+Lower hardware costs
+Motion controllers
+Console exclusive titles
+Lends itself better to social gaming
+Easier to 'pick-up and play'


For the record I own a PC, PS3, XB360 and Wii. 99% of my solo gaming is on the PC. The PS3 has seen more use for media playback than gaming!
 
The biggest advantage to me of PC gaming is the PC is in a separate room from the TV and it's MY PC.

If I want to play a console in the proper console setting - the living room - I have to kick my wife and kids off the TV. (I never watch TV), and ask permission first.

If I want to play on my PC (like I do all the time :) ) I can go straight to it and switch it on, because it's mine, I built it, and by playing it I'm not disturbing or inconveniencing anyone else.
 
Having owned tons of consoles and had a few PC too, i will say PC gaming is vastly superior

Online gamming on PC is much, much better, because there is huge variety on online games RTS/RPG/FPS, Mouse + Keyboard, or Mouse + Joypad/Controller combo works very well in FPS for example and it's purely down to reflexes and skill, no target assists or big ole crosshairs

On a high end PC graphics look a lot shaper and games run much more smoothly

When i owned consoles i bought far more games, because you quickly tire of them, the only console games i owned that kept me entained for a really long time was Street fighter 2 on the SNES, Gran Tursismo on my PS1, Vice City on my PS2, there were some other excellent games too but those are the only 3 console games that had me still playing them, 3 or so months down the line

PC games on the other hand, were do i start Original Civilization had me hooked for ages, years in fact, Civ 4 hasd done the same all over again

Battlefield 2, had me playing well over a year for long periods

Bad company 2 has done the same

Company of Heroes is still a great game and i just got hooked again

PC games have massive longevity down to excellent online modes, console games lacked this, the current crop of consoles have come along a lot in this respect, but still suffer from the lack of precision in using joypads for FPS and still lack the graphics, mod community of PC games

The upside of consoles is you can play on a big telly
Have mates around to play and the hardware costs are a lot lower
 
Ravenger said:
The biggest advantage to me of PC gaming is the PC is in a separate room from the TV and it's MY PC.

If I want to play a console in the proper console setting - the living room - I have to kick my wife and kids off the TV. (I never watch TV), and ask permission first.

If I want to play on my PC (like I do all the time :) ) I can go straight to it and switch it on, because it's mine, I built it, and by playing it I'm not disturbing or inconveniencing anyone else.
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+1. The PC which you built with your own hands is yours forever, it is your roommate and you naturally feel affection and ownership of it and you feel full freedom psychologically using such awesome machine!!:).

The gaming experience is excellent and highly enjoyable on your built pc and you have total freedom to install whatever you want to (gamingwise;):p).
Oh did I forget to mention you can always install a more powerfull cpu/gpu for even great performance plus joypad is also readily available for few quids like logitech dual action controller pad which is simple to use and excellent imo.

PC wins hands down!!

It's amazing how I have progressed from console to pc:

NES > Sega Mega Drive > PS1 > PS2 > PS3> My Gaming PC(capable of playing any console game:))
 
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FooAtari said:
No no no

With games like Geoff Crammonds Grand Prix series, Grand Prix Legends, GTR 2 and iRacing the PC has always been leagues ahead. Well for sim racing anyway.
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Racing games on the consoles are miles ahead va those which you mentioned. Crammond's F1 whilst a good 'sim' is postively ancient and it had zero online prescence. There was only one real good racing sim on the pc, which was fairly recent, I just can't recall it's name atm.
 
My only real gripe with PC gaming is the lack of exclusives. At least half - usually more - of the best games released in any given year only apear on consoles.
 
A lot of sport games are better on the consoles... Seems like NHL, Fifa, NFL etc get yearly updates to the consoles but many of these hardly see the light on PC nowadays.

Fifa had an engine update for the PC this year but NHL was last seen on the PC in 2009. I can kinda see why sports games are more suitable for a console. A large screen TV, couple of gamepads, lads round with a few beers. Even if you take into account multi player online, its still more suited to a console.

Racing games such a GP4, r Factor and the racebin titles are hardcore sims, games such as f1 2010, Dirt, Dirt 2, Grid etc all seem to make there way to the PC and play just as well. So arcade racers are seen and play perfectly fine on a good spec PC.

I still think owning a PC and a PS3 etc is about the best you'd get if you're well into gaming.. PS3 has so many great exclusives, and with GT5 just around the corner then being a PC gamer and owning a PS3, its good times all around at the moment I feel...

I've always said PC gamers should at least own a PS3... Anyhow, many won't agree.
 
They're different beasts entirely. I love the PC but the PS3 has some great titles like Uncharted 1+2 and Little Big Planet. The latter is brilliant and a testomony to how consoles can have a strong modding/player-driven content scene if handled well.

I would go as far as saying get both if you can afford to. The fact that the PS3 doubles as a Blu-ray player only sweetens the deal.
 
I stopped at the ps1 and bought a pc soon afterwards, never looked back. love playing FPS on the pc, and when im round a mates, I just cant play cod on a ps3 controller.
 
Kainz said:
Racing games on the consoles are miles ahead va those which you mentioned. Crammond's F1 whilst a good 'sim' is postively ancient and it had zero online prescence. There was only one real good racing sim on the pc, which was fairly recent, I just can't recall it's name atm.
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You kind of missed my point there, I was just mentioning some of the great racers that there has been over the last 10 - 15 years. the Grand Prix games are definitely past it, although GP4 still has some of the best IA I have seen in a racer. Grand Prix Legends still has a very active online community however.

If you want modern games only, well it mostly begins and ends with iRacing (in terms of simulation). Which has a physics model more advance than anything else out there, highly accurate laser scanned tracks and the best FFB I have come across. The only other game in the same ball park in terms of realism and authenticity is Ferrari Academy.
But you also have GTR Evo and rFactor 2 is on the way. And also you have Richard Burns Rally (which to be fair was also released on consoles) and is still the most realistic rally sim. The range of hardware available for sim racing also far outweighs whats available on consoles as well. Again that's the sim side of things, which is my main interest personally.

As far as more arcade/hybrid type stuff goes you have things like Shift, Hot Pursuit 2, Dirt 2, Grid, F1 2010, and Test Drive Unlimited.

PC does not have games that directly compete with GT5 or Forza 3 in terms of the sheer number of cars available, or that focus a lot on production cars (although rFactor comes close which has a huge number of tracks and cars, but as it's a modding platform the quality varies), in terms of simulation neither are as authentic as iRacing. But both are great games, although personally I'm getting a little tired of GT, which is always just a small evolution of the previous game rather than anything revolutionary. And is amazingly still plagued by the same big issues it's hard since the first game.

Racers on consoles are just simply not "miles ahead". Both are slightly different and perhaps one is preferable than the other depending on what games you are after.
 
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