Red Faction: Guerrilla
Canonicity of games in the Half-Life series.
Majesty 2
Being this site focuses on PC gaming I knew that this is a list that I would be doing one day. So I decided to get it over and done with, and make it our first official list article. So welcome to our 10 Reasons Why Gaming is Better on PCs.
Before I get into this list I want to say that this is my personal opinion from playing both PC and console games for over 15 years, and I will fully admit that some of the things I talk about in this list do appear in one or two console games, but I would argue that in the realm of PC gaming these things are done better and are more of a standard on the platform.
Controls
If you ask most people that have never been big into pc gaming, they would say that the keyboard and mouse are nowhere near as good as a controller but ask someone that’s been playing first person shooters and real time strategy games on the PC for years and they will tell you a different story.
When it comes down to accuracy the mouse is light years ahead of the analogue stick. This is why most console shooters include a small amount of auto aim, to compensate for the loss of control. The analogue stick is also not very good for making quick movements around a screen, meaning a pointer set-up in games is always better with a mouse.
Even though the faithful keyboard is designed for typing, its mass number of keys allows for all kinds of control schemes that would not be possible on a controller.
And if you want to do want to use a controller the range of controllers available to the PC means that you should be able to find something that’s perfect for what you want and perfect for your hands.
Graphics
I’ll admit that when games consoles are brand new and shiny their graphics can at times surpass that of the average PC but It doesn’t take long for computers to catch up. In no time at all the PC versions of games are the best looking versions, and can make the console versions look outdated by comparison.
PCs also gain from the fact that they are not held back the standard set of resolutions on TVs unlike their console siblings.
Mods
When I say mods I want to make it clear that I do don’t mean hacking the game to the point where its no longer fun. I’m talking about new weapons, new enemies and new levels. When the modding community gets behind a game you can keep playing new content years after the original game came out, and best of all nearly all mods out there are completely free.
If none of the mods for your favourite game interest you, then nothing stops you from downloading a level editor and having a whack at it yourself.
Games Price
If you’ve ever compared the price of new games on both a console and the PC you will notice that you can save a lot of money on the PC version. This is because no companies like Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony are taking a big cut from the sale of games, meaning the savings get passed on to you. From the release date to the bargain bin PC games nearly always stay cheaper for the exact same game.
Backward compatibility
Backwards compatibility has become a big thing for many gamers and while the PS3 is no longer backwards compatible and the Xbox 360 only supports a set list of old games, with a little bit of work you can get games that came on floppy disks to work with the PC. Just last month I played a MS-DOS game from 1992 on a computer running Windows Vista 64-bit that was just built at the end of last year.
PC gamers not only have access to current titles but also a back-catalogue of classic games going back over 20 years, creating a games catalogue that not even the PS2 could compete.
Run your own server
Since Console games started getting on-line modes of play, companies have been pulling out the plug on their servers for what ever reason. Whether its because of cost or lack of players the second it happens its the end of online play for console gamers.
But for PC gamers it can be possible for you to run your own server sometimes allowing you to keep playing your favourite games on-line even if your one of the few people still playing on-line.
Emulation
While emulation is a legally grey area, it is also a legally grey area that PCs excel at. Its not so much that there is no emulators on consoles, its that most emulators are coded for the PC originally then ported over to game consoles. This combined with the fact that most coders are much more familiar with the architecture of computers than that of consoles means that the PC version is normally the closest to the original system and supports the widest range of games.
Upgrading
Consoles have gotten closer to being upgradable over the years to the point where you can now change the hard drive but if your having problems with frame rates or you want to play newer games your only option is to put up with it, or buy a whole new console.
PCs on the other hand are (in most cases) completely upgradeable. If you notice your frame-rates are low, and you don’t want to lower the graphics setting, you can look into upgrading things like your cpu and graphics card, or if you cant play a new game it might just take a few upgrades to alow you to keep playing new games for the next few years.
Services
If you use something like steam with your games not only can you message your friends but you can also access anything on the internet using the built in browser. Often I’ve found myself checking my email when I’m waiting to respawn in Left 4 Dead, or going to twitter when I’m waiting on a target in Hitman.
If you want to listen to something like a last.fm radio station, you can by simply running the last.fm window in the background while you play your game. Hell, if you have a second monitor you could have a film from youtube playing in one monitor while your play World of Warcraft in the other.
Customising your system
While the Xbox 360 and the PS3 have multiple SKUs, it really comes down to how big a hard drive you want or how much money you have. Where as with a pc it can be customised to fit how you play games.
If you like to switch between games a lot but don’t want to change disks, how about multiple dvd drives?
If you don’t like the noise of the fans, how about water cooling and/or silenced fans?
If you like to see all around you in your games, how about 3 monitors?
If you want to install every game you own at once, how about a 1TB hard drive or two?
With a console you just buy a SKU with a PC you can make the perfect gaming system.
So we have reached the end of this list, but I’ve only talked about the good and missed out all the bad stuff. So comeback next week for our 10 Reasons Why Gaming is Better on Consoles. If you would like to point out something I missed or suggest somthing for next weeks list, please leave a comment.
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Awesome article, being a pc gamer myself I must admit you didn’t miss a single point. Hats off.
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You missed a big one I enjoy, It’s a better social platform, Ventrillo and AIM, I’m not restricted to talking to people only in my game, If I want to chat up with some friends while I’m playing some single player game I can do that, If someone wants to pop a quick AIM link of some sweet video they found, they can. If I want to show a friend a game that I just bought by streaming it through X-fire I can do that. I like console gaming, especially same system Co-op with a friend, it has its place, but it always feels like I’m shoved into this isolated area and I can’t socialize with anyone. PS3 is talking about cross game chat, which is a great idea!
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I agree with everything that is said in this article, but there is one thing that is better on consoles and that’s price. You have to spend a nice sum of money to be able to play nowadays games. PC gaming is more expensive, but it’s worth it.
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consoles get waay more games than pc.. and btw have you noticed that apart from crysis, other pc games (PC only exclusives) dont look even half as good as they should considering the amount you’ve shelled out for the rig…
sure pc gaming is where the power is at.. but all the developers are moving towards consoles now.. look consoles are even getting crysis2 or whatever..
and lol you make it sound like all the console gamers dont own a pc at all..
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I don’t agree with “Backward compatibility” on PC. Try to play many of the great games made for DOS, Windows 98 and DirectX 6 and few will run properly on XP or Vista.
With PC, it doesn’t always just work when you install a new game. Drivers update is often a must and when a new driver is installed, it often breaks some of the older games. When DirectX is updated, it also often breaks some of the older games.
PC games are also less optimized. It’s easier to get PC gamers to upgrade to more powerful hardware than fully optimize the games to run the best possible on older hardware that hasn’t be used to the full capability. Buy a new game and then another $100-300 hardware upgrade?
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“consoles get waay more games than pc.. ”
LOL
DOOM, when you say things that are provable wrong, you just make yourself look dumb. There are more free browser games than console games, never mind the commercial releases.
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yeah all conditions are right and strong to be a PC gamer.
Beside you need to install every game
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He missed at least two things:
It’s pathetically easy to pirate PC games. It’s tough as hell doing it with consoles, if possible at all.
Also, on a console, you don’t have access to a console like you do on PC. So if you’re playing Fallout 3, for example, and a quest bugs out, you’re screwed on a console. On PC you can hit ~, enter some commands, and everything is fixed.
Also, I think the worst part of PC gaming is that so many games miss their full potential because they have to be dumbed down to work on consoles. You end up with worse graphics, really crappy control schemes, etc. just so console-gaming losers will buy them.
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go get yourselves an an xbox you geeks
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You missed DirectX. Xbxo360 uses a DX 9 superset, but is obviously not DX 10 and/or DX 11 etc. So the benefits that come out with new DX releases, such as tessellation, compute shader support, multithreading support etc. are not seen on consoles.
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@MikeL
i was talking about those big budget commercial games… games which need a good 3d card to run.. not solitaire or any newgrounds flash game, you dont need a GAMING RIG to play those.. even my crappy lappy can handle them… but crysis on the other hand..
but seriously do ppl not see that all the developers are slowly moving towards consoles? not that they are abandoning PC but they are going multi atleast.. crytek for example.. they practically downgraded their engine just to support 360 and ps3..
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[...] 10 Reasons Why Gaming is Better on PCs « Crowbar Error 42 [...]
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but it has some cons.
cost.
its not cheap to have a gaming spec computer my asus M50 SA cost me 2700 AUD and that cant play crysis above low settings.
i recently built a gaming PC for 3000 AUD and still cant play crysis on max settings at 16 times AA, 8 runs ok but once i go up to 16 it lags.
o and another disadvantage release dates are later Red faction gurilla is STILL not out for PC it was out on PS3 n 360 in june, woflenstien is still not out on PC ps3 and 360 saw it on august 19th, batman AA still is not out for PC ps3 and 360 saw it on september 3rd.
another one is the PC sadly gets crappy ports, like the fear 2 port was terrible or the gears of war port.
unless you have a really old PC theres no point in upgrading your hardware theres barely any programs which need the extra power.
the new video cards coming out soon, is their going to be 1 game that uses their extra power?
nope.
thats the problem with PC gaming these days PC games use to be made to bring out the best in today’s hardware, now devs dont do that because they will be loosing sales they rather sacrifice quality for sales.
PC gaming was king back in the day because it was doing what console games could not, its not doing that with recent games so thats why people say its dead.
i want to love PC games, i really do but inferiour ports of console games are making it harder for me not to mention all the PC exclusives are now on consoles.
ID games use to be PC exclusives now their on consoles.
valve games use to be PC exclusives now their on consoles.
crytek games use to be PC exclusives now their on consoles.
blizzard games use to be PC exclusives now their on consoles.
see what i mean? at the moment PC gaming isent really offering something console gaming cant.
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@name: F.E.A.R. 2 a “crappy port” !?!?? You should refer to 720p and limited to 30 fps, or must be a bad joje. (did you notice about that? just like in recen Batman AA too)
Gears of War has 5 chaptes plus + SDK. Besides is an open to higher resolution version.
Crappy port is Mirror´s Edge (72op), Enemy Territory Quake Wars, Battlefield 2 Modern Combat on Xbox 360, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic or Oblivion or Fallout 3 (and its distant limited vision).
Even GTA 4 can be played at 1920 x 1200p + video editor + 80 fps. Did you saw how the consoles moves the game?
Capcom was in videoconsoles, now in PC. With better versions of DMC 4 (2 exclusive modes) or R.E.5.
Cause DMC 4 can be played to at 1200p with more than 80 fps too. (minumun you will see)
Can Race Driver GRID videoconsoles game in a future be played at 2560 x 1600 like NOWDAYS in PC you could?
Bethesda is on videoconsoles, but just like Morrowind on Xbox, is not the version I want. (why pay more for no SDK and close to graphical tweaks version?)
Valve also released -like in this gen L4D- Counter Strike Source. But nowdays, I don not see any SDK at all. (look Half Life 2 with Cinematic 10 Fake Factory mod)
I do not see any Blizzard game at the moment. MMO, RPG and RTS are in PC just another company more. If tomorrow “evil aliens will take them away to outerspace”, be sure PC gamers still have fun anyway.
CryTek with no SDK on videoconsoles is not also the version I will like to have of the game.
Did you saw The Witcher? Gothic 3 with community patch (it has even MSAA x 2 by software) ?
STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl with Completo 2009 Mod?
Some people shouldn´t notice how Mafia 2, Borderlands, Mass Effect 2, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising (reduced to half numbre of player on multiplayer mode and no SDK on videoconsoles), Wolfenstein (720p & 30 fps again) and next year multiplatform games (DIRT also) has no more than 720p again.
They forgot about a war which begings after the videoconsole hardware is released: the developers wars, for more impresive graphical games.
And MMO? Well, I do not like them at all. But I also do not like japan rpg games. So videoconsoles has nothing much to offer to me.
Besides it is sad to try to “sell videoconsoles” just like if you were going to play the same genres:
P.S: I got videooconsoles. But for its real exclusive great games (Uncharted, Killzone 2, Dead Rising, The Darkness, Viking Battle for Asgarg, etc)
Yes, they can -and should- coexist without any kind of problem (or fanboy wars)
Everything has a “good & not so good” side.
Crysis Wars ? ArmA 1 or 2 ? Insurgency ? Shatered Horizons
Also in its day Doom 3 or Far Cry can not be run maximized in graphics. Nowdays? Of Course. But with one point very interesting: the game doesn´t look just as it good as it was. Graphical Tweaks + Open to higher resolutions version allows players to replay it.
Some others, have to buy Serious Sam or God of War again.
Did we reach a graphical TOP or Ceilling? NO. So which
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