A timeless battle rages on in the world of gaming. One that pits “hardcore elitist” PC gamers vs the “filthy casual” console players. For this week’s round of Nerd Wars!, we ask you brave warriors to take up arms and defend your platform of choice!
When it comes to online debates, there is no middle ground. There are only extremes. To have a valid opinion you must be completely for or completely against something. Rationale must be thrown to the wind and your primal animal instincts must guide your decision. Just imagine you are literally fighting to the death in order to defend something you love. Would you kill for your Xbox? You can guarantee the PC crowd would do it without hesitation.
Somehow over the course of the last 10 years it’s become increasingly “uncool” to play on consoles, despite overwhelming sales numbers and incredible developer support. We all grew up playing our favorite games on Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis, so why is there so much animosity towards the console crowd nowadays? It all boils down to public appearance. Video games have become the largest market of entertainment, officially overtaking film a few years ago. This means there is a greater percentages of “casual” players. It would seem that PC gamers associate this crowd with consoles and this is where the hatred stems from.
We could talk semantics for days, but what really matters is your opinion. What is your preferred platform? Are you someone who enjoys the versatility of PC gaming or do you prefer the classic, comfortable feel of console gaming? You might even be thinking to yourself, “Why can’t I have both?” This is also a completely valid and logical opinion. Wherever you stand, we want to know your thoughts on one of the most heated debates in video game history.
Be sure to check out our very own Dudewantshisrug’s internal struggle with this issue.
Miles Dompier is the chief editor and founder of What’s Your Tag?. He is a Seattle native who recently moved to the sweltering heat of Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming a composer/voice actor. When he’s not up writing until his eyes bleed, he likes to play a Prince level of instruments and listen to terrible death metal. Follow his shenanigans on Twitter and be sure to join our gaming community; TEAM XBRO.
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Reblogged this on Reviewer Discretion.
Why Can’t we all just get along!
But I must say PC does get a lot of the more obscure indie games!
Goat Simulator all the way. I think we’ll see a lot more obscure indie games coming to consoles in this generation, but the really weird ones never seem to make it.
I think that both sides has its befits. A console is good for sitting down and relaxing on a couch or similar sitting device while a PC is good for playing a wider range of games and it has a better platform for new games to develop and become popular. I game on both the PC and console and it would be hard for me to give up either of them.
You’re getting the best of both worlds, my friend and that’s the way to be. I prefer to play on consoles, but I definitely don’t do it exclusively. I love having the option of both and sometimes PC delivers that special games that really only work on PC.
Sums up my view pretty accurately. I just haven’t made the jump to current gen.
So many…I’d feel like I was neglecting them if I ever stopped playing one of the consoles.
My Xbox feels pretty neglected. I played Tenchu Z on it a few weeks ago and it seemed pretty happy. Lol
One day when you’re ready you’ll make the jump and it’ll be glorious.
Have a PS3, and have most of my games on it.
Gaming is just more of a couch hobbyto me than a desk/chair, which I associate with work.
I’ve been toying with the idea of building a PC though, and there’s a wider variety of games and available for cheaper as well (along with emulation etc).
That’s where I currently stand.
The couch is the deciding factor for me as well. Sure I could hook my PC up to my TV and get a wireless keyboard and mouse setup, but that’s so much work compared to a console. Plus consoles seem to get many bigger releases first.
I’m primarily a PC guy, but I also own a PS3. Whenever a non-exclusive game that I want comes out, I get the PC version, because it’s simply the better version. It’ll have better frame rates, higher resolution, higher quality textures, better sound through my sound card and headphones, no online multiplayer fees, awesome sale prices, the list goes on. My PS3 is for Naughty Dog games and a couple of JRPGs.
I think the only real upsides to consoles are party games and split screen mode… But even then some games like Portal 2 can splitscreen on PC, iirc.
With the PC you’re only getting the best version if you’ve shelled out a large chunk of cash for a solid gaming computer. There’s no way a $300 computer is going to run a game as well as an Xbox 360 or PS3, but if cost isn’t a factor PC does offer far more power.
I’m the exact opposite when it comes to non-exclusives, If it’s on a console, that’s what I’m getting it for. I save the PC for exclusives and smaller indie titles.
Well, maybe not $300, but $500 gets you a pretty solid rig (beats XB1/PS4). The difference pays for itself through no online fee and cheaper games.
Sticking a 750ti into your prebuilt is another option! ($160)
I grew up in the NES generation and I have always been (and most likely will always be) a console gamer. It’s like comfort food to me. I see the appeal of PC gaming, with its significant graphical upgrades and player-made mods that extend the life of a game tremendously, but I’m just not a big fan of PC gaming. I know you can just wire your PC to your HDTV and pretend it’s a PC wearing a console costume, but I just enjoy knowing that my 400-500 investment will last me 8 years without worry or fear that it will require upgrades to play all of the new games.
I do use my PC for MMO’s, as I’ve pointed out various times that I’ve been playing WoW for almost 10 years, etc., but if any game comes out for PC and for console, I’ll always buy the console version.
This whole debate was best explained to me as “pretend you have your Xbox One and then the Xbox 360 comes out. Would you be excited for it?”, and I get that. If you put enough money in to it, a PC will always be a superior option, but I don’t really care. I don’t buy the fastest cars, I don’t overpay for yuppy organic food and I’ll never pay to add a few inches to my man parts, so I don’t see why it’s so important to do the same in the gaming realm.
I couldn’t imagine spending over $1500 for an outrageous gaming PC. The price, to me, can never be justified. Like you said, with consoles I know I’m getting my moneys worth. I don’t have to worry about upgrading my rig every six months to keep up with upcoming releases. This also forces developers to be smarter when it comes to developer games. They learn ways to streamline coding that produces beautiful games and drastically reduces system strain.
Consoles are like a comfort food for me. It’s something I grew up with and you just can’t replace that special feeling on playing side by side with friends hunched over at a desk.
Plus a majority of the better PC games tend to be indie releases, which don’t exactly push graphics. Don’t get me wrong, I do wish we had some of those insane Steam-like sales on our consoles.
I just want to let you know that the whole “have to constantly upgrade every few months” thing is a myth because of adjustable graphics settings. 🙂
I grew up with consoles, but when I was old enough I switched to PC.
Why? Convenience was a big factor for me.
I have clinical ADHD, which causes anxiety for me when I don’t have routines that maximize what I do with my time. I also experience diminishing returns with a lot of video games.
A PC gives me a lot more options in terms of gaming (e.g. Steam) as well as access to my wacom tablet, the internet and a few other things. A console just can’t do that.
At the moment, I have no distaste for consoles and occasionally I do still play console games, but the PC consolidates my entertainment needs. The only thing I currently use my console for is to stream video through Netflix or Amazon.
PC is definitely the ultimate all-in-one option when it comes to multitasking. I use mine for things like photoshop on a regular basis, but the for me, it’s far more uncomfortable playing on PC than it is on console. I feel strained and fatigued much faster it seems like.
I think for me, 8 hours of Civilization 5 does equate to about 3 hours of the Last of Us.
Unfortunately, that may be more emotional exhaustion….*tear.
That game definitely pulls on the ol’ heart strings. You just constantly feel stressed while playing, but you don’t want to stop. It’s a terrible/amazing feeling.
I don’t know, having Ghandi threaten me with war is pretty stressful too :P, but I know that feels.
Plus all the scary moments really drive up your stress with that game.
I’m not very patient when it comes to RTS games so like 20 minutes in Civ 5 seems like 5 hours to me lol
Haha, I start out strong and after a few hours I tend to get really impatient with it
You might want to look into a Chromecast. Not long ago, my XBox Gold sub lapsed, and I realized I only used it to stream Netflix anymore. A Chromecast is cheap, and works great. I can’t remember now the last time I turned on my 360.
I totally forgot to mention we have it!
I know how you feel with your 360. Ever since we got the Chromecast, the PS3 has only been used for Amazon prime when we’re really bored.
I play games on both PC and consoles. One thing with consoles that I like is that any game developed for it is guaranteed to run, no questions asked, but with PC gaming, even if your computer exceeds the minimum specs for a game, it still might not work. However, PC games tend to inherently be easier to mod due to the nature of the system they’re on, and usually have graphics that far exceed that of console equivalents. Plus, backwards compatability is there on PC much more frequently than on consoles (Nintendo is probably the only large company that genuinely cares about it). For me, consoles feel more ‘traditional’ for gaming, they feel more ‘gamey’ than PC. I’m pretty much on the fence with this one, I enjoy both and can’t see any reason why PC and console can’t just get along as friends.
In the end, this is all a moot discussion as the console and PC will keep homogenizing until they’re the same device. It use to be that consoles were the way to go as full blown PCs were still WAY out of the financial reach of many consumers, and consoles still give a great gaming experience for the price, but as the price of PCs fall, eventually there will be no difference. They’ll all start using the same operating systems, same overlays, same networks. This is why I think Valve and their Steamboxes are on the right track.
Very well said. We’re almost already at that point with the Xbox One and PS4. The line between a PC and gaming console is becoming more blurred every day.
The SteamBox is a great idea and I love the business model, but that controller is downright awful. I don’t see it working well in most scenarios.
I get what you mean, in the same way that phones are effectively becoming mini computers, consoles too are slowly morphing into computers. They’re practically based on the same theories, just with different applications. So I agree with the idea that the Steambox family is the first iteration of what will become the standard in the future, a gaming system which also functions as a conventional computer
“Why can’t we be friends? Why can’t we be friends? Why can’t we be friends? Why can’t we be friends?” Not a very creative song, but it’s got a good message and I can respect that.
I prefer consoles, but I enjoy both. I’m not however, a fan of PC gamers putting down those who prefer console gaming.
What are you talking about, that’s the most creative song I’ve heard today!
Both are very good platforms to play on, and in the end, if we all had fun then isn’t that all that counts? It’s the same argument I make to everyone who slates the Wii U, for example, even though I don’t own one I still see it as a respectable console, it really doesn’t deserve all the crap it gets from (seemingly) everyone.
I heard a long time ago a very valuable saying: “If your friend is really excited and invites you over to watch the big game on his new 15″ TV, you do it. Doesn’t matter if you have a 100″ TV, you’re being invited to share in something they are proud of, and so you should be proud of them, too.”
I forget who said it or where I heard it, but it really rang with me. People buy all of their tech for their own reasons. Whether one is better than another is all opinion, as the only person that matters in that decision is the person who is using it. So belittling another person’s tech is really just rude.
I have a PC I built myself, and have taken myself completely out of the console race. For my needs, I find a PC to be of more value than a console. But you will never hear me say that I consider PC’s a better choice than consoles overall, only that it is a better choice for me. And I am not you. If a console makes more sense for others, then who am I to call them wrong?
There’s too much tech snobbery out there. I refuse to add to it.
I can absolutely respect your opinion. This is the kind of attitude I appreciate finding on the internet. Nowadays there is so much negativity and absurd hatred towards one another, so a genuine respect for someone else’s opinions is always welcomed.
We all just need to play what’s best for us. I think the stereotype that console players are ignorant and uniformed is just completely ridiculous, but it seems to be an unfortunate trend.
This is very much the attitude I wish everyone else had. If I’m having fun with my technology, and my friend Bob is having fun with his, then why does Bob try and put me down about the tech that is fun for me? In hindsight, Bob shouldn’t be my friend haha.