To my mind a PC does support all of the features a console does, too, in some cases the PC is even better.
So why are some games never released or released delayed on pc?

I might mention what Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, those guys who made Unreal Tournament, said here.

If you have to develop a game for PC, then nearly everybody out there has a different hardware setup, which makes it hard to make something running on them all.
People are complaining, sometimes even getting rude, if the game they just bought doesn't run on their PC, which I can understand.
So whose job is it, to make games running? Obviously the job of the developers.

What I personally experience, that new games often lack in terms of gameplay and storyline, I don't care that much about high-end graphics.
But as time goes on, graphics and physics are improving, requiring better and better systems.
Prices for hardware are just insane, if I just think about a graphic card.
Also you can afford the same card two years later for 10% of the original price, which is just ridiculous.

There are guys out there, who always have the latest stuff, but most guys won't. PCs aren't exchanged every two years, often it takes 4-5. It is a fact, that the performance of hardware doubles every two years, making 4-5 years-old PCs useless if it comes to games, since they require the new hardware.

That's the point Mark Rein is mentioning aswell, he is trying to say, that with preset hardware, the developpers may concetrate more on the game itself, not worrying about complains, because some guy's PC doesn't run their game.
As for now consoles are equal or better than PCs in terms of performance, this may change in the next years, while they only cost a part of a full PC-system, they are the best medium to play games on.
Nowadays you are able to plug a mouse and a keyboard onto a console, so I don't see any point in which they are worse than PCs.

Also it may solve or at least reduce the problem of illegal copies out there, since it is harder to make a game suitable for consoles. Who is burning ripped games on a Blue-Ray Disc, which costs half of the game itself?

So all things summed up, PCs are still useable for playing games, but the future may be on the consoles, which covers the tendency of some developpers, who are realeasing their games on consoles only.
As time goes on, consoles get more and more functions. They will function as home-entertainment system and so on, things which a PC could do, too, but still on a lower price.
Even if consoles aren't a match for PCs anymore, as their hardware doesn't improve unless there is a new generation. Consoles will be always a cheaper for playing than a PC would be.

To my mind the PCs future doesn't lie totally in games, it more lies in the possibilities that you have with a PC, since it enables not only gaming, but also video-editing and such things.
Let's see, what the future will bring.

In my opinion there are less illegal copies of console games then of pc games;P

i for my part like both. for example coulden't imagine playing god of war without a gamepag. on the other hand i can't imagine playing half life 2 without keyboard and mouse^^

yoho

In my opinion there are less illegal copies of console games then of pc games;P

You are soooooo mis-guided there. 1 Chip + Console + .iso (find on any torrent site) + blank CD = illegal console game. The only problem is companies like Microsoft that have a tough standard to get your console to run on X-Box Live if you chip it, and will personally ban you without refund if you do go online with a chipped 360. This means if you want online play you have to buy 2 360s, so people with limited income won't do this.

On Noir's Thoughts: I agree with mostly what you have said. I think the problem is the fact that the PC's capabilities are expanding way too fast, like you said, the life of a video card is 12-18 months. Once we get to a standard in 3-5 years where there's no point in trying to upgrade PCs because everyone has a terrabyte memory and 3 GB video cards and 8 GB RAM and 12 Ghz processors stock, PC gaming will explode again. As for now the problem is the developers are not given enough time to work on their engines as they'd like and so a lot of stuff is hurried to production. I remember following the development of the Unreal Engine 3 with it's announcement in late 2004, the pre-test of some of its features in Pariah, it's trail in Gears of War, and the beta demo for UT3. It took almost 3 years to make that engine, and now after 4 months of it's final implementation with the release of UT 3, which of course contains Maya 6.0 and UEd 3, we're talking about Unreal Engine 4? This hardly gives any other developers modding time, and so a lot of teams going commercial from the mod making scene, say like the Red Orchestra team, are not getting the chance to because the engines are become too outdated too fast. Once everything settles, PC gaming will take off again, but as for now it's just expanding too fast. The PC market just needs a little collapse in order to build the stack upwards, just like a game of Tetris.

I prefer consoles.
Sitting in front of the pc for hours to play a game (as I like to do sometimes) seems kind of uncomfortable to me. Then there's also always that "will it really run smoothly on my computer?"-problem that I despice. Consoles are easy, you buy the game, you put it ins, you play...I like that.

"What I personally experience, that new games often lack in terms of gameplay and storyline, I don't care that much about high-end graphics." - Noir

That reminds me, all my favorite games are older games that don't require heavy graphics. Then that made me think of another question: is one of the biggest reasons why people prefer consoles over PC's because of the graphics and reliability issues? I'm sure there are other issues, like you can't play a certain game on the PC because it's not available. I guess another reason why I don't need a console is because all my favorite games are old, on older consoles (PSX, Dreamcast, N64, SNES which I have emulators for) or are older PC games. Plus, when I don't have a console, and a game comes out multi-platform, the obvious choice is to go for the PC version. I download the game via torrent to see if it's good, if it's good I go out and but it if it sucks I uninstall the game and forget it. Every single game I've played that has been released in the past two years I never kept and that's no exaggeration. If I had wanted to play CoD4 on a console, I would've had to buy the console itself, and the game, and if it sucked I just wasted my money. I played CoD4 and it wasn't anything amazing so I got rid of it, not that I hated it but I'd much spend my time on my older games.

So what happens if your favorite games are really old? Is it worth buying the PS3, buying a ton of other games and finding out you're not having as much fun as your older games? That's the boat I'm in, I'm sure people out there will find newer games out there that fits in their "favorite" category, but in my lifestyle, that's how things have gone.

Another smaller reason why I loved my PC is I actually built it so I value it more than if I had just bought a Mac or a console.

Developers having to make games for PC's will have a harder time, and one of the reasons is the graphics and processing power - most people's PC's, I guess from reading from people's post from this thread, can't run high-end games like Crysis and CoD4 on their PC like I can and so they have to buy the consoles. I've never played Crysis, but I can say that the graphics are just too outrageous and doesn't necessarily make the game any better, it's just a good benchmark for your PC to see how strong your PC is.

Who the heck knows where PCs and consoles, in terms of gaming, are going to go. It could be either one that eventually wins, but I doubt I'll see it in my lifetime. In the end, the $1500 I spent on building a computer that can handle games like Crysis, can do my homework and use MSN I think it totally worth it. I haven't played a game where it's so good I just had to go out and buy it. I'm in the situation where I don't have any favorite games on the new consoles and my favorite games all lie on old systems. My comptuer gives me the ability to first download new games to see if it's good and if it isn't I chuck it away. If on the rare occasion the game was just arwesome then I would go out and buy it to support the developers.

Now that I kind of realized it, my post was somewhat pointless and I was just ranting out why I preferred PCs over consoles. Well, I used to play consoles a lot, the last console I owned was the Dreamcast and Crazy Taxi was just amazingly fun and house of the dead was hilarious. If I stop to think about it, there are things that PC's have that consoles may not have and vice versa and now I'm kind of tempted to go into Microsoft Word and set up a two-column table to compare the two on what each others have and not have. Go ahead and flame away on this post for those of you who love consoles more dearly than soul mates and think PC's need to go shove it.

Well I think Consoles are better than PC because you don't have to upgrade it to play latest games , on the other hand it is really hard to play FPS games on consoles PC are way better to it so if you love FPS PC is for you

PC's FTW! You can play classic games on a new PC. And according to my friend, consoles have the same hardware components as a 4 year old PC that hasn't been upgraded.

Well your friend is wrong. Also, I'm a bit curious as to what you consider "classic" PC games. If you mean pre-Windows XP/DirectX, then good luck doing so in any modern operating system without emulation. Not to mention, if you bother modding a video game console like someone mentioned earlier, you can emulate old games on that, too.

I'm both a console and PC gamer.

I've always sat on the side of the fence. In terms of a computer it's very difficult and incredibly expensive to stay up-to-date with all the latest games and to be able to crank everything up to the max settings is always a pleasant experience. There are also some games that you just can't get the same experience without a mouse and a keyboard in my opinion. Of course, PC gaming is very spendy. I've got a retail model that I downgraded to XP and put in a new graphics card and it suits me just fine. Especially considering my previous rig had components that were ten years old.

Console gaming is something I've always been a part of. Dating all the way back to Nintendo, it's always been the route I've taken and only in recent times have I started to do more PC gaming. Console has always been nice, since you can buy an affordable system instead of paying a couple thousand on a top-of-the-line PC and you can buy your games without having to worry about matching up or having any issues with the game. It's bad when I have to find a crack for a game that I bought because it has issues reading the the disc and I can't find any assistance for it. Console is an affordable choice and with the opening of online gaming, it really is becoming a more competitive contender in the fight. Emulation is something that can be done with both systems, but when it comes down to it I've found it to be much easier to work emulation on a PC rather than a system.

At the end of the day, it's the same as everything else in life. It all comes down to personal preference. It can be continuously argued that both have a great deal to offer to the consumer, but it's going to depend on the route that person chooses to take. PC is a bit more spendy, but the experience is going to be a much more beautiful one than console, yet console is much more affordable and compatibility is a given, so long as you buy the game for the system you have and know what that system can/cannot do.

Crimson

and to be able to crank everything up to the max settings is always a pleasant experience

OH is it. Good graphics for all my anime-related UT2k4 model give me so much pleasure in playing the game. Not many people online can say they got owned by a VERY sexy looking Kasumi from Dead or Alive.

Long

Then that made me think of another question: is one of the biggest reasons why people prefer consoles over PC's because of the graphics and reliability issues?

Not for me no. I mean graphics are HUGE for me BUT, I will buy a game like UT 3 (when I build my own comp in a year's time) in anticipation and knowledge that it's going to have some great custom maps and a fantastic selection of mods. This is something that tends to cripple the console industry too in multi-platformers, is the fact that community based maps which can range from pure shit to solid, jewel-crested GOLD (some maps for UT2k4 I played were unbelievable) will never be available for the console versions. Modding is also a HUGE bitch on consoles, even despite the 360's XNA attempts, and absolutely brilliant brilliant mods, like the Jailbreak mod (a mod that was so good it's been made for Quake 2, Quake 3 Arena, UT, UT2k3, UT2k4, and soon to be UT 3) are going to be made for the PC version and will not find its way to console either. This is a point I really want to put emphasis on, because now that I'm 20 and cannot nag my parents to death for games, I have a very limited income on what to buy, so a game has to have a crap-load of play-back capabilities, and buying a game, like say Crysis, which will only be played once by me won't cut it compared to UT 3 (despite the single playing being a chunky pile of crap), because the mapping/modding community is SO strong that the game won't lose it's appeal until two years after it's release as UT2k4 did (I play only rarely now since the online community has shifted over to UT 3 and CoD 4).

Crimson

PC is a bit more spendy, but the experience is going to be a much more beautiful one than console,

Agreed. In the end it's all about picking your battles.

You can overclock, put in lights and do all sorts of tweeking for PCs

I did some searching and reading and really the reason why one would prefer PC over console and vice versa is because they don't mind or don't encounter the disadvantages of one of the systems and the advantages of one system will greatly benefit them.

The advantage of the console is cost. The best consoles will cost at most $600 while a decent PC will cost almost double that and a really good one can reach past $1500. So if money is an issue, in terms of playing just games, consoles are the way to go. The other advantage is that consoles are simpler to use - you just plug it in and go you don't have to worry about compatibility. A third advantage to consoles is it's really easy for online play now, although that wasn't the case for consoles before the Dreamcast. A fourth, almost humorous reason why you'd want a console is so you can play it on a couch. From what I've read, you can play with your friends while sitting on the couch, but doesn't online gameplay these days kind of eliminate that old "let's invite four people to play Mario Kart 64"? A fifth reason is it is easier to rent console games from stores.

So to me - money isn't an issue so I can afford a high-end PC. And because I own a high-end PC I rarely run into compatibility issues running games. Online multilayer is also available for the PC. I can also play my PC from a couch but I prefer my height and tilt-adjustable leather office seat. Also an advantage I forgot to list is sometimes games are only built for consoles so some games may not be available for a PC, but that goes the same way around - some games like Crysis aren't available for consoles. One can look at that as a disadvantage to having consoles because then you're forcing games onto console-only platforms and starving the PC industry of some of their games. That's what I've searched up on console advantages now for their disadvantages.

Console disadvantage - when it's outdated there's nothing you can do about it but get a new console (probably next-gen). Second, consoles can only play games, music DVD's and movies but that's all, compared to the almost unlimited applications PC's can play not to mention emulators. Then when you play online, there's a restriction where you can only play with people having the same console as you.

Now for PC advantages - one advantage that I research is there are more games for the PC than there are for a given console, particularly for the online multiplayer games. There are tons of MMOG's for PCs and not to mention all the small minigames passed through say emails and browser games that can be played for free. Examples of these include websites like Shockwave.com where only Flash player is required. Like mentioned before, PC's can be used for running anything - beyond playing games listening to music and watching movies. Another advantage to PC's is PC components are always the best and up to date. New, next-gen consoles, when they are released on their release dates will probably posses some of the best hardware, but given a few months that hardware will already be phased out compared to PC components, but then again PC components are significantly more expensive. Examples include Intel's quad core or dual GPU graphics cards. When it comes to online gaming PC's are not restricted to proprietary services or software. People who're running Dells, HP's and custom computers can still play together online, even if they're running different operating systems; as long as they have the same game people will be able to play together. The final advantage to PC's is if a component in the PC ages, there's a greater possibility to upgrading just one of its components, but this can vary (ie. upgrading a AGP graphics card to a PCI-E graphics card require the change of the motherboard, but if the motherboard is changed, lots of other components need to be changed like CPUs or if you're still running DDR1 RAM you may have to upgrade to DDR2 RAM).

PC disadvantages - price. PC's cost a lot more than consoles, 'nuf said. There's also the possibility that a PC gamer will encounter some kind of technical problem (not like XBox 360 owners have never had problems with their consoles overheating), but compared to consoles, PC's tend to have tougher compatibility issues. PC's, as gaming consoles, are more prone to receive viruses and spyware, although it's only a matter of time before some low-life starts making viruses for consoles. When you get a PC game, you may not know if it's going to work or not until you finally get to play it, and even if you do it may crash any moment. Plus, a PC game tend to have more controls so memorizing all the controls on your keyboard may be difficult. Finally, and I laughed at this one, is that you can't enjoy playing your PC on a couch as much as you can a console and you can't play together with your friends on the same couch on the same PC, but online gameplay seemed to have gotten around that.

So yeah that's a "on the fence" approach to finding out which pros and cons each console and PC will have and people tend to prefer one over the other because the system's advantage far outweigh its disadvantage and the disadvantage of the other system doesn't make that system worth it. Mind you, not all of the advantage and disadvantage apply to everyone. Take me for example, because I had money, I could afford to build a new computer with good specs, so that's not a handicap for me.

From a personal point of view, I didn't have problems spending $$$ on building a new PC, I learned a lot about computer hardware thanks to that and had fun. I also rarely have had problems with compatibility issues with PC games so that disadvantage to PC's doesn't really apply to me. I can play multiplayer on my PC so there's no need to buy a console for that reason. I don't rent any games, instead I download them to see if they're good and if they're not I chuck them out. The disadvantages of a console hits me pretty hard - I need to do my homework, I need MSN, I need Firefox so that's why a console doesn't appeal to me. PC advantages, for me, are a plus for me because of all the stuff I need to do on my PC. Like I mentioned before some advantages may not apply to me, and the fact that I don't play small games online for free means I don't need that advantage of a PC (although I used to play on Shockwave a lot when I was in middle school). The fact that PC components are almost always better than console components makes me a big fan of them, especially when a Motherboard has cool designs with copper and gold all over them, and with awesome looking graphics cards and heatsinks and watercooling, all that makes me love the PC's even more. And the disadvantages almost never affect me and even if I do I don't notice it and therefore I don't get pissed about it. I don't have problems with $$$ so I can afford a high-end PC, and I never had compatibility issues and if I did, I should've noticed that when I downloaded the game to test to see if it worked and if it was good.

Bottom line - neither systems are really better, it's just that the advantages of one system may appeal to you while the disadvantages of that system doesn't affect you, and the advantages of the other system doesn't appeal to you but the disadvantages of that system is a total turn-off for you. It's all about acquiring the system with the most advantages and the least disadvantages and that tends to be dependent on your lifestyle (school and money for examples are factors).

I play both. Consoles since the Atari 2600 and PC since Windows 95. If you like the game, you don't mind the time a console takes to load a scene or the slowing down from the processing your PC does. You just play and enjoy it the best you can with what you've got.

Longbow

Tripe

...

Wow. I really don't have the ambition to go through this right now, but I may come back to it.

This thread makes my blood boil, honestly. From the OP who was clearly pro-PC to the people trying to play "peacemaker" who are just spewing an endless load of vitriol disguised as something a bit less sinister in nature.

Is there something wrong with preferring one platform over another just on the merits of the platform's software library? You know, I always thought it was the games that mattered, but I guess nobody thinks that anymore.

*Note that this is actually the third versjk of this post - the first two would have gotten me insta-banned*

If it makes your blood boil then you can leave this thread and pretend you never partook in it.

Through this thread I actually figured out why people preferred one system over the other and I've come to realize that different people live different lifestyles, and different lifestyles come different way to enjoy games. I've become more accepting to people who love consoles and prefer consoles only.

Pc beats everything!