Simple reason why PC gaming will never overtake consoles

[onemanfilmcrew]

I bought a $500 PC (not including monitor), yet when I tried to boot up a 3 year old game (Neverwinter Nights 2) it said that I didn't have a powerful enough video card. So in order to play a 3 year old game, I have to spend another $100 or so. God only knows how much I would have to spend in order to play something newer.

By contrast, if I spend a few hundred dollars on a PS3, I'm going to be able to play everything that has come out to date, not to mention everything that comes out in the future.

[Erik_Twice]

There's a topic for this already.

And BTW you got robbed However note that for 100 you get a pretty good graphic card so you will not have any problem with modern games.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

The simple reason is you were stupid enough to spend 500 dollars on a computer with no discrete video card. Way to go.

[otaku]

NWN2 kicks ass I run it on my alienwares granted expensive but you can't beat pc gaming sometimes (mmo's rpgs shooters amazing tech and graphics etc) you did get ripped off though thats the real problem here

[RyaNtheSlayA]

NWN2 kicks ass I run it on my alienwares granted expensive but you can't beat pc gaming sometimes (mmo's rpgs shooters amazing tech and graphics etc) you did get ripped off though thats the real problem here

Alienware computers are the biggest hunk of manufacturing junk I've ever seen. Such horrible build quality. Build your own peope if you want something half-way decent, its not that hard, and if you have a problem, theres plenty of tutorials that monkeys can understand.

[J T]

Yes, the major problem with PC gaming is you have to know what you're getting into and you usually have to own the latest hardware to play the latest games. I've always liked consoles because you never had to worry about whether or not your game was going to install or if you were going to have to play the game at a lower graphic resolution setting because your system can't handle the game. Consoles you just pop the game in and it works.

There are major benefits to PC gaming though. You have easy access to the internet. There are lots of mods available for your games. Some types of games (like first person shooters) are just better played with a mouse and keyboard. There are a million games you can play on your PC, especially if you get into emulation. You can save without buying a memory card. You can receive updates that fix bugs the game developers missed on the first release.

So, they are just different types of gaming. Console games don't require legwork to get the game running. PCs generally give you more options.

[PharmaceuticalCowboy]

Simple reason why people make so much money off of the uninformed. I personally spent about $600 a year ago and expect to get at least another year out of it before I will crave something stronger, but up until then it will be able to run any commercial game that comes out (and the machine will probably be able to run new games for 3-4 years after that). Keep in mind that most games are still being developed for consoles and then ported over, so you really don't need the latest hardware to keep up.

[Erik_Twice]

It's sad how hard some shops ripp off their costumers. Go to any shopping mall and you see lots of computers for more than 1200 euro that doesn't even have a graphical card.

[Ziggy]

The PC versions of games will almost always have better graphics over the console version. This is why you need to keep up with the hardware. For example, by the time World at War came out the 360 was aged a little. My friend was wowed by the difference of his 360 version versus my PC version.

If you're video card couldn't play a 3 year old game than it was probably a low end card or an on board card. OR it could just be incompatible with the particular game you're trying to play. I remember I got Doom 3 a year or two after it came out and I was pissed to find out it lagged slightly on my brand new PC. It was because the ATI card that came in that PC was one of the few that Doom 3 does not support.

But you don't HAVE to keep up with the hardware. I was playing COD4 and MOH Airborne on a 10 year old computer. Granted, I had nearly every setting on low to play them, but nonetheless I played them with out lag. This is pretty much all a console is doing once it gets older anyway.

[The Apprentice]

I've been a major opponent of PC gaming for a long time. My Dell is three years old now, it cost $300 dolars new after my father's Lockheed discount, so I'm guessing it was about $350-$400 new. I upgraded last year from the nasty Intel 32meg integrated graphics to an ATI for $70. The other day I found out my computer can't play Eve because I don't have the right pixel shader or something like that, and my card is just a little too old. So for me to play Eve, I'm expected to go down to the store, pay another $70 or so to get another graphics card.