4x dead. PC games dying. Gave away PC. :(

[Instar]

Klvino [ORB] said:
At the rate consoles are developing, I wouldn't be surprised if they soon had more in common with gaming PC's than thier predessors

Well, the first XBox was pretty much a stripped down PC with custom parts. The processor was an Intel, and the graphics chip was a nVidia 35 or 40 series, I think. Where they got more performance was through a really fat bus and things like that, I think. Xenon (codename for XBox 2) will use an IBM/Mac processor and ATI graphics chip, both of which are still computer style parts. Microsoft is aiming for a convergence of digital technology, so it is no surprise.
The GameCube uses an ATI chip, IIRC. Despite this, the GC is teh suck

[DeadZone]

Oi, I like my GC

PCs are more customizable and easier to upgrade too
Consoles tend to be, here it is, be happy with it, if you want something better, you tend to have to buy a completely new one

PC Games have better support because you get patches, mods, better Online play, etc
Console Games tend to run better because there is only one type of machine its running on, because PCs are upgradable, devs push the specs because they know, sooner or later, something will come out that runs there game fine, you dont have this option with Consoles (which is why games run fine on all consoles, but some PCs will struggle to run some games)

At the end of the day, consoles are for people with little time or who are simple folk
PCs are for people with time or like the freedom (like me... on both accounts there lol)

[Hugh Manatee]

and then tere's the handheld market...

*hugs advance wars*

[Instar]

DeadZoneMDx said:

PC Games have better support because you get patches, mods, better Online play, etc

Exhibit A: XBox Live. The experience of XBox Live is tremendous. It patches games, distributes extra content, and is amazing Online play.

[DeadZone]

Ok, how about this one then

Start-up time

PCs = Start up the machine, then insert disk, play, eject disk, insert disk, play, etc

Consoles = Insert disk, start up the machine, play, shut down machine, eject disk, insert disk, start up machine, play, etc

One huge advantage PCs have over consoles

Just to note, I wont, in a million years, touch the XBox (Im one of them anti-microsoft people)

[Hugh Manatee]

DeadZoneMDx said:
Ok, how about this one then

Start-up time

PCs = Start up the machine, then insert disk, play, eject disk, insert disk, play, etc

Consoles = Insert disk, start up the machine, play, shut down machine, eject disk, insert disk, start up machine, play, etc

One huge advantage PCs have over consoles

Just to note, I wont, in a million years, touch the XBox (Im one of them anti-microsoft people)

Unles you are yalking about a Final Fantasy type game or console based Myst/Riven you included WAY to many steps in the Console startup time, and that seems like a trivial argument to me to be a "huge advantage". It goes more like Power up, open tray, insert disc, watch 3 second load screen and play, turn off when board turn back on and skip steps 2-4.

For PC it's like: Power-up PC(depending on machine this can take 30 seconds-almost 2 minutes), place CD in tray, wait for auto load, if auto load crashes, use the icon, or comand line to launch the game, game launches, but crashes immeadiately due to memory error, reboot and repeat steps to launch again, play for 20 minutes and crash because of 9X-XP compatibility or glitch caused by rushed programming with the logic " get it out the door we can fix it later wit teh patch", Download said patch(takes 5minutes-2 hours), instal patch, play game, experence severe joystick/gamepad glitches and realize there isaconflict in the game with your joystick drivers, update joystick drivers(20 minutes), play for another half hour till video card causes glitch, update video card drivers(5-20 minutes), play some moreand realize that your machine isn't powerful enough to run this game at full settings and 100-300 dollars will have to be spent and sensative components will have to be installed.....

[DeadZone]

Wow Hugh, I take it you have had some bad problems in the past
Ive never had any of these problems ever (Some EA games excluded, and Ubisoft sometimes)

For my PC: Power up: Rarely longer than 20seconds, place CD in tray, I have auto run disabled by pref., so hit exe. and thats it, I play until Im bored or wants/needs to do something else
IF I do need a patch, well, its a perfect excuse to do some house work/something else for a few minutes
And plus, like instar said, XBox is also using patches, and they wont take any longer to d/l cos they are on the same connection after all

As long as your OS is configured properly and is 2k or XP, you tend to be fine (Yes its microsoft, so I will agree that it can be a big pain in the rear at times)

And anyway I was referring to playing different games, not the same one over

[Instar]

My PC boots up in less than 10 seconds. A 10k RPM SATA hard drive can do that. Well, that and a gigabyte of RAM. And a 2.4C P4.
One PC I had took longer than 5 minutes to get all the services fully running (I was running DB software, the 3 server packages needed for a complete install of a product I was developing against, and everything else needed) I could go get coffee in less time.
Edit:
Oh, my PC can probably boot in about 5s or so. It is pretty quick.

[GMLocutus]

There's alot of good points to a PC which Consoles canot match.

First off, PC games i find are becoming more moddable which can never really be achieved on consoles due to the system requirements of the console.

PC's can be upgraded to better specs allowing the graphics and gameplay to improve. Yes this is positive but i feel this is also a major negative due to the fact that if you buy a console game you play it, if you buy a PC game, you may need to upgrade the PC to handle the game.

However the problem with consoles is, if you buy a console you're restricted to playing the games that can only work on that console, some companies may only release a game for a peticular console, whereas the PC gets benefits of getting them all, look at Halo, that was only for the Xbox, and then it was released on PC. Unless you owned a PC, you would have needed to buy an Xbox just to play it, or borrow a friends Xbox if they had one.

My preference will always be the PC, but i do enjoy playing my Xbox (or one of many others I have bought over the years)

[Sabin]

Eh...most consoles have their strong points, as does the PC. For example, the PC has the most/best "true" RPGs.(In the Planescape/Baldur/Fallout style), fan-games, emulation(to play SNES, N64, PSX and so on a PC) and so on...

Game Cube has the strongest name-brand of all of the consoles, more or less. Sure, the X-Box and Playstation II almost have icons, but they are generally fewer and not as well known as the Game Cube's. Also, the Game Cube has a very strong core of games. The downside, is the lack of multiplayer over the internet...but truth be told, I think the GC is the best-suited for people who like single-player, good games, and has friends nearby who like games.(The GC is portable, after all...) Also, while the Game Cube has a strong core of games, it lacks a significant number of total games.

The Playstation II probably has the widest selection of games, ranging from extremely poor to excellent. It definately has some of the more exotic games of the three current consoles: Amplitude, DDR series the Eyetoy, and so on. It has a somewhat decent multiplayer function, but it is pretty much a middle player.

The X-Box...well, truth be told I don't know much. I suppose it can be said to have poor to excellent games as well, but the controllers are generally poor.(I hear) It has on-line play though, which is somewhat dependable, circumstances willing.

Now, keep in mind...each of the consoles offer something depending on where you live, and what you like. Also, the American/English countries do not have the chance to play certain Asian games...say, from the Super Robot Taisen series, various hentai-games, SD Gundam and so on.