PCs vs Consoles

So I touched on this in the first post I made here, but I feel I should probably explain my stance on the whole PC gaming vs Console gaming 'debate' that so often rages in comments sections across the internet. I use the quote tags around debate because in the end, it seems to descend into one side calling the other sides mothers names. So here goes:

I have always been a PC gamer first and foremost. The first game I ever owned was Need for Speed 2: Special Edition if that helps to date me as a gamer. I enjoyed the SimCity series (if I was a little young to be any good at them) and then came Starcraft. The game that got me into gaming as a serious hobby. Through all of this, my Dad, who is probably the most anti game person I know, encouraged me to get into the actual hobby of building and maintaining a PC. I made my first upgrade when I was ten or eleven (a GeForce 4 MX I installed myself) and built my first complete system when I was fourteen. If it wasn't for that side of the hobby, I probably never would have continued gaming on the PC in any serious fashion.

Then in late 2006 I moved interstate in Australia, basically from as far on the east side of the country as you can get to as far West as you can. One of my new friends was selling an X-Box 360 and I tried it out. It was fun and I could have 4 mates playing at once without needing to LAN! I bought it, and ever since I have owned at least one console.

As far as the whole PC vs Console debate goes, I actually find myself sitting on the fence these days. When I was fifteen had you asked me the same question I would have replied instantly that PCs were the best and that consoles needed to all be set on fire or something to that effect.

The X-Box did always have that overheating problem after all

But as I grew older and I started to manage money, I realised that in today's market, having something that you can pick up for under $1000 and plug into and existing piece of technology was a good thing. Let's face it, gaming now is more socially acceptable than it was 10 years ago and we owe it all to consoles. Back then when I told adults I played video games it was like I told them I did crack. Now everyone plays games and the majority of them aren't playing on a custom build PC.

Now when it comes to some of the things people say, lets face it they are pretty silly. For example, I saw a comment on a YouTube video the other day where someone swore black and blue that his PS3 had graphics to rival any "current custom built PC". For anyone who knows even just a little about technology you probably just had a laugh to yourself. The very idea that something made back in 2005 would be technologically equal to something made in 2013 is absurd.

The fact is what consoles do well is gaming on budget AND for the layman. Anyone can plug a console in, not everyone is willing to build or even try to setup games onto a PC. Ask any PC gamer about the joys of installing a game only to find that you need to update drivers, install a hotfix and then the damn game doesn't like Nvidia cards so you need to turn all of the settings down to let it run at anywhere near acceptable frame rates and you realise that we are all slightly insane to go through all that for some extra graphical fidelity.

What does any of that mean anyway? I just want to play some more Call of Duty!

I guess in conclusion I should probably say that both side of the debate have valid points, but we all need to take a breath and realise that in the end we are all just gamers. Any time you meet a gamer, no matter what they play on, you'll have something in common with them, so be happy that both forms of entertainment exist... Unless it's on a PS3. You can keep your tiny controllers.

Game on!