PC Gaming versus Console- The Reasons to Switch

[Fkemman11]

With the access of mods ever growing for consoles, it would seem that this somewhat recent trend has whetted some people's appetite for MORE! They want the newest PA and weapons for FO4, they want the newest weapons/armor sets for Skyrim SE, they want new mods for their new favorite game(s).....they want it- and they want it NAAOOWW!!

Now simplicity and ease of use are they main selling points of xbox one or a ps4. Versatility is another- you can be mobile with your games. They cost somewhat less than a pc would for running your favorite games*. Also accessibility might be another in a console's favor as it might be easier to find an affordable console in your area rather than a decent pc. Also now, you can use mods in such games as mentioned above with little or no cost depending on what one uses and where it is from. Not sure on the last point since I have never used mods on a console. But what to do when you want more mods for your game that is on offer or simply cannot be done for your particular platform of choice?

The answer was simple in my case. I watched the modding scene grow over the last decade and realized a few yrs ago that I had to have MORE!! I had watched vids and marveled at what mods were able to do in my favorite games. When I finally did purchase a new pc and moderate graphics card ( I didn't know better), it took me a little while to get my bearings and start working on my dream of a fully modded FO4 or Skyrim. A few yrs later, I am happy to say that while I may miss one or two things about playing on my xbox- the choice I made to switch to PC was beyond any shadow of a doubt one of the best I have recently made. Now thanks to the super talented and selfless mod authors sharing their work with the public and my having almost unlimited access to ANY KIND OF MODS I want, my games are quite honestly the best I have ever played!!

So.....the question I keep asking when I hear someone wanting a mod for their game on a console that either cannot be done or maybe just won't is- if I was able to switch to PC with limited finances and learn how to run my favorite games and mod the crap out of them- why can't they? Is it a little bit of a learning curve ppl don't feel comfortable with? Anyone can buy the game of their choice, download it, install a mod manager and a few mods in a day. Not having any time is also understandable, but the amount of time and effort to set a game up with a few mods is small. Affordability may also be a concern- but I ask you this. Is paying for a console and then paying for some of the extra stuff and maybe some mods, is it that much cheaper than a decent PC and FREE mods and the like? And not only can I use these wonderful mods in my games, I can learn how to make my own! Or at least edit the mods I'm using- and all for free. The choice was clear for me. :smile:

[TheMastersSon]

When I hear the word console I think of a 10 year-old kid who can't yet be trusted with unsupervised internet access. IMO adults have no business playing consoles except when PCs are unavailable. However a certain and sizeable number of gamers don't need or even want the better performance and infinitely greater configurability etc of PCs. They want to push a single button and play their games, just like a lot of us did 30 years ago with our Ataris. Even back then, when actual computers were released (C64, TI etc) it separated gamers into the same two groups, those who loved to compute and those who just wanted to game. I learned 65xx assembly language on a C64 with a HESMON cartridge etc, my older brother had no idea what any of those words even meant.

 

So imo it's really not natural selection, just personal preference. :)

[Fkemman11]

When I hear the word console I think of a 10 year-old kid who can't yet be trusted with unsupervised internet access. IMO adults have no business playing consoles except when PCs are unavailable. However a certain and sizeable number of gamers don't need or even want the better performance and infinitely greater configurability etc of PCs. They want to push a single button and play their games, just like a lot of us did 30 years ago with our Ataris. Even back then, when actual computers were released (C64, TI etc) it separated gamers into the same two groups, those who loved to compute and those who just wanted to game. I learned 65xx assembly language on a C64 with a HESMON cartridge etc, my older brother had no idea what any of those words even meant. So imo it's really not natural selection, just personal preference. :smile:

I started with Gunship and Bards Tale way back in the late 80's. But as the games for the likes of Playstation got better in the mid 90's, I really stopped buying or playing pc games for some yrs. Also I did not have decent Internet in my town until about a decade ago. It wasn't really until Oblivion and Fallout 3/NV that I started seeing mods for games that I wanted. I didn't have any idea how much games can be modded on PC until I started using a few- as I am sure some others out there are unaware as well. For those that know about modding and simply choose to stick with an Xbox One or PS4, I have no idea why they might not use any mods or not just switch to PC. There is no real reason for them not to anymore.

I talked to a couple of friends a while back and asked them if they had checked out any mods for their favorite games. They just shook their heads. I asked them why not and explained what I had been able to do with FO4 for instance and they just said they hadn't. I'm not really sure why they haven't tried at least one mod in their games, but once they do- they will get hooked just like me. As one person said to me, that is like having a Maserati outside and choosing to not drive it. I think people imagine modding to be hard or something demanding too much of their time and patience. The truth is that you can mod a game with relative ease today with the tools available. Even without something like NMM, manually installing mods is not hard to learn at all. Oh well, to each there own. But when someone starts screaming for a mod for their Xbox or PS, then I really think if they have the means, they should consider playing those games on PC where they can mod to their little hearts desire. :dry:

[RGMage2]

I'm going to approach this from the other side, as a lifetime PC gamer who bought an XB1 last Christmas and got nothing but pleasure out of it. I've been playing games on computers for over 30 years and for most of that time never gave any thought to buying a console.

 

I started modding by hacking cover disks (floppies) on gaming mags for Atari computers

yes Atari made computers back in the day and mine was the Atari 1040ST.

 

I got involved in what we now call modding with Oblivion in 2007, and when I say modding I don't mean using other people's mods, I mean actually getting under the hood and doing it yourself (am I a modding elitist? Absolutely). I think that what companies like Bethesda give us with their game editors is one of the most amazing products on the market, and the dollar value for entertainment is unbeatable. So definitely I am a big fan of PC gaming.

 

On the other hand, as much as modding adds to the value of the game, it can and usually does get in the way of actually playing the game, The routine I seem to have settled into is to get one good complete play through of a game (40 to 60 hours) followed by many hundreds of hours tinkering with the game in the editor, or hundreds of hours in Blender making things for the game, and then only booting up the game to test my own work.

 

There is also a continuous financial drain in maintaining a gaming rig that can play the ever more resource hungry games, and the inevitable GPU meltdowns - I replace my GPU about once a year.

 

On a console you don't have to worry about any of that, you just play the game. If I'm in BestBuy looking at the XB1 games I don't have to read the small print to see if it will work with my XB1, I can take it for granted, it's automatic. And I don't have to wonder if there is a complete game on the disk or is 95% of it digital download, I know it's all there, and it's real, tangible, in my hands. A lot of younger people don't understand that, and think that in the information age it is a archaic way of thinking, but maybe it's just a lesson they haven't learned yet - if you can't hold it in your hands it's not really yours, and if you need to request access to something then you really don't have access. When you put yourself in a position of dependence on other people or the systems they create then you are not in control.

 

I bought FO4 on XB1 because doing a PC Digital download on my mobile data would have been a very bad idea. At the time I needed my data-capped mobile internet a lot more than I needed to mod FO4. I played FO4 on XB1 completely unmodded and thoroughly enjoyed the game, multiple play throughs, hundreds of hours, probably more actual game time than any modded game I've played in recent years. Sure there were times I would have liked to pop it into the editor and make some changes (no I'm not interested in using other peoples mods, only my own) but on a console you just accept that it is what it is and that's the way you play it, exactly as the creators intended.

 

The limitations of the console, and the beauty of the console are one in the same... it is what it is.

 

Now I'm no longer in a position where I need my mobile data and I could easily switch to unlimited home internet. Surprisingly enough, instead of modding and PC gaming being a reason for switching to unlimited, it's actually become a reason not to. I know that one of the first things I would do would be to install FO4 on my PC and download the editor, followed by possibly a thousand hours of modding. As it turns out there are other things in life I enjoy doing and I'm not willing to give them up for an all consuming addictive form of entertainment that modding is to me.

 

So different strokes for different folks, to each their own. Happy gaming. :smile:

[Drelkag]

Some people just want the simple nature of consoles. Most of the time I feel like they exaggerate the hurdles with PC gaming and want to stay with what they're comfortable with out of ignorance but there's some good reasons to game on console. Cheaper upfront, friends playing on the platform already and the diminishing amount of exclusive games each year (outside of Nintendo systems) are all examples.

[HeyYou]

Some folks play on console for the console exclusive games......

[Nextmastermind]

Some folks play on console for the console exclusive games......

This is why I bought my PS4. It's also a good Netflix machine. :P

[TheMastersSon]

We looked at the PSVR and were (in fact still are) tempted by the current $349 bundle with Skyrim VR, but the Vive/FO4 bundle is only slightly more and from reviews is lots more fun. Also we like Valve's open approach to VR content creation much more than Sony's.

[Wisegal]

I've been on both sides of this, and to be honest I really don't understand the vitriol I've seen spewed by people over this topic. If you look at most message boards having this discussion, the inevitable insults of "PC master race" and "console peasant" don't take long to show up.

 

I've been gaming on consoles since the days of the original NES, and I've owned pretty much every console that came out since then. From all the Nintendo offerings, to Xbox, and even Playstation, I've played them all. For years consoles were all I used, because it was easy and accessible. I knew that as I bought each new generation of console, I would be able to play any game released for at least the next 5 years (many times longer). There are no hardware upgrades, no worrying about GPUs or RAM sticks. As long as the game has your console name on it, you can play it.

 

I finally made the jump to PC gaming a few years ago, mostly because I could finally afford the hardware necessary to have a good rig. I've heard people argue that the cost "really isn't that bad" if you build your own system, but unfortunately that's a skill set I lack. I was stuck buying a pre-made system, and I needed one that was portable given my lifestyle. I got into gaming laptops, and I'm currently on my second machine. What I love about PC gaming is the modding community. I have been able to update some of my older games and give them new life with improved graphics and content. The stuff I have seen from the modders here on the Nexus is nothing short of amazing, and now I can't imagine playing games without access to their content. I love how much I can customize the games, which to me is where PC outstrips consoles. Even though some console games are allowing the use of mods, it's more limited than it is on PC. The selection and implementation are both restricted compared to the PC version, and to me it's a situation of "if you're going to do it, do it right".

 

That being said, I still play console games. If I just plan to play through a game once and don't intend to mod it for multiple playthroughs, I'll play it on console instead of PC. The games I tend to mod are the story game series like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and the Witcher. If I get the itch to play Halo or COD, I use my XB1. The newest generation games are beautiful and immersive on any platform, so IMO it's simply a matter of preference. I don't think I'll ever not own a Nintendo system, since it will always be a nostalgic throwback to my childhood. I was raised with Zelda and Mario, so I'll always have a special place in my heart for those games. I can't play Zelda games on PC, and to be honest it just wouldn't be the same to me. There are some games that are just better played with a controller sitting on the couch. For me, there's a place for both.

 

Maybe that makes me a "Master Peasant"..... I'm okay with that. :cool:

[TheMastersSon]

Today's PC speeds make even the line between computers and consoles artificial, e.g. a major portion of my PC time is spent playing games on everything from MAME64 to 64-bit Dreamcast and Atari emulators. Even the C64 has been perfectly duplicated in software (CCS64 etc), right down to its SID chips, 1541 floppy and tape drives. BTW if you've never played the original DC version of Hydro Thunder emulated on a big-screen PC monitor, you really should imo. :) The PC version of this game came later and is almost as good, second best to DC and both are way better than any other ports like Nintendo. It's a kick and a half to play both the DC and PC versions side by side. The PC port added some eye candy but the DC still has environment and atmosphere the PC can't touch, at least on this title. Edited December 1, 2017 by TheMastersSon