Is PC Gaming more expensive than Console Gaming?

Console gaming is more expensive if you want comparable graphics.

HDTV costs more than an entire gaming computer + monitor combo.  That's not including the cost of games and new controllers and fees for online gaming and all that other crap that PC does better for the included cost of the system. 

well, you said it yourself -- all the current console systems cost ( much ) less than PCs of similar caliber. but that doesn't mean PC isn't worth it. for one, pc isn't just for gaming ( although to many it is ). PC also provides high end graphic performance and upgrade capabilities that aren't available to console. but again, these would cost immensely, no matter how you argue, that really is the fact.

so, yes, PC gaming is more expensive than console gaming. but that doesn't stop the hardcore players, who believe in performance and online/modding community. personally, i don't think it's worth the money, but i can easily see why people would prefer pc gaming over console.

I see PC gaming as an extremely expensive experience (getting ready to invest $4,000 into a 3rd gaming PC). And it brings the fun almost to a scale as working on cars. I'm tuning the system, squeezing out more power and always investing in a newer part.

I won't generalize about console gaming...because I only play the Xbox 360. It offers me some fantastic online and Halo 3.

Everything else I can make prettier on my PC. 

yes pc gaming will always be expensive than console gaming. i have been a pc gamer all my life and i actually am gonna shift to PS3 pretty soon. As far as argument about HDTV goes, it wasnt much of a problem till PS2 but with hdmi slots comin now in PS3, people will need to get hdtv's but that would have been the case anyways with prices droppin for the hdtvs every month and people shifting to new technology to enjoy better quality picture and u dont actually need to get a 50 inch plasma/lcd to experience 'real gaming' u can very well buy a 32 inch lcd and enjoy.

 pc gaming as already mentioned requires hardware upgrades continuously and is very expensive. the only problem i have with console gaming is that i am so much used to mouse and keyboard that i have tough time playin with remote. tht is easily solved by getting usb mouse and keyboard and attachin to console.

Yes, it is considerbly more expensive.

The HDTV argument is worthless- you could buy a PC monitor and use that if you wanted. So the idea of a $2000 HDTV is moot. On the same hand, we could say that in order to get the benefits of sitting on your couch, PC gamers need an HDTV and factor that into the cost.

A point I always make- I went through an old anandtech.com article and found one from March 2001 (between the release of the PS2 and Xbox/GCN) reviewing the brand-new GeForce3. The test system (usually a pretty good system, but not 100% top of the line) was a 1ghz processor, 128mb ram, and the GeForce3 card (using Win98 actually!). Forgetting about the OS and the fact that this PC costs more than any of the console (at the time), could that system been running games as recently as last year? Heck no! That thing died a few years ago.

PC gaming is expensive, but some of the game-types have not/cannot be reproduced on consoles. I'm a light PC-gamer; I'll upgrade much slower than most, but there are a few games that are only on PC that everyone should play. 

I'm not going to read that because it's awkwardly formatted. Staryoshi87

I'm glad somebody said it.

In response to the topic, yes, but you're paying for quality. 

I have to agree with the paying for quality thing.

But there is another important aspect, value for money.

Yes you PC is expensive for an initial purchase compared to a PC.  However, if you up grade it the upgrades will be cheaper than the constant rush to buy the new console.

Also remember that with online gaming you get a lot more BANG for your buck compared to having an Xbox live account.

Plus you're starting to see a lot more of the FREE online games like Pangya with proper support.

Take goa.com in Europe, or OG planet and Gpotato in the States.

Everybody is getting excited about Super Swing Golf on the Wii, but there have been gamers playing the same basic game online as Pangya for ages.

I'd say its more expensive.

But if you are a dirty pirate then its cheaper 

PC gamming is way more expensive.  Unless you break the law and download games, then its about even with console.

It is more expensive. But if you, like most people, need a PC for school, work or just everyday life, then you could argue that making that work PC into a Gaming PC isn't that much more expensive than getting a console. You propably have to upgrade your PC at least once during the lifecycle of one console, but you also save that much money with free online and cheaper games.

If you always want to game on highest resolutions and settings, then yes it's definately more expensive, but if you are ready to lower the settings a bit when years pass by, it's not that much more expensive. A littl, but not as much as most people make it sounds.

^ That's true.  But console gamming can be pretty cheap too.  I have an Xbox 1 and have probably 40-50 games for it.  I would say out of all those games I probably only bought 4 new, and two of those were the Platinum Classic editions that are $19.99 or less.

I always buy games used at BB or on eBay and save A LOT of money.  If you are not a spaz that has to have a game the day it comes out and can wait 2 to 4 weeks after a game comes out you can almost always get it for about half of the retail price.  One of the greatest pleasures about having a console is going into BB and buying a bunch of 1 to 2 year old 9.0+ games for $5 each!

It's much harder to find / buy used PC games.

Is PC Gaming more expensive than Console Gaming?
Everyday we keep on hearing that the Console Gaming is cheaper than PC gaming. For PC you need to upgrade continuously
which obviously costs a hell lot of money. Console is cheaper to buy than a Gaming PC. Consoles provide better graphics.
And all sort of other claims. But are they really true?
For a proper display for consoles, you need a decent quality TV screen. The combined cost for a Next-Gen Console and a
high-definition TV is surely more than that of a PC gaming rig. Most people tend to ignore this fact. One may argue that
a TV can also be used an entertainment medium but is not PC more versatile than a TV. By the way do Gamers watch that
much TV and don't they must already have a TV and can't they watch television programs on their PC too.
Next comes the concern about upgrading. Change is the essentiality of life. That which can't change ultimately perishes.
Upgrading PC is a necessity, I agree but  doesn't upgrading a PC makes it better for other applications too. Doesn't the
consoles need upgrading too? I wonder if that wouldn't have been the case, people would have been happy to have a PS1.
Don't we have now PS3 and XBOX 360. Does a XBOX 360 game runs on XBOX? NO. Will a PS2 run a PS3 game? NO. Doesn't
moving from a XBOX to XBOX 360 constitute an upgrade? Are their any really good game coming for XBOX. No. So upgradation
is  bound to happen - EVERYWHERE. Do consoles give you the flexiblity of upgrading only few component to  make  them play latest  games? You need to get a new console. Atleast you don't have to do that with your PC. Which is better?
Suppose you don't want to upgrade for a while. The collection of games that you have at your disposal for PC beats any collection of any type of console games.
Then comes the graphics part. We have heard that a console game has such amazing graphics and all that crap. When the same game is later ported (PROPERLY) to PC, isn't  the graphics much better. (Check the latest info about LOST PLANET).
Why does the CRYSIS probably not coming to a console in its full glory?
Don't the Consoles themselves use PC components like graphics card?
I would like to add that I haven't played on consoles much. I have only seen their demonstrations in malls or in other places. My knowledge of consoles is limited to the articles I have read over the net only. Still I find the aforesaid inconsistencies in these claims. Forgive me if I am wrong or have unknowingly someone's feelings.shariq166

Consoles provide better graphics. And all sort of other claims. But are they really true?

Yes and no on the graphics. There are some games out there that look down right awsome on consoles and almost seem to put some computer games to shame. However, this goes both ways. If you have the cash or you're good at tweaking settings, you can make most PC games look better then anything a console can put out.

By the way do Gamers watch that much TV?

Watching TV is a personal preference. I don't watch that much...maybe a total of 6-10 hours a week at the very most.

Can't they watch television programs on their PC?

If you have everything setup correctly and the correct parts, you can use your PC as a television.

Next comes the concern about upgrading. Upgrading PC is a necessity...

This is true for the most part. It mostly depends on what you need your PC for. Most gamers, at some point in time, will upgrade something on thier PC to keep it running on games that come out. However, upgrading your PC is NOT something that you need to constantly do. My PC is a year old now and it runs all the current games out there just fine on mid settings without a hitch...I don't see any need to upgrade my PC until it's official that Vista and DX10 are taking over....and I don't see this happening for another 1-2 years.

Doesn't the consoles need upgrading too?

If consoles could be upgraded like PCs, then there really wouldn't be a need for a PS2 or XBox360, would there? Hence the new systems that come out every 2-4 years.

As for the rest of your message, you either contradict yourself one way or another or you answer your own questions to a point. Therefore I don't see any reason to try and answer any other questions you brought up. 

^ That's true. But console gamming can be pretty cheap too. I have an Xbox 1 and have probably 40-50 games for it. I would say out of all those games I probably only bought 4 new, and two of those were the Platinum Classic editions that are $19.99 or less.

I always buy games used at BB or on eBay and save A LOT of money. If you are not a spaz that has to have a game the day it comes out and can wait 2 to 4 weeks after a game comes out you can almost always get it for about half of the retail price. One of the greatest pleasures about having a console is going into BB and buying a bunch of 1 to 2 year old 9.0+ games for $5 each!

It's much harder to find / buy used PC games.

 

basersx

Yes, I gue-ss you can get che-ap gam-es for con-soles too, at least even-tually. But PC also of-fers demos of huge am-ount of games, many of which give more gaming ti-me than fu-ll ver-sion games. For po-pular games the pri-ce difference is ob-vious, for e.g. atm in here Oblivion for PC 24e, for 360 39e, CnC3 PC 40e, for 360 56e. Not to men-tion free games, the num-ber of which se-ems to be gro-wing, and the-re are some rea-lly good one-s amo-ng them too, gam-es like America's Army, TM Na-tions, Fear Com-bat and g-o-d knows how many Quake3 clon-es. So even-tually PC gaming at least imo should be cheaper, but I'm not a con-sole ow-ner so I wouldn't know preci-sely.

EDIT
Sorry for the weird - marks, took me a while to figure out that euro mark is not allowed and I'm too lazy to fix it now.

Wouldn't it be cool if they would come out with a "standardized gamming PC" And all game makers designed their games to run perfectly on it for 3-4 years just like a console?  Then you could upgrade and improve it but EVERY SINLGE game would run flawlessly as long as you had that "standardized config" or better.

It will never happen that way but it would help PC gamming a lot.  The console market has proven that you don't have to make every single new game push the hardware limits to be good.  And this is the biggest problem with PC gamming.  That the makers can't just make great games on average hardware.

Wouldn't it be cool if they would come out with a "standardized gamming PC" And all game makers designed their games to run perfectly on it for 3-4 years just like a console?  Then you could upgrade and improve it but EVERY SINLGE game would run flawlessly as long as you had that "standardized config" or better.

It will never happen that way but it would help PC gamming a lot.  The console market has proven that you don't have to make every single new game push the hardware limits to be good.  And this is the biggest problem with PC gamming.  That the makers can't just make great games on average hardware.

basersx

It completely depends really.

Remember one thing about PC gaming is...The games normally last longer. You have user content, users servers, mods, etc. Myself I normally play every PC game I have for months. Consules the games do not last as long. Like GOW was just one week then done. 7hour. You probably spend more on games for consules then PC. Like I own 15PC games for about 10years of playing. Consule I own about 50-75

Now if we are talking about hardware. Of course it is. If you want to remain competitive to say. You will have to upgrade your PC every 2-3years. But for someone like me...I am getting my first new PC in about 6+years this summer. I can not play games like BF2 or any newer ones. But most of the stuff I normally play anyways work fine. Just on low settings  lol. Yes I own a Geforce 2 card, and only 512ram.  While Consule...My PS2 I had since launch for 300. Never had to upgrade at all or worry about gamings not working.

But also add in the fact PC has more use to it. I use it for pretty much everything 

The way I see it, they are just differently priced.

PC gaming has a high initial cost, since to get a decent mid-range rig that can equal and surpass a console's technical abilities (appearence, AI, etc) you need to spend about 1100 dollars.  Over time, however, PC gaming is less expensive.  Games cost about 40 dollars on average, with new game being 49.99, yet theyre quickly marked down.

Consoles may have a cheaper initial cost at 500-700 dollars for a PS3 or Xbox360, but over time the price of games can add up.  New games often cost 59.99 and dont get marked down; my friend bought Gears of War two days ago and it still was 55 dollars!

In addition, a console cannot be used to type words and then print documents, you cant browse the internet, run Quicken on a console, run AutoCAD...the list goes on.  For this, console users need a computer on top of the console they own!  So you take your 500 dollars console, add on a 400-900 dollars PC for browsing the internet, word processing, downloading songs, etc and then factor in the high cost of games and you can see how it is as expensive, if not more, than buying a PC and maintaining PC gaming as a hobby.

In addition, to get the superior graphics that consoles claim to have, you need an extremely expensive TV.  Sure, you can plug a console into your 19" LCD but honestly, how many people are going to do that?  No, most people would sooner spend the 1000-4000 dollars on a big HDTV so they can sit on their couch and play splitscreen with their friends.

So it basically boils down to how each person spends their money.  Are they happy with their xbox360, 400 dollar Costco PC, and 250 dollar crap TV, and spending 50-60 dollars for every game....or, are they happy with an 1100 dollar PC and spending 40 dollars per game?  Do they feel that games on console are worthwhile enough that they can justify buying an HDTV and the equipment necessary to run games at higher resolutions?  Or do they feel that if a PC can do everything, why even bother with a console.

Wouldn't it be cool if they would come out with a "standardized gamming PC" And all game makers designed their games to run perfectly on it for 3-4 years just like a console?  Then you could upgrade and improve it but EVERY SINLGE game would run flawlessly as long as you had that "standardized config" or better.

It will never happen that way but it would help PC gamming a lot.  The console market has proven that you don't have to make every single new game push the hardware limits to be good.  And this is the biggest problem with PC gamming.  That the makers can't just make great games on average hardware.

[\QUOTE]

What you're talking about exists, but its not hardware its software - called DirectX.  If you were to standardize hardware, then yeah, you'd have a console - not a PC.  

Remember the Phantom?  the PC game console?  Yeah that turned out well.  Though one wonders if infinium actually intended to produce a product.... 

Shariq, are you really that insecure about your hobbies that you have to justify them in such a defensive manner?

I regularly go back and forth between my consoles and PC, and for some reason I don't think one is threatened by the other, as if the 360 is suddenly going to jump out and shank my PC one night.

The display cost issue is ridiculous. TV are multi-purpose, so are monitors. One tends to be larger, the other tends to offer better resolution.

You can get a quite satisfactory 32" HDTV for around $600. You can also get a nice 24" LCD monito for around the same price. One is bigger and is much more enjoyable for movies and HDTV content. The other is far more suitable for up-close viewing and offers a more detailed picture. What you're missing is they each have their place. 

honestly, every console gamer prolly has a pc in the house to do all that 'other' crap that everyone says can't be done on a ps3/360. do you honstly think little jimmy would go buy a ps3 before he could check his myspace at home? i think the discussion should be limited to GAMING PCs vs consoles, that's much more useful. I'm in the "Consoles are cheaper" camp, particularly because I can gamefly anything I want on a 360, and everything that's on the PC is on the 360 (save for crysis), and not everything I want on the 360 is on the PC. I used to be a PC fanboy, so don't give me the fanboy rag either.

BTW, Crysis will own everything, so it's sad that i won't have a pc that can play it. But, with that and bioshock and UT3 and Kane n Lynch coming to PC, maybe I will upgrade one day. But  right now, all the other games are on the 360, and so what if I have to pay 20 bucks more for them? it beats what i'd have to pay to upgrade. And, i play my 360 on my PC monitor, so it's nary the same thing.  

it used to be that great PC games got crappy ports onto consoles in a too-little-too-late fashion (see Mafia, Vietcong, Doom3). But now, it's turned out to be the other way around with most of the good console games. I just got Devil May Cry 3 PC, and it's the latest proof of that phenomenon. And look at Halo 2! JEEZ, do they honestly think that's a good idea? GRAW 1 came out really buggy when it first hit, and while it's cool now, it initially had problems you wouldn't DREAM of puttin on a console, even though they can be patched as well.

i'm estimating dollar values, and i'm trying to factor inflation in as best i can

over 9 years of console gaming:

£1200 on 7 console systems of varying prices ($2300)

£4400 on approximately 160 console games ($8000)

approximately £300 on game rentals ($500)

£500 on hdtv ($900) (bought exclusively for the 360 i'll buy soon, which would sharply increase my console system & games total, but i'm not including that in the total since i'm yet to spend it)

so, over 9 years - inflation included, i've spent about £6500 - or $11700 - which is £722/$1300 per year on console gaming

-

over 6 years of pc gaming:

i've owned 3 PCs so far - one cost £1000 ($1850), the other was a refurbished pc which cost me around £150 ($250) and my most recent cost £1000 agan ($1850)

then, i've spent around £500 ($900) on upgrades and peripherals

then, around 75 games, averaging about £25 each ($45) which is £1875 ($3375)

then i subscribed to everquest for two and a half years, that was around £390 ($650)

which brings the total to £4915 or $8875 - or £819/$1479 per year on pc gaming

-

and there you have it - as a hardcore gamer (on both consoles and pcs) over the last 17 or so years, estimating a little on inflation and dollar conversions - pc gaming works out more expensive - but much more? no way -  and any difference in price is far more than made up for by the general utility of the pc - i'm writing a novel and learning a language & how to play the piano thanks to my pc - it's altered my life in a significant way that i couldn't put a dollar value on

the cost of games is a majorcontributing factor,as others have mentioned, not to mention that i had to buy so many more to retain my interest

You get what you pay for. As well the equipment needs to fufill the users needs or desires.

You pay extra for a Pc since it can also do 1000's of things no console can accomplish today. 

The true cost of gaming is hard to determine IMHO, since not everyone can agree what the acceptable level of gaming is or what even defines it as acceptable(industry says go big or go home, 6yr old kid says give me the 4d pad and 2 buttons to mash). For example:

Sound: 2channel, 4channel, 6channel, digital, optical, coaxial..

Video: resolution, size of display, color, 2x/4x/6x....af/aa, vsync,.yada yada

Use: Six year old child(rather them use a cartrage than a cd/dvd) or a 20 something with a decent job and low costs. Just a gamer or do you also take digital photos, or own a mp3/cd/dvd player of some type, record tv shows, email, read/post at gamespot forum....

on and on. 

To me a console is a step back in function and money spent. Why spend 400$ on a pc to do simple tasks and 600$ on a console plus the display, when I could drop 1200$cnd and get a PC that games better than a console and also performs more functions than I can dream about.

On the other hand someone may have a old pc that still does its job since it has been upgraded over the last six years, and they just want a new big screen tv for the family and console for the kids to game and for the family to play movies..

 Each there own. I enjoyed my consoles from pong to ps1. Then I bought a Pc and for all intent and purpose for me there is little reason to invest in a console. A small handheld like a gba for the old classics is nice enough for me or when my nephews need to get owned when I visit :P

All come's down to your habbits! if you want the latest hardware/games as they come out sure PC is gonna cost-a-wack! but then if you are a el-cheepo like me you choose youre games [which are most anticipated and will give you the most joy/playtime, and get a resonable PC that can be upgraded in the future, NB: get a SLI or CrossFire MOBO! you will not regret it when the games become more demanding ;) atleast then you slap in another 8600GTS/X2600XT]

IMO a console can cost alot too sure Xbox360 and Wii's are cheap but look at a price of a Xbox/ps3 game compaired to a PC

Also PC have the KB/M combo wich is a must Fps and online gaming! you can go on and on about the two but IMO! PC FTW 4EVA!