PC Gaming Worth It Anymore These Days?

Hello all, not trolling here, asking a serious question. After reading this could any of you come up with some more advantages/remind me of ones I've forgotten? Also, maybe fill me in on some titles that are/will be PC exclusives or ones that are more enjoyable on the PC..

I built my gaming computer in 2007 and with a few upgrades it is still running fairly well. However, it seems that there is less and less of an advantage to having a gaming computer. While not all older games benefited from mods, etc. more did than today. Also, it seems like the majority of the big hitters these days are console exclusives or are on everything. There doesn't seem to be a ton of PC only games anymore.

With some games you can tweak the graphical settings to find that balance between graphical quality and performance, but a fair amount of games in the past few years have been made with consoles in mind and as such, only offer very limited options such as "low, medium, high quality".

One thing that I do like about PC games is that I have some ability to work around issues (e.g. developer console). Also, for games that use auto-save I can regularly back up these save files in case a save gets corrupted or simply if I want a save that occurred right before a boss fight or some other significant event.

However, it seems like those advantages are small compared to the cost of a quality gaming computer. If I were to build a new computer I would have to get a new case, motherboard, RAM, and CPU minimum. This would surely cost more than even the new consoles and I would have to upgrade in order to keep up with graphical improvements, etc. Plus, I wouldn't even be able to rent games like you can with consoles. Another thing that is troubling is that since console hardware is static, even if PC processing capability goes up in the future, only the rare PC exclusive is likely to take advantage of that extra power for anything more than graphical improvements (as opposed to AI, etc.)

I've been thinking about building a new rig, but as you can tell, I've been having second thoughts. It certainly didn't help things when I heard about how unstable one of my most anticipated PC titles, Battlefield 4, was.

I am not trolling also, but have you SEEN the new consoles?

PC gaming is more relevant than ever. Especially with the console price PC's like the Steam Box.

Considering the xbone cant even do 1080p...yes. Of course one thing many pc gamers overlook is a good montor. Monitors now days look much better than compared to a monitor from 2007. If you want to take advantage of the extra power trying upgrading your monitor to a 27" or 30" with 1440p or 1600p(my preferred since the 16:10 ratio looks much better for games). Also games on low/medium settings are the equivalent to the consoles, and even the new consoles are quite a bit behind my pc from 2011. I only spent $800. I needed to get a new pc anyway, so making it gaming actually only cost $400. Which is as much as the ps4 but double the power.

Also battlefield 4 had problems on all platforms.

Also consoles will not be getting upgrades to their graphics over their lifetimes as much as previous generations. Why? Well it is because they are using the same architecture that PC has been using for quite some time, while as the previous generation the architecture was fairly unknown so there was alot of room to improve. When the consoles last generation came out they were as good as a high end pc(until 1 month later when the 8800 more than doubled in power what consoles had). This time they are as good as mid range pc...from 2 years ago.

If you ask me its a great time to be a pc gamer. Especially with the rise of mid sized developers again.

everything on PC is just better. some multiplat games that play better with gamepad i can play through my TV using wireless X360 controller, and it looks way better than the console version.

i can't think of any other reason to get a console than some exclusives, wich at the moment, are none.

when you think about the cost of gaming PC, remember that you most likely need a PC anyway, right? for internet, work, studies etc. so just add console price to that to make it gaming-worthy (basicly adding a good GPU in it).

btw, what comes to BF4, it was also busted on consoles. mainly server issues for me when it launched. it's all good now.

If you feel the consoles do the job then go console. I'd do the same if I was in your spot and played only console/multiplat games.

As it is, the genres I like such as flight sims are practically non-existent on consoles and my preferred control for FPS games are mouse and keyboard.

I play sports games and a handful of exclusives on consoles. But, the bulk of my gaming is still on the PC.

If you are struggling to find a good reason to go PC, then just go consoles for simplicity. Don't expect a trouble free experience though, even BF4 is buggy on consoles.

I buy all my games and keep them. Since PC games are cheaper and there is no cost for online service, over time it's really not much more expensive. My ps3 and 360 are fun toys, but for me the consoles will always be toys.

only every RTS ever made and ever to come. Civilizations, StarCraft, Supreme Commanders, Dota 2, upcoming Planetary Annihilation...

also, there are treasures like DayZ and Star Citizen coming for PC that are experiences you simply can't have on consoles for two reason; hardware and controller limitations.

sure, all the mainstream big-hitters come to consoles too, but for me PC offers something that consoles can never offer.

Depends where you live too. Here in Australia a decent gaming PC (and by decent I don't mean anything special) will cost you at least $1,500 if not more. It is a very expensive route to take, but it does have it's advantages (games are real cheap, so you save money in the future too). Admittedly though I am sticking with my XB1/PS4 these days since they've just come out. But I'm sure in the future there will be that one game which makes me upgrade my GPU and get back into the swing of things.

Overall I prefer consoles because of their simplicity, plug in and play, but they also fall short sometimes with buggy games and hardware failures. You also don't get the best visual presentation with the consoles, but I mean the graphics are still pretty impressive considering the hardware, optimization helps a lot.

With PC you get exclusives you can't have on the consoles, you get modding abilities and of course superior graphics, and better settings all round to suit anybody's standards. Having said that I won't lie though, another reason I'm tending to stick with the consoles nowadays is because the only games I play on my PC were multiplats. Most of the exclusives offered on PC don't interest me that much, like MMOs, RTS and indie games, they're just not for me. It's a lot of money to spend for me just to have better visual abilities on multiplat games.

In the end get what you want, and let no one decide for you. In a perfect world I'm sure we would love one of each but we don't live in a perfect world do we. If you think the consoles offer the games you like go for it, but if you see the bigger picture with the PC than go until your hearts content. The good folks here can even help you build one that works around your budget.

^ This 100x over.

The new xbox is a turd...and I was an xbox fan. But they just dropped the ball big time.

In the past the new consoles had an edge on PC for about 6ish months...this time they were behind the moment they launched. If not for PC I would just quit gaming and I have been gaming as long as I can remember...and I'm 41 years old now. :(

As for reasons I like PC better...my reasons are as follows.

1. Better graphics and it's only going to tilt in PCs favor more as time goes by.

2. Higher resolution 2560x1440 res on my Dell monitor is nothing short of awesome.

3. Higher frame rate and in most cases it's about 2x what you get on a console.

4. Customization see a PC really can do everything...

5. Mouse and keyboard/whatever you might use in a keyboards place...I use a nostromo myself.

Add it all up and it's two different experiences imo. More expensive maybe but hey, you get what you pay for to some extent.

@darkknight9174: I'm having a blast everyday on my PC. Higher resolutions, higher framerates, better gameplay, better graphics, and better customization are only a few of the many benefits of PC gaming. With Steam sales, GreenManGaming sales, GOG.com, I get soooo many more game deals for ridiculously cheap.

Also, with the inevitable direction that consoles are generally headed (multiplayer online fees, weak hardware, gimmicks, same game types/formulas, commercialization, focused on mediocre game streaming..., multimedia focused, etc.). Consoles are undoubtedly turning more & more into proprietary/commercialized/restricted low-mid PCs. Last gen, I was primarily an Xbox 360 gamer(GT: dirTyPaNtyTheiF). Until last month, I haven't gamed on a PC since 2004. I decided to build a new gaming pc. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. I missed out on so many arguably better experiences.

Consoles do have an advantage according to your individual perception. The initial cost seems to be cheaper. if you don't plan on gaming online that is. But the game cost is a lot higher than the PC variants. The only real reason why I keep a PS3 on the side is because I did like a few of the exclusives they offered (TLoU, Uncharted 2&3, and Infamous). But, I will say that the formula is getting a bit stale with all the cinematic games out there... I get much, much more enjoyment from PC titles tbh..

But, at the end of the day, it's all about what YOU want & need. My advice is if you can afford the initial cost, it'll last you much longer, and you'll get more enjoyment out of your system. You do know that you can slowly upgrade each component of your system until you're satisfied right? food for thought.

Now,...ALT+Tabbing back to Titanfall. (I don't have dual-monitors :P)

I believe at this point the PC is worth it now more than ever. I have always enjoyed gaming PCs, and it will always have a special place in my heart. I will get a PS4 in the future, but not anytime soon....

Depends on the individual I feel.

Personally I prefer the PC over consoles are because:

• Mods
• Better graphics/performance
• Games are cheaper PC = £30 Console = £40-£50
• Freedom of choice (I can select my own control input)
• Everything on one system
• It does things other than gaming.
• No need to pay for on-line

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I forgot about the online content monthly fees and the more expensive games...

I saw someone say something about "have you SEEN the new consoles?" What exactly did that person mean by that? I haven't been paying much attention lately, but I haven't heard anything terrible about them.

The only reason I would say it is heading towards not being worth it is the quality of games recently only reaches as high as the console market let's it. I have been PC gaming since the early 1990's and the games these days are just sucking balls left and right in my opinion. Dumbed down easy mode design, made for controllers instead of mouse and keyboard, graphics sub-par with PC technology, etc. Just look at the devolution of the Elder Scrolls series for example. From Morrowind to Skyrim graphics/animations improved (still not on par with what the PC can do, requires mods) but gameplay is absolutely consolized and dumbed down to the lowest possible denominator.

So yes the PC is far superior to consoles, but the games being put out now don't make use of it.

In this rut of shit games it has turned my focus on learning DCS A-10C more in depth and I am enjoying the hell out of the complexity of it. And knowing consoles will never be able to take the flight sim world away from us makes me smile. They don't want the complexity and they would not be able to do it if they did.

i'm not 100% what he meant, but i believe he meant the weak hardware. i was baffled to learn that the glorious next-gen consoles still can't pull off 1080p on most games, even though it has been a home-screen standard for almost a decade. that was the minimum i was expecting, but no... nooooooo..... oh noooooo.....

but why should i care? i can do that with my PC. it's just that they'll be bottlenecking multiplatform development right out of the box. YAYY!

Well for one the catbox one can't even run new games at 1080p....that in itself is completely ridiculous and how they plan on running games in the future if it's already struggling is beyond me.

1. Cheaper games

2. Freedom to do what ever you want with your system

3. Choice of how powerful you want your system

4. Choice of peripherals and I mean all types.

5. Games that generally run, look, and perform better then console counterparts (new consoles are x86 architecture so expect just about every game on pc besides in house exclusivity of tittles form first party studios)

6. I don't have to pay to play online

7. I can use my 1440p screen to the fullest

8. It's a god damn pc the limits with the thing are endless.

9. Mods(Not all games have this but still for a lot of games mods keep things fresh and new)

10. RTS games. My favorite genre of games the RTS is only really viable and available on the pc.

There's 10 simple reason's op.

Edit: I forgot one major reason I enjoy pc over consoles by a large margin. Advertising. I don't see a single advertisement on my computer ever. Haven't since the day I set it up and boy am I happy they are gone.

I mainly use my PC for RPG games but for everything else, I use consoles. I suck at FPS games on PC for some reason.

I think the person was referring to hardware. Both consoles use a CPU that's lowend by standards of 4 years ago (im being 100% serious unfortunately) and the GPU's are about half as a fast as some midrange cards....... (lowend CPU by 2010 standards and a GPU that's half as powerful as the current midrange GPU king, that's embarrassing).

Not only are they underpowered but there expensive too (for example for me to go buy an xboxone with a year of online, it would cost me $600 not including a game).

I just got done building a computer for a friend that was $650 with windows and it had an eight core CPU at 4Ghz, a GPU that was twice as faster as the consoles, 8gigs of ram, and it even came with $100 in games........ (what exactly was the value of the console ? $600 for lowend hardware ?).

heh. I see what ya' did there.

Came up with that myself....pretty good huh?

@BSC14: As someone who values creativity then I am going to upgrade the "heh" to a full-on lmao. (You leap-frogged over "lol." Contgratuations.)

Now, get out there and spread that "catbox" euphenism until it's a meme. Even console fans will have to laugh at least a little (or cry.)

Yeah I can see what you are talking about now in regard to the new consoles being a disappointment. The Xbox One not being able to output 1080p (at least for current games) does seem a bit ridiculous. If the systems were not x86 architecture I could see how development studios may have just not optimized their coding practices yet, but since they are, that is not good. Maybe developers have chosen a stable frame rate over resolution?

Either way, that doesn't bode well for PC games. Like someone said earlier, there will probably be more multiplatform games on the PC because of the shared CPU architecture, but the PC versions will be limited because of the console versions. I suppose digital animators could create high resolution textures to begin with and simply downscale them for the console versions, but that is extra work. Even if upcoming PC games aren't hamstrung graphically, they probably will be CPU-wise.

Anyway, thanks everyone for reminding me of the advantages of PC gaming. Unfortunately, I was about to get Titanfall yesterday and remembered a very important one: DRM. At least right now, if I purchase a physical copy of a console game, I can play it (in almost all cases) as long as I have a working console. If I buy an Origin game, the game could somehow be dereferenced from my account, they could decide that I violated the TOS, it could actually only be a license to keep it for a year, etc. I know it is rare, but I like to own the things that I buy.

I guess the decision to keep up PC gaming isn't as difficult of one now though.. I got on mine yesterday and after looking at the system requirements for Titanfall, it seems I can keep my 7 year old guy going a little longer just by getting some more drive space and some more RAM. I am surprised how much life I have gotten out of this Core 2 Duo... overclocked it from 2.4GHz to 3.15GHz 4 years ago and it has been able to handle everything new just fine after that.

if you are really hardcore gamer then yes. If you just want to play big budget games and not worry about tweaking .ini files, modding, etc etc I would just get a Ps4.

I gamed on PC last gen, and I mostly ended up playing console ports so it wasn't a good investment because I wasted more time trying to make those console games run with mods to look good.

Which is why I am just concentrating on exclusives this time around since the hardware is pretty decent now.

PC is only platform worth it these days

PC Gaming is more than worth it , now more than ever before . I am stating the obvious but there you go :

1. Mods

2. Better Graphics/Performance

3. Exclusives

4. Multiple input compatibility

5. Mouse and Keyboard

6. Better Multiplatform Games

7. Bigger Library than Consoles

8. Freedom

9. No Monthly fee for online features

10. Cheaper games (Pay less get more)

11. PC Centric Games (Witcher , Cyberpunk 2077 etc)

12. Backward Compatibility

13. Innovation (Mantle , DX 12 and beyond , Invention of new genres)

14. More Genres than consoles : RTS , Point and Click Adventures , Space Sims , War Simulators , Survival Horror , Turn based strategy , Old School Shooters and so on (Uncharted , Gears , GOW , Infamous , Killzone etc are all action games on consoles)

15. Emulators

Lot of PC exclusives are coming out , can't even remember most of them since the library is so big but I'll gladly name few of them .

The Forest

Star Citizen

Elite Dangerous

Routine

And so on .

Is it wrong that I laughed?

Well that's what just about everyone does....it is an open forum. Personally I enjoyed the videos he posted...never seen some of those.

While playing Dark Souls on PC, even with the DSFix mod, I have the choice to either bump up the graphics OR get rid of the black border. For some reason, I can't get both features of the mod working. Anyhoo, I opted for no black borders so I am basically looking at the graphics of a console game.

Man. It is SO weak. Definitely not how the game is meant to be played. Yes, that may seem on its face to be an ironic statement as, yes, Dark Souls was literally made for consoles. I am not being ironic. When I play Dark Souls with the same view as a crappy console game, it feels like I am looking at an illustrated children's books, or going through a Halloween haunted house. Everything is just less real. IT all looks more funny than scary.

And this is coming from a guy who didn't play San Andreas until the end of '08. I looked at everybody's square fingers in that game and it didn't phase me (...loved it.) After 5 years of playing PC games though, I am now accustomed to things not looking like crap.

I can handle Dark Souls 1 looking like this I guess. I don't know how console gamers can put up with it every game. They must not know what they are missing.

Maybe you should choose the time to build or upgrade more carefully, 2007 was a very bad year to build a pc, you should have better bought a x360 then.

Since 2008 and up (besides crysis then) games have much better quality on the pc. Since the new consoles are so weak, a pc is the way to go if you think about graphics and the differences are going to be huge. The new consoles just launched and a mid rang pc can run titanfall for example better.

sorry you cant block yourself

lol wat? Everything he posted was relevant to the thread. Reasons PC gaming is relevant in today's gaming world as well as specific examples of upcoming or current PC exclusives that look phenomenal.

Yeah, @Cloud_imperium pretty much nailed it dude. Why are your jimmies rustled..?

Thanks :-)

TC if you enjoy playing multiplayer games, PC offers a multitude of games spanning numerous genres with ongoing support, vibrant communities, high replay-ability and options to play "competitively". These type of games simply do not exist on consoles, at least not at the level of PC games (see esports scene for a piece of what PC games can offer).

Worked fine for me. I ran it at 2560x1440 downscaled to 1920x1080 and it looked pretty good.

I think it truly depends on what games you are into. If you like mmos, simulator, and strategy, then strictly stay on pc.

If you like sports games, exclusives, or the multiplats, then go console. I have switched to console not because it is easier, but the selection of games is more of my taste. I cant play games like red dead redemption, puppeteer, mgs, ratchet and clank, infamous, or the naughty dog games on pc. And im not really into the pc exclusives that are coming out, a lot of it is indie stuff.

The decision is all about the preference you have for games imo.

@darkknight9174: define "big hitters" ... are we talking about flashy shallow mindless blockbuster games that plague consoles ? (E.G killzone, infamous, uncharted, gears ect ect) the kind of games that get by on their presentation more than anything?

to ME the real bigger hitters are MMOs, MOBAs and the likes ..... and the new upcoming sort of indie/kickstarter games that push the boundaries instead of playing it safe.... even the likes of DayZ(the mod, not the filthy cash in version) are big deals by any account.

what is a "big hitter" to you? I personally don't like £40 console games that last 10 hours and have 90% of their budget put into art/graphics teams and marketing... I really don't ....