Your reasons to continue gaming on PC if...

Next-gen (Gen 9) consoles are capable of delivering the PC graphics of this gen?

Hypothetically speaking of course (if there even will be a Gen 9,...in the traditional sense). There seems to have been a massive resurgence of gamers for the PC platform this gen, and it's been gaining more dev support than ever before. I myself am one of those guys, and it's been a blast so far. I know that graphics & performance are key advantages of PC gaming, I'm just curious of what would motivate you to continue gaming on PC if graphics reach "Good enough" status on consoles.

Consoles are way behind on graphics. They're using GPUs that are multiple generations old.
Keyboard + Mouse + Graphics + 1440P motivates me to never look at consoles.

The price of games alone,although PC games are getting more expensive... as if to catch up with console games.

Problem with consoles to me are two things: choices and scalability.

CHOICES: sheer amount of games and devices to choose from (+ all the non-gaming things u can do on a PC)

SCALABILITY: A next gen console might deliver cutting edge graphics, but a year or two down the track it will be dated, while PCs continue to get upgraded with more power.

+1.

Also...

Don't forget upgradeability. Lets say gen9 will be available. In 1 to 2 yeas would be out of date. It's the biggest reason why consoles are always miles behind PCs.

The second is limitations. Its hardly a 2000cc car to reach in performance a 3000cc car. What's this means? Consoles always have around 150watt power consumption. You can't beat even an entry level gaming PC (cheapest i5 + R9 270) which starts around 250watt... (here is a $570 entry gaming pc example http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qnHbZL) edit: it seems we got a new chat interface that doesn't recognise non-www links....

Thirdly, I love multitasking on my PC. Listening to internet radio, being on skype, browsing for a solution while in alt-tab from a game....

Fourth. Consoles are in primitive state when it comes to MMOs. Not enough titles and MMOs are not something you can enjoy with keypad.

And lastly is backwards compability. I can still play any game I want to play...

:)

I been a console gamer for much of my life , however after a few months of owning a PS4 and seeing Sony releasing disappointing exclusives and having PS Plus being the mainstay for online gaming and now having the user paying a subscription like what MS does to Xbox Live since the original Xbox, empty promises like the Drive Club issue and realizing that i am just spending a wad of cash on video game consoles that go obsolete and feeling the same as the last gen and i"m honest apart from now recording video, taking screenshots and uploading both to whatever social media site or Youtube for videos and streaming gameplay on Twitch, Ustream and Youtube in which anyone can do that on a PC. consoles are still playing the game of catch up and always will be. like others said before me, PCs will always advance forward and consoles will stick behind and that"s the truth. PC hardware advanced every 2 years on average and every 5 years we need big leaps in technology . I became a PC gamer recently but been following it for years now and i decided that the 8th gen may be the last gen console i"ll ever own and use and when gen 9 comes ? i"ll become a full fledged PC gamer and sticking to it for as long i play video games.

after all PC has more games, features, freedom over consoles so to your question. i"ll continue being a PC gamer, sure i began this year but if i was typing this saying 2 years from now i will say this like i am now. so there.

But in 6 - 10 years PC graphics will be much better so the goal posts will move and again the consoles will not be able to reach them. Of course then you'll also have VR and the demands for more raw power will be even greater. Then you have mods, greater choice of games, backwards compatibility, RTS games, etc. etc.

The sole reason I buy consoles is for exclusives.

it will never matter how good console graphics get because pc will still have better graphics.

Because the key advantages are anything but graphics,its console gamers that think the main advantage of PC is Graphics,actual PC gamers think it's more than that.

I just like knowing that its coming from my PC and not a console. If that makes sense. I do have both X1 and PS4 but just prefer PC. Even on lower settings games are smoother on PC. Also my PC is a less noisy then both consoles now.

Cheaper games, less screaming 12 year kids online, choice of controls, more variety of games, mods, all this PC will still have over consoles if new generation of console matched top PC tech of the time.

To add whats already been said.

Another is we can buy parts for PC and put it together ourselves. Some of us take a little pride in using a rig for 5-7 years that we build/maintain ourselves.

Can't do that with consoles.

Also many of us use our gaming pcs for things that the consoles cannot do yet, or in the next generation either. I mean could you imagine the price they would charge to use programs like Pro Tools, or Cubase? Or even Photoshop?

As Coseniath stated its controller interface is horrible for MMOs, the same could be said about RTS games.

it will take at least 2 more gens before consolea can even run games at 4k.......

PC is the natural home of WRPGs and strategy games. Also, framerate. With consoles you're stuck with whatever framerate the developers were able to reach, but with PC you can either throw more hardware at it or lower settings until you're happy, for the most part.

I will be frank and say that graphics are by far the worse reason why you should play pc games.. They are a nice benefit, but your going to be completely ignoring the greateness of the plattform if all you play is a bunch of multi-plat AAA's and the handful of graphically intense exclusives..

PC gaming would still have plenty of advantages, such as more user-friendly modding abilities, and much easier ability to add custom content to games for people who don't know anything about that like me.

In fact, to be honest, power isn't really of any significance to me at all. I primarily stick to consoles and don't ever see that changing. It has nothing to do with power. Consoles will always be preferred for me.

Backwards compatibility

Keyboard + Mouse > controller any day ...

PC gaming has modder communities which improve and fix games, something consoles can't have.

PC gaming has Indie ... consoles have only Indie that have actually done well and devs have just decided to port.

PCs in general can do everything consoles do, except several times better.

EVEN if consoles catch up to PC in terms of hardware, the first 3 are still in effect, making PCs yet again a preferred choice over consoles.

I still use GPUs that are multiple generations old (GTX 570s)....consoles are not behind on graphics. They're just behind on the necessary horsepower to push graphics on decent (medium to high) settings at 1080p resolutions.

At 1080p I can run almost any game I own maxed with out a problem on my multiple generations old GPUs. I enjoy the most on PC gaming how mods (I swear some people just live to mod the crap out of PC games) are readily available, how I can tweak a game to improve performance and using a mouse+keyboard is so much more enjoyable over a controller.

Even were consoles to outpace the power of PC next gen (I don't believe it), I don't PC game for pixels, actually. I PC game for customizability, mods, free online, backwards compatibility/retro gaming, and genres that really don't work well most of the time on consoles (RTS, etc).

I also game on and enjoy consoles

Steam, online functionality, and the pc titles generally eventually become really low priced the quickest

Mod community support

Higher resolution and graphical options

Cheaper games

Free multiplayer

Hardware Versatility ... Keyboard mouse controller joystick etc

Versatility. This is my PC rig:

The ability to build and customize will always be greater in PC.

-Byshop

i dont play games on the PC for the graphics.

i play games on the PC because it is, without exception, the finest platform to play games on. if i had my way it would be law that all games must appear on the PC :P.

it gives me loads of choice. desktop or laptop? ok performance at 720P or blistering performance at 1080p? steam? GOG? KB+M or controller? why not have both. and so on.

its an open platform. anyone can make games for it. anyone can play games on it. anyone can sell games on it through different means. anyone can make hardware for it.

its a wonderful platform and its ours. long may it remain so.

@Byshop said:

Versatility. This is my PC rig:

The ability to build and customize will always be greater in PC.

-Byshop

This picture can always be posted in a console vs pc thread :D

In that case consoles would cost 599.99 and upwards, which is a price point I wouldn't buy them for.

And even still. Graphics and performance is not the main reason I game on PC.

Mouse and keyboard, way more games on pc, way more customization, pc is used for so many more things than console. The list is endless really....

By the time the next gen of consoles comes out and match the current state of PC graphics, PC graphics at that point in time will be so far ahead that this current level will not be sufficient. The real question is... When will people wake up and realize that they should let the consoles die and start gaming on PC? Everybody needs to unite and game on PC. No more exclusives. One universal platform.

Modding ability + Freedom of input. A PC is mine controlled by me. A console is all dictated by a company and their vision.

I love having options and thats what pc gaming will always offer I started with a budget gaming rig and began to upgrade each part as time went on. Plus free online gaming is a plus.

Graphics have very little, if anything, to do with why I choose to play games on a PC. I like PC games better than console games. It's really that simple. I like turn-based RPGs and strategy games mostly, so the PC, especially lately, is the place to be for the genres I like to play. If I were a fan of AAA games, I might own a console but....yeah, I'd still probably just upgrade my PC, honestly.

I also think that PC gamers tend to be a bit more mature and somewhat older than their console counterparts. Being a fossil, I like to stick with my own.

Here's the equipment:

http://obutto.com/index.php/gaming-cockpits/r3volution-gaming-cockpit/ with the three monitor mount.

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x52pro.html

http://www.dell.com/al/business/p/dell-u2711/pd

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/speaker-system-z906

-Byshop

Oh are they? I must be blind or something.

@saintsatan: Oh damn! One whole game that looks decent. Can you game above 1080P? Oh I forgot.. It's consoles.

I play time to time on Xbone at my bro's place. Most games don't look anything close to PC versions.

Better graphics are nice to have and things like 30fps/reduced detail or draw distance on consoles do hamper the gaming experience

But as you can see from the posts above that's far from pc gamings only advantage. Freedom of choice of controls/configurations, being able to switch between gaming and working on the fly, modding, unrivaled backwards compatibility and a wider variety of genres to choose from makes pc gaming the best choice for us.

The last point (more genres to choose from) brings me to my biggest gripe with console gaming : 90% of it is of the action genre. You've got action gamrs masquerading as FPS, action games masquerading as adventure games and - most hurtful of them all since it's my favorite genre that is basterdized here - action gamrs masuerading as RPG's.

Console gamers like to flaunt the AAA budgets and production values but in the end all they are playing is action games with the same tired gameplay and mechanics repeated ad nauseam. When you add to that the fact that action games are the ones that feature the abominable mechanic known as QTE this alone is enough to make mestay away from console gaming in its post 90's incarnation. The other aformentioned advantages PC gaming offers are just the wonderful delicious icing on the cake.

@saintsatan said:

@insane_metalist said:

Consoles are way behind on graphics. They're using GPUs that are multiple generations old.

Oh are they? I must be blind or something.

Shadowfall looks pretty good, but it can't even hold 60fps. For the game that was supposed to showcase the power of the PS4 at launch, that is pretty sad. The developers even added a 30fps cap in a patch because players were complaining about the fluctuating framerate. LOL. Not only did it fail as a showcase title, it is actually a much worse game than KZ2 and KZ3 on last gen. Epic fail.

@saintsatan said:

@insane_metalist said:

Consoles are way behind on graphics. They're using GPUs that are multiple generations old.

Oh are they? I must be blind or something.

Nice!

Looks like the PS4 can finally caught up to games like Crysis 2 from 2011.

Incredibly biased dumb fanboys like yourself give us PC gamers a bad name. And yeah, I can game above 1080 on my 780 SLI. Here's another one whole game that looks better than 90% of PC games for less than a 1/4th of the price of a gaming PC. I'd love to see you build a PC for $400 that can put out graphics like this.

Reasons for me include:-

The openness of the platform

The Hardware - That feeling of getting an upgrade

dAT gFx

Playing at higher resolutions with loads of AA just because I can if I want

Benching

Mouse & Keyboard

Free online play

Steam

alot of reasons , wide genre library ,customization, multi-tasking ,Great community , Keyboard + Mouse and mods .

Mouse aim or Controller, my choice

Mods

Strategy games and other games less played on the consoles

Graphics settings customization (AF, AA etc)

Disable bullshit features like Chromatic Aberration and excessive bloom

Get the performance I want - not the performance the devs believe I want

Cheaper online play typically

Huge back catalogue (although I suppose I can always keep an old PC around for that)

SW is over there ------>

Consoles are such a rip-off and after carefully evaluating my purchase choices I concluded that it was best to stay with the PC, the winning argument for consoles used to be exclusives, but now that I think about it there weren't really that many noteworthy exclusives on the PS3, only memorable games I can think of was God of War 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4, otherwise everything else I could have gotten on PC with much better performance as well as better value, the only game PC doesn't have is Ninja Gaiden Series, everything else on the PS3 and especially the PS4 were overrated garbage, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, The Last of Us, The Order, all of them pure garbage that sold on hype and nothing more, and even if those games were actually good the PC has way more exclusives to combat those games and plus its FULLY backwards compatible so has a much better value, I can go back and play Assassins Creed II and Brotherhood on PC, can I do the same on the PS4? well yeah sure...once ubisoft decides to release a "Remaster" of the games and charging a bloody full price for it, lol, like I said, consoles (PS4 and X1) are huge rip-offs, the only console thats actually worth owning is a WiiU, not only do they have exclusive "exclusives" but nintendo don't try to rip you off with in-game locked DLCs and pre-order schemes and their games when launched are not as buggy as hell and they look good as well AND mostly run at 60fps, as video games SHOULD be, for consoles its just going to go downhill from here (well in retrospect it started going downhill ever since the 7th generation) but thats a story for another thread, main point is PC will give you everything you want, better graphics, better frame rates, more control options, free online and its fully costumizable.

@saintsatan: "Biased dumb fanboy" is you sir getting butt hurt over consoles in PC forums. If you love em so much then go tell about it someone that cares in console forums. I could care less and if I wanted a $400 box, I'd buy one. I could care less about all those console screen shots, I've seen what consoles are capable of and it is nothing close to PC.

I'm the biased dumb fanboy yet everyone agrees with me here. I wonder why? Probably because most people on this forum are all about PC gaming.

Also tell me, are you able to mod games on consoles? Can you use mouse and keyboard? Yet on PC you can use controller in most games. Can you customize, switch out parts when they're aged? You can't do half of the things on consoles.

You call yourself a PC gamer but you're defending consoles on which forums? lolz

Seeing as the only console I own is a Wii U (The weakest of all 3 major consoles in terms of power), and it will probably stay that way, graphics are of no concern to me.

The only way for me to stop gaming on PC would be if all the compelling reasons to game on PC went away, that is mods, superior ports, superior control schemes, moddability, games that can only be played on a PC, cheaper games.

If consoles were also completely open, had free online services, allowed complete customization both hardware and software wise, as well as allowing competition for digital services and most importantly of all, had the kind of games I wanted to play then yeah I could swap over.

Flexibility, of course. Graphics is only a small part.

Because I can do what I want on PC.