PC gaming is expensive if you don't have knowledge about what to build. Considering your average consumer doesn't know the difference between ram, and a hard drive it's safe to say their going to have a hard time building a computer.
So lets look at this from the eyes of an inexperienced consumer.
1st off where to buy:
Think about where your average consumer is going to buy their electronics not where somebody who's already tech savvy is going. Chances are your average consumer is going to buy a pc at a retail store, and if they want a gaming pc they'll probably go to best buy. For fun go to best buy's website and check out their gaming pc selection. You're probably thinking to yourself "those are ripoffs", but is the average consumer really going to know that. If the consumer happens to go to the store it's going to be a crap shoot depending on what the sales rep recommends. Dell has some low cost gaming pcs, but those are crap for gaming we all know it. Overall most pre-build "gaming" pcs from popular retailers are expensive.
How console gaming compares:
You can pretty much buy the same consoles anywhere (newegg, best buy, walmart) for roughly the same price. Though price varies there's no blatant ripoff like we saw w/ the alienware pcs.
2nd what to buy:
Most consumers are completely confused on what to buy for a gaming pc. I'm sure most of us could make recommendations but that's going to be a list of specs which is just going to confuse the average consumer. Even if there was an exact pc model that was a good buy and played games great it's unlikely to be an easy find cause there are so many pc models, and changes occur so often.
How console gaming compares:
Now console gaming has become more confusing, but still you can buy any ps3, xbox, or wii and play any game for the system. About the worse you could do is buy the 360 arcade system, and realize you probably want a hard drive.
3rd playing the game:
PC gaming can be a hassle. Let me walk you through your new pc game purchase (typical retail, not steam or DD). Before you buy you should check min/rec spec, and compare to my pc specs to see if I can run the game. Then put the game disc into the PC. Auto run picks up the install executable (if not hopefully you can find it yourself). Run through install options hope there's enough space on your hard drive. If not spend an hour managing space. After install is done enter serial key. Now run the game executable. If the game doesn't run you'll spend the next hour to week figuring out what is wrong. This happens to every PC gamer at some point in time. No matter what rig you have somewhere there is a game that's not going to play nice w/ it.
How console gaming compares:
Before you buy make sure you bought the game for the right system. Put game in disk tray. If online game does automatic update. After update play game.
jrhawk42
1. You are correct that many people are ignorant on what to buy. I was always raised on computer shops etc compared to going to retail stores like best buy.. I do agree alot of people get baited horribly at those stores thinking they got a good Pc to learn its some old generation hunk of junk. I just recently went to a best buy who had a 600 dollar pc that was promoted as something great but upon inspection learned it was a old e2200 cpu, 2gigs of ddr2 667 ram, integrated graphics, 1tb harddrive computer. Those stores are infamous for crap like that and many times people are gullible. Nothing better then being called by a relative who states they got some new quad core computer to learn its a Phenom I 9750 (crappy quad) has no graphics card and family members can't watch videos on youtube higher then 480p lol.
With that said, ignorance is not a a good thing regardless. Honestly, if a person does not want to learn about what they are buying, they have no reason to get mad or feel upset on the end product.. That goes for people buying ps3 that didn't have the ps2 engine inside, the people who got early 360's to learn no hdmi out, or those getting 4gb kinect edition 360's to learn all the problems that results from such a low harddrive size.
2 .Knowledge is key. I haven't had a issue on "hardrive size", having a game not work, etc in years. I also keep my computer maintained.. I keep my computer up to date, don't bloatware it up, and maintain the general maintenience (disk defrag auto setup ever month, etc etc). Lets not state every here.. Many but not every.
I also don't buy a brand new game on release jsut as I don't do it on my consoles these days.. I wait a month or 2 till after a couple updates before deciding on a game. By then, most of the bugs have been patched out.
If you wanna compare, many console games are put game in disk tray, install to hd, clear space, wait for updates, start to play and like many pc games these days, still have bugs and crashes etc.. Just nature of the times now.
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