Timed exclusivity is so stupid. Why is it worth even being noted in System Wars as if it really accounts for anything? What's there to be proud of? It's not like Microsoft is doing their gamers a favor. It's not that they're paying to get DLC earlier for their consumers, they're just paying to delay the release on the other platforms so you become more likely to spend money with them. At least if they got it earlier and sold it cheaper there would actually be something to be reaped from it.

But yea... Microsoft is merely paying for delaying the release on other platforms. Had they not got the timed-exclusivity, the DLC would still be released at the same time on all the platforms. So what's the big deal?

Chance unlocks beauty
Beauty unlocks opportunity
Opportunity unlocks payment
Payment unlocks spoils
Spoils unlock arrogance
Arrogance unlocks ignorance
Ignorance continues the cycle


Society naturally rewards beauty when beauty is nothing more than luck. Rewarding it creates a state-of-mind in the person to capitalize on this ongoing yet easy occurrence to turn it into a cycle. They end up abusing this process turning it into a vicious cycle of manipulation. Manipulation for gain, whether it be gain for money, status, knowledge, transportation, gifts, or free labor. Emotional manipulation is key with these women, to constantly push the boundaries of those who stick around and false promises to those who are seen as disposable and brief bonds. These women become detached from empathy and sub-consciously develop obscure boundaries of right and wrong to help deal with or justify their own doings. Sadly, since it's so easy for society to fall into this trap, most people either unknowingly encourage the cycle or stay out of it altogether, distrusting those who are quite beautiful, because they may have fallen into this such trap.

This is where I'm supposed to elaborate a solution to this. Well, I'm gonna be honest... There is no solution. The cycles will never stop as society will never stop blindly rewarding beauty. Now don't get me wrong, there are well-above average guys who abuse the cycle of beauty aswell for self gain, but the limits do not stretch anywhere near as far as a beautiful woman has.

I myself am not immune to the beauty-effect, but I try to be more sensible when it comes to real life decisions. Just figured I'd share my thoughts and theories.

What many people don't understand is that you're supposed to differentiate a computer from a computer as a gaming platform. Any computer in general will run into problems whether you game on it or not, IT WILL happen. You'll end up spending money to fix your computer whether you want to or not because a computer is becoming almost as necessary as a TV these days.


The Expense

Buying That Gaming PC
Now there's a line where your computer crosses from typical computer to computer and gaming platform. The misconception that gaming PCs are expensive is from building it and upgrading it as games come along. Now again you have to differentiate between a typical computer and a gaming pc, your typical computer will run you about $400 (without a monitor). Here's a not so bad custom gaming pc for (currently) $650 on newegg [link]. That's merely a $250 difference! Which gives you both a computer you can use for all the tasks it's known for and to play games on. That's somewhat cheaper than a PS3 and pretty much what you'll spend if you want a 360 with a hard drive, go figure. This being that the custom build in the link is more than modest for gaming at the moment, you could go a bit cheaper if you wanted given you know what you're picking out.

But What About Upgrading?
This is another common misconception that many (especially console gamers) have about PC gaming. That you have to continuously upgrade your computer to keep up with games. This is blown out of proportion, yes you will end up having to upgrade just like you'll also have to buy newer consoles to play the games for it. Where the actual misconception lies is where you have to upgrade for current gen games while consoles do not need to. This is utterly wrong, most gaming computers are able to run games at least as well as a console can. The problem is where many PC gamers are tempted to buy higher-end hardware so they can run their games on higher graphical settings and/or at better performance. This hasn't to do with gaming PCs so much as it has to do with temptation.

Remember that Expansion Pak for Nintendo 64? Ya know, the one that increased your RAM from 4MBs to 8MBs and made the supported games for it look graphically better and was required to play Donkey Kong 64 aswell as Perfect Dark. I'm betting many of you who had a N64 bought that like I did when I was younger. This is the same exact thing that goes on with PC gaming except on a much broader scale, temptation. Now imagine a Xbox 720 or PS4 that allows you to swap out GPUs (just like HDDs can be) for higher end ones so you can play your console games with higher graphical settings making them more visually appealing. I bet most console gamers would feel the same way PC gamers do and many would give in and end up buying a better one even though they can play the game with their current one.

Replacing Bad or Old Parts
As I said before, fixing your computer will happen whether you game on it or not. After that 2yr warranty on that Dell you're out of luck, if it's broke most would go buy a new one while most PC gamers replace parts. Why is this? Many if not all brand-name computers are built with almost all OEM parts [link for definition] to save the company money and if you change out a significant part there's a chance it may not run anymore. Now if your computer is custom built (which is typical for PC gamers since it ends up being cheaper than buying a Alienware or Dell XPS) the worst that would happen if you were to replace a part, as long as it's compatible (which is relatively simple to find out) is that you have to reactivate Windows with your CD-Key given that it's a OEM installation of it. The warranties given for PC parts you buy can be anywhere in the range from 1- 5 years or even lifetime. My current video card has a lifetime warranty so if it ever dies or breaks because of 'natural' causes then they will send me a replacement for free, and if they no longer make it then they will send me one of equal or even better performance. So that will be a free upgrade for me right there since they don't. The only catch to some warranties like that is that you have to register your product within a certain time frame, which is typically within 30 days of the purchase.


The Hassle

Common Problems
Probably one of the more common problems when it comes to PC gaming is that of running into game crashes. This is misconceived as a flaw to PC gaming when it's actually a flaw to the computer in general. Even normal programs have the tendency to crash. Now there are those problems that are game-related, which if reported enough or reported correctly to the developer it can be fixed. I know that doesn't sound so great, but the real question is, how often does this problem arise? Well I've tried at least 13 different game entities on my current computer and I think the only one I ran into real issues with was Call of Duty: World at War, which had the tendency to BSOD when I exited multiplayer. It was soon fixed through a patch. I myself cannot speak overall for it, but but from personal experience the actual problem behind running into such issues is a lot smaller than assumed.

Hardware Drivers
This is always a yummy subject to discuss because it's known to be a double-edged sword. I'm not the most tech savvy person, but I know enough. Typically the only driver that is referred to when it comes to PC Gaming is video card drivers since those tend to be the big variable. A bad driver can lead to blue screen errors in certain games or a loss of performance in another game or games. Now when put out like that it sounds pretty bad. What's the reality of it though? The reality is that most drivers as long as they're WHQL certified (they usually say so before you download) won't lead to blue screen errors. As for the performance variable, there are some drivers that may give a dip in performance of some games, but you should be reminded that people typically only mess with drivers in the first place to increase performance with their games which does happen as drivers tend to boost up specific games which are noted in the driver details. So usually unless you have a really old driver or a specific game tends to not run correctly for what seems like a driver-related issue then you really don't need to change it, it's another thing that many tend to choose to try out.

PC Gaming Dying?

In Short...
No, it's not. The gamer base for PCs is actually growing, people have been blindly claiming the death of PC gaming for quite a long time now even though they honestly have no idea. The only difference is that console gamer bases are growing at an incredible rate these days, much faster than PC. So in essence, it's not dying, just growing slower than consoles. As for games being developed for PC, it's definitely give and take just like PS3 and 360 are. PC sometimes ends up getting the console exclusives from both sides of the playing field.

What about Piracy?
I prefer not to discuss this in this topic because it's a whole huge section of discussion within itself.


Conclusions

I'm not trying to advertise PC gaming here. I'm just clearing things up that are far too often blown out of proportion or even lied about. I read/hear about these things all the time and it spreads like wildfire.

I've been thinking why games have becoming so simplistic and brainless to play these days. Even the so-called 'hardcore' games (if you wanna call them that), such as Call of Duty, Uncharted 2, Batman, and Halo. I like to reserve the term hardcore for games that are naturally hard, but that's another discussion.

What I'm getting at is why some of the most well-known games that are thought of as non-casual titles are indeed streamlined and don't require much thought to play online or offline. Some may put the blame on the massive success of casual titles, which is probably partly true. But that isn't the source of it all is it?

What's actually going on is that games are a form of entertainment and when most of us wanna be entertained at a movie or listen to music we don't think or really want to think too hard about things. Kinda why Michael Bay movies do so well at the box office. Even with a horribly planned out plot it comes off great with special effects and sexuality. Now when you relate this back to gaming it almost comes back seamlessly. Shooters being the easiest to pick on because most don't require much more thought than 'point and click'. When you combine that with a cinematic (heavily scripted) experience, you get drug along without thinking what to do next because it's already presented there for you.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing, it just presents a dilemma within itself. On one hand you usually have game that easily exciting in it's own right while being rewarding, on the other hand it sacrifices nearly all replay value and multiplayer quickly becomes repetitive.

Entertainment is there for us to escape reality. What better way to do that then to turn off your brain and have fun?

Actual hardcore games are no longer referred to as hardcore, now they're call niche games and they're becoming a dying breed as sales are priority number one for many publishers and developers, afterall they are businesses and that's the whole point.

The irony of all this is, many gamers blindly despise the casual market so much and yet in ways it's helped out the path for gaming to go toward which is exciting and a hell of a lot more entertaining than many movies. But since sales of these current 'hardcore' games are so extraordinary it's also causing games to become more and more simplified before our eyes over time. A victim of it's own success you could say.

Just a little food for thought.