[Spirrwell]

Just some images I gathered from Google Images - Don't judge



I figured that since I've seen a number of threads that go off topic and talk about console\PC and which is better and stuff, that I'd start an actual thread for it.

Since I've been a part of the debate, I'll share my knowledge and experience.

Back in 1962 games originated on the computer with the game "Spacewar" created by Steve Russel. Since then, arcade machines came and consoles came. The first video game console came out in 1972 named the Odyssey. The latest video game console came out this year, the Xbox 360 Slim, although we really can't call it a new game console, because all it is a smaller version of the original. There are other gaming consoles, but they're mostly just rip-offs from other consoles.

With that out of the way, the biggest two debates that I've seen is console vs PC and which console is the better console.

I'll start with which is the better console. The Nintendo Wii is the most widely sold, so it has to be the better console, right? Wrong. The Nintendo Wii may be a good console, but it's not good enough to be considered the best. I'd say that it has some the better homebrew capabilities, but it really lacks in a lot of aspects. It's not the best system for good graphics and fast competitive gameplay. The Nintendo Wii is a fitness\sports console mostly, with some good games, but not a lot of the games it has are for all ages, it seems more for kids. Overall the Wii is just a test console, a test for some new innovative technologies such as infrared movement sensing. As for online gaming, the Nintendo Wii is very simple and isn't much to look at for its online capability. Hopefully newer Nintendo consoles will be able to kick ass in the console wars, because it seems to be losing it's backbone against the other consoles.

The main two competitive consoles are the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. There different reasons to like either console, so they're fairly equal. The Xbox 360 started out very poorly. Many of the consoles were faulty with the well known red ring of death. Newer versions of the console are better in this aspect. That isn't to say that the PlayStation 3 has no problems of its own. The PlayStation 3 has had the yellow light of death. As for the hardware, in comparison they are pretty equal. The graphics card on the PlayStation 3 is at 550 MHz, while the graphics card on the Xbox 360 is at 500 MHz, although the Xbox 360 also has double the RAM of the PlayStation 3 at 512 MB, while the PlayStation 3 is at 256 MB. Both of their CPUs are 3.2 GHz. The PlayStation 3 is said to be just a Blu-Ray player that can play games by some people, and it isn't by others. So mainly what it comes down to now is opinions. Blu-Ray discs are more durable, so if you buy a used game it's likely to have less scratches on it if it's a PlayStation 3 game. As for homebrew, the PlayStation 3 was just recently hacked about a month ago, so homebrew is in the very early stages. For the Xbox 360, I've never hacked one. The online play on both systems is very different. The Xbox 360 uses Xbox LIVE and it isn't free, but the online play makes up for the cost. As for the PlayStation 3's online, it's very generic and isn't too special.

Both consoles feature backwards compatibility, but they both have had their downfalls. The PlayStation 3 has different models that have different backwards compatibility. All PlayStation 3 models can play original PlayStation games. Only the 20 GB and 60 GB models can play PlayStation 2 games with near full compatibility. Some 80 GB models can play PlayStation 2 games, but they don't work with as many games as the 60 GB and 20 GB models. The Xbox 360 has backwards compatibility, but a lot of the games from the original Xbox don't work on the Xbox 360.

Which is the best out of the two consoles the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3? This is an opinion matter and the hardware is very close to equal, so you decide.

________________________________________________________________________________



Now which is better, consoles or PC? This is a very tricky debate as there are MANY different PCs with different hardware, and there are only a few game consoles. PCs are much better than consoles, if you compare the entire PC to a console, as PCs have much more capability than just gaming. Although one of the first things we learn in school is that you can't compare apples to oranges, so we can only compare gaming aspects.

------------------------------------------------------------
More on this later, I've been typing for over an hour.

[blackharted]

Spirrwell, on Oct 30 2010, 12:19 PM, said:

Now which is better, consoles or PC? This is a very tricky debate as there are MANY different PCs with different hardware, and there are only a few game consoles. PCs are much better than consoles, if you compare the entire PC to a console, as PCs have much more capability than just gaming. Although one of the first things we learn in school is that you can't compare apples to oranges, so we can only compare gaming aspects.

You smell that bullshit?

[Spirrwell]

blackharted, on Oct 30 2010, 03:24 PM, said:

You smell that bullshit?

What? all I said was that obviously the PC is better than the console, but if you get into gaming that changes. I haven't spewed out bullshit. I just haven't gotten to anything really, because I was typing for so damn long.

[blackharted]

Spirrwell, on Oct 30 2010, 12:28 PM, said:

What? all I said was that obviously the PC is better than the console, but if you get into gaming that changes. I haven't spewed out bullshit. I just haven't gotten to anything really, because I was typing for so damn long.

You have spewed bullshit as consoles are so better than PC's

[Spirrwell]

blackharted, on Oct 30 2010, 03:29 PM, said:

You have spewed bullshit as consoles are so better than PC's

In gaming, maybe, in general no. On computers you can make games, you can make movies, you can take pictures, you can surf the net, you can play flash games, you can get Yahoo! Messenger\Windows Live\Whatever the hell you use. Consoles are catching up, and the PS3 used to be able to do all that stuff at one point, but it can't anymore... unless you haven't upgraded the firmware.

Edit: What I'm saying is, you can't say a console is better than the PC unless you're only talking about gaming, that's all that I meant.

[blackharted]

Spirrwell, on Oct 30 2010, 11:33 AM, said:

In gaming, maybe, in general no. On computers you can make games, you can make movies, you can take pictures, you can surf the net, you can play flash games, you can get Yahoo! Messenger\Windows Live\Whatever the hell you use. Consoles are catching up, and the PS3 used to be able to do all that stuff at one point, but it can't anymore... unless you haven't upgraded the firmware.

Edit: What I'm saying is, you can't say a console is better than the PC unless you're only talking about gaming, that's all that I meant.

Err I can access Windows Messenger on my Xbox no problem, I have upgraded my PS3 frimware so that point is moot, as for making movies on a console I don't want to do that anyway, I swear to God I've seen pics taken on a console.

[Spirrwell]

blackharted, on Oct 30 2010, 03:40 PM, said:

Err I can access Windows Messenger on my Xbox no problem, I have upgraded my PS3 frimware so that point is moot, as for making movies on a console I don't want to do that anyway, I swear to God I've seen pics taken on a console.

Different consoles can do different things, the point that I'm trying to make is that consoles can do some of the things that computers can do, but computers can do so much more. Unless you're just comparing computer gaming to console gaming, computers are better.

[The Commander]

You really are thick if you cant understand what Spirrwell is trying to say.

[blackharted]

Spirrwell, on Oct 30 2010, 11:45 AM, said:

Different consoles can do different things, the point that I'm trying to make is that consoles can do some of the things that computers can do, but computers can do so much more. Unless you're just comparing computer gaming to console gaming, computers are better.

Yes thats what I'm comparing but consoles are still better.

[Spirrwell]

blackharted, on Oct 30 2010, 03:47 PM, said:

Yes thats what I'm comparing but consoles are still better.

O_O, there's no getting through to you, so I'll just shut up.

[The Commander]

Consoles are only good for driving games.

[blackharted]

The Commander, on Oct 30 2010, 11:49 AM, said:

Consoles are only good for driving games and shooting games and platform games and puzzle games and RPG games and sports games and every genre apart from RTS.

Fixed that for you.

[Spirrwell]

blackharted, on Oct 30 2010, 03:52 PM, said:

Fixed that for you.

Oh so now you agree with me, consoles are ONLY good for games. You left the only in when you "fixed" his statement.

[blackharted]

Spirrwell, on Oct 30 2010, 12:54 PM, said:

Oh so now you agree with me, consoles are ONLY good for games. You left the only in when you "fixed" his statement.

No I don't agree with you I was just comparing the gaming capabilities of the platfroms.

[Master Fibbles]

Instead of obviously trolling and trying to start shit, why don't you offer actual arguments?

Anyway, although I disagree on principle that this thread should exist, I figure it might as well...that said:
Even people who have been "raised" playing on consoles will say that PC gaming is superior for various reasons. I have never heard an intelligent person say that keyboard/mouse is harder to use than a game pad. Modding is (near) null on console systems which gives extra life to PC gaming. Even as far as backward compatibility there is more power in PC gaming. I have been playing Fallout 1 on my Windows 7 64 bit computer. The game was made with Windows 9x and 32 bit systems in mind but it runs quite well thanks to the help of patches from the community of developers. Hell, just look at the work on eduke32. Duke Nukem 3D was made for DOS! It has already been discussed (buried in a thread) that the XBLA port of Duke3D is from the community developers and is only possible because the XBOX system is at least partially based on Windows.

Of course, an obvious advantage of console gaming is that it is specifically designed for gaming. A PS3 game will always work on a PS3 and you don't (generally) have to do much to get it to work. Until the most recent generation of consoles there were no installs so everything was just there on that disc. This was a limitation as far as saving went but it made it easy to just pick up and play. There is also the issue of economics. Console games can be rented out because you can't make a game work without the disc. If they were to "rent" PC games it wouldn't take long for the system to be compromised; allowing people to pay a few bucks to "rent" a PC game and then just make it work without the disc after the rental period is over. Console gaming is better for business.

In summary: Console gaming made gaming casual (especially most recently the Wii but in general) but it is made for the companies to make more money rather than for the gamers to have freedom. PC gaming has limitations and can be "harder" for people to get to work but in the end it offers that freedom to mod as you want so long as the tools are made available.

[blackharted]

Mr.Flibble, on Oct 30 2010, 12:59 PM, said:

Instead of obviously trolling and trying to start shit, why don't you offer actual arguments?

I have and I have in the past. Your point about "I have never heard an intelligent person say that keyboard/mouse is harder to use than a game pad." Well theres a first for everything as I find it much harder to use a keybroad and mouse as do evertone of my friends and everybody they know.

[Spirrwell]

Mr.Flibble, on Oct 30 2010, 03:59 PM, said:

Instead of obviously trolling and trying to start shit, why don't you offer actual arguments?

Anyway, although I disagree on principle that this thread should exist, I figure it might as well...that said:
Even people who have been "raised" playing on consoles will say that PC gaming is superior for various reasons. I have never heard an intelligent person say that keyboard/mouse is harder to use than a game pad. Modding is (near) null on console systems which gives extra life to PC gaming. Even as far as backward compatibility there is more power in PC gaming. I have been playing Fallout 1 on my Windows 7 64 bit computer. The game was made with Windows 9x and 32 bit systems in mind but it runs quite well thanks to the help of patches from the community of developers. Hell, just look at the work on eduke32. Duke Nukem 3D was made for DOS! It has already been discussed (buried in a thread) that the XBLA port of Duke3D is from the community developers and is only possible because the XBOX system is at least partially based on Windows.

Of course, an obvious advantage of console gaming is that it is specifically designed for gaming. A PS3 game will always work on a PS3 and you don't (generally) have to do much to get it to work. Until the most recent generation of consoles there were no installs so everything was just there on that disc. This was a limitation as far as saving went but it made it easy to just pick up and play. There is also the issue of economics. Console games can be rented out because you can't make a game work without the disc. If they were to "rent" PC games it wouldn't take long for the system to be compromised; allowing people to pay a few bucks to "rent" a PC game and then just make it work without the disc after the rental period is over. Console gaming is better for business.

In summary: Console gaming made gaming casual (especially most recently the Wii but in general) but it is made for the companies to make more money rather than for the gamers to have freedom. PC gaming has limitations and can be "harder" for people to get to work but in the end it offers that freedom to mod as you want so long as the tools are made available.

Well with all the homebrew software you can still copy games that you rent. Anyway, that was pretty much what I was originally going to type up, and you're right this thread shouldn't exist, but it's better that it exists than other threads get clogged up with this garbage.

Computers could kick a console's ass in gaming if people put effort into making it so, but as has been said, there's many different PCs and they aren't dedicated to gaming like consoles.

[blackharted]

Spirrwell, on Oct 30 2010, 01:09 PM, said:

you're right this thread shouldn't exist. NOT YOUR NOT!

This thread is very much needed because of all the off topicness in other threads.

[Spirrwell]

blackharted, on Oct 30 2010, 04:13 PM, said:

This thread is very much needed because of all the off topicness in other threads.

O_O That's what I said. "and you're right this thread shouldn't exist, but it's better that it exists than other threads get clogged up with this garbage."

[blackharted]

Spirrwell, on Oct 30 2010, 12:14 PM, said:

O_O That's what I said. "and you're right this thread shouldn't exist, but it's better that it exists than other threads get clogged up with this garbage."

I know thats what you said I'm agreeing with you.

[The Commander]

Last time I cheeked you couldn't mod games on consoles (example: mods for games that you can on the PC)

Then you also need to pay for add on content which is free on the PC counter part.
example: The Sacrifice L4D

Quote

On the Xbox 360, it's also 560 Microsoft points, or $7. On the PC it's free, but Valve didn't think that was enough of a hint about their feelings for Microsoft's DLC policies.

So the price of the full game on the PC was lowered to $6.79 for a limited time on Steam. That's 20 cents less than the add-on campaign for the 360, and you get the entirety of the game, plus every piece of DLC. In fact, to buy a copy of the game on the 360 and get all the content you'll need to spend around $30 for the game, and $14 total for the two content packs. On the PC? You get everything for under $7.

+2 for PC

[MusicallyInspired]

It hurts my brain so much to read Blackharted's posts. PC gaming is far superior to console gaming because the PC will always be better spec-wise than a console. Always. And besides the keyboard, mouse, and joystick, you can also have the exact same handheld controllers as a game console. There is no exception to this. So the PC can do everything a console can do (and do it better) and also much more. Therefore it is better. The only difference at that point is console exclusive vs PC exclusive titles. And whether the ports that are on either are lacking in some way or not.

If we're looking at this from the industry point of view, consoles are better for businesses and customers alike as it's something that's easy for people to pick up, plug in, and play with little to no hassling at all. That's golden for companies because people are morons and like things to be handed to them on a silver platter. These people gravitate to consoles (smart and dumb alike). And as long as the graphics are pretty and somewhat up to date (within 6 years), they're happy. If you're looking at it from a potential point of view, PC's are better. PC's can do so much more than a console can ever do. With every console update the PC is always 5 steps ahead. You can have the exact same presentation of gaming features on a PC as you can on a console (whether they do or not is another matter entirely, but we're talking from a potential point of view). The flip side is that it costs more money and head knowledge to build your own perfect gaming rig with all the trimmings that works flawlessly.

So it depends on how you look at it. As far as the industry goes, consoles are better. As far as potential goes, PC's are better. As far as gameplay goes, they're the same.

[The Commander]

MusicallyInspired, on Oct 31 2010, 10:21 AM, said:

That's golden for companies because people are morons and like things to be handed to them on a silver platter.

Reminds me of blackharted most of the time.

[Spirrwell]

Pikachu, on Oct 30 2010, 04:42 PM, said:

Who gives a shit about homebrew (not a selling point for over 80% of users)? Who gives a shit about graphics? You've clearly never played Red Steel or The Conduit if you think it lacks fast competitive action, not to mention games like Smash Brothers Brawl or some of the games in Wii Sports Resort. Online sucks ass, I admit, but most of the games are split-screen/one screen and I prefer that to online.

I honestly think you're grabbing for straws here, or you're trolling. Either way, shit post, shit thread.

? I was just throwing that out there, I'm trying my best to divert away from opinion, but that's very hard to do, I have The Conduit, and I've never played it, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a good game, I was just mentioning the graphics to throw that out there. Also, why is it a shit post\thread? I put this here so people would quit clogging up other threads with this.

[Hendricks266]

Spirrwell, on Oct 30 2010, 02:19 PM, said:

I'll start with which is the better console. The Nintendo Wii is the most widely sold, so it has to be the better console, right? Wrong. The Nintendo Wii may be a good console, but it's not good enough to be considered the best. I'd say that it has some the better homebrew capabilities, but it really lacks in a lot of aspects. It's not the best system for good graphics and fast competitive gameplay. The Nintendo Wii is a fitness\sports console mostly, with some good games, but not a lot of the games it has are for all ages, it seems more for kids. Overall the Wii is just a test console, a test for some new innovative technologies such as infrared movement sensing. As for online gaming, the Nintendo Wii is very simple and isn't much to look at for its online capability. Hopefully newer Nintendo consoles will be able to kick ass in the console wars, because it seems to be losing it's backbone against the other consoles.

Although the Wii doesn't have 1080P GRAFIX TO PUMP MY WANG OVER, you don't have to take that big a shit on it. I played Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition on my Wii and loved it.

[Spirrwell]

Hendricks266, on Oct 30 2010, 05:47 PM, said:

Although the Wii doesn't have 1080P GRAFIX TO PUMP MY WANG OVER, you don't have to take that big a shit on it. I played Call of Duty: Reflex Edition on my Wii and loved it.

Me too, it's a great game, just in comparison to the other consoles, it very low on hardware. Also I wish they didn't cut out Nazi Zombies from Call of Duty World at War for Wii, that's the only reason I like that game, the online is pretty much the same as Call of Duty Modern Warfare Reflex. Damn, off topic again just a little bit.

[High Treason]

PC is capable of emulating consoles, you can do it on consoles but only with the systems and games they chose, with a PC you can emulate whatever you want however you want, PC is more powerful so it can emulate that latest consoles (It's possible but I don't know if any Emulators exist yet...), the latest consoles can not emulate the latest PC.

Edit; Anyway, my Teradrive is a PC that accepts Mega Drive cartridges, I don't think there's ever been a console that accepts PC games. My Commodore 64 beats the crap out of everything anyway.

[Spirrwell]

High Treason, on Oct 30 2010, 07:22 PM, said:

PC is capable of emulating consoles, you can do it on consoles but only with the systems and games they chose, with a PC you can emulate whatever you want however you want, PC is more powerful so it can emulate that latest consoles (It's possible but I don't know if any Emulators exist yet...), the latest consoles can not emulate the latest PC.

Edit; Anyway, my Teradrive is a PC that accepts Mega Drive cartridges, I don't think there's ever been a console that accepts PC games. My Commodore 64 beats the crap out of everything anyway.

Commodore? I wish I could get some of those old Commodore computers. I love to hold on to all the old stuff. Heck my two favorite consoles are the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, all the newer ones are nice, but I think that gaming has gone down hill since then. My favorite game would have to be Contra. *Sigh I wish I was born in the older days.

[Master Fibbles]

Hendricks266, on Oct 30 2010, 05:47 PM, said:

the Wii doesn't have 1080P GRAFIX TO PUMP MY WANG OVER

sure it does