This all stems out of the discussion going on in the pit right now about pricing for the new X-Box. Something I’ve always wondered- why get a console when you have a computer?
A computer (Either Mac or PC) is far superior in terms of speed, graphics, and titles, than a console, right?
Monitor size, for one. Multiple players, for another. Hardware compatibility, for a third. And in a less-verifiable way, chances are that most people traditionally haven’t had home PC’s that matched the video capability of the latest video game machine (when the Sega Genesis came out, I had an amber EGA monitor; when the PlayStation came out, it would have completely smoked either of my PC’s).
So yes, it is possible to match a video game’s abilities on a PC, but unless you already have a mondo killer PC, it’s gonna be expensive.
top end PCs and mid range 1ghz+ durons with DDR and geforce 3 can give xboxes a good run for their money since PCs display a higher res , but the xbox has a major advantage it runs a castrated OS which sucks up lots of CPU power on your average PC a really really phat bus and only has to display for TVs.
I like consoles because they are easier on my shoulders. I have a tv in/out for the computer if I ever want to play on the computer. The games/characters I want are usually only on the consoles.
Not necessarily. For purely graphical games, an XBOX or a PS2 can deliver state-of-the-art visuals for a bargain price. For $400 you can buy a machine with graphics that will match and exceed most PCs.
PC games, however, can be far more complex and interesting, and the selection is hundreds of times larger. They’re also more backwards-compatible and, there being only two common platforms for home computers now, more laterally compatible; your old Super Mario Bros. cartridge won’t work in your PS2, but the copy of “Empire” I bought in 1987 will work just dandy in my brand new P4-1.6.
True, but PC games seem cheaper so if you play on the PC you might come out even eventually. PS2 games mostly seem to be $50 when they come out. I have seen PC games free after rebate.
Some games produced for both computer and console can be have substantial differences. One example of this is Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed. I prefer the PS1 version because it’s easier to play and has features that are unavailable on the PC. Add the fact that it has a two-player option and you have the reason I gave a PS1 version to my nephews for Christmas one year and not the PC version. They could both play the PS1 at the same time; with the PC they’d have to take turns.
Which version do I play more? At the moment, it’s the PC. This may change when Angie’s PS2 arrives and she moves the PS1 into the living room. BTW: this game is the reason that I got a PS1-style gamepad (Saitek P750) for my PC.
There’s also games available for a console that may never be out for PC. I’d love to have PC game with a track-generator feature like what VRally2 has.
I prefer game consoles because I believe in using the best equipment for the job. While a computer is definitely versatile, it’s not the ideal place for listening to music, watching DVDs, or playing games – it’s a “good enough” substitute, but given a choice, I’d rather go with a dedicated system tasked for what I want to do.
As an avid NFS fan, I somewhat disagree. There are programs (made by fans, not EA) that allow you to create your own cars, engine and horn sounds, and tracks for the NFS series, making the PC far more diverse. I put my own '93 Grand Am into NFS:High Stakes and got a great screen shot of it flying over a cop’s head. In other words, you can “hack” PC games, making it quite a bit more fun.
However, I like that the Xbox puts all of its muscle into the gaming, making it a superior gaming system. Frankly, I needed a DVD player and the Xbox delivered that with the gaming ability as a bonus.
Also depends on what sort of games you’re playing. If you mostly stick to turn-based strategy and RPG’s like myself ( or hardcore sims like some folks I know ), there is little compelling reason to pick up a console.
And I sometimes prefer watching DVD’s on my computer 
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Here’s the bottom line:
Power and speed: While the processor in a console may be technically “slower”, it doesn’t have to deal with compatibility issues, and as such is more streamlined in how it deals with its power. In other words, it ALWAYS uses the entirety of its speed. On a PC, there are millions of possible computer configurations (impossible for a game manufacturer to test all possibilities), and as such you tend to get minor, delay-causing glitches (as opposed to major glitches that cause the whole system to crash).
Cost: You wanna talk about a GeForce-3, geepee? One of those, by itself, would cost $100 more than the X-Box or the PS2. I did a calculation in another thread and found that a system that’s even remotely comparable to the X-Box would cost around $700… over twice as much.
Graphics: Here’s where the PC’s truly shine. Any console system will always have its graphics held back by the resolution that it can be displayed at. Most regular TV’s have a resolution of (I think) the equivalent of 320X240. Even my friend’s 6-year-old 15" monitor can pull a 1024X768.
Customizability: Another winning slot for a PC. Patches? Mods? Add-ons? Expansion packs? TC’s? You’re not going to find any of these in any console. You can do a lot of tweaking for a PC game, if you know how. Further, some people may consider a console controller simpler… I just consider it more limited. You have a set number of possibilities for any number of actions, whereas on a PC you can (if you’re so inclined) completely revamp the entire input setup to perfectly match your personality. I think I’m the only person alive that uses “CTRL” for forward, “ALT” for reverse, “Z” for left-strafe, and “X” for right-strafe… and don’t even get me started on jump, duck, run, reload, etc.
In either case, those are (some of) the advantages and disadvantages of both types of gaming systems.
I play both and enjoy both. COnsole strengths have been examined, but here are a couple for the PC.
PC games often have much more depth than consoles. Not sure why, but PC games allow many more things to be done. Look at the difference between, say, Baldur’s gate and ANY Final Fantasy. I like FF, but BG is truly inspiring. Half-Life blows away EVERY console FPS I have ever seen.
Another difference is multiplayer. After you play online, console multiplayer is not even worth considering. Even the newest console online multiplayer schemes is basically a pale imitation of PC systems.
Yeah, I’m aware of this. In fact, I purpously bought HS in order to play the user-created vehicles. I’ve even tried to alter the tracks but haven’t had much luck yet.
The points you brought up are why I specified PU; the PS1 version has cars that are missing from the PC, most notably the 924. I also prefer the circuit courses in the PS1 to the straight-line road courses that predominate in the PC. The PC version of PU does have a superior chase mode, but I had to use a cheat program in order to get all the cars & tracks. Got tired of not being able to progress any further than the early '70s. I also cheated HS because I just wanted to drive and not worry about the career mode.
The graphics engine on an Xbox is the equivalent of a PC’s Geforce II MX, an $80 VGA card released over a year ago. They can get away with it because the card is fine at the lower resolutions that the TV can support, but it is hardly “state of the art”.
-LV
A high-end computer is always going to be more powerful than a console, but there are a number of things that can give a console an edge graphically. As mentioned, games for a console are much more streamlined, since they only have to be compatible with one set of hardware, while a PC game has to be able to run with any of dozens of 3D cards, control devices, etc. More important in my opinion is the fact that the TVs console games are played on are very limited in display resolution compared to computer monitors, and thus console game graphics are optimized to run at a low resolution, which saves a LOT of memory and processor power. Due to the natural anti-aliasing effect of television screens (which is why live video on a TV screen never has jaggy edges despite it’s low resolution) a game running at 320x240 on a TV screen is going to look a lot smoother than a game running at that resolution on a computer monitor, where everything will appear to be made out of little blocks. A game released on PC has to be playable with full detail at a resolution of at least 1024x768 on a high-end PC to be marketable - has to draw 786,432 pixels 30 times a second to look smooth, as opposed to the 76,800 pixels you need to draw at 320x240, or 307,200 at 640x480 (which is what many of the latest generation of consoles render at). And most PC games run far better than that on a high-end system, on my not-quite high-end PC (1.5Ghz processor, 64MB GeForce 2 3D card) Max Payne runs smoothly at 1280x1024 and would run at higher resolutions if my monitor supported them, and it’s one of the most graphically advanced games on the market right now. If a manufacturer made a game so detailed that you had to turn the resolution down to 640x480 to play it on a high-end system it would be either really ugly or unplayable on systems a few months older.
Oh, as to the OP’s original question - it really depends on the type of games you like to play. If you want a wide variety of first-person shooters, real-time or turn-based strategy games, or detailed ‘true’ RPGs (not ‘console RPGs’ like the Final Fantasy series and other Japanese games where your character is made for you, everything is scripted, and basically all you do is explore maps and go through stylized battles), PCs are the best choice. If you like fighting games, platform jumping games, or any game you want to play with a bunch of friends around one screen, get a console. About everything else has plenty of examples available on both consoles and PCs - some people say consoles are best for sports games and driving games, but there are many excellent games in those genres on the PC that often blow the console versions out of the water, it’s just that a lot of people who like those types of games like to play them with friends, while multiplayer is usually on a LAN or over the internet on the PC.