My god, I can't believe there is 6 pages on this topic. There is no debate. A consol is just a mini version of a pc, always has been always will be. They will never surpass or ever take the place of a computer but by definition they are a cheap version of a mini computer. Have you ever took apart a playstation 2 or xbox? It is just a computer chip in a plastic box with a hard drive, except it has less then half of the power of a decent computer. Get over it and move on.
Yes consoles have significantly less "power" than a PC....But all of the power in a console is geared twoards gaming...again...how many viruses, blue screens of death, 5 minute loading times, or crashes, have you had on your console???? Xaldor
LOL that is all you got? Consols do one thing and one thing only...... games. Which they still do pretty well but just think, if consols are not even half as powerfull as a decent computer, what if the same game makers of the console games where making computer games? They don't because right now the majority of the gamers right now only play games so they are going to spend less money and get a consol, so the market for games is the consol. Someday though computers will be in every home and we may begin to see it swing back the other way. Simple answer for the virus and blue screen of death question is this, consols have no operating system and very few are conected to the internet.
Originally posted by Hammerhand LOL that is all you got? Consols do one thing and one thing only...... games. Which they still do pretty well but just think, if consols are not even half as powerfull as a decent computer, what if the same game makers of the console games where making computer games? They don't because right now the majority of the gamers right now only play games so they are going to spend less money and get a consol, so the market for games is the consol. Someday though computers will be in every home and we may begin to see it swing back the other way. Simple answer for the virus and blue screen of death question is this, consols have no operating system and very few are conected to the internet.
Sorry to tell you but console games are ported to the pc....ever heard of a little game series called GRAND THEFT AUTO, or how about the JOHN MADDEN FOOTBALL series, maybe you've played HALO...ok I think you get the point. As for the point that consoles have no operating system...well, you are just making my point even better than I did earlier. Also almost all new console games will be made for play on the internet...like SOCOM, all sports games, FFXI, the TONY HAWK series, etc...etc...etc...Xaldor
Originally posted by Hammerhand LOL that is all you got? Consols do one thing and one thing only...... games. Which they still do pretty well but just think, if consols are not even half as powerfull as a decent computer, what if the same game makers of the console games where making computer games? They don't because right now the majority of the gamers right now only play games so they are going to spend less money and get a consol, so the market for games is the consol. Someday though computers will be in every home and we may begin to see it swing back the other way. Simple answer for the virus and blue screen of death question is this, consols have no operating system and very few are conected to the internet.
The bottom line is... A console game can be made as good as the machine allows. A PC game cannot. They have to use a slower standardized graphics interface to support hundreds of different video cards, sound systems, etc. When they make a game for a console, they know exactly what hardware to program for, and they do it very efficiently.
No one is debating that PC are not fast or powerful. The debate is that consoles are better gaming platforms, easier to use, more accepted, and taking over the gaming market.
No one is debating that a console is not a computer, a PC is a computer, a modern car has a computer in it, ATM machines have computers in them. Computer is a general term, and yes a console is a computer.
As far as a computer in every home? I think we are a lot closer to that than you think.
PC's have mod support. look at half-life or battlefield... consoles suck. look at halo its worthless, the only reason console gamers like it is cus it was one of the first playable FPS's even on a console... Play it on the PC it just sucks....
-------------------- "Those who sacrifice liberty in the name of security deserve neither"- Ben Franklin
"Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment and will die here like rotten cabbages."- Number Six's speech from "Free for All"
I would have to agree that there has been virtually no flaming in this debate...I would also have to agree that it pretty much has ran it's course...Xaldor
It's funny that I'm arguing for the console side because I don't even own a console. I am getting tired of spending $200+ every two years for a video card just for gaming and then realize that my system is still inferior to other people's out there in which gives the other person a little more of an advantage in playing an online game. I've always stayed away from consoles because I love online games. Since consoles are gearing towards online games. I will probably be moving to a console in the future for online gaming. Then I can just stick with buying $50-$100 graphic cards every four years for my normal PC purposes.
TaskyZZ: If I lived close to Albany OR, I would be over this weekend, but I live down in San Francisco. So, I'll guess I'll just play Halo with some friends here. One guy brings over a kegerator here too.
Originally posted by Darkbackward Your facts are wrong, There will be way under 40 million console online users in 2008. No growth pattern would ever suggest this.
Check out an article by DFC Intelligence. They forecast that from mid-2006 to the end of 2008 the number of online console gamers are going to more than triple to over 40 million worldwide. So besides bhug's link in the first post. There are other people predicting the same thing (or one stole from the other). So, there are growth patterns suggesting this.
Of course DFC also states that they predict that by 2008 the number of PC online gamers will far exceed the number of console online gamers. Just because console gamers are going to increase to 40 million users doesn't mean PC gamers are going to drop. They are going to increase to and by the looks of it, they are going to increase at a faster rate than the consoles.
Everybody needs to remember that there are other online games besides MMORPGs and these reports are reflecting all of those games, just not MMORPGs.
Of course he did get his numbers wrong with EQ which is more around 400,000. I'm not sure what the number are with Ragnorak, except that I know a couple of countries that are close to a million, such as Malaysia and Thailand. 17 million does seem high though.
Originally posted by Alient It's funny that I'm arguing for the console side because I don't even own a console. I am getting tired of spending $200+ every two years for a video card just for gaming and then realize that my system is still inferior to other people's out there in which gives the other person a little more of an advantage in playing an online game. I've always stayed away from consoles because I love online games. Since consoles are gearing towards online games. I will probably be moving to a console in the future for online gaming. Then I can just stick with buying $50-$100 graphic cards every four years for my normal PC purposes. TaskyZZ: If I lived close to Albany OR, I would be over this weekend, but I live down in San Francisco. So, I'll guess I'll just play Halo with some friends here. One guy brings over a kegerator here too.
Yes, upgrading PC parts every couple years is much worse than buying a whole system and games every couple years.
And what will do as consoles upgrades become more common, recall the v-ram upgrade and flash-roms, for Nintendo.
-=-=-=-=- Make no mistake, MMORPG's are not games, they are hobbies. If you have a job, you'll need to give up watching TV in order to play one. You'll be better off for it.
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
-=-=-=-=- Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
Originally posted by Clever_Glove And what will do as consoles upgrades become more common, recall the v-ram upgrade and flash-roms, for Nintendo.
I wouldn't mind the Xbox 2 being out now. Of course, I wouldn't rush right out and buy it, I would wait for a price drop or two like I did with the original.
As far as the Nintendo thing you speak of, I know nothing about it. XBox is my first console.
computer games will always exist as long as people buy them instead of being lamers and pirating them from kazaa. computer gaming companys make games to make money, not to have immature poor losers steal the games from them over the net.
DAoC - 50sb/50war/50heal/50sham [canceled because of TOA] It's humerous when a company like Mythic was sitting on a gold mine of a game and then they went and ruined it with a PvE expansion to a game that is only fun because of PvP. Thanks for forcing me to PvE mythic, you just lost 25 dollars a month.
Dark Age of Camelot is run by the absolute stupidest company on the planet. Don't buy it.
Originally posted by Clever_Glove Yes, upgrading PC parts every couple years is much worse than buying a whole system and games every couple years. And what will do as consoles upgrades become more common, recall the v-ram upgrade and flash-roms, for Nintendo.
Yes, upgrading PC parts every couple of years is worse when you have to pay $200+ for a video card and $300+ for a new mobo and cpu. For $500 I could buy a console and quite a few games. Besides, consoles usually come out every 4 years not 2. I don't understand why you include games in having to buy them every couple of years. Don't you buy new games every couple of years for your PC? OK, I might not be able to play the old games on the new console, but no one says you have to get rid of the old console either. Going back to prices, consoles are still cheaper. And what will I do when consoles upgrades become more common? Well, with the 100 MB HD packaged with FFXI, I would still consider that a good deal compared to PC prices. The $50 XBox Live Kit compared to a $50 Logitech USB headset? And as for Nintendo, did you have to have v-ram upgrades and flash-roms to play the games that were out for it or did it just help to save games? I downloaded the UT2004 demo and in AS and ON I get a framerate around 10 FPS. It's unplayable. So, I would have to upgrade to play it. My video card is only a couple years old and yea it's a pain to go out and buy a new video card.
For many of us, PC gaming is much cheaper than console gaming. The console isn't the only thing involved in gaming.
First, even if I buy a console, I will still need a good PC to run the programs I run and to do the other things I do with a PC from paying bills, to printing, to working with graphics, to posting on message boards. So the PC expense is still there, it would just be slightly less.
Second, I don't know about anyone else, but my family doesn't enjoy sitting around and watching me play games (and it goes both ways). So I would need another TV set to play. And since I can't play in my bedroom when my wife wants to sleep any more than I can play on the living room TV when she wants to watch a movie, I would need to find a place to put it (build onto the house? well, maybe not that far). And let's not forget that monitors look much better than TVs unless you are going to sink some real cash into an HD TV.
Third, if I get a game console, my kids will want to play. In the end, they would want their own console(s). Fortunately, my son has a TV in his room (and my daughter will soon as well), so new TVs for them isn't a problem. Unfortunately, they will want different games than what I play. Right now, when I build a new computer (pretty much every year), the old ones go down the line, so everyone gets an upgrade.
In the end this is a pointless argument. The line between the two will only continue to blur. Check out what Microsoft is doing with XMA.
The XNA development platform will serve as the foundation for future game platforms from Microsoft, including Windows, Xbox and Windows Mobile-based devices.
..........................
In graphics and audio, many tools such as PIX (an analysis tool) and XACT (an audio authoring tool) - previously available only to Xbox developers - now will be available on Windows as part of the XNA development platform. Likewise, innovations from Windows such as High-Level Shader Language (HLSL) will come to Xbox. The DirectX® API and the Visual Studio® development system will continue to be the baseline environment for both platforms. Collectively, these tools and technologies will enable movie-quality graphics while forming the impetus for new software that will help developers cope with the looming complexity of high-definition video and audio.
Oh yes, haha, it is to laugh... NOT! People always say stuff's funny and it's annoying. Console games are funner because you don't have some clunky keyboard, you have a nice little controller, which is a bad thing for online games, but you can hook a keyboard up to a console, if I'm not mistaked(I know you can hook one up to a PS2 at least.).
You don't have to wait five minutes before a game on a console starts, I hate waiting. You can only have so many computer games per computer, cuz or memory, which is stupid. I like how with consoles you can have every game ever made for them and play each one every day(granted that's about two minutes gameplay each, and no sleep, but still.). Much funner. The only bad thing I can say about consoles is that the XBox sometimes freezes and the GameCube has no great games(Super Smash Bros was fun though.). You can rent console games, you can't rent PC games.
Funner? Mistaked?? Hmm, Might want to lose the PS2 and get your GED. Anyway, graphics on PC have always been better than console games. Using a keyboard and mouse, for me, is easier than using a controller, and you have alot more buttons if you need them. You cant get the graphics that you can get on a monitor because the dot pitch on a TV is REALLY high. PC games load faster than a console, I hate waiting too. And, you can download a demo for almost any game you want to try out, FREE. Not to mention alot of games are free anyway. Then if you dont like it, dont buy it.
Aside from all that, a console cant burn CD's, cant play music in the background while youre playing a game, cant surf the internet for hints, cheats, walkthroughs, tips etc. and they dont have any MMORPG's ( no Final Fantasy doesnt count, its crap even for the PC).
City of Hero's Characters: - Black Samurai - Mezmo Man - Flare -
Comments
The bottom line is... A console game can be made as good as the machine allows. A PC game cannot. They have to use a slower standardized graphics interface to support hundreds of different video cards, sound systems, etc. When they make a game for a console, they know exactly what hardware to program for, and they do it very efficiently.
No one is debating that PC are not fast or powerful. The debate is that consoles are better gaming platforms, easier to use, more accepted, and taking over the gaming market.
No one is debating that a console is not a computer, a PC is a computer, a modern car has a computer in it, ATM machines have computers in them. Computer is a general term, and yes a console is a computer.
As far as a computer in every home? I think we are a lot closer to that than you think.
uuh no. just no.
PC's have mod support. look at half-life or battlefield... consoles suck. look at halo its worthless, the only reason console gamers like it is cus it was one of the first playable FPS's even on a console... Play it on the PC it just sucks....
PC>Console
screw the sales numbers I play what I want
-Selek
-Selek
So does everybody else... That has nothing to do with the debate.
--------------------
Ultima X Guild-
Guardians of Scotland
--------------------
"Those who sacrifice liberty in the name of security deserve neither"- Ben Franklin
"Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment and will die here like rotten cabbages."- Number Six's speech from "Free for All"
Actually, there has been no flaming in this thread. Nothing wrong with a good debate.
And some good does come from these debates at times, as I was turned from the dark side (PC side) some time long ago...
It's funny that I'm arguing for the console side because I don't even own a console. I am getting tired of spending $200+ every two years for a video card just for gaming and then realize that my system is still inferior to other people's out there in which gives the other person a little more of an advantage in playing an online game. I've always stayed away from consoles because I love online games. Since consoles are gearing towards online games. I will probably be moving to a console in the future for online gaming. Then I can just stick with buying $50-$100 graphic cards every four years for my normal PC purposes.
TaskyZZ: If I lived close to Albany OR, I would be over this weekend, but I live down in San Francisco. So, I'll guess I'll just play Halo with some friends here. One guy brings over a kegerator here too.
Your facts are wrong, There will be way under 40 million console online users in 2008. No growth pattern would ever suggest this.
Ragnarok online does not have even close to 17 million people working for it and everquest has 500k not 100k.
Get your facts straight before flaming your pc.
Wicca wicca boom boom wicca wicca boom
Type Seed Game into your search engine. Go to the game's website and learn about it. It may be the best game you've continued to ignore.
Of course DFC also states that they predict that by 2008 the number of PC online gamers will far exceed the number of console online gamers. Just because console gamers are going to increase to 40 million users doesn't mean PC gamers are going to drop. They are going to increase to and by the looks of it, they are going to increase at a faster rate than the consoles.
Everybody needs to remember that there are other online games besides MMORPGs and these reports are reflecting all of those games, just not MMORPGs.
Of course he did get his numbers wrong with EQ which is more around 400,000. I'm not sure what the number are with Ragnorak, except that I know a couple of countries that are close to a million, such as Malaysia and Thailand. 17 million does seem high though.
Yes, upgrading PC parts every couple years is much worse than buying a whole system and games every couple years.
And what will do as consoles upgrades become more common, recall the v-ram upgrade and flash-roms, for Nintendo.
-=-=-=-=-
Make no mistake, MMORPG's are not games, they are hobbies. If you have a job, you'll need to give up watching TV in order to play one. You'll be better off for it.
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
-=-=-=-=-
Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
I wouldn't mind the Xbox 2 being out now. Of course, I wouldn't rush right out and buy it, I would wait for a price drop or two like I did with the original.
As far as the Nintendo thing you speak of, I know nothing about it. XBox is my first console.
Sony came out with the network adapters and opened a new door for console
MMORPGs.When Everquest Online Adventures came out people were skeptical, but it was
all great, i myself was a elf ranger. EQOA was a big breakthrough for console MMORPGs.
Almost all MMORPGs are on the PC right now but with the possibilities of the PS2 i wouldn't
be one bit surprised if more and more PS2 or console MMORPGs came out and eventually
passed the PC ones, but if this does happen it will take a very very very long time before
the PC games become obsolete.
computer games will always exist as long as people buy them instead of being lamers and pirating them from kazaa. computer gaming companys make games to make money, not to have immature poor losers steal the games from them over the net.
DAoC - 50sb/50war/50heal/50sham [canceled because of TOA]
It's humerous when a company like Mythic was sitting on a gold mine of a game and then they went and ruined it with a PvE expansion to a game that is only fun because of PvP. Thanks for forcing me to PvE mythic, you just lost 25 dollars a month.
Dark Age of Camelot is run by the absolute stupidest company on the planet. Don't buy it.
World of Warcraft for teh win
For many of us, PC gaming is much cheaper than console gaming. The console isn't the only thing involved in gaming.
First, even if I buy a console, I will still need a good PC to run the programs I run and to do the other things I do with a PC from paying bills, to printing, to working with graphics, to posting on message boards. So the PC expense is still there, it would just be slightly less.
Second, I don't know about anyone else, but my family doesn't enjoy sitting around and watching me play games (and it goes both ways). So I would need another TV set to play. And since I can't play in my bedroom when my wife wants to sleep any more than I can play on the living room TV when she wants to watch a movie, I would need to find a place to put it (build onto the house? well, maybe not that far). And let's not forget that monitors look much better than TVs unless you are going to sink some real cash into an HD TV.
Third, if I get a game console, my kids will want to play. In the end, they would want their own console(s). Fortunately, my son has a TV in his room (and my daughter will soon as well), so new TVs for them isn't a problem. Unfortunately, they will want different games than what I play. Right now, when I build a new computer (pretty much every year), the old ones go down the line, so everyone gets an upgrade.
In the end this is a pointless argument. The line between the two will only continue to blur. Check out what Microsoft is doing with XMA.
http://www.microsoft.com/xna/
I'll admit it, I only read up to page four.
Things that consoles are not/cannot do:
They are not just for children.
They cannot run lame ass typing programs.
They are not just for people with short attention spans.
Things that consoles are/can do:
They do have a wide variety of games out, maybe even more then for PCs?
They are fun.
They can play just as good of games as PCs, without having a $2,000 dollar investment.
End of story.
True Fantasy Live Online looks like it'll be awesome, and I think it'll help change the idea that all good online games are for the PC.
There has never been a console that beats PC in gaming or anything else.
And if they make console Like that It will be called PCC
Personal computer console LOL
Komu
Komu
Oh yes, haha, it is to laugh... NOT! People always say stuff's funny and it's annoying. Console games are funner because you don't have some clunky keyboard, you have a nice little controller, which is a bad thing for online games, but you can hook a keyboard up to a console, if I'm not mistaked(I know you can hook one up to a PS2 at least.).
You don't have to wait five minutes before a game on a console starts, I hate waiting. You can only have so many computer games per computer, cuz or memory, which is stupid. I like how with consoles you can have every game ever made for them and play each one every day(granted that's about two minutes gameplay each, and no sleep, but still.). Much funner. The only bad thing I can say about consoles is that the XBox sometimes freezes and the GameCube has no great games(Super Smash Bros was fun though.). You can rent console games, you can't rent PC games.
Funner? Mistaked?? Hmm, Might want to lose the PS2 and get your GED. Anyway, graphics on PC have always been better than console games. Using a keyboard and mouse, for me, is easier than using a controller, and you have alot more buttons if you need them. You cant get the graphics that you can get on a monitor because the dot pitch on a TV is REALLY high. PC games load faster than a console, I hate waiting too. And, you can download a demo for almost any game you want to try out, FREE. Not to mention alot of games are free anyway. Then if you dont like it, dont buy it.
Aside from all that, a console cant burn CD's, cant play music in the background while youre playing a game, cant surf the internet for hints, cheats, walkthroughs, tips etc. and they dont have any MMORPG's ( no Final Fantasy doesnt count, its crap even for the PC).
City of Hero's Characters:
- Black Samurai - Mezmo Man - Flare -
-----------------Censored------------------