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Is PC the best gaming platform this generation?

Slimboy Fat

Member
Performance and visuals are nice but the real reason PC is best is in virtue of having the largest game library uninterrupted by generational shifts. By locking yourself into a console "ecosystem" you not only restrict the games you can play but you also better hope the next iteration of your brand box is backwards compatible. Otherwise all those games you bought are now tied to an outdated system no longer in production. My Ps3 copy of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is now effectively just a lump of plastic. Had I bought it on Steam I could run it at 4K 120 fps right now, or boot it up on my Steam Deck. I would consider renting a Switch/Ps5 to play some exclusives at a reduced price but I would never buy since the "ownership" feels way too restricted and conditional for my taste.

In the PC space GoG is superior to Steam from this perspective as well
 

Sleepwalker

Member
I like playing on PS5 because I like collecting discs.

But make no mistake, I recently played Alan Wake 2 on my PC at 4k max settings with path traced at 60fps while the PS5 can't make the game look this good. So yeah, in terms of pure game availability + emulation, performance, specs and software pricing PC is the ultimate platform.

There are other things like ease of use, OS, simplicity and what not that are way better on a console. It all comes down to preference in the end.
 

Doom85

Member
Not for me. Still some PlayStation games take quite a while to come out on PC, and a select few never do.

And I don’t consider Nintendo games on emulation to count in my case. Look, if someone wants to brag they got an A on their test by cheating, good for them, I’m still not counting it as a legit A.
 

RGB'D

Member
Is PC the best gaming platform this generation?


Happy Chris Hemsworth GIF by Marvel Studios


(And always has been)
 

hinch7

Member
Despite some poor ports, PC gamers have been eating this generation. Best place to play multiplatform games. Console games available day one or eventually making its was on there. Games are considerably cheaper as well, whether through directly or via key websites. Theres also Steam bundles and free games are dished out on Epic through most the year.

The only neg right now is the ridiculous GPU pricing the last few years; due to AMD and Nvidia capitalizing on the pandemic, Mining and now Ai. Otherwise its a really good time to jump in. Lots of legacy games that don't need a remaster/remake and can run on games on multiple PC's in high resolution(s) and framerates. Forward compatible and moddable. Then there's performance, scalability and customisation and options plus using peripherials of your choice. And forward looking technology like DLSS, and path-tracing that simply possible on consoles (just yet). People who are always complaining about performance on consoles need not look any further.
 
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tmlDan

Member
No true. You only read about the poor ones. The majority of PC releases are solid enough and perform better than consoles if you have the hardware. "Micro stutter everywhere" is just bullshit
So we're gonna believe you, not the countless reddit threads on possible fixes on forums, or personal experiences i have had with micro stutters, crashes, frame drops, memory leaks?
 
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Sakura

Member
Yes. Games like persona 3 remake, granblu, etc would have been console only not long ago. Now they all come to PC. Even Sony and MS bring their first party stuff to PC. No need for me to buy a console anymore aside from Nintendo.
 

YeulEmeralda

Linux User
Despite some poor ports, PC gamers have been eating this generation. Best place to play multiplatform games. Console games available day one or eventually making its was on there. Games are considerably cheaper as well, whether through directly or via key websites. Theres also Steam bundles and free games are dished out on Epic through most the year.

The only neg right now is the ridiculous GPU pricing the last few years; due to AMD and Nvidia capitalizing on the pandemic, Mining and now Ai. Otherwise its a really good time to jump in. Lots of legacy games that don't need a remaster/remake and can run on games on multiple PC's in high resolution(s) and framerates. Forward compatible and moddable. Then there's performance, scalability and customisation and options plus using peripherials of your choice. And forward looking technology like DLSS, and path-tracing that simply possible on consoles (just yet). People who are always complaining about performance on consoles need not look any further.

Most bad ports are fixed after a few months anyway.
 

peish

Member
I think last gen was when pc started to main it, hardware software peripherals got their act together.

This gen everyone is going to “all screen” as Bond puts it. That cements the PCMR meme as reality
 

Danknugz

Member
it's not just gaming but computing in general, you can't develop on a console and you can't run software that isn't approved by mommy and daddy working at the big company that owns you. PCs will always have technology light years ahead of console they're the true tech, consoles are just toys. A great example would be the explosion of open source AI tools in the past year.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
PC is definitely very strong at the moment but it's hard for any platforms to call themselves the best. Too many factors, and too many different likings to each their own.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
Always has been for me. At 7 years old I was programming on the thing and trying to make games (god knows why I didn't end up as a game dev... when I heard the shit conditions I simply went something else).

And I've always been a flight sim guy all my life with HOTAS and so on.

Next step is to make a sim rig in the basement but like a really nice one. (not with motion yet but with the capability to upgrade of course, a 80-20 rig)

That's the best thing about PC, not only mods that expand almost every games, including sims but gaming in general, but you can almost always go get whatever output you need to connect it to something for feedback and get crazy setups like this :



And then make the rig hybrid for flight sims too.

Another input I had but upgraded was head tracking. Went from track IR 5 (had that since 2009?) to a Tobii Eye tracker. I unlock my PC with my eyes. I can look around with either eyes or moving head. Some games support it so well that the UI disappears to like ~4% opaque and then appears when you look at it, selects object by looking at it, easily select a weapon or object from a radial wheel by looking at it, it even detects if you're inside a room and you look outside, the game changes the brightness and lighting to adjust, if it detects you're looking inside it changes too. I was left wondering, how come not every damn PC games feature this. Why not integrate this camera in every damn monitors, it's so nice. I can missile lock an enemy in Star Citizen by looking at it rather than pointing the front of the ship towards the enemy.

So anyway, that part of my hobby is always stable, since the dawn of Jane's simulators in the 90's to now, it's always THE place to play.

All these Microsoft / Sony / Nintendo sponsored games + Capcom / Atlus / Sega, etc joining on PC is just icing on the cake.

I dropped consoles when my huge library of 360 games, physical and digital, was basically not backward compatible (initially). I said fuck it. Fuck this shit.

You can build a rig for console equivalent settings in the realm of ~$800-$900. Yes its more expensive. Then calculate that you don't pay for online. You get huge deals all the time on day 1 games or further down the line. You can actually resell the components! You can lower the settings and stretch the rig further down the line. It's flexible. Library is multi generational, multi device, and always being upgraded by the community if the devs didn't.

Just look at Richard Burn's rally, this game is 19 years old. Was modded for triple monitor support, all hardware imaginable for sim rigs and even VR. Peoples are making stages and cars still for it. Crazy community.

 
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Klosshufvud

Member
My personal nicest surprise this gen has been either Steam deck or Rog Ally. But you're missing out on many games if you're playing exclusively on PC. PC and consoles are complementary of each other. But then I found most games are cheaper being played on console but also to run better than on PC. For exemple Elden Ring or Darktide.
PC handhelds have been the best tech innovation the past years. I love them.
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member
I think it is. Most choice. Although it been pleasantly surprised with some of the titles appearing on consoles that have been PC in the past mostly.
 

Jrecard

Member
For enthusiasts absolutely, but like most markets consoles will always dominate the share for the convenience and price factor.

A continuous open platform that doesn't rely on defined generations for infinite backwards compatibility. Plus modding, and not relying on developer patches to improve the experience of old games (most will already scale to 4k120+).

I used to compliment my PC with a PS console but haven't felt the need to do that this gen. Releases have been slim in general and most Sony exclusives are slowly making their way over anyway. I always have a list longer than my arm of games to play so I can wait the 12-24 months for them to come to pc.

The stain on pc (aside from stutterfest) is multiplayer hacking and drm protections. I don't bother with MP games at least so I don't care about that personally.
 
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peish

Member
Always has been for me. At 7 years old I was programming on the thing and trying to make games (god knows why I didn't end up as a game dev... when I heard the shit conditions I simply went something else).

And I've always been a flight sim guy all my life with HOTAS and so on.

Next step is to make a sim rig in the basement but like a really nice one. (not with motion yet but with the capability to upgrade of course, a 80-20 rig)

That's the best thing about PC, not only mods that expand almost every games, including sims but gaming in general, but you can almost always go get whatever output you need to connect it to something for feedback and get crazy setups like this :



And then make the rig hybrid for flight sims too.

Another input I had but upgraded was head tracking. Went from track IR 5 (had that since 2009?) to a Tobii Eye tracker. I unlock my PC with my eyes. I can look around with either eyes or moving head. Some games support it so well that the UI disappears to like ~4% opaque and then appears when you look at it, selects object by looking at it, easily select a weapon or object from a radial wheel by looking at it, it even detects if you're inside a room and you look outside, the game changes the brightness and lighting to adjust, if it detects you're looking inside it changes too. I was left wondering, how come not every damn PC games feature this. Why not integrate this camera in every damn monitors, it's so nice. I can missile lock an enemy in Star Citizen by looking at it rather than pointing the front of the ship towards the enemy.

So anyway, that part of my hobby is always stable, since the dawn of Jane's simulators in the 90's to now, it's always THE place to play.

All these Microsoft / Sony / Nintendo sponsored games + Capcom / Atlus / Sega, etc joining on PC is just icing on the cake.

I dropped consoles when my huge library of 360 games, physical and digital, was basically not backward compatible (initially). I said fuck it. Fuck this shit.

You can build a rig for console equivalent settings in the realm of ~$800-$900. Yes its more expensive. Then calculate that you don't pay for online. You get huge deals all the time on day 1 games or further down the line. You can actually resell the components! You can lower the settings and stretch the rig further down the line. It's flexible. Library is multi generational, multi device, and always being upgraded by the community if the devs didn't.

Just look at Richard Burn's rally, this game is 19 years old. Was modded for triple monitor support, all hardware imaginable for sim rigs and even VR. Peoples are making stages and cars still for it. Crazy community.



What is this tobii eye tracker? Where to buy one?
 
For enthusiasts absolutely, but like most markets consoles will always dominate the share for the convenience and price factor.

A continuous open platform that doesn't rely on defined generations for infinite backwards compatibility. Plus modding, and not relying on developer patches to improve the experience of old games (most will already scale to 4k120+).

I used to compliment my PC with a PS console but haven't felt the need to do that this gen. Releases have been slim in general and most Sony exclusives are slowly making their way over anyway. I always have a list longer than my arm of games to play so I can wait the 12-24 months for them to come to pc.

The stain on pc (aside from stutterfest) is multiplayer hacking and drm protections. I don't bother with MP games at least so I don't care about that personally.

I forgot about the hacking. There was one time me and my cousin logged in every single day to rainbow six siege and had our scores adjusted because of hackers in our games. Every single day I couldn’t believe.
 

Phase

Member
If money isn't a concern it is by far the best this gen and probably the next few gens too. Now that PS is putting games on PC, you can play all consoles' games. You can emulate almost every console, past and present as well.
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
PC is going to be my main for the foreseeable future.

Sony, I only ever buy first party games.
Rivet
Aloy
Jotuun

Waiting for Spidey 2 on PC.
Will wait for all Sony on PC even though I’ll most likely pick up a PS5 Pro, I’ve got a large digital library of PS first parties from the PS4 days That will live on the PS5Pro.

Series X was going to be my main machine for third parties this gen. I changed my mind after 3 years and will return to PC. I will need to rebuy those third parties on PC.

CP2077 already rebought.

Elden Ring PC might pick up again Though once through was enough for me really.

PC has my largest digital library by far and I’m going to keep building it there.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
What is this tobii eye tracker? Where to buy one?

Online or amazon (wait for sales)


List of official game support have really neat features, but the thing can work with FaceTrackNoIR & OpenTrack which opens it to be compatible with every trackIR 5 / VR enabled games.

Example of it working with 3rd person games for some features I was explaining before





I picked it because my TrackIR 5 clip was total shit quality, broke, taped, still fucked up. TrackIR has shit quality and never fixed a damn thing in a decade. The camera sticking out of the monitor was an ugly piece of shit that would almost always move. Plus I was fed up to put the IR click to my headset wired to USB. Tobii is just your face. No IR (your eyes are reflecting the infrared actually that's how it works). The camera is sleek and good quality, iPhone like metal aluminum finish and is low profile. Just looks nice on my setup. USB wire goes directly to monitor USB hub.

Might be expensive but head tracking is a necessity in flight sims at the very least. Tobii's eye tracking is basically adding the VR headset eye tracking into games and has superb head tracking too.

Like I said, I wish this was a default thing on PC at windows implemented level. Every webcams should have the tech to do this by default at the least, but they don't. Windows by the way detects the tobii and you make the config to unlock PC with face recognition, also other windows features you can toggle for it. You leave your desk? It detects you left and locks PC. You come back it unlocks... QOL improvements.
 
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twilo99

Member
Online or amazon (wait for sales)


List of official game support have really neat features, but the thing can work with FaceTrackNoIR & OpenTrack which opens it to be compatible with every trackIR 5 / VR enabled games.

Example of it working with 3rd person games for some features I was explaining before





I picked it because my TrackIR 5 clip was total shit quality, broke, taped, still fucked up. TrackIR has shit quality and never fixed a damn thing in a decade. The camera sticking out of the monitor was an ugly piece of shit that would almost always move. Plus I was fed up to put the IR click to my headset wired to USB. Tobii is just your face. No IR (your eyes are reflecting the infrared actually that's how it works). The camera is sleek and good quality, iPhone like metal aluminum finish and is low profile. Just looks nice on my setup. USB wire goes directly to monitor USB hub.

Might be expensive but head tracking is a necessity in flight sims at the very least. Tobii's eye tracking is basically adding the VR headset eye tracking into games and has superb head tracking too.

Like I said, I wish this was a default thing on PC at windows implemented level. Every webcams should have the tech to do this by default at the least, but they don't. Windows by the way detects the tobii and you make the config to unlock PC with face recognition, also other windows features you can toggle for it. You leave your desk? It detects you left and locks PC. You come back it unlocks... QOL improvements.


Windows 11 support alright?
 

tusharngf

Member
The reason PC is better
-multiple storefronts, more discounts
-STEAM is the best storefront out there even better than XB store and PSN store.
- Backwards compatibility ( i can still play project IGI on my rtx3080)
- FREE online play
- All console games are coming to PC
- All Nintendo games can be emulated
- PC gamepass is awesome
- NO limit of FPS and fidelity

Cons
-lousy ports
-hardware is expensive almost 3 times the cost of console
 
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Fess

Member
The problem with PC gaming is the constant issues that arise with it. It's never straightforward, yes some games will work no worries but others will have issues down to the sheer amount on configurations. So yes and no is the answer.
Isn’t this rare? For me, the last 10 years has been like gaming on consoles, just more expensive, and better. Only issue I’ve had is Dirt 3 having some old Games for Windows lock, they uploaded a new version after awhile.
The cost is the big hurdle imo. But if you can go without both Xbox and Playstation and skip the midgen upgrades the differences gets smaller.
 
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