Support NeoGAF

[EventHorizon]

Of course I would always consider moving exclusively to PC but think it's highly unlikely. I'm currently happy with my console selection of games and love its low cost/no hassle nature for couch gaming on big TV.

Instead I think PCs will move towards consoles. Someone will do a Steam Machine concept right. One or two standardized PC hardware component specs mass produced to lower costs in an appliance form factor. It'll be more expensive than a true gaming only console but allow PC apps to run from an apps store. All of it will be tightly locked down to avoid malware infections. I suspect Scorpio will be MS first attempt at this.

 

[Santar]

No I have not.
U've never enjoyed fiddling with stuff to get games working right, crashes or other bugs related to my specific pc and the fact that the performance of games is up to me.
Even after gaming on pc since the 90's I've never enjoyed those aspects of it.
Some games I play on pc and some I play on console.

 

[Lister]

Of course I would always consider moving exclusively to PC but think it's highly unlikely. I'm currently happy with my console selection of games and love its low cost/no hassle nature for couch gaming on big TV.

Instead I think PCs will move towards consoles. Someone will do a Steam Machine concept right. One or two standardized PC hardware component specs mass produced to lower costs in an appliance form factor. It'll be more expensive than a true gaming only console but allow PC apps to run from an apps store. All of it will be tightly locked down to avoid malware infections. I suspect Scorpio will be MS first attempt at this.

That's just a console. That's what the Ps4 is, for example. A locked down, entry level PC, stamped with the Sony trademark logo.

 

[ViolentP]

Agreed. That's pretty much the perspective of mos tPC gamers I know (since they almost all came from consoles).

The problem I have is people with no experience with that middle process claiming what the end result is like. I don't like my ignorance that blatant.

 

[PandaPedinte]

There's a LOT you don't seem to know about PC gaming, honestly.

But building a pc is hard! Next thing you're going to say that you can't put parts in the wrong slots of the motherboard.

Spoiler

I was obviously joking, no one read email tags anymore?

 

[Sword Of Doom]

Not really. Have both a good pc and consoles and I'm happy

 

[titiklabingapat]

Always been a PC gamer. I feel like the experience you get are a lot inferior on consoles no matter how hard they try except for Nintendo games, which aren't really trying to emulate PC games.

The rest of them? Huge downgrades in gameplay and controls, the most important thing for me in games. Don't care for 'story', 'cinematic experiences' and those other shit. I have movies, books and tv shows for that. I love complex RTS, strategy game, shooting (first person and third person) and simulation games for reference.

 

[Talax]

If Sony stops making PS consoles then yes. Otherwise no.

 

[Tagyhag]

Lol.
all i care are single-player-experiences.
nintendo, sony and xbox.

i dont care a bit about pc, since most games are only about mp... mostly.

consoles become online-games-service-platforms too but i hope this will only stay an exception.

That's 100% untrue.

There are more MP-only games on PC sure, but there are also vastly more single player games as well.

 

[Parfait]

Nope. Consoles have too many exclusives. Can't play Gravity Rush 2 on PC yett, or Journey, or even some older PS3 titles that I'd love to replay, but my ps3 broke down, I don't have the money for another one AND i don't have space on my desk for it.

 

[Breakage]

Nah, never.

 

[i-Jest]

Only if the market dies out for the dedicated box that plays video games.

 

[That1BlackGuy]

Nah I couldn't do it, I am too used to being able to play whatever I want regardless of platform. Also not all games on PC support Gamepads so I'll typically get the console version of those games.

 

[Madness]

Doubtful. Even when I gamed on PC I had a console. The ease of use, single ecosystem especially as I get older is just too great. Just buy a Switch, an Xbox One, a PS4 and plug into my 4K televisions and play. Though with the new revision based gens, I may change my habits. I might just get a PC and go all out on the video card and keep it for 5ish years and then keep updating that way.

 

[MrBenchmark]

Nope and the older I get the less likely it becomes. I was hardcore PC for many years games like WOW and Everquest and many shooters. PC hardware is a disease to me a viscous cycle of upgrades and how I got my PSN name MrBenchmark. I work on PC's for a living all day long and have no desire to when I'm home any more. Pretty simple for me.

 

[EventHorizon]

That's just a console. That's what the Ps4 is, for example. A locked down, entry level PC, stamped with the Sony trademark logo.

There is a difference. Consoles are designed specifically for games. That means a more powerful GPU but a less powerful CPU. They aren't going to be able to run any generic PC app. A PC appliance would have a more powerful CPU in order to be more generic but would be more expensive because of it.

This is why I don't think consoles will ever truly go away. On a TV in the living room, most PC apps simply don't make sense. Unless you are one of the very few who use their main TV as a computer monitor, you'll have no need to for the extra capability that a full PC brings, so why pay for it in that situation. It's like how most people use a network router appliance instead of a full computer with router software installed. For the job of a router, who wants to pay for a full computer and worry about setting it up when you can get a cheaper appliance specifically tailored to do the job?

Edit:
I should add that in the long term, the price of CPUs that are capable of doing 90%+ of what most people want to do on the PC will become so low that including them in gaming consoles will have a negligible increase in price. At that point consoles and PC appliances will likely become the same thing, although there could still be some artificial distinction due to OSs and exclusives. There will still be true PCs for the people like developers who need that 100% PC experience.

 

[Melchiah]

Well, let's start with the ones lacking perspective, like "load times are fine". Fine in comparison to what? Your fine are my maddening.

Witcher 3 on PS4 is a chore given it's load times of well over a minute, vs 10 seconds on PC. Most games suffer form load time issues. If a game on my PC takes mroe than 10 seconds to load I'm not happy, I cna't imagine routinenely dealing with 1+ minute load times.

I'd throw the controller out the window in frustration. By comparison spending a Sunday afternoon building a new PC would be a trade I would make in a second.

Well, let's start with a question, have you actually played on the PS4? Since your previous comments already implied you aren't that familiar with the system.

All games in my current rotation, Horizon Zero Dawn, Driveclub and Resogun, load up quickly, and I'm playing in no time. They sure as hell aren't maddening to me, and I'm used to having SSD on my laptop, so I can't imagine them being so for anyone else either. To my understanding, Horizon loads up faster than Witcher 3. The initial load takes about a minute, but restarting after death takes only about 10 seconds.

What were the other false statements, since you mentioned there being several of them?'


EDIT:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...dawn-tech-analysis-what-works-and-what-doesnt

Loading times: Another potential pitfall we've often encountered with open world games are the loading times. Whether it's the lengthy waiting times of The Witcher 3 or the constant barrage of loading screens in Fallout 4, many gamers have become accustomed to staring at loading screens in open world titles, disrupting the all-important sense of immersion. In comparison, Horizon manages to dodge most of these issues. The initial startup can take between forty to fifty seconds to complete but once in the game, loading remains fast. Death generally means waiting less than ten seconds to retry while fast travel manages is always reasonable.

 

[AmethystEnd]

Short answer is no. Not as long as consoles exist.

 

[timberger]

Sure... if gaming on PC had far greater ease of use and Sony and Nintendo quit making consoles and released all their games on PC I'd probably do it.

For now though my PC gaming is reserved solely for the rare PC-only titles I actually find interesting and multiplatform games that have issues too large to ignore on console... which tbh is also pretty rare.

 

[Superkewl]

I have been a PC gamer for ages, however I got a Xbone S last week, and I love the Xbox live service. The whole eco-system, if you will.

I don't see myself upgrading my PC going forward.

 

[Wiped89]

Literally never.

My mate just bought a new beefy PC for £2,000. I went over to mess with it and while the PC is impressive, I looked at the cost of the thing and the type of games, and the tiny monitor, and said 'nah'.

For that money I can buy all three main consoles and play all their exclusives on a big 4K screen (and I did, and I am).

I made the right choice and I stick by it.

Give me a call when Uncharted 4, Mario Kart 8, Zelda and Horizon Zero Dawn are on PC.

 

[Weebos]

For me the opposite is more likely. I've been using my PC less and less as the years go by.

 

[fast_taker]

I have recently purchased a "gaming" pc but I just can not get my x1 out of my gaming habits...

 

[petran79]

Agreed. That's pretty much the perspective of mos tPC gamers I know (since they almost all came from consoles).

If you are hesitant to build your own computer, you could buy ready made desktops or laptops from known brands like HP, Dell, Toshiba, Alienware, Microsoft etc

You pay more but you make up for it by better build quality and less likely for something to go wrong.

 

[Lister]

Well, let's start with a question, have you actually played on the PS4? Since your previous comments already implied you aren't that familiar with the system.

All games in my current rotation, Horizon Zero Dawn, Driveclub and Resogun, load up quickly, and I'm playing in no time. They sure as hell aren't maddening to me, and I'm used to having SSD on my laptop, so I can't imagine them being so for anyone else either. To my understanding, Horizon loads up faster than Witcher 3. The initial load takes about a minute, but restarting after death takes only about 10 seconds.

What were the other false statements, since you mentioned there being several of them?'


EDIT:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...dawn-tech-analysis-what-works-and-what-doesnt

Uhm... You do realize you're making my point for me, no? Your references point out several games wiht huge load time sont he PS4, and then references a SINGLE game where yous till have to suffer thorugh an almsot minute long load time.

 

[Lister]

Literally never.

My mate just bought a new beefy PC for £2,000. I went over to mess with it and while the PC is impressive, I looked at the cost of the thing and the type of games, and the tiny monitor, and said 'nah'.

For that money I can buy all three main consoles and play all their exclusives on a big 4K screen (and I did, and I am).

I made the right choice and I stick by it.

Give me a call when Uncharted 4, Mario Kart 8, Zelda and Horizon Zero Dawn are on PC.

::ring ring::

Mario Kart 8 is on PC. At ACTUAL 4K, not upscaled and 60 FPS Zelda is coming.

 

[SGRX]

Entirely? Not while there are worthwhile exclusives. That said, I've already abandoned consoles as my primary platform in favor of PC.

 

[LogicStep]

No. I mainly play on PC but I like having a PS4 for the exclusive games. Might get a Switch in the future.

 

[Crayon]

Nah. Linux and Mac are too poorly supported.

 

[garath]

I already have. The last console I bought was a wii for my wife. I've never played it myself. Sold my 360 and my ps3 has been a dedicated Blu ray player for years. I can't even remember the last console game I've purchased. I have a 3ds which I've bought a game or two but we're not talking handhelds (of which I do 90% of my gaming on my phone anyways).

Yes, I miss some exclusives like Bloodborne, horizon, botw, etc but I have a backlog miles long and many new games I want to play (Nier and mass effect in the immediate future).

I don't need a console. I kind of want one for the exclusives but it's not worth the money for me. I'd rather upgrade my PC or buy 10 more expensive PC games for that price.

 

[e90Mark]

I did in December 2015, when the pitiful performance of fallout 4 on the xbox one gave me motion sickness due to low fps, low fov, etc. I decided the extra work was worth it to go back to a better platform for performance.

I have less time to game these days, so I decided my experiences should be the very best performing at the very least (high res, high graphics, high refresh rates). Any consoles exclusives I miss, I chalk up as a loss and watch it on youtube/twitch. There's enough games to play on PC, that I don't feel bad about not playing console exclusives.

 

[PatzCU]

I entirely abandoned consoles almost 10 years ago and have no regrets. I can't possibly stomach paying for an online gaming 'service' nor paying $60 for brand new console games. For $60 during the holiday Steam sale, I can buy enough great games to last me at least a year.

Sure, it's a bummer missing out on some console exclusives but ultimately this doesn't bother me since I'll never have the time to play them all. It's hard enough keeping up with all the landmark releases every year that come to PC (still haven't played GTA V for example).

 

[UserDoesNotExist]

If you are hesitant to build your own computer, you could buy ready made desktops or laptops from known brands like HP, Dell, Toshiba, Alienware, Microsoft etc

You pay more but you make up for it by better build quality and less likely for something to go wrong.

No offense, but no, you're not going to get a better build quality out of a pre-built desktop from those companies.

I would never buy a pre-built from a company that did not, at bare minimum, clearly state what kind of motherboard and power supply they were using. Even if it means little to you, it demonstrates that they are targeting the right market and they're not slapping a $700 graphics card into a $40 motherboard that will blow after a year.

 

[Melchiah]

Uhm... You do realize you're making my point for me, no? Your references point out several games wiht huge load time sont he PS4, and then references a SINGLE game where yous till have to suffer thorugh an almsot minute long load time.

Umm... Horizon Zero Dawn, Driveclub, Resogun... 1, 2, 3... that's three.

So, what are the loading times of Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 on PC's HDD?

I'm still waiting for a clarification about what those several supposedly false statements were.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

It would take no interesting exclusives for me to do that. This includes games that only show up on the consoles, regardless of platform.

I enjoy several Nintendo and Sony series.

Math?

 

[TankRizzo]

Can't play the last of us, uncharted or horizon on PC

 

[Darkman M]

Sure when I can play Zelda,Nioh,Horizon,Persona 5 on PC. I have a Gtx 1080 so I do my fair share of gaming in PC but come on.

 

[BossLackey]

PC as main gaming machine
PS4 for entertainment and exclusives
Switch for first party Nintendo games and couch co-op/multiplayer

 

[Plague Doctor]

Whenever this topic comes up I don't think it's so easy as an either or debate. There was a long time I only played on PC, namely when I was into WoW and RTS games. I only recently came back to consoles as a primary. But this can all change over again.

Likewise with my preferred ecosystem. I don't feel the need to stick with one or have all available. I really just go with what suits my current interests and where the wind blows.

So what I am into now isn't the definitive be all, end all. Shit can change in the matter of years or one pivotal move/game.

Objectively speaking: If you invest smartly and properly, games will look/run better on PC. In the long run, the cost of games and services is cheaper on PC. But, now... I just mainly play on a console. I have one I am happy with, still game on pc for some titles, and devote most of my computer time for work/design projects.

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

I've got them all. Gaming PC for PC exclusives + Xbox exclusives + third party games. PS4 Pro and Switch for Sony and Nintendo exclusives. I don't have a lot of free time but I like to have all bases covered

 

[StrangeADT]

Uhh...I put a disc in my PS4, it auto installs everything within half an hour, most times less. Not sure what you mean.

And I'm not sure what framerate has to do with anything. The vast, vast majority of games I own on my XBO and PS4 run great.

... they don't run at 144 fps. Most don't even run at 60 fps. Yes, my monitor is 144hz, and yes I play at that framerate on PC. Yes, it makes a *HUGE* difference.

Umm... Horizon Zero Dawn, Driveclub, Resogun... 1, 2, 3... that's three.

So, what are the loading times of Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 on PC's HDD?

I'm still waiting for a clarification about what those several supposedly false statements were.

Who puts games on HDD's anymore? SSD all the way.

It still is in comparison to PC.

Maybe marginally. I regularly get 160 Mbps from Steam so the download times are negligible and driver issues/setting tinkering is pretty rare these days. Once games are downloaded (one time thing...) it actually takes me longer to get into a game on my WiiU than on my PC. Accounting for load times, the same can be said when comparing my PC to my PS4 (admittedly non-pro, no SSD).

In general, I have the consoles (WiiU, PS4 -- xbox has nothing I'm interested in that isn't on PC) for exclusives, but anything multiplatform that isn't an awful PC port I will buy on PC. Can't beat a bare minimum of solid 60fps + the convenience of Steam in-home streaming. I know PS4 has some streaming options but I don't know if you require that USB dongle or not. I haven't tried it.

 

[petran79]

No offense, but no, you're not going to get a better build quality out of a pre-built desktop from those companies.

I would never buy a pre-built from a company that did not, at bare minimum, clearly state what kind of motherboard and power supply they were using. Even if it means little to you, it demonstrates that they are targeting the right market and they're not slapping a $700 graphics card into a $40 motherboard that will blow after a year.

Buying a computer does also mean you do proper research yourself, go visit stores and ask employees.
Warranty should be extended to 3 years minimum. At least if something goes wrong, you send your computer there and till it is fixed they send you a replacement.
Whereas if you order separate parts and something goes wtong you are on your own.

 

[fantasyGG]

Umm... Horizon Zero Dawn, Driveclub, Resogun... 1, 2, 3... that's three.

So, what are the loading times of Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 on PC's HDD?

I'm still waiting for a clarification about what those several supposedly false statements were.

I installed Witcher 3 on my PC's HDD. ~30 seconds for initial loading into a new map. ~3 to 10 secs(never count it because its fast enough) loading time after death. Don't forget that HDD/SSD is not the only thing that can make a difference in game loading time, CPU and RAM affect it too.

 

[jonscrambler]

what are people going to say when PS4 games come to PS Now? you can play PS3 last of us, uncharted on PC because of PS Now, only matter of time for PS4 games to show up

 

[EventHorizon]

what are people going to say when PS4 games come to PS Now? you can play PS3 last of us, uncharted on PC because of PS Now, only matter of time for PS4 games to show up

They'll say "But I want to play PS5 games too which aren't on PS Now".

 

[Boglin]

I'll give up consoles completely when it is easy on PC to support basic living room features like HDMI-CEC and controlling the interface with a single peripheral. Dicking around with launchers and third party stores while using Steam Big Picture Mode is a chore and doesn't allow the use of just a controller without a lot of configuration.

Steam Big Picture doesn't even support group chat.

 

[e90Mark]

Buying a computer does also mean you do proper research yourself, go visit stores and ask employees.
Warranty should be extended to 3 years minimum. At least if something goes wrong, you send your computer there and till it is fixed they send you a replacement.
Whereas if you order separate parts and something goes wtong you are on your own.

You can expect a 3 year warranty on a PC from a company, but you can't expect them to send you a replacement while it's fixed. You'll be without a computer while your property goes through the warranty process.

The parts you would buy separately also have warranties too, and the warranty process would work in similar fashion. Plus, you'd only have to send that part back and not the whole PC.

My pre-made buying days were way back in like 05/06 when I had something from iBP and had to send the whole computer back for faulty RAM. Most likely different nowadays, but I haven't dealt with it.

 

[Widge]

I don't even bother with BPM, it just doesn't feel particularly well done experience wise. Bog standard launcher suits me fine, and this is as a front room user.

I feel that PC is a great choice for me, I can understand why it would be a terrible choice for others where a console would be better. It's ok for the concept of a console being better than PC for certain demographics to exist.

 

[Cramoss]

I'll give up consoles completely when it is easy on PC to support basic living room features like HDMI-CEC and controlling the interface with a single peripheral. Dicking around with launchers and third party stores while using Steam Big Picture Mode is a chore and doesn't allow the use of just a controller without a lot of configuration.

Steam Big Picture doesn't even support group chat.

I use this in those cases and works flawlesly

 

[Melchiah]

I installed Witcher 3 on my PC's HDD. ~30 seconds for initial loading into a new map. ~3 to 10 secs(never count it because its fast enough) loading time after death. Don't forget that HDD/SSD is not the only thing that can make a difference in game loading time, CPU and RAM affect it too.

Better than I suspected. The long loading times after death are the worst, like in pre-patch Bloodborne.

That reminds me, it'll be interesting to see how the today's Boost Mode on the Pro affects them.

Depending on the game, the increased CPU speed may also result in shorter load times.