Gadgetory

previously in the console wars we looked at the Wii U and Nintendo's unique space within the war since then quite a lot has changed for Nintendo the company lost a leader who was a true gamer at heart he wanted Eric took with Nintendo fans before shareholders and he took risks to keep Nintendo quirky weird and true to its core he won a son will be missed dearly it will be interesting to see what Nintendo's next chapter has a storm you now while we wait for Xbox ones new Windows 10 based UI before comparing the software side of things I think it's time we take a look at the shadow of the beast that looms over all three consoles this is a battle of attrition console peasants versus the PC master-race it's armed welcome back to the console if I had a diver every time someone announces the superiority of the PC master-race in the comment section of the console wars I'd pretty much be able to afford a high-end gaming PC I've been a PC gamer since the glory days of doom and LucasArts classics like full throttle and TIE fighter and back then pcs were expensive tricky to use and infrequent native updates some twenty years later at least a couple of those definitions still hold true but for the most part PC gaming is more affordable and more accessible than ever pcs have always been a step ahead of the consoles when it comes to number crunching prowess and without spoiling the conclusion of this episode I can guarantee that PCs will always be technically more capable of driving better graphics in the consoles emphasis on technically more capable and the reason is quite simple this is a gtx 980ti graphics card it's an enthusiast class card that costs pretty much what the ps4 and Xbox one are priced at combined the card is capable of driving some amazing graphics with resolutions textures and effects way beyond what the consoles are capable of for almost 700 bucks it ought to be and it's really not uncommon for PC gaming enthusiasts to run two or three of these bad boys in an SLI configuration providing PC graphics even more of an edge compared to the consoles and this I think sums up the point of pcs it's a truly scalable platform the only restrictions you really have is the thickness of your wallet PC gaming however does not have to be expensive you can build a gaming PC for the price of a console you may not run games at Ultra settings but most games scale to the capabilities of your PC but I think for the most of us PC gamers building a PC at a console price that's really not the point at all is it when I think PC gaming I think overclocking 120 FPS 4k or at least 1440p resolution multi-screen setups and every single graphics maxed-out for the shear reason of future proofing and upgradability if you are serious into getting into PC gaming don't skimp too much on the components build your PC on a solid foundation that can be easily upgraded for me it's all about that sweet spot where performance meets the price and upgrade ability is key so you can gradually beef up that PC if you want a gaming machine that costs the same as a console get a console if you want a gaming PC do it just do it don't let your dreams be dreams gotta go all-in maybe okay now that we've established that pcs are technically more superior than consoles let's discuss why the relevance of PC gaming performance has been losing its luster in the past few years PC gaming in my personal opinion has taken a few turns for the worse lately a couple of months ago I decided to upgrade my graphics card to play one of my favorite and most anticipated franchises on the PC with the best possible visuals water technology could offer to get me even more excited GPU manufacturer and Vidya showed off its new special effects exclusive for the PC version and I was hyped I went out and splurge and dropped a pretty penny for my new graphics card and then came launched Batman Arkham Knight was broken and those special Nvidia game works effects caused my high end GPU to chug out frames like a slideshow shortly after the game was pulled from Steam and all sales of Arkham Knight on PC have been discontinued indefinitely at least until fall as it turns out developer Rocksteady was not even in charge of the PC port and the game was outside to a more obscure dev team the graphics settings alone in Arkham Knight truly suggests that this game was definitely not intended for PC publisher Warner Bros launched Mortal Kombat X earlier this year with similar issues on the PC and according to play reports MKX on the PC still has some serious issues even now several months later so it seems that in 2015 releasing games broken is perfectly okay and wait for the patch might as well be written on the boxart having lived in an age where you just stick a cartridge in a machine and play games that's me a bit on the edge about these shenanigans and these issues are definitely not exclusive to the PC as the consoles get their fair share of issues but the problem is are unquestionably more prominent on the PC side and the problem lies in the PC games are indeed most often treated as ports the weird thing is the PC gamers obviously have cash to spend so why exactly do publishers tweet the platform as secondary with a side dish of half-assing it well as usual it all comes down to money with a few excellent exceptions to make the rule PC iterations of triple-a titles make less profits on the PC because of this publishers now focus on the consoles with the console hardware and specifications in mind while PC hardware is immensely more capable it's also more fragmented with countless combination of GPUs and CPUs with multi-gpu configurations thrown into the mix it ultimately requires much more optimization to get things running smoothly on various hardware specs so the console game sales is where the money is at so there's really no need to protect your that are at the level of 1440p or 4k for that matter and there's also very little interest to put effort into effects that only the latest PC GPUs can handle obviously this situation works to the benefit of the consoles as developers can concentrate on a single hardware spec to squeeze out every bit of performance making exclusive games like Uncharted 4 look absolutely amazing and the game looks every bit as pretty as what the best pcs can currently offer whereas on the pc has previously mentioned the hardware component combinations are endless so the cpus and gpus are more or less expected to power through the code that's hurtled that bit so like it or not both of the power of the PC and effects that modern GPUs are capable of is ultimately going down the tubes another reason for the publishers focus on the consoles is the piracy on the PC is still a concern think of any triple a PC release type it into Google and add torrent without going into many details downloading almost any game illegally is about two mouse clicks away many would debate the impact of piracy but looking at the sheer amount of concurrent seders for any Hot PC title there's really no going around it these numbers will impact publishers when they assess how big of a slice of the development pipe will be devoted to the PC port and this is a point that PC master-race advocates often emphasize when promoting PC gaming PC games are a lot cheaper than console games ok yeah that might be the case but you have to consider at what cost online key store like g2a and others sell perfectly legal digital distribution copies of steam games origin you play games you name it often for less than half of the suggested MSRP prices of titles so if it's a choice of buying witcher 3 for 60 bucks on Steam or 25 bucks on an online key store which do you think a substantial portion of the market will choose and I'm pretty sure there's less money for the publisher in a 25 dollar game than a full 60 dollar release so publishers have to consider what is smarter and more fiscally predictable when it comes to business rampant variable pricing multiple digital distribution platforms a little bit of piracy here and there and a very fragmented hardware landscape it requires quite a lot of optimization so it's really not that big of a surprise why PC has beard off from being a lead development platform for triple-a titles the things that most would consider as benefits for PC gaming are actually not doing PC releases any favors despite all the bad handling of triple-a titles on PC PC gaming is actually living a golden age of sorts it should not be overlooked at League of Legends dota and other MOBAs and more frequent players online and there are frequent users on PSN and Xbox Live combined let that sink in for a bit also eSports and Indies are thriving on PC oh and regarding triple-a titles thankfully there's still some great developers and publishers that continue to take PC gaming seriously to name a couple CD Projekt RED and Bethesda a phenomenon that I think is feeding into that wait for the patch mentality is early access while it is kind of cool to get a sneak peek of the idea concept and promise of something that is to be I've Altima turned from experience that the buggy horrible mess that is early access games truly takes away from the final experience and immersion suspension of disbelief can be thrown out the window in a pre-alpha build of any game part of the problem obviously is that you do get tired of the game before it's actually finished no matter how much I like the concept of early access for me I can't help but feel like Dorothy peeling back the curtain to discover the utter disappointment of the glitchy hot mess that is most early access games and this is from a guy who's dropped a couple of hundred bucks in the star citizen early access obviously opens up a development and financing model that enables a lot of games into existence but I'm hoping with all my heart that it never arrives on the consoles if you're not into MOBAs it can be a slightly frustrating time to be a PC gamer I mean you played Origen blizzard steam rapture good old games what else each of these digital distribution platforms has their own accounts software updates annoying adverts and pop-ups with the exception of perhaps steam and good old games most of these platforms are basically totally unnecessary bloatware all these at least for me just emphasize the simplicity of the consoles one machine one service one distribution model so you've probably noticed by now I'm not one to romanticize the PC master-race as a PC and console gamer I can see the benefit and disadvantages of both sides so consoles vs. PC let's wrap up a few pros and cons reach obviously 4k gaming and above 60 frame rates multiple screen setups only possible on the PC if and when everything is working on the PC versions of games they will always look and run better than on the consoles emphasis on if and when a great thing about PC that it's highly scalable the myth of PC gaming being expensive is simply not the case anymore as most games scale to the capabilities of your PC on the other hand I think a great thing about console gaming is that everyone has the exact same experience there is no graphics card enemy on the consoles and there's no need to tinker in the graphics setting 21st start up a game which can ruin the first experience and sense of immersion backwards-compatibility and a massive catalogue of games dating back 20 to 30 years even is a clear advantage for PC and the sheer amount of gaming content simply Dwarfs that of all consoles combined let's face it consoles still owned the living room environment while steam machines are making waves in the couch and controller space and it is totally possible to hook up your PC with your TV as I have done but the living room experience of PC gaming is nowhere near that of the consoles consoles offer a hassle-free and streamlined experience an excellent example of this is rest mode on the ps4 it enables you to quickly continue your previous gaming session with a single button press big picture mode for steam makes the experience a bit better but the benefits are easily outweighed by the games being fragmented into other digital distribution platforms and there's really no easy way of accessing your entire catalog of games without going back and forth from the controller to the mouse and keyboard it's an annoyance that is not easily solved consoles simply own when it comes to accessibility and ease of use a great thing about the support for control schemes to everyone's liking and needs PC support both Xbox one and ps4 controllers obviously Mouse and keyboards whole tank joystick setups countless Drive wheels you name it PC supports it that there is a great advantage as mentioned before consoles are predominantly the lead development platform for big releases and with very few exceptions console game sales amount to more than PC iterations of games and for this reason the unforeseeable future console hardware will not only be priority but the lowest common denominator in terms of hardware requirements for games this means that the full potential of my expensive graphics card that crunches more teraflops than all the consoles combined will never really live up to its true potential I am a total whore for graphics and I simply want the best possible visuals and I will be playing witcher 3 on the pc because it looks absolutely stunning but even though i bought arkham knight to play on the pc i will be playing that on a game console for obvious reasons my patients were waiting for patches on the PC is simply running vin mascot monetary cost aside I no longer have time to spend waiting for patches and reading on neogaf about PC performance issues I rather spend that time playing the game and luckily for me the game looks and runs great on the consoles as well no matter how many active players League of Legends has or how many excellent free-to-play games there are on PC there's no avoiding the fact that PC gamers will miss out on quite a lot the console manufacturers are locking down amazing exclusives that will never see the light of day on PC so in conclusion the PC master-race deserve to be taken down a notch to an equal level the console peasants tell them of the games and the consoles for the most part let you focus on playing them and I'd subtly go out to say that PC gaming is in somewhat of an identity crisis and there are some serious issues that publishers and developers need to sort out going forward the points in round 5 go collectively to the console Alliance I say unto you welcome and let us enjoy console gaming as equals No as brothers you