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"To game or not to game, that is the question"
and no amount of misquoting Shakespeare can get an answer. My PC is currently still out of service, but even when its alive and kicking there is something about sitting in front of a large rectangular box (no matter how pretty it is) bathed in the monitor's radiation emitting light that kind of puts you off PC games.
I don't know what it is, there are some fine PC games out there, and I will confess to enjoying more than a few strategy titles that would be impossible to recreate on a console, but there's something about playing on a console that makes the whole process more fun. Is it because I associate the PC with work? Or perhaps its because it sometimes takes a few hours of fiddling with graphics to get the game behaving, but either way there is something missing from the PC gaming experience.
"If you press it does it not fire? If you turn the sound up does it not squeal?"
Well, it's all very well emulating today's console games on a PC, but even with a decent joypad it seems such a lonely process and lovely though an internet game of UT is, it's still not beating a multiplayer Goldeneye after a night at the local public house. PCs are solo experiences, even when playing against someone else (now figure that one out...) it's just the way they're designed.
"A console by any other name..."
Everyone is always saying that the Xbox will be a PC/Console hybrid (well, ok, so most people aren't saying it, just some, and not all the time, but you know what I mean..) but first and foremost, it will be a console, no matter how many add ons and fancy hard drives it can bolt on. It will still be sat under the telly in the living room, happily laying about on the carpet while your mum does the hoovering. How many PCs do you see in people's living rooms? hm? A company tried out a 'trendy' PC a few years back, it used a black case and plugged into the tv. Did it sell? Well, a few boxes were shifted, but certainly not a great number. Why? Well, no one wants to tie up their TV while they use their PC, where as a console can be turned off and on quite quickly and the games don't want you to study them for hours. PCs are for bedrooms and studies, tucked away like naughty little children that you don't want anyone to see.
"Hubble bubble PC trouble..."
With the annoying set up of PC architecture, it's amazing that anyone plays on them at all. However, after saying that, they are not really that bad and there are some games that I couldn't do without. I have oft mentioned Settlers II as a favourite game and it certainly makes up for all the failed arcade attempts. Also, where else could you play all those nice emulators and have all your old games consoles so available? (and I heard you shout 'on a Dreamcast' at the back, yes, thank you smarty pants!) So the PC is not entirely lost on me for my gaming needs.
Still, there is something about the PC that keeps me using my consoles, although it has a rough magic that keeps me going. I suppose that PCs die many times before their death and it is only a matter of time before I am attracted to their great light again.
and no amount of misquoting Shakespeare can get an answer. My PC is currently still out of service, but even when its alive and kicking there is something about sitting in front of a large rectangular box (no matter how pretty it is) bathed in the monitor's radiation emitting light that kind of puts you off PC games.
I don't know what it is, there are some fine PC games out there, and I will confess to enjoying more than a few strategy titles that would be impossible to recreate on a console, but there's something about playing on a console that makes the whole process more fun. Is it because I associate the PC with work? Or perhaps its because it sometimes takes a few hours of fiddling with graphics to get the game behaving, but either way there is something missing from the PC gaming experience.
"If you press it does it not fire? If you turn the sound up does it not squeal?"
Well, it's all very well emulating today's console games on a PC, but even with a decent joypad it seems such a lonely process and lovely though an internet game of UT is, it's still not beating a multiplayer Goldeneye after a night at the local public house. PCs are solo experiences, even when playing against someone else (now figure that one out...) it's just the way they're designed.
"A console by any other name..."
Everyone is always saying that the Xbox will be a PC/Console hybrid (well, ok, so most people aren't saying it, just some, and not all the time, but you know what I mean..) but first and foremost, it will be a console, no matter how many add ons and fancy hard drives it can bolt on. It will still be sat under the telly in the living room, happily laying about on the carpet while your mum does the hoovering. How many PCs do you see in people's living rooms? hm? A company tried out a 'trendy' PC a few years back, it used a black case and plugged into the tv. Did it sell? Well, a few boxes were shifted, but certainly not a great number. Why? Well, no one wants to tie up their TV while they use their PC, where as a console can be turned off and on quite quickly and the games don't want you to study them for hours. PCs are for bedrooms and studies, tucked away like naughty little children that you don't want anyone to see.
"Hubble bubble PC trouble..."
With the annoying set up of PC architecture, it's amazing that anyone plays on them at all. However, after saying that, they are not really that bad and there are some games that I couldn't do without. I have oft mentioned Settlers II as a favourite game and it certainly makes up for all the failed arcade attempts. Also, where else could you play all those nice emulators and have all your old games consoles so available? (and I heard you shout 'on a Dreamcast' at the back, yes, thank you smarty pants!) So the PC is not entirely lost on me for my gaming needs.
Still, there is something about the PC that keeps me using my consoles, although it has a rough magic that keeps me going. I suppose that PCs die many times before their death and it is only a matter of time before I am attracted to their great light again.
Yes, but even your mouse has a limited lifespan compared to a joypad.
Imagine playing Unreal Tournament when suddenly your mouse chokes on a bit of fluff, you don't often get that with a joypad do you?
Plus, you don't have to feed a joypad, but you do have to feed a mouse.
And mice squeak.
FM: Wrong peripheral?
Imagine playing Unreal Tournament when suddenly your mouse chokes on a bit of fluff, you don't often get that with a joypad do you?
Plus, you don't have to feed a joypad, but you do have to feed a mouse.
And mice squeak.
FM: Wrong peripheral?
Personally, I'm a big fan of PC games - but there's a good reason for that.
Firstly, I now spend 30 weeks a year at Uni, where I don't have a telly, and hence can't use a console.
Secondly, getting PC games for free is rather distrubingly easy.
Despite this though, I'd still say I spend a lot more time gaming on consoles than I do on PC's - though I must admit that I find a control pad doesn't give quite the same level of control as keyboard and mouse, for just about any game I've played. I'm not sure quite why this is.... nice big buttons perhaps? More prescision with the analogue mouse than a 3D stick?
Firstly, I now spend 30 weeks a year at Uni, where I don't have a telly, and hence can't use a console.
Secondly, getting PC games for free is rather distrubingly easy.
Despite this though, I'd still say I spend a lot more time gaming on consoles than I do on PC's - though I must admit that I find a control pad doesn't give quite the same level of control as keyboard and mouse, for just about any game I've played. I'm not sure quite why this is.... nice big buttons perhaps? More prescision with the analogue mouse than a 3D stick?
The most annoying thing about PC gaming is the fact that every now and then you have to take your eyes off the action to press a button on your keyboard, which is VERY distracting if someone is shooting you at the time.
I'm sure there are PC gamers out there who know every configuration and hotkey there is to make there PC games run with sheer fluidity, with no distracting "now where's the F6 key again?" gameplay.
But for me, console gaming is so much easier, you never have to tear your eyes away from the action for even a split second when all your controls are confined to a joypad. (At least, not when you've had a bit of practice.)
I'm sure there are PC gamers out there who know every configuration and hotkey there is to make there PC games run with sheer fluidity, with no distracting "now where's the F6 key again?" gameplay.
But for me, console gaming is so much easier, you never have to tear your eyes away from the action for even a split second when all your controls are confined to a joypad. (At least, not when you've had a bit of practice.)
Thanks TN.
Well, I didn't actually think this would be a popular opinion, being as we hear so many people here talk about PC games in such a good light. I thought Black and White would show me the error of my ways, and for a while it did, but then it all went a bit pair shaped and I just found myself wondering back to my consoles again.
Of course, there are lots of people that swear by PC games (me? I mostly swear at them) and I'm sure there are plenty of them here. Aren't there?
Hello?
Oh well. Looks like they're all too busy playing Quake III....
Well, I didn't actually think this would be a popular opinion, being as we hear so many people here talk about PC games in such a good light. I thought Black and White would show me the error of my ways, and for a while it did, but then it all went a bit pair shaped and I just found myself wondering back to my consoles again.
Of course, there are lots of people that swear by PC games (me? I mostly swear at them) and I'm sure there are plenty of them here. Aren't there?
Hello?
Oh well. Looks like they're all too busy playing Quake III....
I won't say that's a nice post pb, because a) It's so cliché and b) You know it is.
Me and Whoooo Style! had a conversation on PC gaming. He swears by it and I wouldn't touch it, even with my excellent graphics card. Somehow, sitting in a chair in the cold kitchen clicking with a mouse and tapping a keyboard just doesn't do it for me in the same way as sitting cross-legged in front of a warm fire and a big-screen TV holding a joypad, no matter how good the games are (breathe).
There's also the matter of cost. Black and White? Fine. Black and White 2? At a pinch. Black and White 3? Oh damn, I've got to buy a brand new 256mb card and a 1.7ghz processor just so I can find out what happens to Khazar after he fought the 7 tounged demons of Bradford.
Aslo, as you say, there's nothing better than 4 (or even 8 sometimes) people huddled round a TV set with multiple cans of beer and wotsits scattered around whilst you frag the living daylights out of each other. Also, you can hardly brag to your opponent as you stuff a ricksaw up his jackie over the Net.
I will only use my PC for playing the most excellent RA2. When that comes out on the PS2, I'm afraid my PC will be relegated to a life of Word 2000, Internet Explorer (lots of) and Fireworks.
Me and Whoooo Style! had a conversation on PC gaming. He swears by it and I wouldn't touch it, even with my excellent graphics card. Somehow, sitting in a chair in the cold kitchen clicking with a mouse and tapping a keyboard just doesn't do it for me in the same way as sitting cross-legged in front of a warm fire and a big-screen TV holding a joypad, no matter how good the games are (breathe).
There's also the matter of cost. Black and White? Fine. Black and White 2? At a pinch. Black and White 3? Oh damn, I've got to buy a brand new 256mb card and a 1.7ghz processor just so I can find out what happens to Khazar after he fought the 7 tounged demons of Bradford.
Aslo, as you say, there's nothing better than 4 (or even 8 sometimes) people huddled round a TV set with multiple cans of beer and wotsits scattered around whilst you frag the living daylights out of each other. Also, you can hardly brag to your opponent as you stuff a ricksaw up his jackie over the Net.
I will only use my PC for playing the most excellent RA2. When that comes out on the PS2, I'm afraid my PC will be relegated to a life of Word 2000, Internet Explorer (lots of) and Fireworks.
"To game or not to game, that is the question"
and no amount of misquoting Shakespeare can get an answer. My PC is currently still out of service, but even when its alive and kicking there is something about sitting in front of a large rectangular box (no matter how pretty it is) bathed in the monitor's radiation emitting light that kind of puts you off PC games.
I don't know what it is, there are some fine PC games out there, and I will confess to enjoying more than a few strategy titles that would be impossible to recreate on a console, but there's something about playing on a console that makes the whole process more fun. Is it because I associate the PC with work? Or perhaps its because it sometimes takes a few hours of fiddling with graphics to get the game behaving, but either way there is something missing from the PC gaming experience.
"If you press it does it not fire? If you turn the sound up does it not squeal?"
Well, it's all very well emulating today's console games on a PC, but even with a decent joypad it seems such a lonely process and lovely though an internet game of UT is, it's still not beating a multiplayer Goldeneye after a night at the local public house. PCs are solo experiences, even when playing against someone else (now figure that one out...) it's just the way they're designed.
"A console by any other name..."
Everyone is always saying that the Xbox will be a PC/Console hybrid (well, ok, so most people aren't saying it, just some, and not all the time, but you know what I mean..) but first and foremost, it will be a console, no matter how many add ons and fancy hard drives it can bolt on. It will still be sat under the telly in the living room, happily laying about on the carpet while your mum does the hoovering. How many PCs do you see in people's living rooms? hm? A company tried out a 'trendy' PC a few years back, it used a black case and plugged into the tv. Did it sell? Well, a few boxes were shifted, but certainly not a great number. Why? Well, no one wants to tie up their TV while they use their PC, where as a console can be turned off and on quite quickly and the games don't want you to study them for hours. PCs are for bedrooms and studies, tucked away like naughty little children that you don't want anyone to see.
"Hubble bubble PC trouble..."
With the annoying set up of PC architecture, it's amazing that anyone plays on them at all. However, after saying that, they are not really that bad and there are some games that I couldn't do without. I have oft mentioned Settlers II as a favourite game and it certainly makes up for all the failed arcade attempts. Also, where else could you play all those nice emulators and have all your old games consoles so available? (and I heard you shout 'on a Dreamcast' at the back, yes, thank you smarty pants!) So the PC is not entirely lost on me for my gaming needs.
Still, there is something about the PC that keeps me using my consoles, although it has a rough magic that keeps me going. I suppose that PCs die many times before their death and it is only a matter of time before I am attracted to their great light again.
and no amount of misquoting Shakespeare can get an answer. My PC is currently still out of service, but even when its alive and kicking there is something about sitting in front of a large rectangular box (no matter how pretty it is) bathed in the monitor's radiation emitting light that kind of puts you off PC games.
I don't know what it is, there are some fine PC games out there, and I will confess to enjoying more than a few strategy titles that would be impossible to recreate on a console, but there's something about playing on a console that makes the whole process more fun. Is it because I associate the PC with work? Or perhaps its because it sometimes takes a few hours of fiddling with graphics to get the game behaving, but either way there is something missing from the PC gaming experience.
"If you press it does it not fire? If you turn the sound up does it not squeal?"
Well, it's all very well emulating today's console games on a PC, but even with a decent joypad it seems such a lonely process and lovely though an internet game of UT is, it's still not beating a multiplayer Goldeneye after a night at the local public house. PCs are solo experiences, even when playing against someone else (now figure that one out...) it's just the way they're designed.
"A console by any other name..."
Everyone is always saying that the Xbox will be a PC/Console hybrid (well, ok, so most people aren't saying it, just some, and not all the time, but you know what I mean..) but first and foremost, it will be a console, no matter how many add ons and fancy hard drives it can bolt on. It will still be sat under the telly in the living room, happily laying about on the carpet while your mum does the hoovering. How many PCs do you see in people's living rooms? hm? A company tried out a 'trendy' PC a few years back, it used a black case and plugged into the tv. Did it sell? Well, a few boxes were shifted, but certainly not a great number. Why? Well, no one wants to tie up their TV while they use their PC, where as a console can be turned off and on quite quickly and the games don't want you to study them for hours. PCs are for bedrooms and studies, tucked away like naughty little children that you don't want anyone to see.
"Hubble bubble PC trouble..."
With the annoying set up of PC architecture, it's amazing that anyone plays on them at all. However, after saying that, they are not really that bad and there are some games that I couldn't do without. I have oft mentioned Settlers II as a favourite game and it certainly makes up for all the failed arcade attempts. Also, where else could you play all those nice emulators and have all your old games consoles so available? (and I heard you shout 'on a Dreamcast' at the back, yes, thank you smarty pants!) So the PC is not entirely lost on me for my gaming needs.
Still, there is something about the PC that keeps me using my consoles, although it has a rough magic that keeps me going. I suppose that PCs die many times before their death and it is only a matter of time before I am attracted to their great light again.