Forget the Console, buy a Gaming PC!

By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on November 3, 2011 at 2:45 pm

This will be my tongue-in-cheek response to a ZDNET blog posting that can be found here:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/forget-the-gaming-pc-buy-a-console/15969#comments

While the author brings up a few interesting discussion points; I’m not entirely convinced that it’s a fair assessment and here’s why.

1) Pricing: When the Xbox 360, and PS3 first released their real street price was no way nearly as low as they are today. Were you really out the door, after tax, etc; for $399? Once you accessorize, get the larger hard drives, etc, you’re arguably left with a device, which for what it’s capable of, is priced comparably to a PC; maybe even a tad higher. For example: If my Console (PS3 in my case), was scaled in terms of cost for a comparably priced PC with 4GB of System Memory (vs. 512mb), how much more would it have cost? The Blu-Ray player more than offsets this IMHO; but I digress and I think you get the point. PC’s simply having a ton more packed inside of them. Also; the OS cost seems to me to put PC OEMs at huge disadvantage against the Consoles which effectively are giving their OS away for free.

2) Easy to Use: Let’s look at the OS again. When a game is easy to access, install, launch, etc.; this is a credit to the OS, and the Developer tuning the game for that environment. I see no logical reason why we couldn’t have that same ‘ease-of-use’ story for PC Gaming (Mac or Windows). IF something is broken on the OS side who’s responsible for addressing it? (Who is responsible for tending and stewarding their own ecosystem? This also applies to drivers, updates, etc.). IF something is broken on the game side, only the Developer is capable of providing that fix.

3) Grab a bootleg version? Really? Did you really say that? First – can’t do that with a free to play game. Second – I don’t know about you; but instead of a grabbing a bootleg – the Console industry saved a ton of people the trouble of pirating, by simply just being able to loan games back and forth. I have over $300 worth of Console games on loan to me right now. No ‘boot-legging’ required!

The best part about this blog, speaking for me anyway, wasn’t so much the blog, but the survey. After making my vote here are the results.

As you can see, for all of the supposed detractors for PC Gaming, it still comes out #1. Even when the Console’s are all added up in one lumped bucket. Had the survey listed everything out separately it probably would have shown the percentages to be more like: PC 57%, Wii 17%, 360 10%, PS3 10%, etc; or thereabouts.
What would happen if the PC enhanced and optimized its ease of use story for PC Gaming? I would say that this is already starting to slowly happen. One of the cool things taking place is that the platform story has now shifted. It’s no longer about the device: PC, Wii, PS3, 360, iPhone, Android, iPad, Slate, etc; but what it’s really about is the Cloud and accompanying services. The new platform is the Cloud.

Oh, and for the record, I love my Gaming Laptop! It beats the value proposition of any Console hands down. Was very affordable (Barely $700) does 100x, and allows me mobility and freedom to play my games anywhere, and when I want. (Living room, Den, Bedroom, Airports, Hotels, you name it!)

Categories: Academic, Android, Embedded Computing, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Uncategorized

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Comments (2)

November 23, 2011 1:01 AM PST

pimpdaddy
pimpdaddyTotal Points:
273
Green Belt
 Not sure if those percentages are fair. An internet poll might say that 100% of Russia has internet, which is not true. Sales statistics for some major gaming titles would probably give a clearer view.
February 13, 2012 9:28 AM PST


dimuthu		 How to <a href=”http://gaming-pc-reviews.com/ title=”gaming pc reviews” ">Build Gaming Computers</a> and Gaming PC Hardware Reviews and Technical Help Forum.

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