If you’re a PC gamer, you’ve no doubt heard the infamous phrase – “PC gaming is dead”. Most of the time it will come from console fanboys who just assume that all the PC is good for is World of Warcraft and getting a virtual date on The Sims 2. And then occasionally this happens: http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/101/1015622p1.html, which is much like a kick in the face from publishers who are too preoccupied with consulting Hans Zimmer (http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/101/1019620p1.html) where to place the stick into their rear ends to notice unworthy platforms like the PC (love you really IW).
But seriously now, the amount of ignorant console owners I have met makes me want to break their little Halo 3 headsets before declaring that Master chief is a 360-only douche who deserves to be spat on by Gordon Freeman (we had him first damn it). PC gaming is great, and here’s why:
Shooters:
- No, a controller thumb-stick is NOT more realistic than a mouse and keyboard. Take your finger and point it from side to side vigorously. Yes, do it now. Now spin around in one motion quickly. Unless you are mentally retarded, you will realise that both those motions take less than a second to complete. A thumb-stick takes longer than one second to complete this, whilst a mouse and keyboard are almost instantaneous. Let me put it this way. A piece of hardware should act alongside the speed of the reaction-time of the human body, because lets face it, when you have arms like Chris Redfields, you don’t need five seconds to turn your pistol 180 degrees.
Flexibility:
- The PC is by far the most flexible platform. Not only has it spawned mods which have forever been engraved into gaming’s hall of fame (Counter-strike, yeay), but it also has a more direct user input flexibility in the form of controls. The PC has far more buttons and inputs than a controller, which means you can do far more actions, assign hotkeys, switch between tasks (and chat to your clan mates *nerd snort*), and even look up Pr0n whilst still managing to play Barbie dress up ahem, Dawn of War 2.
The Interwebs:
- If you havent’s noticed, Steam (Valve’s online game distribution platform), is pretty big. It is the archetype of all the modern services like Xbox live and PSN. And guess what, we had it way before the original Xbox was even around!
Hardware:
- Lets see, PS3 current gen hardware: 160GB hard-drive, 256mb ram, 256 of GDDR3 video memory and a single core processor. A good PC today will have: at least 500GB of hard drive space, 2GB of RAM, at least 512mb of DX10 video memory, and a dual core processor. Do I need to explain this point further? The only downside is the cost… ahem
Real-time strategy:
- Fortunately, developers have not gone completely insane and have realised that RTS’s belong on a computer – with great exclusives such as the Total War series and Relic’s Dawn of War series giving the PC an edge when you want to tell a bunch of guys exactly who to shoot (because shooting people yourself is immoral).
Crysis:
- Enough said.
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games:
- Because of the controls used on a PC (as discussed earlier), MMO’s naturally belong on a PC. This one is not so great if you’re planning to have a savings account. Or send your children to a real university (World of Warcraft school does not count!).
And finally, when you’ve got Valve’s big daddy - Gabe Newell - saying "PC gaming is thriving", I think it’s safe to assume that we can slowly accumulate radiation from our monitors for a few more years. Now where is that number ‘3’ key? I feel like knifing someone…
Tell us what you think, is PC gaming better or worse than console gaming? Sign up and comment on this blog, or send us an email at wasd_blog@hotmail.co.uk
Stephen- I believe I have made myself clear :P
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