Side Quest! A Tale of PC and Consoles…

A gaming platform is only as good as its video games!

This is the statement on which every gaming platform is based on. In this post, I’m going to talk about my opinion on those gaming platforms.

I’ll be discussing about this current gen platforms because I haven’t gotten the chance to play any other ones in the past, only on the PC. As we are nearing the end of the 7th generation of consoles, I’m starting to see more and more gamers bashing the current gen gaming platforms (not including Nintendo’s Wii, since that one was never intended to directly compete with the other consoles or the PC) for keeping the video games from achieving their true potential, which only the PC is capable of. This is only partly true, in my opinion.

Firstly, many gamers think the PC versions are superior because of thier better graphics. That’s not true. As it is the case with “clothes don’t make the man” so it’s the case with video games. Just because it runs on a higher resolution or it supports DX11 features it doesn’t make it better. What makes it better and always will, is its gamplay (I’ll get to that in a moment). Case and point: Minecraft. And still, have you seen “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception” or “The Last Of Us”? They’re running on a 6 years old platform and look mindblowing for today’s standards. Stop blaming the consoles and start accusing the developers for cutting corners or the publishers for not giving enough time to their developers.

Sure, the PC version looks better but they play exactly the same and in the end that’s the only thing that matters!

Secondly, many gamers think the limitations of today’s consoles prevent games from being bigger or having more players on the same map or having more gameplay features. That is right, indeed. Case and point: Battlefield 3. The PS 3 & XBOX 360 versions support only 32 players while the PC version goes all the way to 64. Still, saying that you can’t wait for the next gen (being a PC gamer) because then your versions of games will not be “dumbed down” because of the consoles is not right since the consoles will always be behind the PC in terms of specifications and in 6 or 7 years, you’ll be saying the same thing when the next gen is also becoming “obsolete”. If a developer studio actually wants to use the PC’s full power, then they’ll make the PC version first and THEN they port it to the consoles. Case and point: CD Projekt Red and their “The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings” game. If not, then again: don’t blame the consoles, just the lazy developers or the money-grabbing publishers.

A few days ago, a friend of mine said to me: “I don’t understand why the consoles still exist” (him being a PC gamer only). The answer is simple: because of the people’s desire of money. As long as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo want to make more money they will invent better and better consoles because no one gets any money from the PC since it’s an open platform (well, no one from those 3 I mentioned, anyway). As such, we get the exclusive games. Games like Halo, Uncharted, God Of War, Gears Of War, Forza, Little Big Planet, Zelda, Mario, Metroid and many many more and also console-only games like R*’s fabulous Red Dead Redemption.

Now I’m not hating on the PC. It has better graphics, it’s possible of infinite mods (although if you think about it, to some degree console players can also make kinda they’re own games in games via the user generated content like in “Infamous 2″ but it seems like VERY few developers include that feature) and the games run with more than 30 FPS. Also, the strategy genre is mostly played on the PC (I don’t say it’s impossible on the consoles but it would need a few tweaks).

As a conclusion, I’ll say this: You don’t need to compare the consoles to the PC or otherwise. They both have exclusive, great games; they’re both possible of great things; you can bring any title to both of them (if it’s 3rd party, of course). It’s just a matter of choise. You’re not better or worse if you choose consoles over PC or the other way around. You’re just expressing your desire.