Console Vs PC - how has your gaming evolved?

[Spud1]

I've long been a PC gaming diehard. Right from the start with Monkey Island and Lemmings on my dad's 486, up to today with WoW/Hearthstone/Battlefield and the like..i've long maintained that a PC is the place to enjoy games.

It's clearly superior on so many levels - the best graphics, the best control mechanism, easily expandable, easily customisable, cheapest games and so often "the first" for new stuff. It's always been like the BMW/Merc of the gaming world, with your Playstations and Xbox's being the Fiat and Peugeots of the world.

As i've gotten older, and consoles have become more and more PC like though, i've start to change my opinion.

This weekend I did something completely out of character - I bought Battlefield 4 (and premium) Again on my Xbox One. I've owned this on PC since launch and played the hell out of it (multiplayer only, I only just out that it has a singleplayer hah), but I proceeded to spend the £100 on the console version.

To give some further context - I have always moaned on and on about how games like BF would never work on a console - there is too much missing, controls are not precise enough etc etc. Oh how wrong I was.

I've spent the whole weekend on the XBO version, and it's great. It's a faithful replica of the PC version (or should that be the other way around?) and its a heck of a lot of fun to play. All the bits I love and remember are still there, it looks great, silky smooth, and I can sit on my comfy sofa and play on a huge big screen TV.

I have however noticed a huge difference - part of why it's so much fun is that there are virtually no snipers! When I play on the PC I am almost exclusively Recon - sniping is just too much fun, and with the accuracy of a keyboard and mouse, I can spend hours sat there spotting and counter sniping, endless fun. On the XBO they are just so rare that you end up with a much more involving game. A lot of teamwork (with way more people using voice chat through Kinect), a lot of squad based play..just fun fun fun. I put this down almost 100% to the fact sniping is very, very, very difficult with a control pad - due entirely to the imprecise nature of a controller vs keyboard/mouse - but either way it's had a huge (positive) effect on the game.

I then looked at all my gaming habits - and with the exception of RTS and MMORPG games that simply do not work on a console (again due to control limitations) - i can see an obvious trend, to the point that if they ever solve the RTS control problem (more than just using your keyboard/mouse in the living room), I may not need a PC in the future.

Am I the odd one out here or have you noticed such a change yourselves? It's only just hit me this weekend - interesting though!

[shaithis]

FPS on controller = no skill gaming. It's the main thing I hate. Homing bullets and/or snap-on targeting make me feel like I am not playing the game, just a general approximation of it.

Graphical fidelity isn't even in the same ballpark.....although that is understandable but I'd rather pay the extra for the full-on graphics.

Kinect can be as much a hindrance and annoyance as it can be a nice feature. The few times I have used a headset with XBL has left me with a headache from all the kiddies screaming, shouting and being generally abusive.

If I want to sit on the couch and play in front of the TV, nothing is stopping me. PC with HDMI and an XBox controller.

With most things in life, it's about trade-offs and I for one find almost everything about consoles to be a trade-off...

Perhaps if you played as something other than a sniper on PC, you may enjoy that more

[csgohan4]

There are plenty of limited/ no sniper servers on the PC version if that bothers you so much, I myself a recon sniper have more fun doing it. It's alot more skill as you can't kill unless it's a headshot or already below 50% health.

[Spud1]

Shaithis I think you hit it on the head there - it is a trade off, and I think the trade-offs are finally becoming worth it. Comfort and ease of use are the big factors - I have in the past just moved my PC downstairs but its a pita..

My BF sniper comment is just an example - and yes you can go on to no-sniper servers etc but that's not quite the same; after all I do love sniping, and it's just too tempting

[csgohan4]

Sniping is fun, but you need the maps to do it, doing in CQB maps is just suicide. Only one I found so far is Metro, classic from BF3 and now for me BF4 .

Any other map suggestions would be appreciated.

[The Hand]

Your post is intriguing Spud1, since I kind of feel the same way. I was an ultra-hardcore fps PC gamer with HL2/CS:Source and BF2 back in the day, but around 2007 when Crysis 1 emerged I got tired of the whole PC scene and went to the XBox 360. I started playing BioShock, Fallout 3, Oblivion and loved it! It seemed the console scene was actually keeping pace, maybe even surpassing the PC scene at least experience wise.

BF3 launched in 2011 and people were double taking the graphics quality on the my 360 since it looked pretty amazing. Once I had got used to the controls, I became a master as a soldier/skirmisher, my favourite class being enigneer. I now love playing FPS with a console pad, I played on BF3/BF4 on a friends PC and it feels odd now.. I feel the urge to go back to being hunched over a my 360 pad in front of my TV. The player base is also alot larger on the consoles compared to the PC (on BF3/BF4 at least) and varied as well.

I will be buying a PC next year for my large Steam game collection (strategy games, PC only games etc) but I'm looking at either going for a PS4 or an XBox One for games like BF4 and Evil within! LOL, that must sound like blasphemy to the PC purists out there. To be honest, I think alot of PC gamers are a bit like boy racers rather than merc/bmw drivers. Maybe its those UV LEDS all over the place and ironically can be a bit a of narrow minded bunch. The only real dilemma for me is whether I go for XBO or PS4 since I really like the XBox pad but the PS4 has a larger gamer base at this point.

[Ttaskmaster]

I hate console controllers and certain things like Dragon Age suck donkey balls on a console.
I also couldn't justify spending money on a purely gaming machine when my PC already does it as well as a myriad other things all in one.

I do find that a lot more PC games tend to be very console-centric.
I don't use all my extra-fancy keyboard features half as much as I used to. With things like Freespace, there were so many commands, it was almost essential to have a board with at least 18 extra G-Keys, or whatever!

[krazy_olie]

Consoles strongest point is social gaming. Sitting on the sofa playing Pro Evo or Tekken is something you wouldn't really do on a PC, though Steam Boxes and similar 'living room' pcs might change that.

[Ferral]

I have been using a 360 controller on more and more games on the PC over the past few years, prolonged use of keyboard / mouse really makes my hands, back & neck hurt.

Played through Borderlands 2 and to be honest the experience with a pad is great, same goes for RAGE, Deus Ex HR, Dishonored and quite a few others. I stream to my TV if I want to sit on the couch using a WHDI device and it works lovely.

Thing is here is that controllers are getting integrated into most PC games now and you can use XPadder or Pinnacle Game Profiler for the old games, granted some don't work, the ones that have controller support built in and using Direct Input usually sees your character spinning on the spot like Urban Chaos or Omnikron : Nomad Soul. I can sit and play on whatever for hours when using a gamepad now.

Another thing is look at 3rd person action type games, things like Tomb Raider Reboot, Souls Series & Castlevania Lords of Shadow as examples, they are designed to be played with pads rather than keyboard and mouse and you get a lot more from the game with combat and movement using the pad.

[Ttaskmaster]

Another thing is look at 3rd person action type games, things like Tomb Raider Reboot, Souls Series & Castlevania Lords of Shadow as examples, they are designed to be played with pads rather than keyboard and mouse and you get a lot more from the game with combat and movement using the pad.

I still don't understand how people manage that...

I have WASD on my left hand to control movement, with at least run and jump readily available as well. On the right I have very fine camera movement which is usually tied to aiming, along with fire and at least two other functions (reload, secondary fire, zoom, chuck grenade or something completely unrelated).
I can pull off far more moves with greater precision and often simultaneously even on a basic KB&M.

Console pad offers me one stick for camera/aim and one stick/D-Pad for movement, with triggers for a couple of things. Anything else requires moving thumbs off the sticks to hit other buttons.
Mathemata-numberically, for them folks what can count as good as me or better, I make that an extra three commands on M&KB.

Maybe I'm just *stunningly* awesome at Tomb Raider (highly unlikely), but I found it absolutely no challenge whatsoever, compared to "seasoned gamers" that claimed it was seriously challenging.
Same for TitanFall...

[Crumbles]

I have never gotten to grips with gaming with keyboard and mouse, more than likely because of always having a console and only playing the odd RTS on the PC but in my head I just wouldn't know where to start with keyboard whereas controller its just all there with minimal controls for you to be able to get your head around.
Times where I have tried to use keyboard and mouse I've struggled but I don't know whether this is just from a lack of experience and practice or if I've conditioned gaming to being used solely with a controller.

[Askew]

I like playing FPS games, playing them with a controller is like drinking water with chopsticks, I find mouse/KB so much better it's not even comparable in terms of the gaming experience for FPS.

Second most important thing is FOV adjustment, I like 90 or higher where as most console first person games are locked at 65ish.

[deejayburnout]

I started as a Playstation gamer when it came out and soon after I got my first PC (£750 for a pentium 3 64MB ram with 20gb drive) I started gaming on PC. Went back to console when 360 came out. After few years, got back to PC where I will probably stay now.

pc graphics are so much better and gaming more fun and better to control games. Console are good but I far prefer PC. Teamspeak with my mates is always a hoot on a Friday night.

[GeorgeStorm]

We had a PS2 which I used to play with my brother, and we've had a Wii and my brother got a PS3, but ever since I've had my own PC (and even before then) I've mostly preferred gaming on a PC.

Now most of my friends are PC gamers rather than console so it's an easy choice, and my brother is slowly switching as well, graphics etc don't bother me that much since I rarely have stuff maxed out due to my specs (GTX670 at 1440p) but I just prefer it, tends to be more options etc.

I will say I bought a 360 controller for my PC at Christmas and am very glad I did, enabled me to play lots of games I wouldn't have thought to before, also built the family a media PC so when I'm home I can PC games on the TV downstairs if I'm in the mood

[unifex]

They've always been different entities for me. Early days the NES had platformers, PC had strategy. Now PC just has a ps3 controller attached

[GucciSuit]

I started with PC Gaming from an early age but I've had my fair share of consoles over the years too. They used to serve a purpose when they offered a different kind of gaming experience but these days they're trying to offer the same experience as my PC only its way worse. The only reason I keep my consoles around is that they're generally the preferred ports for most fighting games but even thats changing. And for the better.