Which console for the PC gamer?

[SpeedyHTPC]

If you consider yourself a PC gamer or even a PC game ethusiast which of the consoles would you likely to have any interest in or purchase?

Could you please also state your top two reasons for the choice?

I have the Nintendo Wii but not the Xbox360 or PS3. I had a PS2 that died.

I've always been a VRML, VR kind of guy. The Wii is most suited for my taste.

- Tired of the rehash of the same games.
- Different controls.

[electronixchange]

All have positives and negatives. For sports gaming I would go with the PS3. 360 is good for 1st person gaming, so is a pc (which both are). Wii is good for kids and for a throwback to the classic Nintendo games. It's really difficult to choose just one, but if I had to I would choose the PS3 because it can play any playstation game from PS1, PS2, or PS3.

[cohagen]

I voted Wii because it probably offers the most different experience than a PC.

I was very close to leaving PC gaming forever, mostly because the BF series was always a struggle to run on my last two systems. Crashes and long loads really soured me on it. So I was thinking I might just go PS3 and forget about the PC.

However I just spent $2500 on a new machine :D Mostly so I can play BF again (hopefully faster and more stable!) and also to play some of the new games coming out like Crysis and Quake Wars.

How are you liking the Wii so far?

[SpeedyHTPC]

I enjoy the Wii and play Wii Sports the most..but I feel that in the long run it may become a souped up Gamecube with the actual Wii features as a "nice to have". Reinventing new ways to control an old game just doesnt cut it for me but a lot of Nintendo fanboys dont mind it being a "GC". I hope the Wii has some good games that are original and not a rehash of the old.

Im also awaiting Crysis. That looks spectacular. I'm also wanting to do the triplehead2go from Matrox. Imagine that with Crysis. It already looks so cool with the games it is compatible with. I feel that this triplehead2go idea blows away HTPC gaming on a large display.

[SpeedyHTPC]

A lot of votes for xbox360. Guys can you tell me why?

Have you seen triplehead2go from Matrox? I think that is an awesome idea. Look at the screenshots of games that are played with 3 19" 1280x1024 LCD panels.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com

[SpeedyHTPC]

All have positives and negatives. For sports gaming I would go with the PS3. 360 is good for 1st person gaming, so is a pc (which both are). Wii is good for kids and for a throwback to the classic Nintendo games. It's really difficult to choose just one, but if I had to I would choose the PS3 because it can play any playstation game from PS1, PS2, or PS3.

Yup I understand what you mean. Thats why I wanted to setup this poll. At first I also would have gone with the Xbox360 until someone told me to take a look at Nintendo's Wii.

If Nintendo can just come out with some more harder cored games I wouldn't be questioning my purchase. I certainly dont want to keep playing kiddy games. But alas, looking at Gamecube's games and the history of Nintendo, thats prob what I bought into. I'm surprised to see the review scores of Gamecube games so low on Gamespot.com. Will it be a repeat on the Wii?

[lostsoldier]

Yup I understand what you mean. Thats why I wanted to setup this poll. At first I also would have gone with the Xbox360 until someone told me to take a look at Nintendo's Wii.

If Nintendo can just come out with some more harder cored games I wouldn't be questioning my purchase. I certainly dont want to keep playing kiddy games. But alas, looking at Gamecube's games and the history of Nintendo, thats prob what I bought into. I'm surprised to see the review scores of Gamecube games so low on Gamespot.com. Will it be a repeat on the Wii?

If your a PC gamer, then graphics may be important to you. The Wii is low res, and not meant for hardcore gamers, it's meant for people who don't game.

[SpeedyHTPC]

If your a PC gamer, then graphics may be important to you. The Wii is low res, and not meant for hardcore gamers, it's meant for people who don't game.


True but I like the different controls. Just wish theres more better games. I prob will stick with PCs later for anything hardcore.

[wokisan]

Being a PC guy I just naturally gravitated towards Microsoft's stuff. The original Xbox was basically a computer and I used used some old PC parts to do some simple mods on it (increase fan voltage, upgrade the IDE cable, etc). Buying the 360 just continues the trend I guess.

I enjoy the 360, especially for LIVE. As many PC Gamers are, I'm a bit of a 'graphics whore'...lol.... and right now the 360 has the best graphics out of the 3 new consoles. I'm sure as developers get the hang of programming for the PS3 it will start to surpass the 360 and once it does I'll probably get one (a price drop would be nice though).

I also have a Wii (being an original NES gamer) and enjoy it as well. It is a totally different experience. The focus is on the 'fun factor' with more simple games like WiiSports and Rayman. Honestly I enjoy WiiSports more than Zelda. It's a nice change of pace but the 360 is my main console in the house.

Right now I would say get a 360 and a Wii and wait a year or so before getting a PS3 but that's just me.

[Taubs]

imo the 360 gives best pc like experiance. i was strictly pc gamer for perhaps a decade, but grew tired of constant upgrades to play current fps. so now i get my fps on 360 and play my strategy games on pc.

[SpeedyHTPC]

Quick question on the Xbox360, is it possible to play games on it PC style with keyboard and mouse? I have to agree with someone else saying that no console control is better than the keyboard and mouse.

[Dougofthenorth]

yep - http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/22/team-xtenders-xfps-360-in-action/

doesn't work perfectly with every game though..

& you must plug a wired controller into it each time, before use

[HeadRusch]

There are absolutely no KBM solutions for consoles....that engadget thing is crap, and almost universally panned by everyone whos ever tried it.

For FPS's or 3rd person shooters on a console TRUST ME, YOU WILL GET USED TO A GAMEPAD. In fact, after awhile, you'll start wondering if all the FPS's you played with a Keyboard and Mouse really required the accuracy that a KBM provides. If its a fast paced game, say UT2004...then a KBM is like a requirement. If its a slower paced game, say Gears of War, you'll never miss the KBM.

It will seem weird and imprecise at first...but then you'll learn the golden rule of FPS's on consoles: Accuracy isn't as big of a factor...and your aiming reticules are usually the size of silver dollars.

On a PC, your shooting reticule is the size of a few pixels...but on console shooters your "aiming reticule" is usually much larger. There is also an element of auto-aim to some games. Console shooters are more advanced than they were a few years ago, they're really managed to nail the twin-stick controls......example, a game like Ghost Recon that requires a degree of accuracy and finesse, I never missed not having a KBM available.

Now PC gamers are up and screaming at this point......but they need to shut it, because you can't compare FPS's or 3rd person shooters on consoles to PC's, the comparison just isn't valid.

I got used to shooters on a console in no time, because you learn to play a game differently with twin sticks instead of a mouse and keyboard. The games themselves are designed for twin sticks, the key is to give yourself the time to adapt.

Is a KBM "better"...? Depends on the game, but I've grown used to the sticks and would never 'not' play a console FPS or 3rd person game because it didn't support a KBM.

Also, some games I've played (Star Wars Battlefront series) are much more fun with a joypad than they are with a KBM on the PC (I've played both, and consider hte console versions to be superior to the PC versions).

[Fox5]

PC gamer with a Wii. Most of the types of games I'd want on a PS3 or Xbox 360 I can get on a PC, whereas the Wii games are fairly unique. It's also much more of a party system.

If I wanted to replace my PC gaming with a console, then probably Xbox 360, as, like the original xbox, it's pretty much pc lite in terms of its game selection.

[skogan]

Good post HeadRusch.

I would only add that Xbox live anywhere will (someday) allow one to play cross platform, keep track of achievements, and keep a common set of friends list, etc on the PC. So pretty soon, being a PC gamer will already have you one foot into the the xbox live system. Might as well get the 360 for the whole experience.

[georgeorwell]

I agree with HeadRusch. In fact, I hated shooters on consoles up until the 360. I don't see it posted alot, but the 360 controllers are so much more accurate and smooth. And they are wireless to boot. 10 minutes of Rainbow Six Vegas on the 360, and I don't know if I can go back to shooters on my PC.

[georgeorwell]

Oh, and I had that engadget thing on my original Xbox, it is a piece of crap. I didn't even try to Ebay it, I just threw it in the garbage.

[HeadRusch]

I dont know that the sticks are more accurate, but I do agree that shooters designed for Consoles have a marginal degree of Fudge-Factor compared to shooters being built for the PC with a KBM control scheme...and the pace of the game is different.

Example: Unreal tournament 2004...on a PC, the bots move so fast, they can dodge out of the way of most of your non Line-of-sight weapons. With a joypad, it would be next to impossible to play this game with any degree of accuracy. On a pad the best you could hope for was to get the reticule somewhere on the physical form of your target and fire.

For get trying to nail a headshot, you're lucky if you could hit the target, period.

But most of the really successful shooters for Consoles (Halo, Halo 2, killzone) all play at a MUCH slower pace. Quake 3 on the Dreamcast was an example of a game that played so-so with ajoypad, where having a mouse/keyboard made a HUGE difference.

But Halo? Having a Mouse Keyboard made no difference at all.....because the enemies moved relatively slow and not erratically, and your aiming sight was huge on the screen. It was a game designed for the limitations of a joypad. When playing the FEAR demo on the 360 I missed the KBM because I enjoyed doing headshots, or having precise weapon control...blow off an arm, lets say. on the 360...you lose that finesse...at least *I do* anyhow.

[Tenkaipalm]

To me, console FPS's always feel dumbed down a bit to compensate for using a gamepad. The pace is always slower, and as mentioned before, your aiming reticules are larger. Some games will increase tracking accuracy when your crosshairs are close to the target.

I've gotten used to using a gamepad for shooters, but I'll always prefer a KB/M (in my case a belkin speedpad). One thing that has always bothered me about a gamepad is that there is too large a gap in the time it takes to visually aquire a target and the time it takes to put sights on it. It's too easy to "overaim" with a gamepad, and it's easier to make corrections with the mouse. I also find it easier to control muzzle rise with a mouse. A gamepad used to feel slow and clumsy, now it just feels slow, even in slow games like GoW.

Having said that, as stated before, I won't miss out on a good shooter because of gamepad control.

[JuiceRocket]

I was originally a PC player, but back in the day had an N64, then a DC, Xbox, and now the 360. My top two reasons for playing consoles?

- Entirely different gaming experience on a large TV, with full "true" surround system, sitting on a couch
- Games that I enjoy that don't translate to the KBM well, such as the Splinter Cell series. I can't imagine how it'd be not to "feel" it when I pick a lock, or have to click and double click to swap between walking slowly and running, etc.

HeadRusch, you're post #14 is great. Very true, great observations.

I feel there are actually times when games on the console with the contoller fare better than the KBM. One example was when I tried to go from Halo on my Xbox to Halo on the PC. I felt that the mouse and gameplay for the PC was miserable. The slow, floaty nature of Halo worked perfectly for a console, but on the PC it felt like something was wrong.

I don't feel that FPS aiming is "dumbed down" for consoles. In fact, on games like GRAW and R6, it feels like it offers a better challenge that PC KBM games. Coming from years of UT, UT2K3&4, specific games simply work better with specific controls systems.

[jedimastergrant]

I voted for the 360. I have a 360, ps3, and I will have a wii if I can find one. I think that the games on 360 cater to the pc crowd a little bit more. But the ps3 is much more pc like and you can add yellow dog linux to use it as one. It is much more open ended and pc users may have fun tweaking it. But you could also vote for the wii because of all the reasons in post 14. My solution is own them all and upgrade my pc whenever I can.

[SpeedyHTPC]

If consoles had a triplehead2go solution, I may be sold on it. But can it? I find immersion much more stimulating than playing on 100" PJ or the like. 100" flat screen just doesnt immerse as much as a triple monitor setup.

[uzziah]

If its a fast paced game, say UT2004...then a KBM is like a requirement. If its a slower paced game, say Gears of War, you'll never miss the KBM


yes, speed of play matters, but here's the other big thing: look at the crosshairs in UT, now look at them in GoW. GOW it's like a freaking massive circle on the middle of the screen; just a way the make up for controller innacuracy


personally, i like both ways, though i'm looking forward to a better gamepad

[HeadRusch]

OF course, its why I hated Halo ont he PC...here I was all ready to go all KBM aiming on the game, and what do I get? A gigantic silver-dollar on my screen :)

[kenny_dope]

I have both a Wii and a 360 -this may be overkill, but the PC is just for me playing single player or online like COH, the 360 is for when friends are round -light up a few fat ones and play GOW/Vegas/Lost Planet etc. The Wii is mostly for my gf to enjoy Trauma Centre but to be honest nothing beats having a bunch of friends round and playing Wii Sports/Warioware or Wii Play. I do occasionally enjoy single player Wii games but on a big HDTV I'd really prefer some better graphics before I start playing FPS like Call of Duty 3 etc. I will eventually buy a PS3 when I find at least 3-4 must-buy games. At the moment I can only think of Resistance and thats just not enough to encourage me to spend that amount of $$$. Maybe in six months time who knows? Plus, it will give me a cheap Blu-ray player too.

In the end I voted Wii -simply because it offers the biggest difference from PC gaming right now. I can live without the 360 but the Wii is just another experience altogether

[slyderulz]

Funny thing is I used to be a major 3D grfx wh0re on the PC when I was into building my own...I remember putting together rigs with the NVIDIA 3D Edge (the first ever graphics 'accelerator' card) and later dual PCI 3DFX cards long before NVIDIA and ATI came out with SLI and and Crossfire.

That being said I never experienced online gaming until Xbox live on the original Xbox. Microsoft just made it too easy...I couldn't resist. It is so simple to find game and play with friends (in most games anyway) and the expereince in most games (at least for the 360) is pretty lag free. I can't imagine playing a console that didn't have a comprehensive online service like live after using it for almost 4 years. I've had a SNES, Genisis, Jaguar, 3DO, DreamCast, PS2, Xbox and now Xbox 360...after the original xbox I won't switch until someone esle establishes a decent online community as an alternative.

The kicker with the 360 is you can use the it as a media extender so you can watch any video streamed from your PC live or recorded on another TV ( I do this wirelessly to my Sanyo Z2 projector on a 100' screen) and it works flawlessly, over 802.11a no less (at only 54Mbps).

The thing I'm really physched about is to see what happens with Live Anywhere...to think that I can purchase certain games that I can play other PC and Xbox 360 owners on seems to good to be true...that's a HUGE online community!

[SpeedyHTPC]

If speed and execution accuracy is top priority, it sounds like you all would use the KBM. However how is GRAW2 so good on the xbox360? I can see in the demo video that the guy needs to hit the enemy multiple times to kill. His aim seems to be moving.

What does a sniper do on a xbox360? Move the gamepad joy back and forth until its targetted? lol..

Every gamer that is old enough is a 3Dfx fan. nVidia purchased 3Dfx.

I still have my Voodoo Banshee. The one that you couldnt SLI.