PC vs Console Game Comparing different things has been an art that humans have mastered over the years. PC and consoles have become weapons of gaming for people from all over the world. So, if you are new to this field and are in a dilemma about whether to choose a PC or console for playing single and multiplayer games, then this article is for you. Here, we shall describe in detail about PC gaming as well as console gaming and at last, will also give our verdict regarding the same. You can always opt for Game Console Support in Dubai if you are encountering any issues with your gaming console.
Exploring PC Gaming in Details
Listing pros and cons of different platforms isn’t that hard, but ultimately, one or the other will be better and everything boils down to personal preferences.
Aspects of a PC intended for Gaming:
It’s an open platform.
You choose the hardware, and thus the price.
You can choose any controller you like, be it Xbox, PS, WiiU, Switch, SNES, M&KB etc.
You can upgrade when you want, and prioritize what you want. It’s a common myth that PCs need to be upgraded every other year.
A PC works just as fine in the living room on the big screen TV, as it does with a monitor on a desk. In-home streaming by Steam and the Nvidia Shield have made this as easy as plug-and-play.
You will get an extensive library of games (more than 15 000 titles), which almost always is cheaper than those on the console counterparts. Also, there are bundles from various distributors.
The ability to customize the experience in most games through settings which, in turn, gives you the choice between higher FPS or nicer visuals. Then, there’s FOV slider, key-rebinding, and .ini tweaks etc.
You can enhance and customize the game to your liking. The communities for modding are huge, and it can do wonderful things for the player base, and the longevity of the games. It also gives you the ability to go revisit older titles and see them shine in a new light.
You can choose any OS you want. Linux, SteamOS, Windows, MacOS etc.- the choice is yours.
Innovation happens on the PC. New game technology, peripherals, networking etc. usually happens on the PC first.
More and more console exclusives become available to play on PC. Inherently, an anti-consumer practice is done by console companies as an incentive for you to buy their product.
We have seen a shift in this lately, especially by Microsoft. Yes, they are trying to push their Windows 10 platform on users, but the fact that every Xbox game in the future will be available on Windows is a good thing.
Additional Features:
Emulation. All your favorite classic consoles, with enhanced FPS and visual fidelity, Running Crash Bandicoot 2 in native 4K with 60fps, with the controller you desire, is no longer a dream.
Thriving communities. /r/PCMasterRace and other communities dedicated to the PC platform are growing and often have some great insights into the world of PC gaming, hardware and software. And despite every other elitist, you might have come across, the communities tend to be kind and welcoming.
Backward compatibility. On PC, there isn’t any reason to use this term, since every game ever made for PC is compatible with new hardware. There is no PC1 and PC2.
It’s great for couch-gaming. Yes, you read that right. The PC has a ton of split-screen and shared-screen games that makes it a great platform to play games in the same room as others. Add the advantages of multi-monitor support, up to 8+ players, and everyone can use whatever controller they like; there is no doubt that a PC can really shine in the living room. And if the developers don’t add split-screen support, you can bet that there’s a mod for that as well.
It doubles up as a workstation, and as a social platform.
Most people have a PC in addition to their console, and if you add the costs of the two, a lot of people could get a pretty beefy PC to do it all combined. And there are several choices for you when it comes to the social aspect of gaming, be it Steam, Discord, Skype, TeamSpeak etc.
Online play is free. A PC won’t charge you monthly to play the games you have already paid for since there’s inherently no reason to do so.
What are the Benefits of PC Gaming?
1. User Experience and Flexibility are the mantras in PC Gaming
Consoles are designed to be simple to use, and require almost no knowledge other than the location of the disc tray and power button but at the price of taking away your control. You get a one-size-fits-all device with known limitations.
It is true that you do need to know more about your PC than about a console, but in return, you get a lot more control over it and a lot more versatility in what it can do. PCs come in all shapes, sizes and performance levels and so, it’s up to you to decide what your expectations are, and how much you are willing to pay for a device that will meet them. It’s also up to you to decide when and how you want to upgrade your PC or customize it in other ways.
A PC offers many choices and is therefore ideal for any type of gamer. You can play with controllers if you want, you can hook up your PC to a television for couch gaming, or you can just go for the traditional PC gameplay with mouse and keyboard. Aside from gaming, you can use a PC to browse the web. Stuck in a game? Press Alt and exit from the game and Google the solution. Want to watch a video walkthrough while playing? Attach a second monitor and watch a video while you play.
2. Gaming PCs do not need to be necessarily expensive
Whoever says PC gaming is more expensive than console gaming, is either misinformed or lying. PC games are much cheaper than console games, especially if you buy them during the Steam summer and holiday sales, where major triple-A games can often be bought for a 75% discount, or if you buy a Humble Bundle pack, in which several games can be bought for whatever you want to pay. The proceeds go to charity, so there is an added bonus. You also do not have to pay absurd fees to play multiplayer games. Even if you want a high-end PC that is more expensive than consoles, you will save money in the long run due to cheaper games and zero online fees.
And if you want to build a PC yourself, the hardware can actually be pretty cheap. It certainly is possible to build a PC that costs AED 7300-AED 11000 or, in fact, more. Those, however, are the high-class computer gaming hardware and is out of reach for most gamers to afford.
A budget gaming PC can be built for about AED 1250-AED 1850 using only brand new components that blows current gen consoles out of the water. It won’t be exceptional though as on the lower end of that range, you are basically getting console-level graphics and performance. As long as you did your research correctly and made the right choices, it will run games fine for the next 3 to 5 years, and when it finally starts running into performance problems, there is no need to upgrade to the absolute latest either.
If you do some bargain hunting or use older generation parts which can be cheaply bought as second-hand, it is possible to drive the costs even lower. With the recently launched new generation of video cards, approximately AED 2200 build would be enough for current generation consoles.
3. Personal computers set a higher performance bound for cross-platform games
The minimum hardware requirements for PC versions of most cross-platform titles will be limited by the hardware parameters of the consoles. A PC with 6 to 8 GB of RAM, Core i3 4130 processor, and an AMD R9 270 graphics card has comparable parameters to the current generation of consoles, and unless the PC versions of the games are extremely unoptimized, it will run the same games as the consoles do, and possibly with better graphics quality.
Why “better”? Both Xbox One and PS4’s graphics processors are based on cut-down versions of the AMD Radeon HD 7850, the graphics processor which they later named it as R9 270.
In terms of performance, the version used in PS4 performs at two-thirds and the version in Xbox One at half of what you can get out of the PC graphics card using that processor. However, Xbox One uses DDR3 memory for its graphics processor. That is a tad bit slower than the GDDR5 used in PS4 and in PC graphic cards, lowering the overall performance further down to roughly one-third of what a true R9 270 is capable of.
The consoles come with an AED 1500 price tag for a system which apart from replacing the hard drive, cannot be upgraded, and if a single part fails, the entire system has to be taken for repairs. With PCs, however, all you have to do is replace the malfunctioning part as the warranty is separate on each part and you are up and running again in no time.
Current-gen consoles have outdated hardware and as a result, the frame rates are often limited to 30 frames per second. Some developers will reduce the visual quality to get a much smoother frame rate, but more often than not, console games have poor performance. You can instead build or buy a powerful PC that runs games at high settings and still get 60 fps or more, or you can get a less expensive PC and reduce graphical settings to get a smoother experience.
4. PC has near unlimited backward compatibility
A current generation PC will have no problems playing games from past 10 years or so and is capable of running most games from past 15 with a bit of effort, and with a few pieces of extra software, it can run any PC game ever released. There is no and never was a single console with that much backward compatibility. Interestingly, it is compatible even with console games.
It is possible to use a PC to play games from earlier generation consoles through emulation- all consoles up to the sixth generation like PS2, GameCube, Dreamcast, Xbox can be emulated. Some better than others (though Xbox emulation is lagging behind the other systems) and emulators of seventh generation systems such as Wii, PS3, XBox 360 are becoming a thing as well. Have some old PS2 games lying around? Download a PS2 emulator, upload your PS2’s BIOS to your PC to keep it legal, and you can play those games on a PC comfortably. You can also enhance the resolution, so these games will look much better than they ever did on a console.
5. Mods
Mods are one aspect that does not let consoles even come close to the computers. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of modifications available for most games out there. Remastered versions of older games have been released that increase the graphics quality of these games. Consoles can only dream about the Mods. The PC can play nearly every game that has been released for it. Meanwhile, the console community starts jumping with joy whenever some form of backward compatibility is added to the latest console.
Nevertheless, emulation is also an essential factor where PC scores much higher compared to console gaming. The PC can emulate nearly every console except the current gen and the last gen (ps3 and X360) although such an emulator is currently under development. Consoles, on the other hand, are tied down to the company’s ecosystem which is again a disadvantage.
Exploring Console Gaming in Vivid Details
In the above section, we have seen the advantages of PC gaming with respect to the console. Now, we shall watch out for the aspects and the benefits of console gaming respectively.
Aspects of Console Intended for Gaming
Its initial buy-in price is often cheaper. That does not conclude that a PC counterpart is wildly expensive, but before buying any games, peripherals and paying for the online service, a console with the same performance might cost a few bucks less.
It is arguably easier to set up. In a simple sense that you can buy it in a store, plug in a total of three cables at home, and the console is ready to go. It can be as easy with a PC if you buy a pre-built one, but then the cost is often inflated.
Mods are slowly coming. Fallout 4 has played with the idea, and it might catch on. Only time will tell what lies ahead in the future. You can consult with any reliable Game Console Support in Dubai and know the latest updates and notification about the mods.
Consistent frame-pacing is a powerful feature of console gaming. When a game is locked to 30fps, it is no-go for some gamers. But when dealing with a lower locked framerate like 30fps, the games on console often have good frame-pacing.
Console gaming has timed exclusives. We sometimes see games coming to a console platform first, which is a mixed bag to gamers.
Amazing Perks of Console Gaming
A console has no Operating System variables. There are no antimalware programs. There are no chat applications and no printer drivers. With a console, you know that you will not be interrupted by the Operating System. But Steam is changing that with its Linux-based platform, SteamOS. It effectively turns a general-purpose PC into a gaming console. Steam features its own chat experience as an in-game overlay rather than as an OS feature. Connect with reliable experts from any trusted Game Console Support in Dubai to get the latest updates about SteamOS. Here, provided below, are some benefits of console gaming.
1. A console offers a predictable experience
If you bought the game designed for the Xbox One, surely it will run with a predictable performance. It may run faster on a newer generation of Xbox One, but there is a guarantee of baseline playable performance that it will absolutely get on your Launch Edition Xbox One.
More to the point, if used properly, PlayStation One can continue to work even after an extended period of use. You can still play any games ever made for PS1 even today although that hardware is now 20 years old. A Super Nintendo still runs SNES games. A Nintendo runs NES games. You may need to do some cleaning or electronics repair, but they just work pretty fine. A computer, on the other hand, even a relatively recent one, can have issues.
2. A console is less expensive
Let us compare a 750ti graphics card, which is considered a mid-range GPU, with a console. It delivers acceptable frame rate on ultra settings and very high performance on slightly lower settings. That card alone would cost you about AED 550 which is tagged as a budget card for gaming nowadays. It is comparable, especially when overclocked to the AMD Radeon graphics hardware inside PS4 and is faster than the Xbox One AMD Radeon hardware. A faster card like a silly-fast GTX 970 or a comparable Radeon costs about AED 1100.
Consoles ship as integrated systems. An Xbox One is AED 1300 today with two games and two controllers. Discounting the games, the controllers alone are a significant cost if purchased separately. Well, those who play Kinect dance games would want it with Kinect, but that is still in the less than AED 1800 range.
3. A console is smaller and has a nicer design
Unless you build a mini-ITX machine and spend on an attractive mini-ITX case capable of fitting a double-slot GPU, which are not cheap especially when you factor in the cost of a quality power supply, the console will usually be smaller and look nicer. Console makers really should offer a factory liquid cooled edition for those of us who want a quieter box.
4. Simpler to set up and maintain. You do not have to work around with drivers all throughout the day. You can take help from any reputed Game Console Support in Dubai in case you are facing any problem while setting up the console or if any malfunctioning takes place in it.
5. Console is much more reliable. Games either will work on your console or won’t, you can tell at a glance whether they will and there is no guessing on specs and comparing graphics cards.
6. AAA games are made deliberately with the specs of consoles in mind because that’s where the market was. So, they will run on consoles in a way they would not in PCs.
- You can carry a console somewhere much more easily than a PC.
Sony Games with Horizon
Zero Dawn, God of War, Uncharted, and The Last of Us (and probably Spider-Man) Sony appears to have a lock on the best games in the Action RPG genre.
Nintendo Games
Nintendo is an amazingly family-friendly and a superbly innovative games company and they are the best company out there at couch-competitive games.
To troubleshoot issues with console devices, you are always free to get in touch with the leading Game Console Support in Dubai.
Wrapping Up the Discussion……….
Clearly, PC gaming is much better than console gaming. At least, the above-mentioned benefits and aspects of both the device state such. It has a free online multiplayer option to offer along with the lower price of games, both in general and through more frequent sales. The more games you buy, the more this will be an advantage for you. There are lower upgrade costs in the case of PC gaming.
If you did your build right, you are replacing only some parts ideally, just one instead of the whole system. Nevertheless, there are things you will probably need a PC for anyway, so why split your budget between two limited-use devices when you can build a single, versatile system?
Computers are user-serviceable to a greater degree than a console which means sending a console to an authorized service can cost you a fair price of the device’s entire value, and unauthorized repairs can cost you access to online functionalities. Warranties on individual PC parts can be much longer than those on consoles and useful if the component fails.
Sometimes, if you are replacing a faulty PC component under warranty, especially video cards, you may receive a newer, more powerful model if the older model is no longer in stock. There are hundreds of freeware games available for PCs. The higher quality ones can keep you occupied for weeks on end without paying a single buck.
Yes, it is true that the Xbox One can run a game in 4k at a decent frame rate for AED 1850 and a PC of the same price fails in providing a 4k experience. But what people do not realize is that a PC with a 1060 or 580 frame rate (somewhere around AED 2200) can provide a decent 4k experience. Also, the added costs over a course of 2 years (expensive games and paid online) will once again make the PC cheaper to maintain.
The newest consoles, PS4 and Xbox One currently have fewer couch games than the PC platform, and there is nothing indicating that it’s a priority by developers on said consoles.
Lastly, a big problem with consoles is that Sony and Microsoft charge developers and publishers a lot of money in order to release on their platform. Not their store, their platform. On PCs, this problem does not exist.