In my situation, is it worth switching to PC/OnLive?

[R2DJ]

As days pass by, I notice myself playing less and less of my 360. The only game I play off it is Rock Band 3 (thanks to 800+ songs) and the occasional Mass Effect 3 and BF3. Ever since I played Battlefield 3 at my friend's house, it's hard to look back considering BF3 PC had AMAZING graphics. I have never been that much of a graphics whore, until now. Not really 100% graphics whore, but more like seeing things a bit clearer on the PC version. I've also played a lot of OnLive recently and I love it. True, people hate it but only because they have crappy connections. Whilst I do have the occasional blur and lag, I don't mind. I like the fact that people can watch you and cheer/jeer you, seamless switching between mouse+kb and controller, and the little microconsole only uses up 10% power of the 360.

I am tempted to sell my games for the PC versions. I have been also taken a little more interest in the mouse and keyboard control scheme as of late, and I'm loving it again. Last time I played mouse and keyboard was about 12 years ago, playing Warcraft II, Age of Empires II, Doom, Hexen, Return Fire, the list goes on!

At the same time, I don't have a very powerful machine. I use a Macbook Pro 13" 2010 model, which has subpar specs. I can run the old games like Deux Ex GOTY, Viva Pinata, Microsoft Flight and Batman Arkham Asylum. I can run Batman smoothly on 1280 x 800 res, with high quality and it runs fine. Microsoft Flight, with V-sync off and high quality, suffers some hiccups but when I set the quality to Medium it's smooth. I do have a HDMI monitor, but I don't mind playing on the 13' screen as it's one of the best screens I've ever seen and I'd favor performance over size for this one.

Here are the specs of the MBP:
2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
nVIDIA GeForce GT 320M
Windows 7 SP1 64-bit
250GB HDD, 120GB partition for OS X and Win 7

Also, if you will recommend me to switch to PC, I plan to split it between native PC and OnLive version. Basically, the ones I want to have physically are Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, Skyrim and a bunch of old games (Mass Effect and the ones listed before). If my Mac won't run it, I'll buy it on OnLive (if it's there)

Finally, I've done tests via systemrequirementlab.com and when I tested the games, all specs are PASS except the graphics card. Important question: which looks better: game running on 360 or on PC with Low Quality settings and V-Sync off?

So, should I switch to PC/OnLive for games or should I remain on the 360?

 

[Skelletonike]

Dunno about on live, in most cases tho, what makes the most dif in PC's compared to consoles are the Highest settings and maxed out anti-aliasing (and a good resolution too), I think that in the lowest settings the games would look worse than on the 360 version, since I find most medium settings comparable to the console's counterpart.

 

[R2DJ]

Dunno about on live, in most cases tho, what makes the most dif in PC's compared to consoles are the Highest settings and maxed out anti-aliasing (and a good resolution too), I think that in the lowest settings the games would look worse than on the 360 version, since I find most medium settings comparable to the console's counterpart.

So if I play BF3 on the lowest setting, it'll look worse than 360?

 

[EyeZ]

I see you like your shooters, i can only play shooters 1st and 3rd person on PC due to loving the precision of mouse/keys.

So obviously i would recommend you switching to PC, having said that it would depend on your rig.

 

[Skelletonike]

Dunno about on live, in most cases tho, what makes the most dif in PC's compared to consoles are the Highest settings and maxed out anti-aliasing (and a good resolution too), I think that in the lowest settings the games would look worse than on the 360 version, since I find most medium settings comparable to the console's counterpart.

So if I play BF3 on the lowest setting, it'll look worse than 360?

Yeah, I believe that might be the case... I don't know what BF3 looks like in lowest settings or on the 360, but for other games that came out around the same time, a few do look worse on the PC... What makes the PC games better graphics wise, is the settings that let you use anti-aliasing, good resolution to match your monitor size (lower resolution in a bigger screen gives worse quality obv, something that console games don't really unless u're using HDMI but that's dif), there's also some other settings and stuff, a 5 year old computer with a decent graphics card at the time, is much better than a 360 or PS3, but meh... In most cases low settings are really ugly compared to the others.

Edit: Also, if your graphics card failed, it might not even run properly in the lowest settings, that's something you need to find out.

 

[R2DJ]

I see you like your shooters, i can only play shooters 1st and 3rd person on PC due to loving the precision of mouse/keys.

So obviously i would recommend you switching to PC, having said that it would depend on your rig.

I'm more of a platformer/action-adventure/rhythm gamer and racer. I just got into shooting thanks to BF3 and ME3.

And yes, one thing I forgot to mention was that a lot of my mates told me that they would jump to PC in a heartbeat to play BF3, but they don't have the proper rig. So they're stuck on the 360. With me included.

I've tried BF:BC2 on Gaikai and since the Mac's trackpad doesn't allow simultaneous clicking, I bought a £10 mouse and it's ace.

Yeah, I believe that might be the case... I don't know what BF3 looks like in lowest settings or on the 360, but for other games that came out around the same time, a few do look worse on the PC... What makes the PC games better graphics wise, is the settings that let you use anti-aliasing, good resolution to match your monitor size (lower resolution in a bigger screen gives worse quality obv, something that console games don't really unless u're using HDMI but that's dif), there's also some other settings and stuff, a 5 year old computer with a decent graphics card at the time, is much better than a 360 or PS3, but meh... In most cases low settings are really ugly compared to the others.

Edit: Also, if your graphics card failed, it might not even run properly in the lowest settings, that's something you need to find out.

I'm downloading the ME3 demo right now and I'm gonna compare it side by side with the 360 version. From what I recall, when I tried the demo of the same game before on PC, it was very laggy when I ran it at 1920x1080, but when I switched to 1920x720, it was as smooth as the console version. I was trying the PC demo on my HD monitor, hence the resolutions.

Unlike BF3, systemrequirementlab reports that my Macbook CAN run Mass Effect 3 with the low quality setting. I can't try high-spec games like BF3 or Skyrim as there's no demo for those games.

 

[EyeZ]

Yeah games being released for PC now need rigs with such high specs.

So only if you can afford to upgrade your PC would i say switch to PC.

There again, you say you're more into platform and adventure games so the console seems to be more the ideal platform for you.


EDIT: you got my 1000 post too

 

[Skelletonike]

I'm downloading the ME3 demo right now and I'm gonna compare it side by side with the 360 version. From what I recall, when I tried the demo of the same game before on PC, it was very laggy when I ran it at 1920x1080, but when I switched to 1920x720, it was as smooth as the console version. I was trying the PC demo on my HD monitor, hence the resolutions.

Unlike BF3, systemrequirementlab reports that my Macbook CAN run Mass Effect 3 with the low quality setting. I can't try high-spec games like BF3 or Skyrim as there's no demo for those games.

Macbooks for high end games aren't really the best thing IMHO, if it was a normal pc, I'd just recommend to download a pirated copy of the game so that you could try it out, but I don't know anything about how games work for Macs, last time I checked most weren't even compatible (yeah, it was eons ago).

 

[R2DJ]

I'm downloading the ME3 demo right now and I'm gonna compare it side by side with the 360 version. From what I recall, when I tried the demo of the same game before on PC, it was very laggy when I ran it at 1920x1080, but when I switched to 1920x720, it was as smooth as the console version. I was trying the PC demo on my HD monitor, hence the resolutions.

Unlike BF3, systemrequirementlab reports that my Macbook CAN run Mass Effect 3 with the low quality setting. I can't try high-spec games like BF3 or Skyrim as there's no demo for those games.

Macbooks for high end games aren't really the best thing IMHO, if it was a normal pc, I'd just recommend to download a pirated copy of the game so that you could try it out, but I don't know anything about how games work for Macs, last time I checked most weren't even compatible (yeah, it was eons ago).

I can run Windows 7 too (as I said on my OP), which is 64-bit. I already have some old games in there (Portal 1, Audiosurf, Osu, Arkham Asylum) and they work fine.

I would sell this Macbook but it won't be that much when I sell it. I'll get around £500 at best. Also, I have some important software that's already activated and linked with this machine, and I need those for university. I do love this Macbook however, best system I've had.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I mean if you're content with not playing on Ultra settings the you won't need to spec much for a PC today. My friend is playing on like a 4-5 year old rig that was around $1200 when he first got it but it still runs most games on high. I think most recent example I can think of is Skyrim which runs fine on High, just not Ultra.

As for OnLive, I've used it quite a bit and it's a solid service. The deals are pretty comparable to Steam, I've gotten some pretty nice deals there. Best would be 98% off Warhammer 40K: Space Marine and got it for like $.75 (but that was a limited "buy any game for $1" promotion). Otherwise I got like Borderlands GotY for $5, Mafia II for $5, and the PlayPack has some pretty sweet games for only $10/month (I wasn't a fan but Bioshock is there, The Witcher, standard Borderlands, etc). The game selection is probably the biggest disappointment but it still has some recent games and good stuff. Also they introduced digital desktop which seemed really cool. Basically allows you to use Windows 7 and other Windows programs on like an iPad through similar streaming to OnLive.

But PC gaming is the "master race" and it's hard to argue against it. Most customization, most games, best graphics, and best controls.

 

[R2DJ]

I mean if you're content with not playing on Ultra settings the you won't need to spec much for a PC today. My friend is playing on like a 4-5 year old rig that was around $1200 when he first got it but it still runs most games on high. I think most recent example I can think of is Skyrim which runs fine on High, just not Ultra.

As for OnLive, I've used it quite a bit and it's a solid service. The deals are pretty comparable to Steam, I've gotten some pretty nice deals there. Best would be 98% off Warhammer 40K: Space Marine and got it for like $.75 (but that was a limited "buy any game for $1" promotion). Otherwise I got like Borderlands GotY for $5, Mafia II for $5, and the PlayPack has some pretty sweet games for only $10/month (I wasn't a fan but Bioshock is there, The Witcher, standard Borderlands, etc). The game selection is probably the biggest disappointment but it still has some recent games and good stuff. Also they introduced digital desktop which seemed really cool. Basically allows you to use Windows 7 and other Windows programs on like an iPad through similar streaming to OnLive.

But PC gaming is the "master race" and it's hard to argue against it. Most customization, most games, best graphics, and best controls.

Hey there!

So what do you recommend for me? Should I stick to the 360 or go for the switch? I just tried Mass Effect 3 demo on 1280x800 and most settings on the config utility set to On (the default setting btw) and it was very smooth. I'm happy with not using my 1080p monitor and I'll stick with the 13" screen

 

[Guild McCommunist]

So what do you recommend for me? Should I stick to the 360 or go for the switch? I just tried Mass Effect 3 demo on 1280x800 and most settings on the config utility set to On (the default setting btw) and it was very smooth. I'm happy with not using my 1080p monitor and I'll stick with the 13" screen

If it's running ME3 fine then I would say stick to what you have. Plus I'm pretty sure you could just connect it to a monitor and display it on that. PC gaming is still the best though and if you have a PC that's capable of such gaming, there's no reason to use anything else honestly.

 

[R2DJ]

So what do you recommend for me? Should I stick to the 360 or go for the switch? I just tried Mass Effect 3 demo on 1280x800 and most settings on the config utility set to On (the default setting btw) and it was very smooth. I'm happy with not using my 1080p monitor and I'll stick with the 13" screen

If it's running ME3 fine then I would say stick to what you have. Plus I'm pretty sure you could just connect it to a monitor and display it on that. PC gaming is still the best though and if you have a PC that's capable of such gaming, there's no reason to use anything else honestly.

Reason I'm saying that I'm happy with not connecting to the monitor is because if I use 1920 x 1080 it becomes slow and laggy, even on the lowest quality. However, the Macbook's screen is very clear and has natural color settings that look better than my 1080p monitor IMO. Also, the laptop's screen is 1280 x 800 and it can run ME3 decently on Medium quality.

But I guess I'll stick with the 360.