The Video Gaming Divide and Console War

[emigre]

PS4lyfe you dirty tarts.

 

[Taleweaver]

It's going to be hard adding something that Gahars, Chavosaur and Firegrey haven't already said.

The thing about gaming and fanboyism is pretty much layed out. What strikes me as odd, though, is where the PC is in all this. Perhaps it's just me where my PC and television are next to each other, but still...I don't consider PC's as much more than consoles that can do other tasks as well...or consoles as trimmed down PC's playing catch-up (read: they include most features PC gamers use for years...at some point). Yet somehow, I still feel like it's a controversial stance and there's a gap between PC gamers and console gamers. Maybe that'll go away with the steam machines, but TBH, I think it'll just gets lumped in with the consoles. Strange...is it really that different if you're gaming from a couch or from a chair?


Personally, I game on everything. For the moment, I'm mostly doing PC games (okay...trying to get older games to work on linux...and then losing myself in how much fun they are). But I've got a PSP and 3DS that barely see any use (that 3DS is probably still on 2.0 of firmware...I can't even be bothered to check into gateway-stuff). Bought some games for 360 to play "later" (read: probably never) and my wiiu is only used as a weighing instrument now (I vowed I wouldn't play DK until I got a job). But I don't see myself being any less of a gamer because I almost browse more gaming forums than actually play games. The culture still interests me, and I still consider it my home.

I know there is somewhat of a divide, but I don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be. A console "war" sounds so hostile, and that's not even talking about "blah" being the master race. Naah...it's more of a friendly competition. Kind of like soccer teams. Sure, you've got your favorite and someone else got theirs. And arguments can get pretty heated But we all know it would become pretty dull very fast if there was only one team on the field.

 

[FAST6191]

PS4lyfe you dirty tarts.

Like you do not enjoy a dirty tart.

 

[Khasho]

Great Article....I also use to think this way but by passing of time my opinions have changed...i don't care about the systems anymore its the games i care about.... I remember once I was on a forum this moderator of that forum was arguing how psp is better than DS....I told him DS has good puzzle games like Layton series which I really like than he responded that psp has Buzz which is better than layton... so at that moment i stopped replying because people usually believe their console is always better than others...

 

[Pitou]

Yep, great article. I'm now 41 and have 2 kids. I feel exactly the same about this new generation. A couple of years ago, I would rush to buy the new consoles. This time, I bought the new generation consoles much later. I don't feel as excited as I was before. ( Maybe I'm getting too old! Lol!) I feel a lot of redundancy in games. No new ideas. The only really "new" thing we had in a couple of years is the Wii remote that changed the gameplay a lot, IMHO. I own all of them btw. Me and my friend collected them all over the last 15 years. We even have the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey! All in all, I always loved the Mario and Zelda franchises, so the choice is clear for me. I have to admit I really appreciate the new Donkey kong on the Wii U.

Pitou!

 

[Hyperstar96]

Nowadays, these consoles are the same. They push out games with impressive graphics and fancy hardware, but it just does not appeal to me anymore because of the lack of real innovative feel that we used to see in the nineties, things that made gaming consoles an absolute day one purchase. I look at the newest generation of consoles, and I’ll be damned, but I don’t see anything really noteworthy about making a purchase for. It’s starting to become like smartphones, where every new revision they get a slight spec bump, with a better graphics engine, better camera, and then becomes thinner.

Nintendo went for actual innovation and new games for a low price, and look where it's getting them.

The fact is that people don't want innovation anymore. They really do just want a slightly updated version of what they already have. People talk about smartphone "gamers" and the stereotype that they only want cheap and unfulfilling experiences, but I'd argue that it's almost equally true for console gamers now. People only want whatever advertises the most widespread social experience (advertises, not actually has). They're forgetting that the primary function of a video game console is to play video games! And exclusives, at that. "Look, I can stream to Twitch." I could already do that with a capture card. "Our system can play Assassin's Creed and Batman, it's clearly the best." So can my three year old PC! The "winner" of this console war will be whoever has the best advertising and whoever is the best at insulting their competition. That's why Sony is doing so well right now. Innovation and quality games just aren't going to cut it this time around.

 

[Gahars]

Nintendo went for actual innovation and new games for a low price, and look where it's getting them.

The fact is that people don't want innovation anymore. They really do just want a slightly updated version of what they already have. People talk about smartphone "gamers" and the stereotype that they only want cheap and unfulfilling experiences, but I'd argue that it's almost equally true for console gamers now. People only want whatever advertises the most widespread social experience (advertises, not actually has). They're forgetting that the primary function of a video game console is to play video games! And exclusives, at that. "Look, I can stream to Twitch." I could already do that with a capture card. "Our system can play Assassin's Creed and Batman, it's clearly the best." So can my three year old PC! The "winner" of this console war will be whoever has the best advertising and whoever is the best at insulting their competition. That's why Sony is doing so well right now. Innovation and quality games just aren't going to cut it this time around.

>Enter a thread railing against fanboyism and console wars
>Engage in fanboyism and console warring

:^)

 

[the_randomizer]

If people like a particular console or company more than another given company, such is their prerogative. I have my preferences with Sony and Nintendo consoles

 

[Mario92]

Nintendo went for actual innovation and new games for a low price, and look where it's getting them.

Problem is that it's Nintendo. They play in all another league and that league seems to shrink all the time. I would hope they would get better 3rd party support however just like DS and Wii had - making games with consoles own merits instead of simply porting.

However 3DS and Wii U are pretty much gimmick. I myself love stereo-3D in some games but majority keeps it off which makes it widescreen DS for most people with less stylus controlled games
With Wii U I actually laughed as Valve said they removed screen from their controller because it costs extra and isn't useful when playing actual game. I would love Wii U more if they'd focus more on regular Wiimote with motion plus instead of tablet controller to be honest as said when playing the actual game gamepads touchscreen is useless with screen part - with 3D World I actually use nose with touchscreen and wonder why can't I just pick up my Wiimote and use it as pointer like with galaxy.

However you may have point. This gen consoles were advertised with better graphiz and processorz. That has seemed so weird for me as mainly PC gamer as wouldn't you just buy powerful rig if you want more graphiz and processorz?
However Microsoft forced kinect for everyone and Sony integrated Move more with their system and I know Move was actually pretty good in few games it supported with PS3. It wasn't major success for them so of course they wouldn't advertise it.

 

[calmwaters]

Someone who posted an article on kotaku covered this pretty well.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/04/why-fanboys-act-like-jerks/

It's... *sniff* beautiful. The probing of the human mind in regards to this fanboyism really fascinates me. I mean, I love Nintendo and I'll defend them just like a dog protects its bone. But don't act like it's my fault when I start biting you because you're trying to take my bone. And like the nice dog I am, I might put the bone in my house or sit on it or something, just for a warning. (I only bury it when I've got nothing better to do. There's nothing like a bone with bits of dirt on it... ) As for the Coke vs. Pepsi debate: Dr. Pepper RULES. Unless you like nearly flavorless drinks.

>Enter a thread railing against fanboyism and console wars
>Engage in fanboyism and console warring

:^)

Who, you or him? Or maybe it's just metaphorical... yeah, that's it. I've said before I have trouble with marketing campaigns. I prefer for the product to speak for itself instead of hearing someone with heavily disguised bias speak for it. Don't you think 'railing' is too strong of a describing term for this thread? Ryukouki didn't rail in his post and I haven't seen a whole bunch of other people doing the same. And like FireGrey's article pointed out, fanboyism isn't always a bad thing. Console warring; well; it can be likened to the city-states of Athens and Sparta; before all of Greece was united, those people did an awful lot of fighting. Territory disputes, something like that.

 

[emigre]

Nintendo went for actual innovation and new games for a low price, and look where it's getting them.

So much innovation that Nintendo have problems integrating into their gaems. And ha at new gaems at a low price, first party Nintendo gaems stay are around the same price as Sony and Microsoft gaems. And unlike the latter two, Nintendo software particularly Mario gaems stay at the same price at launch. I paid about £30 for Mario 3D Land about eight months after it launched. I paid around £20 for Tearaway at launch. One of those gaems was about innovation and was released at a low price.

 

[TripleSMoon]

So much innovation that Nintendo have problems integrating into their gaems. And ha at new gaems at a low price, first party Nintendo gaems stay are around the same price as Sony and Microsoft gaems. And unlike the latter two, Nintendo software particularly Mario gaems stay at the same price at launch. I paid about £30 for Mario 3D Land about eight months after it launched. I paid around £20 for Tearaway at launch. One of those gaems was about innovation and was released at a low price.

NSMB DS and SM64 DS are still about $30-$35 USD used at GameStop, even though they're 8-10 years old and the launch price was $40. It's more than a bit ridiculous.

 

[GameWinner]

Nintendo went for actual innovation and new games for a low price, and look where it's getting them.

Ha!
Out of the big 3, Nintendo is the only one that refuses to drop their prices on gamed years later making it much more expebsive than the other two.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

NSMB DS and SM64 DS are still about $30-$35 USD used at GameStop, even though they're 8-10 years old and the launch price was $40. It's more than a bit ridiculous.

Is that really Nintendo's fault though? Wouldn't the blame more fall on GameStop and their greed?

 

[TripleSMoon]

Is that really Nintendo's fault though? Wouldn't the blame more fall on GameStop and their greed?

Nope: Because those are still cheaper than the prices of new copies.

 

[tbgtbg]

Ps4 is better than Xbone >_>

AIDS is better than Xbone

am I do this rite?

But seriously, sometimes it's just people trying to convince themselves about their choices being the right ones, sometimes it's not though. I mean were the criticisms about N64 using carts all just Sony Fanboy rants? No of course not.

As for PC, well, frankly if I want to play a console game, I want to play it on a console, not on a PC. Time was PC's offered a lot of unique style and types of gameplay, but today it's mostly console games with higher resolution or framerate. I'm not going to spend as much as a console just to buy a graphics card that will last me a few years. Compared to ~20 years ago when you could play something like Ultima 7 on a PC and have a truly original and worthwhile experience, whereas if you instead tried the SNES "port" and got some cut down, censored, nearly unplayable pile of crap, it's a completely different situation. Yeah, maybe I could have spent a lot of money on a computer and got Fallout 3 looking nicer but I'd rather just play it on 360 and be able to sit back and relax and watch it on the big TV instead of hunched over a keyboard and mouse. I actually did try it both ways, and I'll take the console, thanks. Reliance on online DRM and Steam and stuff like that, also a huge turn off.

 

[Steena]

Honestly, from my standpoint, I can’t even really call myself a gamer anymore, which is hilarious because I work as a reporter on a gaming forum. I spend all my hours doing research now and gaming has pretty much dropped off of the priority list. That probably skews my view on the way I see video gaming, but hey, since when is it wrong to have an opinion?

Not so, apparently most who get a (paid) position in the videogames industry massively slows down or stops playing games entirely. That's a thing that only happens in this industry. One would think that people that get professionally invested in this would only play them more if anything, if only to keep updated since this medium is pretty wide and moves fast.

From reviewers justifying their review based on the first 3 hours of gameplay with "but I don't have time for this" to industry analysts that don't even know what all current-gen systems even are out on the market, you shouldn't feel so bad.

 

[Taleweaver]

With Wii U I actually laughed as Valve said they removed screen from their controller because it costs extra and isn't useful when playing actual game.

Costs extra is putting it mildly: it was the most expensive part that was used the least. It's also important that the wiiu controller was made for new games (that would use the controller). The steambox controller is designed to properly play the whole backlog of steam games.

 

[MegaBassBX]

I only care about the games themselves , as for the system I didn't give shit from the start although in the last few years all of my friends moved away from consoles and know they only play PC games which is not my thing , therefore I don't talk badly of any game system even if I don't own one like the XBOX one or 360 since as you all know both a have almost the same game library.

 

[Mario92]

Costs extra is putting it mildly: it was the most expensive part that was used the least. It's also important that the wiiu controller was made for new games (that would use the controller). The steambox controller is designed to properly play the whole backlog of steam games.

Makes sense. However there hasn't been almost any game actually taking advantage of it. Trine 2 is one of only few examples as it not only made playing with wizard almost better than with mouse but also made playing with other characters better experience than with regular stick.
Even Nintendo Land focuses more on other stuff than screen being actual touchscreen. What I did notice as for single player games that use gamepad as primary screen you just newer look at TV screen at that point. For asynchronous playing it does work however.

As for PC, well, frankly if I want to play a console game, I want to play it on a console, not on a PC. Time was PC's offered a lot of unique style and types of gameplay, but today it's mostly console games with higher resolution or framerate. I'm not going to spend as much as a console just to buy a graphics card that will last me a few years. Compared to ~20 years ago when you could play something like Ultima 7 on a PC and have a truly original and worthwhile experience, whereas if you instead tried the SNES "port" and got some cut down, censored, nearly unplayable pile of crap, it's a completely different situation. Yeah, maybe I could have spent a lot of money on a computer and got Fallout 3 looking nicer but I'd rather just play it on 360 and be able to sit back and relax and watch it on the big TV instead of hunched over a keyboard and mouse. I actually did try it both ways, and I'll take the console, thanks. Reliance on online DRM and Steam and stuff like that, also a huge turn off.

It's not only about higher resolution and framerate even if most PC gamers like it that way. You can get cheaper rig, turn down resolution and put settings to lowest possible and get console like experience. I did that with AMD APU when I started playing with PC, before that I usually just ran emulators as nothing else worked except them and some Valves games.
Users usually just assume PC has to be about graphics and sitting on the desk. I usually put HDMI cable and use controller to play from sofa as it's much cheaper and easier to get games for PC but still I had to use mouse to select and boot game up. That's why I love that Valve has actually acknowledged this and now I can simply go to my sofa and press home button from controller and Big Picture boots up and it's pretty much like using console from that point without any hassle (if game is completely controller supported). I also use 3G as my main internet connection and only games that had any problems where ones using GFWL which is dead now. Steam if game is even once activated it works always, then there's places like GOG which has no DRM in anything and it's easy to buy them, add them to steam and then boot them from Big Picture.

At this point it's pretty much same whether to buy game to pc or console but then when you think about it: with PC you can spend your extra money to better parts and get better experience and with consoles you have to buy whole new machine and another more expensive copy of the same game to get better experience or if machines backwards compatible you get pretty much exactly same experience with slight disadvantages or advantages.

But again: if you are only going to play that game then and there and maybe even resell it forward then all of that may not even matter. Especially if user is gun shy with online activations and managing hardware.

However my best experience transitioning from console to PC: Mirror's Edge.
Console it was allright and looked and played good, it even got trophys and everything.
Then played illegal copy with my just build cheap AMD APU machine (all my money went to that machine ) and I was amazed how much better it looked and felt.
Then I got better machine and sold old one so now I had nvidia card with PhysX and oh boy I laughed hysterically when glass got broken.
Now I got 144Hz monitor and 3D plasma. Some .ini config and game looked smooth as fuck and with stereo-3D I got that same hysterical laugh again when I jumped from roof to roof while looking down. Only disadvantage was I had to use my controller with TV so it felt so restricting with first person game.
I'm pretty sure if VR is going to be next thing that someone has already modded game to work with VR-headset and when I finally get one I will be laughing again.

..and I now own 4 legal copies of the Mirror's edge on PC. This is also why PC vs Console wars are so intense as PC gamers know how much better everything could be even if playing game then and there regardless of device should give almost exactly same experience.