Hypatia wrote:Wow, I didn't think anything was better on a computer. Of course, I don't play games ever. I kinda stopped at the N-64 so this is a BIG DEAL for me!
Computers are just much, much more versatile. Think of it this way: a console
is actually a computer. It's just one that is the same for everyone (minus a few details like the size of the hard drive). They have all the same parts as a computer: a hard drive, a processor, a graphics card, etc.
The two problems with consoles that I can think of are that (a) they get way out of date, and (b) they have very restricted input methods. Out of date: because the consoles have to always stay the same (games count on this), they can't update the hardware, etc. without coming out with a whole new model...which they don't do all that frequently.
As for limited input methods, let me just point out how much more control a mouse + keyboard give you. Yes, even in first-person shooter games, the poster children for consoles. If you don't believe me, check out
this article (including the comments below). Note that to try to compensate for the poor precision of gamepads, console games usually help out your aiming so you can still hit the target. Slashdot, of all places, would have plenty of people who know. A gamepad is just inferior, even for games it's suitable for...and for games it isn't suitable for? Like some of the genres I used to play, like real-time strategy (RTS)? It's pretty much unusable. I wouldn't dream of trying to play any of the Command and Conquer games on a console. It would be too painful.
Consoles have a few things going for them, despite being underpowered and lame: one, they're fairly cheap. You can't say that about a gaming rig. And two, because a given console always has exactly the same hardware, they're easier to program for. You don't have to worry about performance issues or different hardware configurations. Oh, and it's harder to pirate games for consoles, which I'm sure is a big plus for the game studios.
I don't even play games anymore, and haven't for years, but I'm still much more a fan of a computer than a console.
(I'm sorry things are broken on your new setup, by the way! Hopefully you can get those replaced ASAP.)
