Even the most diehard PC gamer has to admit that their console gaming brethren get the better end of the deal as far as costs are concerned. But exactly how much does a console gamer save over the system'ss lifespan? A poster over at TechConsumer crunched the numbers and found that, when everything is added up, the savings aren't necessarily that great.When all is said and done, the full Xbox 360 gaming setup (including TV, accessories and Xbox Live subscription) costs $3,152 over six years, about $350 less than a basic gaming PC for the same period. Of course that cost includes a 42" 1080p TV, while the comparable PC uses a relatively paltry 22 inch display. When a comparable screen is used on the PC, the savings on the console side balloon to near $1,200.
The real killer for the PC, of course, is the upgrades (estimated in this study at $250 every other year) and recommended full-on replacements (every three years) that come much more frequently than the console equivalents (one replacement every six years). So, PC gamers, is it worth the extra money?
(Page 1) Reader Comments
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For example, you can watch cable on the TV and you can surf for porn on the pc.
I THINK NOT.
Wahhhhh??? What the hell am I doing on Joystiq?!!!
T & A FTW!!!!!!!!
Also, the price hike of going from a regular PC monitor to a TV that costs between a $2000-$3000 is significantly greater than the $400 that you could attribute to a computer that only does "other things a computer can be used for"
Plus there's the personal costs in maintaining the PC; knowing which hard drive type your PC uses, which type of RAM you use, knowing which video cards are actually decent and which are overpriced crap, there's a lot of knowledge and effort that has to be put into maintaining a PC that goes beyond the simple costs of the physical upgrades.
I'm fine tracking this down for my own PC, but if I had to do that for my consoles too, I wouldn't be buying consoles.
What this also does not factor in is that a computer does more then just play games.
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Consoles always try some shit tactics like bundling to claim that games are also inexpensive.
For PC I can also get bunch of *free* games - puzzles or platformers. Not even start mentioning started few years ago wave of Flash games.
PCs are now more open as they ever were. Consoles - proprietary locked down market, with all consequences in price and choice departments.
Piracy to me was always extra bonus: you can try game before buying and if you didn't like it, then you can "return" it by simply deleting image files. Consoles? They are were PCs were with their first generation of demos: those 1 or 2 levels included in demo which you liked very much are the best levels in games and rest of level is plain garbage.
What can my PC do which my consoles cannot...?
How about we start with avatar creation?
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PC gaming isn't looking so hot right now as this generation's consoles are new and the last ones were refreshed quickly. Just wait a few years until the difference between a Walmart PC and a console is like PS3 to PS2.
Especially considering both the major console makers are shying away from the fast refresh the last generation had. What is the estimate now on the PS4? 5 years, 7 years?
All this ZOMG PC GAMING = DED stuff will fade away.
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console = beer
PC = wine
?
Fanbois, GET HIM!
Consoles > Normal Wine
PC's > Very Expensive 70-year-old Wine.
And there's nothing quite like playing oblivion on my 47" 1080p LCD. I can hardly pull my wife away from it, whereas on the PC she hardly ever touched the game.
Beats getting OCD about the max configuration you can get away with every time you buy a game.
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Can you do anything that an operating system offers on your 360/PS3/Wii? A tiny amount of the options, like surf the internet with handicaps, make movies with the playstation Eye (sorta), and such may be available but there is no replacement for the ease of being able to sit at your computer and do anything you want. Play games, word process, browse the internet, fap to pronz, burn cd's/dvd's/blu-ray'sforurps3, edit your recordings as a musician, edit photos, become an artist... etc... you get the idea yet? Gaming pc's aren't just for gaming, but they are good enough for gaming, as well as being PC's. Kthx gaming pc's always win in value.
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Practice: R.I.P. PCs.
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As much as you can use your pc for "other things" you don't buy a brand new rig and upgrade it every month for those "things".
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Oh, and my shares of MMOs and RTSes.
And free games.
(actually, I'm just being a troll: I love my PC because I use it for many things like checking email, using photoshop, rendering 3D, doing schoolwork, listening to music, scanning and printing, instant messaging, etc)
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AMD 64 3200+
1gig PC3200
160gig HDD
X1950Pro 512mb AGP (new, only $150)
I have spent no more than $400 on this PC since I got it and this POWER HOUSE actually can run any game I throw at it at high to max settings (atleast same/better than 360/PS3) at 1280x720 resolution (720p) with no problems. And when I say any game I mean ANY GAME. I can even play Crysis v1.1 at 720p with the DX10 Cvar config files (to enable DX10 content on DX9 cards) with all settings maxed no AA at about 20fps avg...which is excellent if you know how bad this game even runs on faster PC's. And plus you have to remember about Bittorrent and the like. Where with console owners 4 games can cost upward of $200 PC games almost drop instantly in price with BioShock already at $29.99 in some stores...can you get it that cheap for the 360 new? I didn't think so.
So to end this, if you know what you are doing and know how to upgrade even an "older" PC with just a new graphics card can be enough to hold you over. Like I said, I haven't had any problems with any game so far and I have more PC games than I do with my PS1, PS2, Xbox, DC, and Saturn combined. Plus like people have said, you can't download ANY file you want to a console. You can't even edit a txt file with a console! Dispute ended.
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http://www.firingsquad.com/media/gallery_index.asp/244
Behold, Max Payne -
http://www.3drealms.com/max/max_payne_0601_shot_01.html
Amazing, Doom 3, perfectly playable on a Voodoo 2 and a 500MHz Pentium 3, looks better than Max Payne. A console does the exact same thing. Mandatory upgrades are a total load of crap.
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Real value of consoles is for game producers. And that's the main appeal of consoles: it is safe harbor for game developers where they can off-load piles of work to publisher(s). Stable H/W configuration. Stable software configuration. Some free promotions.
Most of that is offset by cost of entering console game development. For PC you need only PC and idea for a game. To develop on console, you have to buy/license dedicated development kits, which keep many creative people out of console market.
I'm not sure what I will be playing on PC in five years. But I'm pretty sure that Wii2 will get its Hyper Mario Universe, PS4 it MGS10 and Xbox720 its Halo 7. PC? Heck, new original games (even if raw prototypes) are coming out every month - just look around on blogs and channels. That's the difference between PC gaming and console gaming.
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If a game looks absolutely gorgeous, but it plays horribly, then whatever factor for graphics went out the window.
The K.I.S.S. method works great for game developers, but bad for hardware manufacturers, who are trying to make money by making new shit and getting you to buy it every 2-3 years, 'cuz otherwise they don't make money, and they don't make their investors happy when the company doesn't see a profit.
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There's a difference between making a new architecture that's cool, quiet, and affordable, and just overclocking your old architecture without paying any regards to Moore's Law.
There's a difference between visual quality and visual quantity. If you can't do a lot, at least do what you can WELL. I don't care if there's 50 billion polygons on the screen, but nobody can tell me that SD without anti-aliasing is acceptable when others are doing full-blown HD for only a little more money.
There's a difference between pulling back to prove a point and maybe make a bit more money, and not giving a shit because the controller is the only selling point casual gamers care about. Nintendo just doesn't give a shit.
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