Join the "PC Elite"? No thanks, it's not for me...

[Andy]

PS. Quietly pleased at the intelligent discussion that's come out of this one. You guys restore my faith in internet users.

[Azer249]

PS. Quietly pleased at the intelligent discussion that's come out of this one. You guys restore my faith in internet users.

Its an interesting topic, most pc gamers see console gamers as the 'scum' and most console gamers see pc player as 'scum'. In my opinion yes i am a PC Elite, but at the end of the day on all platforms your playing the same game. I just think it comes down to personal preference and money. People might prefer to game on console than pc and vise versa. One of the main drawing points that made me change to pc is the fact that its nice to have things other than gaming at your fingertips and i like games like counter strike. Aswell as that, and i prefer keyboard and mouse over a controller . Some people are just to arrogant and at the end of the day most pc gamers get annoyed because they see consoles holding up games that could be graphics better because they use dx9, its hard to escape that now being as games are being made on console (skyrim for instance was made on xbox and is only in dx9 on pc when if it was made on pc it could have been dx11).

[James]

On the whole thing about PC gaming being about graphical fidelity. Some of the most successful PC games this year have been fugly or at least built in old tech. Take Portal 2 for example. It's on the Source Engine, runs on nearly anything. Yet, it's a AAA PC title.

That and Crysis 2, yes you need a moderately good rig to run it, but compared to the last crysis on pc, it runs a charm on most gaming pcs, hell, even my 550ti can handle it on ultra with dx11.

Yeah, I'm liking how lately developers have pushed existing, tried-and-tested engines to their limit, and not kept ramping up system requirements. There's definitely been a slow-down for the last few years. To an extent it may be because consoles are holding back multi-format releases a little, from the PC perspective. IMO though, it's a good thing. Yes, it's still moderately expensive to buy a gaming computer, but it's certainly not as bad as it used to be and I don't think they need upgrading quite as fast, either. Skyrim surprised me with its required specs that are barely any higher than Oblivion's were 5 years ago. Oblivion caused a stir, and many gamers needed an upgrade (myself included at the time), and Crysis 1 was the same. I think developers have learned to work with what they've got and optimise engines well; Crysis 2, Skyrim, Portal 2 etc. are all great-looking games.

[Andy]

I never understood the whole thing with Crysis 1. 'Let's make our game inaccessible to a large portion of potential users' was turned into a media positive, and served only to create a divide between the 'PC elite' and people who are platform agnostic.

[Azer249]

Yeah, I'm liking how lately developers have pushed existing, tried-and-tested engines to their limit, and not kept ramping up system requirements. There's definitely been a slow-down for the last few years. To an extent it may be because consoles are holding back multi-format releases a little, from the PC perspective. IMO though, it's a good thing. Yes, it's still moderately expensive to buy a gaming computer, but it's certainly not as bad as it used to be and I don't think they need upgrading quite as fast, either. Skyrim surprised me with its required specs that are barely any higher than Oblivion's were 5 years ago. Oblivion caused a stir, and many gamers needed an upgrade (myself included at the time), and Crysis 1 was the same. I think developers have learned to work with what they've got and optimise engines well; Crysis 2, Skyrim, Portal 2 etc. are all great-looking games.

I agree with you completely, aswell as the fact that games are still looking good it means we have to upgrade out gpus less meaning its getting more and more cost effective. Aswell as the graphics improving without and performance loss Nvidia are doing an amazing job at cranking out really good drivers as are AMD. I was even surprised when newer games such as Saints row 3 and Battlefield 3 could run well on a mid/high range graphics cards on high settings. Optimisation is now playing a huge part in pc gaming and the more developers are experimenting it seems games are becoming less demanding. (in the sense you have to upgrade less often, and games such as battlefield dont have AMAZINGLY high graphics requirements to run on high at a decent fps). The only real features that provide and issue with newer games are things such a, AA, AO and PhysX.

[Andy]

When you guys start talking PC technical terms I start to see static.

All I know is, to get Deus Ex to run, I just went in and turned a load of shit off. It then ran!

[Azer249]

When you guys start talking PC technical terms I start to see static.

All I know is, to get Deus Ex to run, I just went in and turned a load of shit off. It then ran!

Ha Ao, AA, and Physx are just things to make the game crisper and more impressive.

AA = Smooths jagged edges on objects so there straight.
AO = Makes lighting a lot more crisp and colourful.
Physx = Makes things more realistic, for instance in batman (thanks again) his cape blows a lot more realisticly and explosions look crisper etc.

Overall you wont really tell a huge difference in graphical improvement but sometimes they affect FPS drasticly! AA is especially good at doing this.

[Shane_for_Wax]

I personally play both PC and console games. Both have their pros and cons, personally. :/ Why we fight each other over which is best just blows my mind.

[Trent]

I wasn't having a go. I think everyone should make their choice and I agree that if you know what you're doing with your rig you can get crisper graphics, smoother running and nicer physics on PC games than on consoles.

My main point was against people who automatically claim that PCs are better in every way without understanding the need to balance your kit. Obviously you guys are smart and know what you're talking about but a lot of these morons aren't and don't. They just assume that if they buy a decent PC then games will be better on it and from that misconception they bullishly attack consoles. I'm defending the voice of reason here much more than I'm defending console gaming lol

[Azer249]

I wasn't having a go. I think everyone should make their choice and I agree that if you know what you're doing with your rig you can get crisper graphics, smoother running and nicer physics on PC games than on consoles.

My main point was against people who automatically claim that PCs are better in every way without understanding the need to balance your kit. Obviously you guys are smart and know what you're talking about but a lot of these morons aren't and don't. They just assume that if they buy a decent PC then games will be better on it and from that misconception they bullishly attack consoles. I'm defending the voice of reason here much more than I'm defending console gaming lol

Agreed, there better in some ways as are consoles. I think at the end of the day it comes down to accessibility, choice and cost implications. People who think they can buy a good pc of the market are well, wrong. You have to build your pc to get a good gaming rig, and to be honest, its the most cost effective way. Thats why i like consoles, there accessible to more people. I do love my pc but sometimes it feels like there's no interaction with other players at all, playing online feels like you're playing against bots because no one has mics.