Indulge me in a little rant here folks, because I have just dug deep into the old bank account to shell out a chunk of change for something that I have not bought in a long, long, while – a console. I haven’t actually bought it yet, not because I am hesitant, simply because every X-Box 360 in Japan has been sold out for about a month.
I have long been a PC gamer, and being gainfully employed, it was not too difficult to indulge my passion. I have a gutsy quad-core rig that gets peak performance from all but the most demanding games. It can play Crysis, though at the highest settings (which are designed for SLI rigs) it runs a little slowly. Other than that I have been able to max out the settings on every game that I have tried. So why buy a console?
I am a realist. The graphics card on my system, an 8800GTX has already been superseded by a couple of new models. While it has the juice to handle anything that comes out in the next twelve months, it will slowly start to suck in comparison to what is around and I will eventually start to long for more. This is a fact of life when it comes to PC gaming that console owners do not have to contend with. While PC games are optimized for cutting edge gaming systems – console games are optimized for a set of specifications that does not change. The pressure to upgrade is non-existent until a new console comes around and a new console is a lot cheaper than a new gaming PC (generally it is even cheaper than an upgrade).
Yet that is not my primary reason for buying a console. In a given day, I spend an enormous amount of time in front of a computer. I blog for a couple of hours a day, I edit journal submissions and I produce teaching materials for my day job. To me, sitting on a computer chair in front of a monitor has ceased to be entertainment. I want to flop down on a sofa, or better yet a beanbag and I don’t want anything resembling a keyboard anywhere near me. I am quite happy with only using my computer for work at this point in my life.
So why an X-Box 360? Up until the last couple of months I probably would have opted for a PS3 on the basis of the simple fact that I am in Japan and in the rural area that I live in, the list of available X-360 titles is rather slim. Back when I owned a PS1 and later PS2, most games were single-region and I just assumed that this would still be the case. It isn’t. There are plenty of multi-region games on the market at the moment and Japan has really started pumping out the titles. The fact that the X-360 sold out to Japan is testament to the fact that Japanese are picking up the Microsoft console in ever-increasing numbers; which means that we should see more titles on the shelves before too long.
But the PS3 has Blu-ray. I have played some truly massive games on my PC and games are getting bigger. Check out the requirements for GTAIV as they appeared on Kotaku:
Processor: Dual core processor (Intel Pentium D or better)
RAM: 2GB
Hard Drive: 18GB free hard disk space
Video Card: 512MB Direct3D 10 compatible video card or Direct3D 9 card compatible with Shader
Drive: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive
Optical media is of no consequence at all when it comes to gaming – it is all about hard disk space, and while you can void your PS3 warranty and stick a bigger hard disk drive (HDD) in your machine, the standard 40GB drive can’t even fit a full dual-layer Blu-ray disk (50GB). The next size up, the 60GB only just manages the feat. Essentially the Blu-ray component of the PS3 is a novelty that is more suited to playing high definition movies than it is to games. For gaming you want a fast HDD with as much space as possible; for all those games that you plan to buy.
The size of the media is irrelevant. A dual-layer DVD holds enough data for almost any game on the market and when you need more space you just throw in another disk. The reduced component cost is why you can get an X-box 360 Elite with a whole mess of accessories for less than the price of a 40GB PS3.
I should have bought one years ago.
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Tags: Gaming, Op-Ed, ps3, xbox-360
9 responses
Oct 1, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Ur an Ass……1t comment!!!!!!!!!!
Oct 1, 2008 at 10:13 pm
The PS3 almost always comes in cheeper than the XBOX 360 in the first year…. and it always has been, even without counting Blu-Ray. I was an XBOX owner, and decided to buy a launch PS3 because it was cheeper than the XBOX 360 – and more reliable. You get nickle-and dimed with the 360 – hard drive, recharge kits for controllers (or a fortune in batteries), wireless networking, on-line play…. and peripherals (like microphones) are less expensive for the PS3 because they’re not proprietary. That’s not even counting the cost of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, (etc.) year subscriptions to Live to play online.
Bottom line is, the PS3 has always been less expensive… plus you get Blu-Ray, and a more reliable console, and now better games and graphics. Why else would Microsoft just keep slashing prices in order to compete?
Oh… and by the way, you don’t void your warrantee replacing the PS3 hard drive… Sony encourages you to upgrade it. And because you can use standard hard drives, you can get much larger ones than are available for the XBOX, and they’re cheeper too.
Oct 2, 2008 at 7:26 am
You are either a rampant 360 fanboy pretending to be a neutral that has picked a 360 or you are SERIOUSLY mis-informed!!!
Firstly the two main justifications in your e-mail are utterly wrong!
1) The PS3 games are multiregion, as far as I’m aware the 360 is region locked.
2) The PS3 warranty is not voided by a HDD upgrade, this is positively encouraged by Sony and it is the easiest thing in the World to do – it’s just plug and play! If you’re concerned about HDD space then you must be a fool to got for a 360 with it’s obscenely overpriced HDD add-ons when you can get a PS3 and buy an off the shelf HDD of up to 500GB at a fraction of the price!!!
Also I would say most die-hard PC gamers would find more of an affinity with the PS3 – it has an open-source platform, it embraces the internet and community creations and mods, it allows any 3rd party peripherials using standard USB and Bluetooth interfaces instead of expensive propriety solutions, it doesn’t charge for online play, it comes with Wi-Fi built in instead of as an expensive add-on etc etc.
The 360 sold out in Japan because they carry minimal levels of stock and they finally released a game the Japanese wanted that was exclusive at the same time they slashed the price to a bare minimum. It wouldn’t surprise me if the majority of buyers got it, played it, and then chucked it in a cupboard and went back to their Wii or PS3! Whenever they mention the 360 outselling the PS3 in Japan these are WEEKLY sales – namely the week one of these exclusive J-RPG’s are released!
Maybe you should get your head out of your a*se and go and visit the TGS next week if you’re in Japan – maybe then you would be better informed as to which console to get…
As for Blu-ray, why wouldn’t you want a HD movie player built in for FREE (free because if you look at the 360 + extras as standard on the PS3 it’s more expensive even without taking into account Blu-ray)? Also maybe you should have a look at how more and more games are coming out on the 360 on 2 or more discs – most recent I’ve seen (I’ve forgot it’s name but it’s multiplatform) had to be completely redesigned to accommodate the fact the 360 version would be on 2 discs!
Oct 2, 2008 at 11:15 am
and Xbox 360 is disposable after a few hours or weeks of gaming! I am not a sony fanbot either. Cuz it’s taking forever for a Final fantasy title to be release….!@#!@%$!ucker
Oct 2, 2008 at 1:43 pm
It’s a fair point, I’m a PC purist at the moment, but since the 360’s had a few really smart games, (Banjo Kazooi), I’m thinking of getting one the second my EMA backlog falls through the letterbox. I built my PC from scratch a couple of years ago, but since then I’ve spent well over £400 upgrading it. It’ll get a thoroughly playable framerate on Crysis on epic detail mode, but there are games that just play so much better on a console games controller.
With all the last generation consoles I could just get an emulator, but untill I upgrade to something with 3+ processor cores, that looks pretty much out of the question. I would get a PS3, only there aren’t really any exclusives I want for it, hating all manga-style games, and since I found out Armored Core 4′ll be on the 360, it sealed it.
Good luck with your console based forays anyway!
Oct 2, 2008 at 4:16 pm
This guy is a fanboy. To say you live in japan and owned a PC and play games about it, you do not know what your saying. You just want people to agree with so they will get an xbox too. I cant see why blu ray is bad, EVEN IF YOUR GETTING IT FOR FREEEE! your telling me that you would rather pay more for an extra disc, let games suffer on other consoles because 1 console cant handle a single disc, and because its not powerfull enough, These things are problems and developers that want to make large and games never seen before will go PC + PS3 exclusive. Cryisis was talked about coming to PS3 and still could come or a new game from the company, Xbox 360 hasnt even been romoured about haveing it. I see large game and new games that are creative on PS3( littlebigplanet, resistance) Games that are diffrent and next gen. Xbox only has halo 3( similar to HAlo 2) Fable and gears of war. Ps3 has add much more veriety in the games and game genres then the wii and xbox put together. Not everyone want to shoot someone and not everyone want to play goofy last gen graphics,and move a controller. PS3 is and has always been cheaper. Let me prove it. XBOX 360 console- $199, 120gb harddrive-$150(or get a 20gb harddrive for a $100), Xbox Live($60 a year) Play and charge kit- $20 and battery packs -$14. And still no blu-ray. Wifi is optional but you will most likly get one unless you bring your network contections to your Living room, bed room or basement. It cost $100. Lets Add, 199 + 150+60+20+14+100= $593 Thats the price range of the 60 gb PS3 when it first came out, even so that atleast could play Blu ray movies and can serf the web. You can even watch you tube on you system. You can even istall Lenix on it and the ps3 can be like your PC. Now lets see the PS3 now. PS3 80gb- $399, Nyko media hub $20(only if you want for USB port and SD card readers.) and an HDMI cable for like $10. $430 for the ultimate PS3 which you dont even need to upgrade your PS3 ever again. PS3 is cheaper and just better.
Oct 3, 2008 at 1:56 am
I thought jap’s don’t even game on pc’s. they have like maybe 1 game out for pc. Dragon ball z mmo
Apr 26, 2009 at 12:07 am
PC gaming > Consoles
I don’t care what anybody says, I have several times the RAM and graphics power on my PC than on any console. I have hundreds of thousands of games from various emulators. I have Ps1-Ps2, N64, Sega Saturn, DS, Game Cube, and just about everything older.
It runs them all in high def graphics with enhanced visual and graphical features.
On top of that, all the new games like Oblivion and Crysis, i have to mod the hell out of before it pushes my PC. My Oblivion data folder is over 20 gigs now!!! Almost everything in that game has now been replaced via superior Mods. It has over 50k weapons. Its got the entire continent on it now and morrowind. I put on visible distant objects and pushed the draw distance back with Forever View. You can see about 12x farther than in the console version.
And I can play it all with an Xbox 360 controller on my big 30 inch LCD monitor in 1600×900.
My computer is over a year old right now too and it still rapes any console.
I’m never going back to a puny console. What pathetic crap they try to sell us.
Apr 26, 2009 at 12:11 am
PC’s > consoles
by a lot. Its not even a contest. I have the processing power of about 50 ps3’s on my PC. I have over 100,000 games on my PC from various emulators, and I have games like Oblivion modded so much that its not over 5 times bigger. PC games with editors are the shit.
Consoles are for people who don’t know any better since there clearly isn’t anything better about them.
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