Hello Kittty Fun House

[Sky]

[stray]

Lol. Console hate.

[HaemishM]

Sky, your console hate smells like hypocrisy in the wake of your actually owning an X-Box console.

Also, consoles are where the money is, as you rightly noted. KotOR was a great game, made for a console. If making games for consoles means they also get to make a game with a construction set I WANT to use, I'm all for the dollars. Besides, gaming greatness is platform-independent.

[Sky]

My owning an Xbox (and a GC) just means my console hate is informed :P It's not hypocrisy, it's being held by the balls by developers who only release on the box (Jade Empire).

Sure, Kotor was great. I should've waited for the pc version.

But I'm a graphics whore, and that means pc. And not ports, GTA is a great game /despite/ it's shoddy graphics. But it would've been even better had it been a high-res textured pc game. Going from the nice graphics of BF2 to Jade Empire or the GTA port is jarring. My non-gamer girlfriend is always commenting on it, though I admit things are magnified by my ferrari.

I'm not apologetic about the fact that I like the highest quality available.

[stray]

I'm not apologetic about the fact that I like the highest quality available.

Yes, but we already know this  .

[ahoythematey]

But I'm a graphics whore, and that means pc. And not ports, GTA is a great game /despite/ it's shoddy graphics. But it would've been even better had it been a high-res textured pc game.

Image from a GTA made for the PC.  Real cutting edge graphics there.  Also, FEAR was made for the pc and that doesn't stop it from stuttering like crazy.

I'm not apologetic about the fact that I like the highest quality available.

That's probably what pisses me off more than anything.  I mean, at least when I say something like "I'd rather it have been made for the PC", it's usually because I prefer the freedom of online play in PC's or I prefer mouse and keyboard combat.  Everytime I see somebody claiming to demand the highest graphics quality available, all it says to me is "I want to have such an astoundingly obvious peen issue that my only escape is blowing $400+ on new graphics cards so I can PROVE I am ULTRA-ELITE-HARDCORE-GAMER."  I have a friend who is always talking to me about the latest graphics cards from ATI and all I can say most times is, "you are making it easier for me to abandon PC's forever you fuckhead."

[sinij]

I spent 350$ on my video card about a year ago, its still handles all titles I want to play. I'm planning upgrading early next year but not out of necessity, my guess is that my card will let me play all released titles for at least another year. I also don't own a TV or dedicated sound system and use my PC for all my movie/TV watching and listening music.

In modern world you have to have Personal Computer with Internet connection, its not a question of buying console vs. PC its a question of buying console (and suitable TV) or putting extra money into your PC to make it suitable for gaming.

[Hoax]

I spent 350$ on my video card about a year ago, its still handles all titles I want to play. I'm planning upgrading early next year but not out of necessity, my guess is that my card will let me play all released titles for at least another year. I also don't own a TV or dedicated sound system and use my PC for all my movie/TV watching and listening music.

In modern world you have to have Personal Computer with Internet connection, its not a question of buying console vs. PC its a question of buying console (and suitable TV) or putting extra money into your PC to make it suitable for gaming.

Yeah not trying to make this consoles vrs PC thing any worse but I have to quote for truth here.  Once I upgrade to a really good surround speaker system I will only need the TV to occupy the gf and for the occasional watching of Smallville reruns while eating an early dinner while she's at school.  Otherwise the living room is really just a place I like to hang out in when company is over and its time for a drink.

[Merusk]

In modern world you have to have Personal Computer with Internet connection, its not a question of buying console vs. PC its a question of buying console (and suitable TV) or putting extra money into your PC to make it suitable for gaming.

Screwy visions of 'needing' a pc aside. (Wow all those poor folks sure are fucked.)  Only geeks look at upgrading their PCs on a regular basis.  Most people expect PCs to be like their TV.  You buy it and it works until it fries.  Younger folks understand upgrading, to a point, but really most people don't upgrade PCs beyond memory.  They're sure as hell  not debating "uh $320 for a video card, or an x-box..."

A computer is viewed as an appliance, the same as a TV, a washer or a microwave.  The folks who bought their PCs in the wave of purchases that happend from '98-2000 are probably still using them.  Expect them to be pissed when the '64 bit revolution happens and they don't understand why nothing works for them anymore.

Good thing the computer industry is indoctrinating the younger crowd to be immune to planned obsolescence early.  It makes life so much easier when you don't have to make a better product, because people will willingly pay the same price for a shitty one that lasts 1/3 as long as it should.   If only it worked so well for housing.

[sinij]

Screwy visions? Nowadays PC with Internet connection is as much a standard appliance as a refrigerator, dishwasher or microwave. People use PCs for news, entertainment, shopping and business. Often times PC replace entertainment centers and TVs.

Maybe not everyone in a redneck and bible belt owns one but everywhere else in civilized world people do. I don't know a single console owner that doesn't own or has direct and ready access to a personal computer and I'd guess that it is typical of any console owner. Consoles are really a case of redundant hardware with intentionally limited use, aside from corporations making extra money there isn’t a reason for them to exist in modern times.

[HaemishM]

You mean other than the whole not having to keep track of the tedious installation of asstons of drivers just to play the latest games? Or perhaps not having to worry about whether or not a game will work on your gaming machine because you don't know if one particular piece of hardware is incompatible or doesn't possess the right driver?

People play games on consoles because they just work (most of the time) without any extra effort from the user. So that the user actually gets to spend time playing games instead of fucking with drivers and optimizing video settings.

[Evangolis]

When consoles can download porn off the internet, home PCs will be in trouble.

[schild]

When consoles can download porn off the internet, home PCs will be in trouble.

The right ones can.

[Merusk]

Haemish made part of my point for me.  Also, most estimates have home PCs at 75% AT MOST.  That includes budget PCs from 5 years ago that WILL NOT run a lot of things these days. For comparison, 98.2% of homes have at least a television which - regardless of age - can run a Console (some may require a trip to Radio Shack, but can still do it.)

Again, you're out of touch.  Sorry, but you are. I don't live in the 'bible belt' or a redneck area, and I can find plenty of people without a PC or internet connectivity, but do have a console. Computers are expensive and tempermental machines.  They are not appliances by a longshot. Consoles are appliances.

[HaemishM]

Computers will be appliances when I can call someone out to my house to fix one and expect it to be done in an hour or less by someone without the snotty elitist attitude most computer technicians have about their work. Also, when I can see the crack of nerd ass bending over my malfunctioning PC.

PC's are a fucking bane of my existence. I love playing games on them, because they do offer a lot of freedom and options. BUT... they are hobbyist devices for most people. They make gaming painful sometimes, what with the bugs from lack of hardware standards (as opposed to just lazy programming) and the absolute pain in the ass when something goes bad on them.

[Sky]

Well, to be honest, the elitist attitude tends to stem from the fact that the reason you are there to repair something is because someone fucked something up via ignorance. That's my biggest gripe about pcs, they are FAR from ready for primetime, for grandma's house. It's why I don't have a side business, despite how exceedingly lucrative it could be, it's not worth the hassle.

And honestly, the idea of a 360 in my house has merit, I'm always wrestling with my 'cutting edge' (2 year old) monitor, which the 360 and PS3 support out of the box. PC devs need a neck punch. My problems aren't at all hardware related, really, just lazy programming. When you don't even include a way for me to hack resolution via registry, let alone config file...that's inexcusable. And why I get bitchy about it.

That's right, I've thought of buying the 360, despite my feelings toward consoles. Because I KNOW it'll work with my tv, every game. That's worth something. The entire reason I'm a computer tech is that I'm a computer gamer of ye olden schoole. Things were easier back in the C64 days (which was basically a programmable console, really). Ever since I got back into pc gaming in '93, it's been the boot disk dance (autoexec/config) and onward. Enough already.

[HaemishM]

You won't like a 360. They still have the jaggy's that you despise.

[schild]

You won't like a 360. They still have the jaggy's that you despise.

That's because you saw it on a LCD. Fixed pixel displays - ALWAYS - have jaggies. You can't judge that until you see it on a CRT or DLP.

[Merusk]

Well, to be honest, the elitist attitude tends to stem from the fact that the reason you are there to repair something is because someone fucked something up via ignorance. That's my biggest gripe about pcs, they are FAR from ready for primetime, for grandma's house. It's why I don't have a side business, despite how exceedingly lucrative it could be, it's not worth the hassle.

PC  techs are glorified mechanics and need to get the fuck over themselves.  I don't use 'em, but the level of specialized knowledge is no better than that.  And to say their job happens when someone fucked something up through ignorance is pretty much the same conditions as any other repairman gets called in.   However, because Computers are still held to some more magical and lofty place higher than an automobile, it conveys some sort of god complex to them.  I imagine the first mechanics were the same elitist pricks.. and now what a lofty place they hold in the 'job hierarchy.

[Sky]

You can't judge that until you see it on a CRT or DLP.

You mean CRT. Everything else is fixed pixel.

[schild]

You can't judge that until you see it on a CRT or DLP.

You mean CRT. Everything else is fixed pixel.

I've always found the spinning ring in DLP to help with the jaggies a bit more than the straight LCD does. Maybe it's because I see rainbows on it too, so everything else is less noticeable to me.

[Sky]

With good scene processing, the fixed pixels aren't bad. That's why I built a new computer 2 months after buying the tv. 1280x720 isn't really all that high resolution, really. The extra processing power to do fsaa/af really helps alot, and it seems something consoles tend to leave out.

[Valmorian]

I don't know a single console owner that doesn't own or has direct and ready access to a personal computer and I'd guess that it is typical of any console owner.

How many console+computer owners do you think have a computer that can't even remotely approach the gaming power of their console?  I'd guess a LOT.

[Dren]

What the hell?  Did you grief edit your own thread?  You made me look here again since I didn't know what the hell "Hello Kitty Fun House" was.  I thought it might be nice for my daughter.

Fooled me once.

[Simond]

Image from a GTA made for the PC.  Real cutting edge graphics there.

Actually, it was made for the Amiga and the Atari ST. The PC port was an afterthought.

[Jain Zar]

I don't know a single console owner that doesn't own or has direct and ready access to a personal computer and I'd guess that it is typical of any console owner.

How many console+computer owners do you think have a computer that can't even remotely approach the gaming power of their console?  I'd guess a LOT.

Hell, most Mac gamers are SERIOUS console players.  Because their computer does work things, and the consoles do the game thing.

I'm starting to think they are on to something there.

[AOFanboi]

Hell, most Mac gamers are SERIOUS console players.  Because their computer does work things, and the consoles do the game thing.

But it also does a WoW thing, and quite a few nice Myth things, and the occasional Civilization thing.

What it doesn't do is Internet Explorer trojans.

[Shockeye]

Hell, most Mac gamers are SERIOUS console players.  Because their computer does work things, and the consoles do the game thing.

But it also does a WoW thing, and quite a few nice Myth things, and the occasional Civilization thing.

What it doesn't do is Internet Explorer trojans.

It used to do a Shadowbane thing, I've heard.

[stray]

It's definitely not fun being a Mac gamer (or at least it wasn't for a good while there --- around 96 to 2003). I still just use mine for non gaming stuff, even though things have changed a bit.

[voodoolily]

Did the title of this thread get changed to lure me in? Well it worked. 

Before the betrothed and I moved in together (a year ago), the only PC I had access to was a 1999 iMac, which sucked for gaming in a very big way (I mostly just played the Myst series on it, and it was even kinda wonky). The computer was expressly for checking email and word processing (although I did have Photoshop and Illustrator for it). I tried to install more memory on it once, but it only had one card slot. Meh. I have a friend who has the uber Mac set-up, as most Mac folks do, but I can't afford all that powerbook g4 shit.

I think owning consoles has been my route because it's cheaper (when I buy platforms that've been out awhile), and I haven't found anywhere that rents PC games. Not very political. I don't think I miss out on much.  When I preorded Wind Waker, I got a coupon for a free copy of Starfox, Metroid Prime or SMS. Since I bought a Christmas special GC that came with SMS (a month after the holidays), I basically got three games for the price of one and a new console at after-release savings. But I'm also the person who hits the grocery store the day after Valentine's Day to score boxes of chocolate-covered cherries at 50% off. Bargain-shopping ftw. I don't know how to do that with a PC (since I'm tech-challenged).