Console vs PC gaming?

[Lazerface]

TBH I never seen many FF games on PC except for those that were re-releases or MMOs or in the case of the upcoming FFXV. But I don't which is better. I can name the pros and cons of each. Gaming PC's are too damn expensive and hefty in the hardware requirement department and Consoles aren't that modifiable and contain lower graphic resolutions. But they are simple to use and PC games are pretty modifiable and have more powerful graphics. I got both but I'm slowing finding myself more at the mercy of Console since I got DMC HD collection and Zone of the Enders HD collection. Which do you guys prefer and why?

[Ayen]

Consoles. Grew up with them and am more comfortable with a controller than a keyboard. I've played a few PC games in the past, and there are some genres like RTS games that I prefer on the PC, but overall I'd rather stick to consoles.

[Bolivar]

Completely different beasts and along with handhelds are a mutually exclusive triumvirate for me, as the games I play on them have little to no overlap. I play on PC for moddable WRPGs, strategy games, and the addicting multiplayer outlets like Dota/Counter-Strike/MMOS who rack up play times like no other. AAA Action and narrative-based games I play on console, as they're usually better optimized with fewer bugs and much more tactile feedback, as programmed for the console controllers. Handhelds are my machines for indies, JRPGs, and smaller scale experiences overall.

The idea that consoles are technologically inferior to PCs is a very qualified statement that just simply does not apply to the reality of most PC gamers. I remember when someone interviewed Mark Rein of Epic Games, the creators of Unreal Engine, asking whether the next-gen consoles can even compete with what's available with PC hardware, he laughed and said that from the metrics his company sees, most of Steam's profiles are using the integrated graphics chips included on their laptop CPUs. Even on the publicly available consumer metrics (http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/), the majority of people on Steam are using graphics cards with 1GB or less of VRAM. When you look on Twitch or elsewhere, the most widely played games are consistently the least demanding, ie - League of Legends, WoW, Dota 2, Hearthstone, Minecraft, etc. High-end components will always vastly outpace anything consoles could manage but the enthusiasts who build and upgrade their own rigs are a very small niche of an already marginal enclave.

[Spuuky]

I can easily play any PC game with a controller. I can play any PC game with an HDTV. I do both of these things often. I just see no reason to play consoles, except for console-exclusive games (handhelds are another matter entirely).

My PC costs more than a console (although not as much more as you might think), but it's not like I can just go without a PC anyway; and I can go without a console. A PC is an all-purpose machine that also happens to be great at playing games, and has none of the limitations of a console.

And nothing pisses me off more than games with menus/controls/etc that have to be bastardized for console support. Thank you, Pillars of Eternity and Divinity: Original Sin, for what you have done for me.

[Pike]

Honestly I'll play on either; although much of what Spuuky said applies to me as well these days. I always have a computer anyway, so I'm not exactly spending extra for the ability to game. And I play many of my PC games with a controller. Plus, my favorite genre is strategy, and the best of those are on PC because they basically require mouse/keyboard.

I do love me some handhelds though.

[Galuf]

ive been on consoles for forever. i would play some pc games but i never had a computer good enough to run them.

a good thing about consoles are. you rarely ever see lag offline. but with pc lag and crashing can happen all the time when you dont have a good enough proccesor or stuff.

[Lazerface]

^^True. That and I notice more bugs and glitches in pc games. My laptop isn't really meant to run games but the ones I do want on steam would be FFIV and Wasteland 2. But I can say that consoles do have exclusives and hard copies. I actually prefer hard copies to soft ones.

[escobert]

I don't own a single console. PC all the way.

[Electroshock Therapy]

My PC being a game machine? Hahahaha!

Console for me. I grew up with SNES and N64, and I still love the good old console. Besides, most of the games I love aren't on PC (legally).

[Rez09]

I generally prefer console gaming, however I'm not especially concerned either way -- I'll play on both without complaint. The majority of titles I enjoy, however, are console games from the mid 80s to the mid 2000s, and most of those I'd rather play on a console than emulate.

[Pumpkin]

Much much much prefer consoles

[Vyk]

Like the other PC gamers already spoken. When I game on PC I usually do it in a console style environment. Keyboard and mouse wrecks my wrists. Controller all the way. I would only choose PC for the fact that most indie titles either start or end there and all my favorite Kickstarter games. But I still super enjoy things consoles and handhelds offer that are not available on PC. If I had to choose I would likely go with consoles for those experiences

[Shauna]

Both. Both is good.

[escobert]

As a strictly PC gamer, I HATE controllers. I rarely use them unless I'm playing FF, Madden or a racing game. None of which I play very often. I can't use an analog stick to save my life.

[Psychotic]

I live in backwards world, where my Xbox 360's main use is YouTube and Netflix player and I hook my Laptop into the same TV with an Xbox 360 controller to play games.

[Fox]

Playing with a controller is best with a lot of games.

This is why I play on PC! Which is perfectly compatible with many controllers. The only technical advantage consoles have ever had is their simplicity so you could just quickly pick up and play. But with the simplification of PC gaming (through Steam, GOG etc) and the complication of console gaming (Your console requires an update. Please log into PSN. Your game requires an update. Installing game. Please log into uPlay. uPlay requires an update), the only reason to use a console these days is because there's a game on it that isn't on PC/has a terrible port. Or price, I guess, a good rig is certainly more expensive than a console (although games are cheaper).

So yeah, I like gaming wherever good games are don't get me wrong. But the same game on a choice of platform? PC about 95% of the time.

[Del Murder]

I prefer consoles because I am used to it and they are more user-friendly. I also really enjoy the exclusives. In fact probably 100% of the Wii games I own are exclusive to that console. Nintendo and Sony just happen to be stellar publishers so it makes the most sense for me to play the games on their systems.

I see the benefit of PC gaming and admit that it is probably the way to go to get the most out of the multi-platform games, but it just isn't for me. I have a fine experience with those games on PS3/PS4.

[Spuuky]

There are, of course, also PC-exclusive games which are actually better than most console-exclusive games, but I understand that this is somewhat a matter of taste.

[Lazerface]

I do like Steam though. Good for always being able to hold onto your games but I prefer hard copies. Yeah you should see the prices on gaming pc's. No gaming rig in my thought should cost more than $400, it's crazy and then you have to upgrade it whenever it can't play the newest games on pc. It's hectic with pcs but I still like em overall and would rather stick to pc gaming (if I could afford it).

[Spuuky]

What makes you pick that arbitrary price point? I could almost build a PS4-quality PC for $400 but I'd have to cut a couple corners. My gaming PC was $750 and has lasted 4 years so far. And, of course, it's my everything-else PC, too.

[Slothy]

If most people knew how little I spent building and upgrading my PC over the last seven or so years they'd probably shit themselves and assume I stole things.

[Fox]

My PC was £1500 in 2012. So that's probably around $2500 in your American fun bucks. It's still a good PC today, I can run pretty much everything at a steady 60 fps, but I am just starting to need to drop one or two settings down.

Still, I don't regret a thing. I could have got something as good for less if I could have bothered building it myself rather than getting a specialist to do it.

[Psychotic]

I think the whole "Pick up and play" advantage for consoles was eroded with the advent of mandatory installation for consoles.

The only real advantages I can think of for consoles are parity for multiplayer in that everybody has the same system - you don't need to arse about with quality settings, we all get the same experience and for multiplayer nobody has an advantage due to having a better machine. Latency will always be a thing regardless though. I also think that the voice chat system on consoles is preferable to something like Teamspeak. I know someone will disagree with me on that, but from an all-in-one convenience perspective it can't be beaten.

From a sentimental point of view though I have a special place in my heart for console gaming.

[Pike]

I think the whole "Pick up and play" advantage for consoles was eroded with the advent of mandatory installation for consoles.

This x 100. Maybe it's because I'm an old fart. See, back when consoles were stuff like, you know - the NES, SNES, Genesis, N64 etc., I truly honestly preferred consoles because they were so damn easy. You plugged the cartridge in, turned the thing on, and off you went! It was wonderfully easy!

Then memory cards showed up, and then console dashboards showed up, then having to make accounts for things like Xbox Live or whatever showed up, then sitting around for 20 minutes waiting for the Xbox to update showed up, and "oh look this game you just bought won't play on your Xbox because you don't have a big enough hard drive, SURPRISE" and I don't know.

I still play consoles, I have wonderful memories with them and I don't have a beef with them whatsoever but it's so much easier for me to just pull up Steam, hit install, plug in a controller and go.

If consoles were still truly plug-and-play, my tune might be different. But as it is, I'm an old fart, and Steam is easier to understand. ^^;

[DanielCLFFF13]

TBH I never seen many FF games on PC except for those that were re-releases or MMOs or in the case of the upcoming FFXV. But I don't which is better. I can name the pros and cons of each. Gaming PC's are too damn expensive and hefty in the hardware requirement department and Consoles aren't that modifiable and contain lower graphic resolutions. But they are simple to use and PC games are pretty modifiable and have more powerful graphics. I got both but I'm slowing finding myself more at the mercy of Console since I got DMC HD collection and Zone of the Enders HD collection. Which do you guys prefer and why?
Eh? Final Fantasy XV come to PC??

For me, I prefer to have both console and PC, they have their own advantages. But I just have PC :(

But still I love both, if you compare console and PC, you won't notice any different. I mean the only major different is, PC provide you with more graphic and mod, console got more exclusive and more dev support. I'll try to explain one by one, in my own opinion.
Unlike console, PC don't have any solid manufacturer, while Playstation from Sony and Xbox from Microsoft. Nintendo from Nintendo.
For PC, most known Graphic card creator are (as far as I know) AMD and Nvidia. while for processor Intel from Microsoft, see PC don't have any fixed creator.
Playstation, Xbox and Nintendo got so many exclusive compare to PC. I'm gonna list some that I know of.
Note : if any of you know anything else about the console exclusives, do edit this post ;)
Another note : I'll list some handhels game too, edit if you know some more ;)
Playstation :
-Infamous series
-The Last of Us
-Uncharted series
-Valkyria Chronicles series
-Yakuza series
-Beyond Two Souls
-The Order : 1886
-Crisis Core : Final Fantasy VII
Note : I don't know if Persona, The Last Guardian, exclusive for Playstation or not, if so please edit ;)
Xbox :
-Quantum Break
-Sunset Overdrive
-Halo series (except for Spartan Assault)
-Gears of War 2, 3 and Judgment
-Forza series
Note : again if you guys knows anything about the Xbox exclusive games, do edit ;)
Nintento :
-Mario series (most of)
-Sonic series (most of)
-Legend of Zelda
-Bravely default and Second
-Metroid series
Note: edit if you know more Nintendo exclusive game ;)
While PC, I don't think there's many of them, as far as I know though :D

Yes, if you're talking about Graphic, PC could be called better. But for exclusive, No.
IF I could I would love to own console too, but I can't.
So my point is, I love all platform :) (even I don't own console :crying:)

But this is my opinion :)

[Vyk]

What makes you pick that arbitrary price point? I could almost build a PS4-quality PC for $400 but I'd have to cut a couple corners. My gaming PC was $750 and has lasted 4 years so far. And, of course, it's my everything-else PC, too.
I've always taken statements like this to be nothing more than "PC Master Race" tripe people spew to make console fans feel bad. Your opinion, however, I trust. But I do have to call it into question, because I've looked into building my own PC a couple of times just to save a few bucks and/or end up with something powerful cheaper. And it never works out quite as advertised. I've looked into a few different websites, and in order to get anything "better than console" I end up coming out with figures closer to $700. Cases are expensive, processors are expensive, GPUs are expensive, The cheapest side of things is like power supplies and stuff and DVD-Roms. But in order to be "better" than consoles you need a blu-ray rom now, and probably a solid state drive. Which is also expensive. And if you want anything more on the beastly end, there doesn't seem to be any way to stay under $1,000. Not to mention adding any version of Windows usually jacks up the price a good $70 - 100 out of the gate :/

Teach me. Please. I'm looking to upgrade or expand, but from my perspective it's just cheaper to buy a pre-built mid-level gaming rig. And that alone tends to run around $5 - 600

[Bolivar]

A GTX 750 Ti will get you in the door for about $150 or less. It's been said to be a step above the Xbox One and even outperforms the PS4 in some cases. That probably won't hold in the future as devs continue to optimize both consoles. But it's an efficient card too meaning you won't need a crazy power supply or extra cooling.

But Spuuky's right in that you will have to cut corners, namely a cheap motherboard, case, CPU, its stock cooler, and not a lot of ram. A monitor probably brings you over the console price if you're not recycling.

You can actually get a legit key for any Windows version you want for as low as $15 from the Microsoft Software Swap on Reddit. They got Office and all kinds of stuff, too, it's awesome :D

[Mirage]

There is no versus for me. I play games on any system.

[Spuuky]

Does the monitor count? No one adds the price of the TV to their console, right?

Stuff like cases... well, I can easily get cases for free, cases are all the same to me and people just throw them away with the rest of their old PC, it's not like they go bad. My mouse is a free mouse and my keyboard was $5.

You're going to end up with some specs that aren't great - 4GB of RAM isn't what people think of a "gaming PC" as for instance, but there aren't many games you can't run with that - stuff like the Witcher 3 being the exception. The video card is the bulk of the cost really; A SSD is like $50 now, RAM you can get for $20-30 potentially, etc. I don't even have a functional DVD drive, that's definitely a corner I'd cut personally for instance, since I download everything.

It just depends on the sacrifices you're willing to make and the benchmarks you need to hit, but, I'd be more inclined to spend $700 to make it last longer, yes. I'm not saying I'd recommend a $400 PC, just that you CAN do it.

[Mirage]

It counts if they don't want their PC to take up space in their living room.

[Spuuky]

Why would you not want that? My PC IS my living room :|

[Mirage]

Yeah i know but some people are crazy

[Vyk]

Guess I've just been looking at it wrong then. Not really looking to create a PC to just "get by" with, which kinda defeats the whole purpose, but yeah, 8 and 16 gigs of ram is a little unnecessary (and still surprisingly expensive) for these days. And if/when I get or make a new PC it's going to be an HTPC, resolution may not be stellar, but I see no reason to not use my TV. I have my laptop plugged into it half the time already anyway. So yeah, monitors are retarded expensive too. If I had to concede to getting one, I'd probably get one second hand from a friend or get a used one off ebay or amazon

But at least I can see how a $700 built PC would outpace a premade one. And not so much unnecessary bloatware to have to remove upon setup..

[Mirage]

16 GB RAM might be a little unnecessary, but 8 GB isn't. PC monitors may be expensive, but they are also one of the longest lasting devices you use with a PC. I expect my current displays to last at least 5 more years, and they're 3 years old already.

What is the resolution of your TV anyway? If it's a 720p display, you'll get away with an even cheaper PC setup to get way more than the current gen consoles can do.

[Spuuky]

My TV actually cost more than all the rest of my PC combined. I got it 5 years ago, and it's a 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and it's aged totally unblemished since then. What a great piece of machinery.

[Mirage]

I just hope my 1080p plasma TV lasts until OLED 4k 50" TVs are reasonably cheap...

[Pike]

This is the way I see it: I'm going to own a decent desktop computer anyway because I can't imagine life without one and I use it for work, socializing, etc. For me I think it costs about the same to upgrade that base computer into a "gaming PC" as it would cost to buy a new console.

That said I usually end up owning both anyway. I just use the PC a lot more.

[Mirage]

What pike says.

The difference between a "decent" all-purpose desktop PC and a gaming PC that can do more than the current consoles can do is usually less than what a current console costs.

After all, you just need a good graphics card, a slightly better CPU, and maybe 50% more RAM.

[Slothy]

And to be honest, RAM is so cheap it barely warrants consideration.

[Mirage]

I need 16 GB anyway when I juggle photoshop and lightroom :p, which is more than any current game would need

[Vyk]

RAM used to be dirt cheap, bit went back up to ridiculous prices recently. Due to some flood or fire in some chinese or japanese company. I can't remember the story, a friend explained it to me. May have even been an earthquake or tsunami in japan. But either way prices for RAM and hard drives were crazy. Last time I checked they still were a little weirdly high. They may have fallen again recently but I dunno

[escobert]

If most people knew how little I spent building and upgrading my PC over the last seven or so years they'd probably trout themselves and assume I stole things.

same here. I maybe send $100 a year upgrading. I really never have issues running things. And I by no means have anything close to state of the art.

I use a 32" LCD Sony tv for my main monitor. 22" Samsung for a second display.

[Slothy]

RAM used to be dirt cheap, bit went back up to ridiculous prices recently. Due to some flood or fire in some chinese or japanese company. I can't remember the story, a friend explained it to me. May have even been an earthquake or tsunami in japan. But either way prices for RAM and hard drives were crazy. Last time I checked they still were a little weirdly high. They may have fallen again recently but I dunno

Hmm, they are much higher than they used to be. Probably about double what they were last time I put together a PC for anyone. They'll undoubtedly fall again though if the reason for the increase is something relatively short term like a flood or an earthquake.



If most people knew how little I spent building and upgrading my PC over the last seven or so years they'd probably trout themselves and assume I stole things.

same here. I maybe send $100 a year upgrading. I really never have issues running things. And I by no means have anything close to state of the art.

I use a 32" LCD Sony tv for my main monitor. 22" Samsung for a second display.

Yeah, last time I did any major upgrades I got a new motherboard, RAM and CPU. Spent maybe $300-350 tops and it wasn't even me spending it really. Just asked the parents for some parts for Christmas. The real kicker is that I didn't really need to upgrade anything really. I could still run any game I wanted just fine, but it had been 5 or so years since I originally built my PC and the i5's and i7's were just too damn good at the time to pass up. Before that I spent maybe $250 replacing my graphics card because the old one had died. I never go absolutely top of the line there, but for that price you can get something with plenty of performance to last five or more years and not break the bank.

Everything else, my case, power supply, monitor: they've all been going strong since I built the original computer. I imagine I'll replace those too in the next couple of years, but they've lasted me basically the life of any console, and I will probably get a fair amount more out of them yet.

[Vyk]

This sure turned into an informative thread. At least its helpful about it rather than just elitist pc master race jibber jabber you'd get anywhere else. I realize it's basically a thread hi-jack, but I for one appreciate all the info

[escobert]

RAM used to be dirt cheap, bit went back up to ridiculous prices recently. Due to some flood or fire in some chinese or japanese company. I can't remember the story, a friend explained it to me. May have even been an earthquake or tsunami in japan. But either way prices for RAM and hard drives were crazy. Last time I checked they still were a little weirdly high. They may have fallen again recently but I dunno

Hmm, they are much higher than they used to be. Probably about double what they were last time I put together a PC for anyone. They'll undoubtedly fall again though if the reason for the increase is something relatively short term like a flood or an earthquake.



If most people knew how little I spent building and upgrading my PC over the last seven or so years they'd probably trout themselves and assume I stole things.

same here. I maybe send $100 a year upgrading. I really never have issues running things. And I by no means have anything close to state of the art.

I use a 32" LCD Sony tv for my main monitor. 22" Samsung for a second display.

Yeah, last time I did any major upgrades I got a new motherboard, RAM and CPU. Spent maybe $300-350 tops and it wasn't even me spending it really. Just asked the parents for some parts for Christmas. The real kicker is that I didn't really need to upgrade anything really. I could still run any game I wanted just fine, but it had been 5 or so years since I originally built my PC and the i5's and i7's were just too damn good at the time to pass up. Before that I spent maybe $250 replacing my graphics card because the old one had died. I never go absolutely top of the line there, but for that price you can get something with plenty of performance to last five or more years and not break the bank.

Everything else, my case, power supply, monitor: they've all been going strong since I built the original computer. I imagine I'll replace those too in the next couple of years, but they've lasted me basically the life of any console, and I will probably get a fair amount more out of them yet.

yeah, I had been running a core 2 quad up until 9 months ago or so. I paid around 200 for a MSI motherboard, the best i3 available and 8gb of RAM. I got a 1000watt power supply and fancy rosewill case the year before. Still running my old MSIgtx480. I've thought about upgrading that but its still more than powerful enough for what I play. I do want to get a i7 this year and a ssd. Maybe double my ram.

[Bolivar]

Hmm, they are much higher than they used to be. Probably about double what they were last time I put together a PC for anyone. They'll undoubtedly fall again though if the reason for the increase is something relatively short term like a flood or an earthquake.

The bigger issue is that we're in a weird transition time when DDR3 is being phased out, so prices aren't going to get any lower via economies of scale, since production will only decline. DDR4, meanwhile, still has quite a premium on it and adoption will be slow since an X99 motherboard and compatible CPU are similarly expensive. It's going to be a while.

Still, you can get away with a weaker processor and less RAM since games generally are not constricted by either. The only games that actually push system hardware, the Witchers, Metros, and Crysi of the industry are few and far between and there's such a huge gap between them and everything else that people actually play on their PCs. Honestly, one might be okay for multiplatform games with one of the weaker systems we're talking about, since the consoles are running tablet CPUs and have very little memory to allocate to the system.

That said, once developers start really nailing optimization with their second or third game, you're going to need considerably higher hardware to match console performance. John Carmack once infamously stated (https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/436012673243693056) that PCs need roughly double the specs of consoles to hit similar benchmarks. That's why I think there is still some validity to your original impressions, Vyk, because if someone builds a cost-cutting PC, they open themselves to being left behind or having to make several interdependent upgrades rather quickly. If someone really wants to surpass consoles, maxing out games and going beyond 1080p or 60Hz (or both), you really have to commit on a $1k+ machine that will hold up on its own for a few years, and then a few years after that via easy upgrades and overclocking.

At least that's why I did :hahahano:

[Lazerface]

I think that PC master race crap is what gives us few pc gamers a bad name. We shouldn't be doing that it just makes us sound conceited and arrogant. It'll make all of our arguments just be illogical and stupid if keep calling ourselves the pc master race and then call those who use consoles "peasants". I have both and love both equally, I can pros and cons of both. But to say call anyone who uses pc or console better than the other is just straight up stupid and not necessary. I can say that pride will come before the fall. Eventually that little PC elitist or Console bureaucrat will find that someone from either side will best them in games and they might just regret saying they're better than everyone else.

[Spuuky]

Yeah, I guess RAM is $60 now instead of $30.

[Vyk]

Yeah, I guess RAM is $60 now instead of $30.
I may have to re-investigate, but it was like $80 for a stick when I looked and going 8gigs of RAM was like $120 or something. So going state of the art was like a $300 investment just for RAM. But again, I was trying to outpace consoles and my current computer at everything, rather than focusing on a GPU and then just getting by with the rest. So its likely I wasn't looking at the right cards for my intentions and I was being mildly unreasonable in my expectations

[Spuuky]

Since I played such a large role in derailing this, I should clarify: If I could afford a console, I'd still get a console, especially for exclusive games. PC is just my choice if I'm forced to choose.

[Carl the Llama]

Both. Both is good.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[escobert]

I will buy my kids consoles if they want them. Or my dad. But I will never personally get one for myself again.

[Skyblade]

I'm a little disappointed that there's no "handheld" option, because that would get my vote.

[Mirage]

a handheld console is a console!

[Leigh]

Pick the one with the games that appeal the most to you. It seems that people argue because they are having to justify their economic decision more than anything. The experience, with the exception of the more technical elements of modding, are essentially the same. Box of light - press a button - visual stimuli of the ages. If we want to compare different mediums - then throw a holdeck into the equation and then I can start to take the discussion semi-seriously. :D

[Iceglow]

Depends on the game to be honest. If I'm playing something like an FPS I actually prefer the controls of a 360 controller because they feel more natural to me. Sorry PC master race but your keyboard and mouse controls aren't as intuitive as you'd have people believe. My 360 controller offers me greater control and triggers what make sense when shooting.

If however, I'm playing an RTS or City Builder then it's more intuitive to use a mouse as it gives a level of precision I find useful.

As for me, I play games on both my laptop and my 360 equally. However, my expenditure for my next gaming device will be a Xbox One not a Gaming PC.

[Pike]

Depends on the game to be honest. If I'm playing something like an FPS I actually prefer the controls of a 360 controller because they feel more natural to me. Sorry PC master race but your keyboard and mouse controls aren't as intuitive as you'd have people believe. My 360 controller offers me greater control and triggers what make sense when shooting.

You know you can just plug a 360 controller into your PC right? That's how I play a lot of my PC games :p

[Iceglow]

Depends on the game to be honest. If I'm playing something like an FPS I actually prefer the controls of a 360 controller because they feel more natural to me. Sorry PC master race but your keyboard and mouse controls aren't as intuitive as you'd have people believe. My 360 controller offers me greater control and triggers what make sense when shooting.

You know you can just plug a 360 controller into your PC right? That's how I play a lot of my PC games :p

I could, if I had a wired controller. It's on my to-buy list.

[Pike]

You can also get a device that plugs into the computer and it detects your wireless controller. I have one of those and it works great!

[Vyk]

You can only get the generic ones these days, which aren't generally auto-detected, but just about every page that sells one on Amazon has a "how-to" on getting it up and running, and they're generally only like $10 or so. I've wanted one, but I always had a wired controller as back-up since before the charge and play kits were a thing so it's always been a non-issue with me. But one of those would be nice to have

[escobert]

I paid $29.99 for my black wired 360 controller.

[Shiny]

It depends on the type of game. Shooting games like Quake and Adventure Games like Maniac Mansion are fine on the PC. Other types of games, I'd only like playing on console with a controller. The dynamics of the keyboard bother me especially if I'm playing sports games. I had a controller that connected to HDMI for computer, but it never worked. For games that can be heavily modded like The Sims or Skyrim I prefer PC because you get more out of them than you would if it was on a console. Ultimately I prefer console though slightly more because I don't like using up a ton of space on my computer for games because I have ton of other stuff on here that's more important, but don't mind using up the 120gigs of space on my console's hard drive.

[Mirage]

if you connected the controller to hdmi, it's not too strange that it didn't work :p

[Shiny]

if you connected the controller to hdmi, it's not too strange that it didn't work :p
It was actually a vga controller, not HDMI. I tried connecting it to the VGA input on the PC. This was a while ago though so that controller most likely wouldn't work at all with the newer computer.

[Mirage]

I don't think there is any way a game controller plug would physically fit into a VGA port. Maybe you used a game port. Those are similar but about twice as wide as a VGA port. It'd have to be a pretty old computer because those game ports haven't been much in use since USB became common.

[Spuuky]

There are a lot of D-Sub ports that look pretty much like VGA ports which could have been used for a controller (but the actual VGA port wouldn't work).

[Mirage]

I guess. Those are still pretty rare though, at least on consumer PCs. In either case, I can't remember the last time I saw a PC gaming peripheral that didn't use USB.

edit:
Actually I can. I had a MS Sidewinder joystick that I got for christmas around... 2001 perhaps. That used that game port thingie, and came with an adapter for USB.

[Iceglow]

Going to get myself a 360 official wired controller this week guys it's cool It'll do my 360 and my laptop then and I can then even do a Paul... play a game on my laptop through my TV via my xbox controller.

[Bolivar]

I will say the future, as of right now, looks a whole lot brighter for PC gaming than it does for console. It seems like all the hyped console games are either western AAA action titles and curated indie titles. PC just does a much better job filling in the space in between and the games I'm looking forward to a whole lot more diverse than what I see on deck for consoles in 2015.

[escobert]

I'm going to have to upgrade my graphics card here shortly. My mini hdmi slot is crapping out on me. Think I'll go for the 660 and use my 480 for PhysX

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8556620&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&utm_source=Linkshare&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=kQ2kZjHcXDM&AffiliateID=kQ2kZjHcXDM-WmNrEpurMkHFFKbZW6xBfg

[Christmas]

PC Gaming! You can cheat and get mods more easily! :bigsmile: