Slapnut's Weekly Top Five: Why PC gaming is superior to Consoles

Another edition of Slapnut's Weekly Top Five is live for your reading pleasure.  Tonight's topic is the long debated PC gaming vs. console gaming, and how PC gaming is superior.  This will be the first of two parts as next week I will take the opposite stance and see what kind of objections and support we can come up with for each side.

I got to thinking tonight about when I first started gaming, way back in the Atari days.  While my gaming days may have started on a console, I didn't really get heavy into PC gaming until I bought my first PC in 1997.  Since then I probably favor PC gaming about 60-40.  My years playing Counter Strike and Team Fortress account for a good chunk of that.  I asked myself what makes PC gaming better than playing on consoles and these were the key points I came up with.

5.  Customization, mods, and add-ons

Some of the best PC games have sprouted up as mods of other games.  Just on the Valve end there is Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, Gary's Mod, Team Fortress.  Try making mods of your Xbox 360 games in hopes of it becoming a stand along product, not happening.  Many PC games allow for customizations like skins, new UIs and graphical enhancements.  Good luck making those changes on a console.  Generally what you get when it comes out is what you will always have game wise.  And if there are additions to console games, generally you have to pay for them vs. being free on the PC.


4.  Upgradable Hardware

Not having to buy a brand new system to play the next generation of games is a huge advantage when it comes to PC games.  Do you want to play Halo 3, or Metal Gear 4?  Go buy a new console.  Playing Starcraft 2 and Halo 2 isn't nearly as difficult or expensive.  Sure you may need to make hardware upgrades from at times to keep up with the curve, or you can often just run games at lower settings.  Plus the fact that your PC is used for many other things besides games make any kind of upgrade even more valuable.  When your Xbox 360 is on the fritz or RROD'ing there isn't much you can do to fix it.  If you PC is acting up, swap in some hardware and you are good to go.


3.  FPS, MMOs & RTS

First person shooters, massively multiplayer online games and real-time strategy games are all superior on a PC.  FPS games are my favorite genre and everyone knows the best FPS titles are on PC.  Consoles have yet to do a really successful MMO.  RTS games on a console, with their simplified controls, is usually a mess.  Analog sticks will never be a worthy replacement over a mouse.


2.  Keyboard and Mouse

There is no substitute for the accuracy of a mouse and the control depth of a keyboard.  Most controllers have no more than 10 or so buttons for various controls.  You could cut your keyboard in thirds and still have more buttons than that.  Aiming with an analog stick is like cutting prime rib with a spoon.  You wouldn't cut your steak with a spoon when an amazing knife, as seen on the right, is available would you?  1:1 positioning with a mouse is far superior than arbitrary locations with a analog stick


1.  Better Graphics

This is a given.  Better hardware leads to higher quality graphics.  More eye candy, more anti-aliasing, higher resolutions and a greater frame rate.  60 frames per second is often "quality" on a console title.  60 frames per second is merely average on a PC.  Nearly every single game that sees a console and a PC release looks better on the PC (except when devs do ****ty ports to the PC).  I can game in 1920x1200 on my PC, or I can play at 1280x720 (few console games support 1080p) on my PS3.  With the rate of graphics cards updates consoles just can't compete graphically for the long haul. 

These are the five main reasons I feel PC gaming is superior to consoles.  Next week however I give out some console love and I will tackle the five reasons consoles reign supreme. 

Any thoughts, comments or questions, lets hear them.