Why i don't like hardcore PC gamers.

Many internet arguments later and I find one thing that stands out. I really don't like hardcore PC gamers.

Unfortunately the majority of things i hear from PC gamer's is through the internet. which isn't a great start for getting an good opinion. As the majority of the internet is some of the worst attitude people you can imagine. Hell, it's the internet. What do you expect...

I think it pretty much developed recently since the announcement of the PS4 and the displaying of it's hardware. Most of the PC gamers were laughing, saying "it's not even out yet and it's out of date"



Reason 1: The PS4 is out of date hardware

The PS4 hasn't even been seen by the public and it's out of date. But what's the problem PC gamers? If you look at what it has and what it's capable, it's not 'out of date' compared to what's available, and within a reasonable price bracket.*

*It features an 8 core cpu from AMD, a GPU that is similar to the radeon range we see today. 8 GB of GDDR5 ram that is shared by the processor and GPU. An ARM processor for background proccessing for background downloading and video saves. A large hard disk, and hopefully the OS will run on something like a small internal SSD. 

But PC gamers rejoyced, and it was noted from the video footage people were saying 'it isnt much of a jump in a generation' but this was in relation to what can be done on a PC. PC graphics cards can cost up-to £1000, 3x the price of what the PS4 will probably cost. It might not be the top of the range hardware but it will be able to compete with PC gaming for a while after it comes out, why?

Because it has 8gb of GDDR5 ram, an 8 core cpu and will be optimization as hell. The ps4's performance comes from the following reasons;

It will be limited to 1080p for games, full HD tv resolution, a solid 60fps, which will mean, considering pc games run on high end machines with 100 fps or more, it allows for the downscale from the PC, to actually keep the details that might have other wise been removed for performance issues.

No PC has 8gb of GGDR5 ram, this is the equivalent of the upgrade from HDD to SSD in terms of performance, it's RAM thats currently only seen in graphics cards.

Just look at what happened to the PS3, that thing has only 512mb of RAM, 256 system and 256 gpu ram, and it has been used to create some amazing games. Because people learnt how to develop for the system.




Reason 2: Exclusive Jealousy 

Speaking of the PS3, another reason why i hate PC gamer's is because of their attitude towards consoles. Yes, it's dated, but thats because it's been out for a while, with anything thats out for a period of time, it becomes 'dated' because thats what time does.

I've heard PC gamers bitch at companies like Naughty Dog and their game The Last of Us because it's a PS3 game and they don't make games for PC, basically somebody was calling them shit for developing for the shit console. Was roughly their words.

I've also heard people say "All console games should be for PC". This is just plain stupid. If you have no exclusive reason why people should invest into your technical ecosystem then how would companies sell their products over the competition? Well, this one is called an Xbox, and this one is called a Playstation. There is no more of a reason to buy one over the other, they all have the same games. It's just comes down to a decision if you like Green and Black or Blue and Black.

Sony owns at least 12 studios that they fund, and help develop games with each other, including when smaller companies are commissioned to do projects, like That Game Company. Why would Sony give up that huge advantage and just give their games away to the competition. I don't understand some of these peoples brain waves.


Reason 3: PC Gamers are baffled to why all people aren't primarily PC gamers.

This always reminds me of religion, "Our religion is the best, I don't understand why people don't want to believe in our God, with our rules, and our community"

They just don't understand why people play consoles, when PC games are so much better quality and cheaper, right? It makes no sense.

Well, this one is an easy question, and goes back to the reason before, about exclusivity, it's part of the reason why people want to say part of a certain community. You watch series one of Red Dwarf on BBC2 in 1987, you're going to come back to BBC2 for series 2, etc. Though now it's shown on Dave, so not a great point. But whatever!

Other, more solid reasons, is a games console is primarily made for games. PC's are not, even gaming specific PC's are subjective, objectively it is still just a PC, where it's main task is to be a PC, which doesn't mean been a gaming system. I turn a console on and i'm pretty much in a game without any real effort, you can even start up the console to automatically boot strait to the game.

A console is almost always played on a TV screen, opposite a bed or a couch, a comfort zone which isn't as desirable as a PC chair. Which is another point;

Lot's of people work at a PC, whether it's at home or in a workplace, the last thing most people want to do is be sat in the same chair staring at a PC, hunched over a keyboard 1ft away from a PC screen, potentially covered in sneeze, you know who you are.

The use of a controller and the ability to have 4 players playing a game in the living room at once is really almost exclusive to the console experience. Sure you can use a controller with a PC, you can hook a PC up to a TV if you want, but most people aren't really into that. Maybe when the steambox comes out?

And that's another point. Cost. Not everyone wants to buy a PC, if you really want one that's all singing and dancing, it's a lot of money all at once, some people do it over a period of time. But those who purchase a console are bypassing high costs, and the added ease of use and luxuries of playing a console.

Reason 4: This is the last generation of consoles


This one is partially not aimed at pc gamers, but they keep saying it as well. It really is too early to tell this information. But i find it to be nonsense, people will always want to play games, and people will want to play on their tv, on a couch, with a controller. The PS4 is pc hardware but is still a console, so why would there not be another form of a playstation? ever? So Sony are just going to give up their 12+ award-winning studios and one of the biggest gaming brands ever? There is no reason to believe today, that there wont be a sucessor to the PS4, it might not come straight away, because silicon is getting obsolete and limited, so it could well be a gap between the playstation 4 and playstation 5, it's just a waiting game to see if new technology can really allow for that investment. The last thing Sony would want is for the gap to be so big that they loose their studios which make them unique. But who knows, the next 3 years might see technology innovation really make or break how we use computers.


Reason 5: Those exclusives you hold so dear will be Emulated on PC

People who say this have no idea on how emulation works, 3D emulation is probably one of the hardest things to reproduce, and is irrelevant to the power of current hardware, because it's just so hard to recreate. The people making these emulators are skilled hobbyists, but it really does take them years to get close to something usable. I remember waiting years for a Playstation one emulator to work, you can get them now, however the quality is still not a perfect emulation, it's complex because it takes not only time to build an emulator that acts like a Console, but also takes longer to get the games working, it really is that hard to get right. as each game uses different techniques based on the Hardware and the engine that it's built on. Which is why when you check an emulators settings, it has different 'filters'(probably the best words to use) and these are created by individuals, and won't work with every game.

3D is complicated because it's much harder to recreate than 2D, which is why there are still only a few games that are close to playable using emulators from the 2000 era consoles. Now think about the technicality of the current generation of PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii, they are all quite astonishing in their own right, a PS3 emulator has probably the hardest job, because it's cell processor is just so unique, that the chances are, you will never see a PS3 emulator working on a PC, outside of Sony or Gaikai. And if you do, it could be 20 years before they get Uncharted running at 5fps, we're already 7 years into it's generation, so just shy of 30 years perhaps? Is that long enough to wait for a game, just because it's exclusive?


Reason 6: Console games are not as good.

There is some idea that because the PC has higher quality hardware and can allow for better visuals, that somehow people just aren't having fun with consoles anymore? Really? REALLY? We live in an era where people have so many options to play so many different types of games, with different artistic or visual styles, that we have adopted games that are more traditional in some aspects, along with having the platform to play retro games on your phone, console or PC, which is something that has grown so big, it's lead to developers bringing out their old games, remastering or recreating them for the newer platforms. We're playing a whole range of diverse games, with different levels of production, old and new, and yet somehow i'm supposed to accept that because a PC has higher quality components and games, that my Playstation 3 is worthless? It's absolute nonsense, and with the PC been a home to many of these new indie games that AREN'T in the same production value league as AAA titles, i think that people with this opinion are just so wrong about the consoles, which continue to sell tens-of-hundreds-of thousands of consoles per month.

Reason 7: Console games are overpriced.

Whilst i can agree that games are costly on consoles, there are still people willing to play them, and there is a premium pricetag on consoles due to how they are published. It costs more to publish a game on consoles, and the patches have to be insured in case the patch screws up the game, which isn't on PC, and patches can easily break a game on PC.

One of the argument's however is that console games cost too much, Well, there is a spectrum of game prices, but on average a console game costs £40-45, sometimes more for the bigger games. Where as PC pays significantly less. Sure it saves money in areas, but the market surely can demand more money? If the console gamers are willing to pay more money for a lower quality version of the game, then why aren't PC gamers willing to pay the same or more than the console counterparts. You can't say the game isn't worth it, it's a higher quality product, but not all PC's are created equally. There are different ends of the spectrum for PC's, people that don't meet the minimum system requirements, those that do, and those that exceed recommended system requirements. Developers have to take this into account, that the game might not be played as they intended, the hardware is what makes PC's so open to many people, you can spend £50 on a graphics card, £600 on a graphics card, or use one that's built into your processor. Which means a PC game will not be a unified experience for all gamers. Which is one of the reasons why PC games can't be sold for the same prices as console games.

Console games are lower quality, but optimized to run perfectly for the console, and if not, then this is primarily the developers fault, so the console offers a unified gaming experience  where the game will run at full capacity for the console. Which is one thing the PC can't offer. One way around this for some people was a service like OnLive, set the game to max on a server PC and it does all the work, leaving you and your internet connection to do all the work, regardless of the hardware.


Guild Wars 2 launched last year, and was met with criticism because it cost £50, which is almost twice the price some PC games go for, it's a big game, well made and doesn't charge for monthly subscriptions , for people to think the game wasn't worth it, is either because of the market dictating games should cost lower, or potentially due to not everyone having the hardware to run it perfectly, which would explain hesitant people wanting to buy the game, but put off due to it's price. The game is worth that much money, and more. World of Warcraft commands monthly fees, not to mention charging £20-25 for expansions, which is almost the price of a full PC game. It really is a confusing market. People have payed so much money for a game like that, but are resilient to buy a similar, though unique game due to a slightly higher one-off cost.