So, like 3 other thousand people, I enjoyed the live demo of StarCraft 2. It got me thinking about how cool it would be to own a desktop and play games like that, and then I thought games like what? I can think of a handful of other games that would be cool to play, but as someone who completely missed out on PC gaming I really can't see a good reason to spend a 1,000 bucks on a good PC. So please GB community, tell me why a desktop computer is worth having?
When was the last time you played on PC? Because PC has a long history with games so you're bound to find something you like regardless of how old the game is.
" So, like 3 other thousand people, I enjoyed the live demo of StarCraft 2. It got me thinking about how cool it would be to own a PC and play games like that, and then I thought games like what? I can think of a handful of other games that would be cool to play, but as someone who completely missed out on PC gaming I really can't see a good reason to spend a 1,000 bucks on a good PC. So please GB community, tell me why PC are worth having - and you can talk about stuff outside games. PS; I have a laptop. My question is, why should I own anything outside of a laptop. "
Mouse and keyboard, modding communities, scalable video settings, some totally righteous exclusives, steam is great for talking to people while you play, some others I can't think of off the top of my head.
Pro tip for you: Build your PC. You'll save a bunch of money, and the experience is good. Then once you know how, charge other people to let you build it for them. Glorious, glorious money.
@Geno: Many of those games are multiplatform, so as a poor college student I would get more bang out of my buck by buying a PS3. @cap123: That's one of the best reasons I've heard.
Exclusives from my steam list: Crysis, Supreme Commander, Dawn of War/Dawn of War 2, Killing Floor, the STALKER series, Company of Heroes.
If you think mods are a neat idea, I point you towards Fallout 3 and/or Oblivion. Firestorm over Kronus for Dawn of War: Dark Crusade is an excellent mod(especially if you like 40k) which almost completely redoes the game with new models, higher resolution textures, new units, updated sound effects and game mechanics and much more. FOR FREE.
If graphics are your thing, I have an ATI Radeon HD 5850(definitely on the more expensive side at around $360) which plays Crysis like this(with AA turned on for screenshotting purposes): http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu179/Temesian/00005-1.jpg at an average of 30-40 FPS. Bump the resolution down or get a second card and you can easily hit a smooth 60+.
If the idea of a desktop really turns you off, you could always go for a gaming laptop. A bit on the expensive side, but most of my real life friends have one and I'm kind of jealous.
" Exclusives from my steam list: Crysis, Supreme Commander, Dawn of War/Dawn of War 2, Killing Floor, the STALKER series, Company of Heroes. "
Yes, this is the reason. Oh, and remember the pro tip: Build your PC. You'll save a bunch of money, and the experience is good. Then once you know how, charge other people to let you build it for them. Glorious, glorious money.
" Exclusives from my steam list: Crysis, Supreme Commander, Dawn of War/Dawn of War 2, Killing Floor, the STALKER series, Company of Heroes. "
Yes, this is the reason. Oh, and remember the pro tip: Build your PC. You'll save a bunch of money, and the experience is good. Then once you know how, charge other people to let you build it for them. Glorious, glorious money. "
Some thickheaded friend of my brother's once gave me $1500 to build him "a cumputah fo gamen dawg". I spent $700 on a quad-core, 9600 GT, 2 GB of RAM and the shiniest fucking case I could find. Used the rest to buy a new TV.
So yes, learn to build your own rig. Valuable life lessons. Also stealing is wrong, etc etc.
I think this question has been asked a few time before on these forums but sure.
Laptop is good for pretty much anything except gaming and professional stuff.
Why having a desktop is beneficial(gaming): >better graphics >cheaper games. You can buy a whole game digitally and save sometimes 20-30$ on day one of release. >modding community. >patches and map packs etc are often free for pc gamers. >the interface is better for many genres of games ex: rts and some may say shooters. >Steam sales! >being able to play older games because of things like dosbox. Meaning you can play the original system shock, simon the sorcerer, and monkey island! >Adventure games. A Genre of game that I don't think is available on other platforms. (though a laptop would be fine for these) >Hopefully you won't have to replace it 4-5 times because of mysterious red rings.
Depending on the generation of games you want to play, you can probably take part in many of these benefits with a laptop but if you want to play more recent games then you'll need a pc.
@Artemesia: Thanks mate. Those are all very good points. I am still struggling with whether I should get a PC or PS3. Hm . . . @TheGremp: Thanks for that distinction. I think that shows you how little I know about PCs. I mean desktops. Or computers. I think.
There are other kinds of programs that require high end computers. Photoshop, Autocad, Matlab etc... Its worth it for me. I built my own system for 850 dollars with a monitor in 2006 and it still runs all my games on max settings. Plus the PC motivates the development of better hardware.
yes dude a year ago, i was like "fuck PC's all i need is my PS3" and now i'm totally getting into it. you just gotta learn more about the technology then you start to get interested in it more.
" @Artemesia: Thanks mate. Those are all very good points. I am still struggling with whether I should get a PC or PS3. Hm . . . "
If you can find one of the older 60 gig PS3s like I have(ebay would be your best bet, most likely, though you MIGHT find one used at gamestop or something), you can play PS2 games with hardware emulation, DVDs, PS3 games and blu ray movies. Not only this, but it comes with an HDMI slot built in no matter what model you build. If you've got a PSP you can go a step further and download old PS1 games to it from the PS3 and play them. You can also listen to music from your PS3 or view photos, which is GREAT if you've got a network set up in your home. My dad used to watch movies from the PS3 by connecting it to our wireless network and viewing the files from the computer upstairs in the living room downstairs.
It's a great supplement to gaming, games aren't at 720p anymore, it's like X1050, X1080, X1200, X1600 rez, which is way sharper. Framerates are higher, textures are better, the mouse is accurate. Steam always has alot of sales, that's where I buy alot of my pc games now. Lots of mulitplatform ports too, which means your not going to be missing out on alot if you don't have a console and if you want, you can use a xbox360 controller for games, provided you have the right usb stuff for it. For exclusives, I hope you like rts games or mmo games like wow. Sure it's expensive, however it's a luxury, there are ppl who likes that sort of stuff, enthusist sort of ppl.
Depends on what you want to put up with. If you know your way around a PC, and you have the cash to build one, then go ahead. Personally I'd just rather a console and sacrifice the graphics upgrade for ease of use.
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