It all started last month when I decided for shits and giggles that I would make a spreadsheet totaling up and taking inventory of my console gaming addiction. Suffice to say the numbers at the end of the auto sum function were a lot higher than I had expected. After the initial shock and amazement wore off I started thinking about consoles, pc's and the games I had played on all systems over the last decade or so.

The ones that have seemed to resonate with me and leave the biggest impression are EQ, WoW, and Call of Duty 4. All the rest have been various points of excitement and momentary obsession but at the end of the day, most are games I look back on as a lot of cash wasted for fleeting periods of distraction.

I work on a computer for a living and for the most part resisted using one for entertainment as I wanted to get as far away as possible from work when I'm relaxing on my own time. However lately, I realized I was spending far too much time and money on consoles, video games and accessories for them, and getting quickly bored and distracted with the games available. As my work laptop was getting old and not running as efficiently as I liked, I decided to take the plunge and build a custom gaming rig that would allow me to do work and run those games I usually play on consoles. I've always been a "console is better because I can sit on the couch and use a controller on the tv" guy but once I hooked my laptop up to the tv with HDMI and fired up Steam Big Picture that advantage quickly disappeared.

Steam has made the transition from console to pc gamer a very easy one for me. All of their sales, huge mod community and social features have made the choice to switch to PC gaming a no brainer for me. Now I have a custom gaming rig that can run all of my work, hobby and entertainment programs and files in one place. I can hook a gamepad up to it for games better suited to a gamepad and I can enjoy full res HD games without compromise for the next while from the comfort of my desk chair.

With the new gen of consoles coming out I'm sure I will be tempted to dip back into the console market, but I must just resist and continue on enjoying PC gaming bliss and turn a blind eye to all the tempting things that may or may not come next gen, as I certainly do not have the budget to dabble in both as I learned this generation. Running a PS3, 360 & Wii was simply too expensive at the end of the day for what entertainment it provided imo.

Steam and cheap games were the main reasons I sticked to PC gaming even when current gen consoles came out. I'm excited for the new consoles coming out, but I think I will just stick to PC due to my low income. And Giantbomb will deliver enough content with new consoles so watching them play is enough for me.

Welcome to PC gaming! I made the same transition last year when Borderlands 2 came out. I made the mistake of playing nothing but PC games during my summer break while my friends were at summer school. By the time they wanted to play Borderlands 2, I just couldn't stand the look of the game on the 360. As well, I have gotten used to KB+M controls and the controller just felt so slugish in comparison.

While I will be picking up a Wii-U in the future for Pikimin 3, I really do not see what Microsoft can offer me. I understand Sony with their effort in the PS+ so I may pick on up when there is a title that interests me.

As for next gen? I will be sticking with my PC.

Good man.

Congratulations! Now, say hello to more frivolously wasted time as you depressingly look back on the backlog of ten-dollar bundle deals of games that you bought because you only cared for one of them and decided that you might as well have the others for that rainy day that never comes!

It took me five years to gather a collection of more than fifty games for my 360; it's taken me about five months to buy double that for my PC. That's insane. I haven't even beaten a quarter of them.

EDIT: Worth mentioning that I do not view this as a bad thing, I just sometimes wonder if the reason I liked games like Halo 3 and Jak and Daxter so much is "I didn't have much else to play." 'Course, I played Skyrim for a really long time on 360 after I had amassed a relatively large collection, and am still regularly playing it.

Interesting write up duder. Any chance we'll see that spreadsheet?

Steam sales are an unbelievable advantage to PC gaming, but I bet we'll see Sony and MS close the gap somewhat in the next round (PS+ is already a great deal). I've gamed on both console and PC forever so I'll say this: it's always easier to be a PC gamer at the end of the console cycle. New systems tend to mean first-party exclusives. These are the games that are always the reason to buy a console (Uncharted, Halo for example) and in the earlier years they tend to be more numerous.

I'm a pretty broke dude, so I'll share my set up:

1. buy consoles on sale, after their first or second price drop.

2. if a game is on PC, buy it for PC, on sale

3. read about and buy only the console exclusives you really want

4. game till you die

I just got a Wii, so that gives you an idea of what kind of time delay I'm dealing with. It's not a problem for me, but some people couldn't do that I guess. There's a lot of unsolicited text here already but here's my final thoughts: PC gives you more games of every kind, for cheap. Consoles, however, get the weird and big games that rarely exist on PC, and this seems especially true of the PlayStation catalog.

@MetalMoog said:

I've always been a "console is better because I can sit on the couch and use a controller on the tv" guy but once I hooked my laptop up to the tv with HDMI and fired up Steam Big Picture that advantage quickly disappeared.

That one feature seems to be fast closing the gap between PCs and consoles. And it's sort of blown my mind how many people I've talked to/read about who have had a similar experience to yours in switching to primarily PC gaming recently. Makes me wonder if a new console generation will be enough to change their minds back or if it's too little, too late for those who have left consoles behind.

@Ravenlight said:

@MetalMoog said:

I've always been a "console is better because I can sit on the couch and use a controller on the tv" guy but once I hooked my laptop up to the tv with HDMI and fired up Steam Big Picture that advantage quickly disappeared.

That one feature seems to be fast closing the gap between PCs and consoles. And it's sort of blown my mind how many people I've talked to/read about who have had a similar experience to yours in switching to primarily PC gaming recently. Makes me wonder if a new console generation will be enough to change their minds back or if it's too little, too late for those who have left consoles behind.

I am one of those people that also recently switched to primarily PC gaming, but I certainly haven't abandoned consoles entirely. I am still really looking forward to The Last of Us, and as soon as Nintendo announces a new Zelda or 3D Mario game, I am buying a Wii U. I will also probably get a PS4 within the first year of its release. I love playing the best versions of multiplat games at a better price, but missing out on quality exclusives because they are only on consoles isn't something I'm willing to do.

One of us, one of us, one of us ...

Steam's Indie games definitely introduce games that aren't otherwise available on consoles as well, Steambox will also close the gap more!

I was in a similar situation such as you OP but I found I still get more enjoyment out of my consoles. (No real reason though, I just have more friends using the social features of the consoles so I tend to talk to them while I game)

Always be hunting, always be gaming! Woo!

The difference in the cost of games over the past few years is what encouraged me to make the jump to PC's. I always thought buying/building a decent powerful PC would cost too much to ever make it worthwhile, but the difference you spend on games is ridiculous. I literally bought pretty much all of 2012's big name games (and then some) for the same price it would have been to buy just 2-3 of them on consoles.

I was going to buy a gaming PC (i have about $800-$900 to spend) but i thought nawwww. I'll just play PC games via my laptop to hdmi to TV with a xbox receiver attached to it and wait for new consoles

Its not just steam for games thou green man gaming, gog, gamersgate and free 2 play games all just all add value to gaming capable PCs. I will single out valve for socially getting PC gamers together so we have more of a voice instead of hundreds of whipshers in the background.

It is also VASTLY easier to build your own as well.

Unless you overclock and like tinkering, even a brand new build pretty well works out of the box.

I'll get the next HD consoles once they get their first redesign, but for customization, control over my software, and pure cost savings, always going to have an up to date gaming PC.