This is an issue which is often avoided by the gaming press. TSA member peespee63 looks at the under-reported friction between console fanboys and the PC gaming crowd. Apparently he even wrote this with a pen. How retro.
How are you? Good? Good. Let’s get started. I am a console gamer, always have been, probably always will be, and I love it. There are many people like myself, on many sites (not least this one), just like there are many people who love PC gaming, and those who enjoy both. Why wouldn’t you? It’s your own choice, and I respect and support you in your choices and opinions, after all you are more than entitled to them.
Now, far be it from me to be a console fanboy, but don’t you feel that some PC gamers are elitist? I’m talking about their arguments of having FPSs controlled by mouse being more suitable than an analogue nubbin and that RPGs are better with point and click control. Although I do agree that RTSs and point-and-click games are better on PC, and look sensitivity generally suffers on consoles. I get sick of hearing it, the pros of PC versus Console.
Most of it is just petty and nonsensical anyways, and I probably shouldn’t listen to it myself, but it is very, very annoying.
Now, lets take a step back in time, not too far, and not for too long, you won’t need to change clothes or anything, and we won’t even need to fire up the Flux Capacitor. Consoles have traditionally been gaming machines, that’s why they were created. From the Magnavox Odyssey way back in 1974 (’72 in the US, a long time before many of us, including myself, were even born) right the way thorugh to our current generation (PS3, X360, Wii), they’ve been the peripherally-controlled dedicated computing machines for us gamers.
Obviously the most famous of these funboxes are of course the Atari, Sega’s Mega Drive, Nintendo’s NES and our beloved PlayStation.
We all love our peripherally-controlled dedicated gaming computer systems, but spare a thought for our keyboard-twiddling brethren. If they want to play a brand new game, they need to buy that, as well as have a half-decent graphics card and the likes. We don’t need that, all we need is the relevant console, so they must be very bitter about having to upgrade all the time, and it’s not cheap either.
One of the things I love about consoles is that they level the playing field (so to speak) especially when it comes to online competitive multiplayer, admittedly we haven’t had that as long as PC’s have, and don’t get me started on LAN parties. Also, they give you a standardised control input system, which is fantastic; developers can map functions and moves to pre-defined buttons and combinations, and it just feels better holding a hand-sized controller, instead of a flat keyboard and a cheap mouse from Tesco’s.
So, what I think I’m trying to say is that we shouldn’t get into petty squabbles about which is best to play on, and just enjoy gaming, and games, and the communities surrounding it. Everyone plays to their specific budget, and the market now caters for just that (which is great by the way), so why pidgeon-hole ourselves with regards to platform?
Yeah, we may all be geeks, but can’t we all just get along?
