The gaming thread

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
Console plebs need not apply, you can go spend $99 on a single title though, and then buyers remorse yourself into trying to love it.
To set up a relatively okay gaming PC was gonna cost me about $1300. I dabbled in the idea again a few years ago and considered a gaming laptop but nah, too dear and lame performance. I looked again at setting up a gaming PC using a hefty discount from a mate in the computer world and it was still over $1,000. I don't tend to buy into the lame argument of what is better for gaming but here's my impression of PC gaming and console gaming:
-Should I spend too much money on something that needs pulling apart and upgrading every three days because the marketing people behind PC gaming force me to do it with sound cards, graphics cards etc? Nah.
-Do I like the idea of sitting at some poindexter desk with a pull out keyboard tray and spend ten minutes trying to load game in my library only to be told I'm out of memory? Nah.
-Do I like the idea of sitting on a $25 office chair from Super Amart to play some lagging piece of shit game because all I could afford was a $600 PC? Nah.
-Do I like needing heaps of space to store all the peripherals required to run a PC gaming set up instead of having photos of my dog on the same desk? No way.
-Do I think the PC gamers only chime in on the Xbox vs Playstation thing because they are so far out of the loop and just feel the need to include themselves? Yep.
-Do I like the idea of having one console that plays a shit load of games with the simple push of a button to get me started? You bet!
-Do I like the ease of reclining on my $1000 recliner while enjoying wireless controls for a HD game on my screen within seconds of sitting down? Absolutley!
-Do I pay $100 a year and get over twenty games included in that price? For sure!
-With the sum of money I save each year by buying a console instead of a PC, can I afford top level steering wheels to play all time fantastic games? Have it big Doze!
-Do I rarely have system failures or warnings telling me my over priced choice in gaming solutions is about to shit itself? Nope.

I played games on PC's in the 1990's and had almost every console you could buy (still do actually). PC gaming is such a fuck around for absolutely no gain when all I want is a quality game with good gameplay and functionality. I enjoy racing games, adventure games, sports games, RPG etc etc and no one machine does anything better than the other when it comes to telling a compelling story that entertains me and makes me engrossed in what I'm doing. Gaming is a good escape from life's little annoyances and good relaxing time.
 
I must be really old, I like gaming but I just cant give that much of a shit about it.

perhaps the awesomeness of the graphics would be lost on my cataract riddled eyes, and too many FPS will give me motion sickness
 

droenn

Fat Man's XC President
But tribalism is fun!

I actually have a bunch of Steam/ Humble Bundle games - but I just can't get relaxed enough on my computer to enjoy them these days. Console helps me detach from laptop and work. Maybe over holidays I'll fire them up - but then flopped on the couch, feet up, playing a bit of Red Dead on a warm summer's night with a cold beer will be pretty hard to beat!
 

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
It's the lack of a mouse that kills first-person shooter type games on consoles for me. Going from playing lots of first person shooters on PC, trying to play similar games on a console felt like I'd had my hands cut off. Some people seem to adapt fine, but I never do. I think it's probably because I prefer shooters that are a bit more puzzle or accuracy based (like Hitman or Dues Ex) where the fine motor control is more important. That being said, I actually mostly play console games because I mainly play Forza on Xbox (either Motorsport 7 or Horizon 4 currently).
 

Nambra

Definitely should have gone to specsavers
I'd be happy to move my old machine on as it stands (clean build, you pay postage) for whoever wants to dip their toe into it.
Sorry if you've posted specs before - what's in your old machine? Was thinking of putting something together for a nephew, although postage might be the killer.

The best thing about being self employed is that I can write off the home office PCs on the business in the year I buy them. They don't need to be as good as they are to run Office and MYOB, but my wife hates waiting for shit to happen and has bad eyes, so it's SSDs, big monitors and fast CPUs and GPUs. That the result is a pretty adequate gaming rig is is merely a consequential outcome...
 

Nambra

Definitely should have gone to specsavers
It's the lack of a mouse that kills first-person shooter type games on consoles for me. Going from playing lots of first person shooters on PC, trying to play similar games on a console felt like I'd had my hands cut off. Some people seem to adapt fine, but I never do. I think it's probably because I prefer shooters that are a bit more puzzle or accuracy based (like Hitman or Dues Ex) where the fine motor control is more important. That being said, I actually mostly play console games because I mainly play Forza on Xbox (either Motorsport 7 or Horizon 4 currently).
You can use keyboards and mice on consoles of course, but it's not quite the same as a PC.
 

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
You can use keyboards and mice on consoles of course, but it's not quite the same as a PC.
From what I've seen with Xbox, you can only use it for menus and such. They keep say it's "Coming soon" for gameplay. Haven't looked for a while though, would be good if it finally changed.
 

Nambra

Definitely should have gone to specsavers
Not sure on the Xbox myself, but my son's PS4 is pretty much plug and play. Whether the games actually support the hardware is another matter; we f$%ked around getting Fortnite working for him but it wasn't 100% and somewhat laggy, so he's since gone back to the PS4 controller.
 

Nambra

Definitely should have gone to specsavers
I can post them later when I'm home. The point being is more that it's been a $600 investment over the course of a decade, and that runs most things at a high enough fidelity and frame rate that I'm only just looking to upgrade now (and that's only after going to Ultra Wide screen resolutions). My wanting to upgrade is just to get the 60FPS on higher details again as well. Even then...it's not "needed" just wanted.

But no doubts if I build a new rig, it'll be under $1000 and it will scream through everything though.
If it's a decade old then I might pass... I get what you mean though; you don't need to sell the farm for a decent gaming PC. There's always been that sweet spot for bang-for-buck beyond which you're just wasting money for nothing more than bragging rights.

Anyone into the space sim genre? Didn't mind titles like Freelancer back in the day, wondering if there are any contemporaries worthy of a look?
 
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