Why buy a console?

[Kelimbror]

I bought a PS3 because I must always have at least one current console in my residence at all times. I had an Xbox because I found an elite for next to nothing at a used bookstore, but sold it shortly after it came back from the RROD repairs. The PS3 was for bluray and the fact that I am not fond of Microsoft as a whole anymore.

I have bought two Gamecubes in the last 5 years, because of the Zelda collection and Super Mario Sunsine. Anything older than that I find 'other' means to play.

There is something incredibly satisfying about getting to play games on your couch on a huge TV, but the graphics definitely don't compete with anything midrange and up. I rebought Arkham City on the PC just to experience the pixel wonders. If consoles looked and ran as well as games on the PC, I would switch in a heartbeat. Just cant' beat sprawling out on my couch with my modestly large TV.

[Deleted]

Far as I'm concerned there is exactly one reason to acquire ANY gaming platform: It has games you want to play on that system.

All other reasons are fluff... Except maybe buying a PS3 because it's one of the cheapest Blu-Ray players on the market. I could see that. It was at one point. I don't know if it still is.

This pretty much, for me at least, I bought an Xbox360 because I like the halo and gears of war series, along with a couple of other titles occasionaly, this is the only reason I tolerate consoles, that and the fact that a few of my friends use xbox live.

[Hraklea]

Some people are arguing about money, but they're ignoring that different countries have different taxes. Where I live, it is cheaper to buy a non-gaming computer and a console (PS3/Xbox 360) than a gaming computer as good as a PS3/Xbox 360.

[Evolixe]

Some people are arguing about money, but they're ignoring that different countries have different taxes. Where I live, it is cheaper to buy a non-gaming computer and a console (PS3/Xbox 360) than a gaming computer as good as a PS3/Xbox 360.

Taxes can't be that big on a 200-250 dollar pc..

[Remilia]

Taxes can't be that big on a 200-250 dollar pc..

Depends. There are electronic recycling tax/ fee. Normal taxes, whatever. Either way no more pc vs console.

[Klutzington]

Because you can't play supremely awesome games like Soul Caliber 2, Final Fantasy 9-10, Grandia 2, without a console.

Sorry, I'm stuck in the early 2000's. /insert kick-ass console only games in place of older ones

Well, you could. But me saying it is against forum rules .

[OnyxZarin]

Only real reasons to buy a console for me are that there are games you can only get on consoles, and it's cheaper. That's it really. Computer can do everything better than a console for gaming.

[slackjawsix]

HAHAHAHAHAHA! So funny how stupid Console-Players are
Consoles use 7year old hardware. 300$ PC > Consoles EZPZ!

oh i know jerks like this are a great reason! honestly since when did gamers have to hate each other

[SirRobin]

Why buy a console? Well I basically bought an XBox just for Red Dead Redemption, so the exclusive games would be a biggie. Also I can get to Netflix through my console and do the whole kinect hand waving voice activating thing. So for some stuff its mnore convenient. Its another gaming option if your house isn't filled with desktops and laptops. When I get tired of beating my kids back from my gaming rig, I can toss the XBox or Wii in front of them as a sacrifice play to squeeze out a couple more hours of gaming goodness on my desktop.

Saying why buy a a console is like saying why buy a pc or a smart phone or whatever. Because you want too...

[Halabash]

you should not buy a console. Here is why, they drop in value faster than a pc/mac, there is no real upgradeablity, a keyboard is much more capable than a controller, consoles typically struggle with backwards compatibility where pc/mac do not, you can tailor build your gaming pc rig but not your console, once you have a library of games amassed on your console your stuck with a big ass pile of old games that no one wants to buy from you at a real price with a pc you'll have that but you can still play those games and probably have a ton of space since you won't be filling up a box with bunch of titles and an old console with specific controllers and cables etc. You don't have to worry about your pc becoming obsolete on the launch of a new console, it will still become obsolete (case not included in this statement, get a good case) but its a slow death giving you time to come up with either an upgrade plan or rebuilding plan. oh and one more thing you can plug your pc into your tv and get wireless controllers and emulate your console or just play controller enabled games on your pc.

[Klutzington]

Warning: Stop the PC vs Console nonsense. Now. If it continues, infractions will be handed out to those that take part in it and the thread will be closed.

I understand you shouldn't really talk about it, but don't you think that the OP kind of asked for it? This is posted on a forum where people play PC GAMES and talk about them. It will USUALLY be compared to that, as it is essentially our medium of gaming. We are also all on one to post on MMO-C. Just saying.

[Edge-]

I understand you shouldn't really talk about it, but don't you think that the OP kind of asked for it? This is posted on a forum where people play PC GAMES and talk about them. It will USUALLY be compared to that, as it is essentially our medium of gaming. We are also all on one to post on MMO-C. Just saying.

Comparisons between the two will happen and as long as it remains constructive, it's fine. What isn't fine is when you start bashing people for preferring one to the other or making personal attacks on someone for one reason or another. More on topic, the OP was looking to find the positives/negatives of consoles (not PC's), specifically Xbox/PS3, so there's really no real reason to start discussing PC's.

[Evolixe]

Comparisons between the two will happen and as long as it remains constructive, it's fine. What isn't fine is when you start bashing people for preferring one to the other or making personal attacks on someone for one reason or another. More on topic, the OP was looking to find the positives/negatives of consoles (not PC's), specifically Xbox/PS3, so there's really no real reason to start discussing PC's.

You have to compare it to something, hence the pc's.

[Pony Soldier]

Well if you like the games that the consoles have then go ahead and get one. I'm assuming you're pretty new to video games or at least console games so I'm just going point out some things that differentiate the Xbox 360 and PS3. PS3 may be more expensive than Xbox 360 but it has free online where Xbox 360 is a bit cheaper but you have to pay for their online. The quality of PS3's online features like Netflix and all that stuff is less than the Xbox 360's but it's free. Xbox 360's quality is much higher but you still have to pay that extra fee for online which for me right now is $60 a year. So you just got to look at that stuff. Then there are the exclusive games for each console. PS3 biggest ones are God Of War, Resistance, Ratchet and Clank, Little Big Planet, Uncharted, and Killzone. Uncharted is probably the best exclusive PS3 has it's really a good and very fun game if you like action/adventure games. Xbox 360 has Halo, Gears of War, the first Mass Effect (which I think will be coming to PS3 soon in a trilogy pack) Fable and some others I can't think of now. So you have to see which games you like most.

Not only all that stuff but also the way each console stores it's games on the hard drive are different. This is where I love the Xbox 360 over the PS3 because with PS3 95% of the time you get a game you are forced to download the game to the hard drive which I HATE because it wastes so much space on the hard drive. Sometimes the sizes can go up to about 10GBs or more, that's a lot for a PS3 like mine which is a 120GB, I'm almost out of space with like 14GB left. Now with Xbox 360 it doesn't do that, the space the games take up are like in the kilobytes to low megabytes, the games hardly take up any space at all. I survived about 6 years with my 20GB hard drive until I had to get another one.

In all they're both very good systems it's the things I've mentioned you have to look at. If you plan on buying a lot of games then get the Xbox 360 for it's hard drive if you're more of a casual gamer then get PS3 for the free online. The Wii U is also looking good if you're into Nintendo games at all.

[Shinzai]

Comparisons between the two will happen and as long as it remains constructive, it's fine. What isn't fine is when you start bashing people for preferring one to the other or making personal attacks on someone for one reason or another. More on topic, the OP was looking to find the positives/negatives of consoles (not PC's), specifically Xbox/PS3, so there's really no real reason to start discussing PC's.

I would suggest that the OP's post implies he wants a reason to buy a console and already has a PC of some description. As I noted previously, the main reasons that it's worth owning a console are because the consoles get a lot of exclusives and multiplayer/community aspects. PC Ports are another reason why it can often be preferable to own the games on console (we don't exactly get the cleanest end of the stick, even if it eventually gets patched up) and the sheer fact that most games designed on consoles only end up looking a little better on PC, due to developers not wanting to put more effort in than a console game requires.

[Poppincaps]

I prefer playing video games on a console. I have no real logical reason for this, but it's very similar to how I will try to catch shows while they are airing on TV as opposed to just watching it online. I suppose it stems from the time when all I did was play console games, and I didn't have a PC to stream TV shows on.

[PizzaSHARK]

I would suggest that the OP's post implies he wants a reason to buy a console and already has a PC of some description. As I noted previously, the main reasons that it's worth owning a console are because the consoles get a lot of exclusives and multiplayer/community aspects. PC Ports are another reason why it can often be preferable to own the games on console (we don't exactly get the cleanest end of the stick, even if it eventually gets patched up) and the sheer fact that most games designed on consoles only end up looking a little better on PC, due to developers not wanting to put more effort in than a console game requires.

Yup. Console ports can often be rushed or otherwise shoved out the door without optimizations, leading to garbage performance. It's probably the biggest reason aside from price that I don't buy AAA games when they're new, unless it was a PC-only title.

[Kuniku]

You have to compare it to something, hence the pc's.

or you do what the OP asked and the mod pointed out - compare them with each other ;op

---------- Post added 2012-10-11 at 06:17 AM ----------

Well if you like the games that the consoles have then go ahead and get one. I'm assuming you're pretty new to video games or at least console games so I'm just going point out some things that differentiate the Xbox 360 and PS3. PS3 may be more expensive than Xbox 360 but it has free online where Xbox 360 is a bit cheaper but you have to pay for their online. The quality of PS3's online features like Netflix and all that stuff is less than the Xbox 360's but it's free. Xbox 360's quality is much higher but you still have to pay that extra fee for online which for me right now is $60 a year. So you just got to look at that stuff. Then there are the exclusive games for each console. PS3 biggest ones are God Of War, Resistance, Ratchet and Clank, Little Big Planet, Uncharted, and Killzone. Uncharted is probably the best exclusive PS3 has it's really a good and very fun game if you like action/adventure games. Xbox 360 has Halo, Gears of War, the first Mass Effect (which I think will be coming to PS3 soon in a trilogy pack) Fable and some others I can't think of now. So you have to see which games you like most.

Not only all that stuff but also the way each console stores it's games on the hard drive are different. This is where I love the Xbox 360 over the PS3 because with PS3 95% of the time you get a game you are forced to download the game to the hard drive which I HATE because it wastes so much space on the hard drive. Sometimes the sizes can go up to about 10GBs or more, that's a lot for a PS3 like mine which is a 120GB, I'm almost out of space with like 14GB left. Now with Xbox 360 it doesn't do that, the space the games take up are like in the kilobytes to low megabytes, the games hardly take up any space at all. I survived about 6 years with my 20GB hard drive until I had to get another one.

In all they're both very good systems it's the things I've mentioned you have to look at. If you plan on buying a lot of games then get the Xbox 360 for it's hard drive if you're more of a casual gamer then get PS3 for the free online. The Wii U is also looking good if you're into Nintendo games at all.

dont forget gran turismo as a ps3 exclusive.

I don't think i'm ever forced to download games onto my PS3 O_o (unless i buy them from the PS store ofc) I've got a 120Gb PS3 and mine is far from full even with a shit load of video media saved on it...

the other bonus to PS3 (xbox might be able to do it as well?) is that once its on your home network you can use it to play media from the computers on the network on your TV (I imagine Xbox can probably do it too though) which was handy for me as although I have a cable to lug my TV into my computer anyway, i've never figured out how to send the sound down the cable too, so the sounds come from my PC's 5.1 off at a 60% angle from my TV which is frigging annoying! =p

[Kanadei]

you should not buy a console. Here is why, 1. they drop in value faster than a pc/mac, 2. there is no real upgradeablity, 3. a keyboard is much more capable than a controller, 4. consoles typically struggle with backwards compatibility where pc/mac do not, 5. you can tailor build your gaming pc rig but not your console, 6. once you have a library of games amassed on your console your stuck with a big ass pile of old games that no one wants to buy from you at a real price with a pc you'll have that but you can still play those games and probably have a ton of space since you won't be filling up a box with bunch of titles and an old console with specific controllers and cables etc. 7. You don't have to worry about your pc becoming obsolete on the launch of a new console, it will still become obsolete (case not included in this statement, get a good case) but its a slow death giving you time to come up with either an upgrade plan or rebuilding plan. 8. oh and one more thing you can plug your pc into your tv and get wireless controllers and emulate your console or just play controller enabled games on your pc.

Were you under the impression that if you threw enough one-sided points together in a massive wall of text it would somehow make your argument credible? Because that's what it looks like from here.

Regardless here is a rebuttal:

1. They are cheaper and easier to buy than a PC? I don't see how this a point against them.
2. You don't need to upgrade them, you get a guarantee that every game that comes out will play on them so the work is done for you.
3. This is essentially true but neglects the fact that controllers are more comfortable, have vibration and some people generally find them more fun/easier to use. It's a pretty subjective point all around, especially since you can use a keyboard on a console if you really want to.
4. Backwards compatibility shouldn't be a major concern when buying a console, but while on the topic I find my PC has massive issues playing some of my favourite games from the late 90's/earl 2000's like Jedi Knight. This is also pretty subjective, Xbox has little to no issues with backwards compatibility for a large majority of its games.
5. You don't have to tailor your console so this is a non-issue.
6. This point is so subjective that it verges on the ridiculous. If you had such a big issue with games/boxes you could always buy your games through digital download or invest in a CD folder - I seriously doubt anyone at home is going "i wish i didnt have all these games, if only I had all that extra space in the attic that I would have if I bought a PC".
7. PCs go obsolete over time, so do consoles. You get fair warning for both so this isn't really a strong point to make.
8. Similarly you can plug keyboard/mouse into console and play if you purchase the appropriate tech so once again I don't see how this is a point either way.

Now I'm not saying console is better than PC, it's just a much simpler and cheaper solution for a lot of people - especially considering that a large % of AAA games on PC are just console ports to begin with.

I'm all for debate, but you can't say things like "nobody should buy a console" and then back it up with a string of flimsy arguments presented as facts. That's just asking for a flame war.

---------- Post added 2012-10-11 at 04:22 PM ----------

You have to compare it to something, hence the pc's.

He asked for a comparison between Xbox and PS3. I would suggest that that is a more appropriate comparison to draw, especially considering he never mentioned PCs in the OP.

[Mormolyce]

Well like people said, buy a console if it has games you want to play on it. And you can't get them on PC (or the ports suck... honest to god, how hard is it to port a game?).

3 - No new hardware upgrade required

Provided you don't buy new games as time goes on? And if you do, you need to upgrade 100% of your hardware lol.