Going from PC to console.

[Texan Penguin]

I always hear about console gamers who discover PC, but I feel like I never hear about it being the other way around. Am I the only one who has switched from PC gaming to console?

I grew up with a mix of both. I was a Nintendo kid who was introduced to PC games as a child, but never had a gaming quality machine of my own until high school. What I personally had was a Gamecube, a PS2 and some older retro consoles.

I've kinda wibble-wobbled between the two since- I had an Xbox 360 for a few years when my first PC got too outdated to run newer games because it had a single-core CPU. In 2015, though, I finally built a new, modern rig and went all-in on my PC, although I had a PS3 for other stuff. I got an Xbox One that year for Master Chief Collection and a PS4 in 2017 if I remember right. The wibble-wobbling got worse.

Built another rig in 2019- 2070, a Ryzen 5 2600, 24GB of RAM- originally 16GB, but I got 8GB extra from trading my old DDR3 to a coworker. Was enjoying the hell out of my PC for a minute, but something hit me recently. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I did my consoles. Maybe it's the fact that I'm getting older and I just don't have the same energy or desire to keep maintaining/upgrading the hardware. I've noticed a lot of games had issues on PC that I didn't experience on console; in Yakuza 0, fishing in Sotenbori always caused a CTD on W10- it didn't do that on PS4. Black Ops: Cold War ran like frozen ass on PC, but console ran flawlessly. Overall, I just like taking the system out of the box, sitting on my couch in front of my 55" 4K TV and picking up a controller. I think the simplicity of it is what made me finally go 99/1 in favor of console gaming- my console library has finally overtaken my PC one one if you count Game Pass/EA Play.

I'm not big on brand loyalty. I bought a PS5 a few months ago and I intend to get a Series X when the market cools off. Of course, I'm still keeping my PC and I'll use it as long as my hardware will support games. But what I play on it is more focused- The Sims 4, Cities: Skylines, Stellaris, Age of Empires, Crusader Kings, FFXIV (I cannot play with the cross bar, 15 years of WoW has me used to PC tab target), etc. And The Witcher since I have this weird thing where all the games for a series have to be on the same platform, and Witcher 1 is not on console. Game Pass saves me money on Xbox games, and it has some good PC offerings too.

So does anyone else here share my experience, or am I in a very tiny minority?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

If you have a PC, you get almost everything. Most games nowadays get PC ports eventually. If it doesn't get a PC port, you'll eventually be able to emulate it once emulators have been refined and your computer is powerful enough to run the emulator. Waiting isn't too bad because there are so many other games you can play in the mean time. PC also means you can easily mod your game. Reshade can be dropped into most games and it will make it look better just like that. The only real reason to have a console is if you really want to play their exclusives right now and don't want to wait a few years to be able to emulate them. Or if you invite people over to your house and do couch co-op, but they hardly make such games anymore outside of Nintendo consoles. Or if you want to be able to play games on the go, so you get a 3DS and/or a PS Vita.

I personally also prefer PC because I can easily take screenshots and edit them, record video, and alt tab out of the game to go to discussion boards or wikis or guides.

or am I in a very tiny minority?

Depends on who you ask. This is a fan forum for a PC exclusive game, and a genre of games that are almost all PC exclusive, so naturally everyone on here is going to be a PC gamer, and may or may not also own consoles.

[Video Games]

I don't see why people care about pc so much when sony and nintendo just have better games. My pc is just for wow, diablo and resident evil

[Santti]

Race traitor!!

Just kidding. Eh, I enjoy mods too much to switch to a console. Also video games. And platforms that run video games. I mean, are the new ones, whatever they were called (can't actually remember), more available yet? I remember there being a huge lack of them, and that there are barely any games on them. But then again, I seem to recall that being a feature to previous consoles as well.

Is backwards compatibility still a swear word? If it is, I can't put myself to support consoles, ever. What about being offline?

[PACOX]

If you can get your hands on a PS5/Series X|S, I feel like they are better than PC right now for newly released games apart from games that obviously lend themselves to M+KB. Its cheaper right now to get 4K gaming with beautiful graphics and quick load times right now on the consoles. Win 11 and and maybe the GPU market catching up will tip the scale back towards PC but you're still going to have invest more than the $500 asking price of a console. PCs come with a lot more freedom and a much larger library IF you take advantage of all of that. Multitasking on a console? Not happening. Complex mod setups? Nope. Guarenteed M+KB support? Nope (the new gen supports M+KB though).

I play all newer games on console unless its an MMO or something I got for free/deal. With crossplay becoming more and more the normal, Game Pass and Sony doing its weird PS Now/PC releases, the line between consoles and PC is going to come down to what you have available.

[bigbleach]

I always hear about console gamers who discover PC, but I feel like I never hear about it being the other way around. Am I the only one who has switched from PC gaming to console?

I grew up with a mix of both. I was a Nintendo kid who was introduced to PC games as a child, but never had a gaming quality machine of my own until high school. What I personally had was a Gamecube, a PS2 and some older retro consoles.

I've kinda wibble-wobbled between the two since- I had an Xbox 360 for a few years when my first PC got too outdated to run newer games because it had a single-core CPU. In 2015, though, I finally built a new, modern rig and went all-in on my PC, although I had a PS3 for other stuff. I got an Xbox One that year for Master Chief Collection and a PS4 in 2017 if I remember right. The wibble-wobbling got worse.

Built another rig in 2019- 2070, a Ryzen 5 2600, 24GB of RAM- originally 16GB, but I got 8GB extra from trading my old DDR3 to a coworker. Was enjoying the hell out of my PC for a minute, but something hit me recently. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I did my consoles. Maybe it's the fact that I'm getting older and I just don't have the same energy or desire to keep maintaining/upgrading the hardware. I've noticed a lot of games had issues on PC that I didn't experience on console; in Yakuza 0, fishing in Sotenbori always caused a CTD on W10- it didn't do that on PS4. Black Ops: Cold War ran like frozen ass on PC, but console ran flawlessly. Overall, I just like taking the system out of the box, sitting on my couch in front of my 55" 4K TV and picking up a controller. I think the simplicity of it is what made me finally go 99/1 in favor of console gaming- my console library has finally overtaken my PC one one if you count Game Pass/EA Play.

I'm not big on brand loyalty. I bought a PS5 a few months ago and I intend to get a Series X when the market cools off. Of course, I'm still keeping my PC and I'll use it as long as my hardware will support games. But what I play on it is more focused- The Sims 4, Cities: Skylines, Stellaris, Age of Empires, Crusader Kings, FFXIV (I cannot play with the cross bar, 15 years of WoW has me used to PC tab target), etc. And The Witcher since I have this weird thing where all the games for a series have to be on the same platform, and Witcher 1 is not on console. Game Pass saves me money on Xbox games, and it has some good PC offerings too.

So does anyone else here share my experience, or am I in a very tiny minority?

I haven't had a console have a grab on me since I was little. Once I started playing PC games and had one of my own, which was at 16, I basically dropped console gaming. The ones I did play on console were RPGs of some nature, bravely default series, pokemon, etc. I have a ps4, which i bought to play destiny when PS4 was relatively new... never got into it. Haven't bought any other games either. Its a roku for me lol.

[Texan Penguin]

Race traitor!!

Just kidding. Eh, I enjoy mods too much to switch to a console. Also video games. And platforms that run video games. I mean, are the new ones, whatever they were called (can't actually remember), more available yet? I remember there being a huge lack of them, and that there are barely any games on them. But then again, I seem to recall that being a feature to previous consoles as well.

Is backwards compatibility still a swear word? If it is, I can't put myself to support consoles, ever. What about being offline?

Honestly, not at all. Sony handled BC amazingly well with PS4>PS5. I always tell prospective buyers that if you have a base PS5 it's worth the power boost alone for your existing library. If you have a Pro, stick with it for now unless you've got cash to burn. And Microsoft has always been good about BC, albeit with some hiccups in terms of legacy DLC- I had a hard time getting OWB for New Vegas and ended up having to go through the internal menus in 360 mode. Same with GTA IV- you can't even get the DLC in the XB1 store. And offline? Not many problems unless it's a network dependent game.

[Santti]

Honestly, not at all. Sony handled BC amazingly well with PS4>PS5. I always tell prospective buyers that if you have a base PS5 it's worth the power boost alone for your existing library. If you have a Pro, stick with it for now unless you've got cash to burn. And Microsoft has always been good about BC, albeit with some hiccups in terms of legacy DLC- I had a hard time getting OWB for New Vegas and ended up having to go through the internal menus in 360 mode. Same with GTA IV- you can't even get the DLC in the XB1 store. And offline? Not many problems unless it's a network dependent game.

I've always seen Playstation 2 as the golden era of console gaming. How many of those games are available now, on PS5?

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I pretty much always got one console and a PC. Both have serious value. PC is more for my attention and focus as I sit at a desk, 30 inches from a screen, with a mouse and keyboard. But sometimes it is really nice to just lean back on the couch with your feet up and play some games. Even more so if its a game you're playing with someone sitting right next to you. I also tend to enjoy RPGs more on a console. I know that last one is probably personal preference but I like just posting up in front of a TV for an afternoon and grinding away at them more than sitting at my desk.

[Texan Penguin]

I've always seen Playstation 2 as the golden era of console gaming. How many of those games are available now, on PS5?

That's a weak spot, honestly. It would be nice if they'd figure out something with regards to bringing PS1/PS2 and PS3 stuff to the PS5, especially since the PS3's lifespan won't be for much longer.

[Santti]

I don't see why people care about pc so much when sony and nintendo just have better games. My pc is just for wow, diablo and resident evil

How many years have you played WoW, for it to be beat by any console game?

Please, Nintendo makes few good games, every now and then. And they are always the same Mario and Zelda games with a new spin. Or sometimes just no spin at all, like with the "new" super mario series. No way any of them beat all the games on PC.

[Nihilist74]

I can't think of any games that would lure me to wanting a console. When they were not putting madden out on the pc I wanted one.
I started out on NES, SNES, genesis, ps1, and n64. I had a lot of fun with them. It seemed like they were putting games out on the ps1 and n64 that I didn't like. Someone left a computer gaming magazine on the table in the breakroom at work. Read them all cover to cover. The games on pc seemed less shallow than the console games. That's when I built my first pc. It had an AMD 500mhz CPU and a voodoo 2500 video card. It was pretty great. I bought all the classic and current games for it. Been a pc gamer ever since. This was about the time quake 3 arena came out.

[Video Games]

How many years have you played WoW, for it to be beat by any console game?

Please, Nintendo makes few good games, every now and then. And they are always the same Mario and Zelda games with a new spin. Or sometimes just no spin at all, like with the "new" super mario series. No way any of them beat all the games on PC.

16 years and yes, so many games are better than wow, especially modern wow. And I didn't just say games made by nintendo, but 3rd party exclusives. Smt5 will be game of the year.

[deenman]

you dont hear about it because its completly silly,its like downgrading from a mustang to a trabant

there arent many good reasons to go from pc to console,unless ofc price is an issue or some REALLY good exclusives,and those are pretty damn rare

[Santti]

16 years and yes, so many games are better than wow, especially modern wow. And I didn't just say games made by nintendo, but 3rd party exclusives. Smt5 will be game of the year.

3rd party exclusives on Nintendo? Color me shocked. Nintendo has been notoriously dumb with 3rd party development, ever since the gaming marked crash. And I'm sure that game is going to be goty on someones list. Still not very impressed by the handful of games being better than all the games on PC.

I just got slightly triggered by the bonkers statement you made in your first post. Like, as if.

[PACOX]

How many years have you played WoW, for it to be beat by any console game?

Please, Nintendo makes few good games, every now and then. And they are always the same Mario and Zelda games with a new spin. Or sometimes just no spin at all, like with the "new" super mario series. No way any of them beat all the games on PC.

I don't get comparison. When you play WoW you're not are not playing a static game. Theres no comparison to a singular SP game. I have an insane amount of hours in some MMOs. I wouldn't draw direct comparisons from them to games that I beat and put down though.

[kaminaris]

The only reason I would see someone go from pc to console is money. Because the thing consoles win against pc is fairly cheap hardware.

And ironically I would only get a console if It had fair amount of exclusives AND i would have spare money. PC would still be more powerful tho.
So far new gen has none of that. And I can't even get asymmetrical pad for ps5 lol.

[everydaygamer]

I recently got a 55in LG CX with my PS5 and Series X. My PC just doesn't compare to this set up so I'm primarily playing console right now. Course I will occasionally stream from my PC to my TV but 1080p doesn't really compare to 4k HDR.

I admit that it does help that most games play at 60fps these days which was the main appeal of PC for me.

[M1r4g3]

What's even the point of consoles now? Its not like you can't hook up your pc to a tv and use any controller, and very few exclusives(that are worth playing) don't get ported to pc. Only the switch makes sense since its kinda unique and portable.

[everydaygamer]

What's even the point of consoles now? Its not like you can't hook up your pc to a tv and use any controller, and very few exclusives(that are worth playing) don't get ported to pc. Only the switch makes sense since its kinda unique and portable.

Some people use their PC for more than gaming so hooking it up to a tv may not be ideal.