War. War never changes. From the Battle of Thermopylae, to the beaches at Normandy, anger, hatred and spite has driven young men to kill and fight each other over pointless and trivial matters. And today is no exception. In fact, there is an even more pointless, more trivial battle being waged across the world.
I’m talking, of course, about the feud between us “Dirty Console Peasants” and the so called “Glorious PC Gaming Master Race.”
Their argument is about as valid as a hipster trying to explain why people who listen to Metallica and Nirvana are plebeians. Which, by the way, is not true at all.
They’ll come to you and preach the same old trite, pretentious garbage that they have “better graphics” and a “dedicated servers,” but don’t let these pleasant sounding terms fool you. That’s how they win people over to join their ranks.
They’re elitists to the core, and their bread and butter are flashy technical terms that mean diddly squat to someone who just wants to have fun playing games.
For every positive PC gamers come up with, there is undoubtedly something console gamers can brag about.
One of the main points PC gamers bring up will inevitably be the fact that PC is cheaper on the whole than console gaming. And considering individual games, they’d be right. Steam, an online game source created by the Valve studio, has a tendency to grab gamers with tentacles made of ridiculously cheap prices and rape people where is hurts the most: in the wallet.
However, if it’s price you’re concerned about, a PC isn’t exactly cheap. The start-up cost for a good personal computer than can run games to the quality that they deem so important is usually over $1000.
Consoles are less than half of that, usually. And the difference is that consoles are made to run games.
Consoles, specifically Nintendo, also have exclusives that PC gamers will never have the enjoyment of playing. Nintendo excels at first party platform games. This means that the developers of the console create games that can only be played on their system. Games such as the Legend of Zelda, any Mario game ever made, and of course, everyone’s favorite, Pokemon.
On PC, you have a wide array of games to choose from, but what they don’t tell you is that sometimes a game you buy can’t run on your computer.
Playstation also hosts a variety of exclusives because of their relationship with Naughty Dog, a game development team that has made great games like the Uncharted series and The Last of Us.
Might I add, as well, that consoles are impervious to the virus scourge that consumes PCs as a snack? Can’t get a virus on a Wii, that’s for sure. Only thing that’s gonna break a Wii is a baseball bat or an enraged, middle class child.
However, even when pushing all the technicalities aside, I’d still rather be a dirty console peasant than a member of the fascist PC gaming master race. Consoles, even with their shortcomings, offer something that can’t be bought for a dollar on steam or modded for free. It’s nostalgia. It’s the feeling of something tangible in your hands.
Valve’s online service called Steam is one of the biggest draws to owning a PC, and with good reason. Games are cheap. Very cheap. You could buy nearly 100 games for about $250 or $300 if you’re smart about it.
Though, from my experiences, all the buying sort of cheapens the transaction in more ways than one. You don’t get the same feeling of tearing into the packaging of a brand new game and racing to explore all of its features. It just isn’t there. It’s impersonal and cold. Inaccessible and Costco-eske.
In a world where technology is constantly evolving and changing, sometimes it’s just nice to slow down and truly appreciate something good. Before something new and better comes to take its place.
Consoles are accessible to the common man, and anyone can pick one up for cheaper than a PC. I’ve played both console and PC, and I can say without a doubt, the most fond memories I have are on my Xbox 360.
So, if you want to be an elitist SwineN devoted to the bigoted, supremacist, nazi master race of PC gaming, go ahead and waste 1000 bucks on something that you could have for half that. If you’ll excuse me, though, I think I’ll be chillin’ it on my sofa as a humble human being.
But I guess things could always be worse. I mean, it’s not like we’re not playing on Macs. Apple heathens are the absolute worst.
