Why play games on a PC and not a PS5/Xbox X?

[Erehy Dobon]

Indeed, and so much so, you can justify a M1 Mac, if you can play those games with sufficient frame rates via the current streaming services.

I'm still leaning towards getting a console, not sure which

I don't see how an M1 Mac would run Nvidia GeForce NOW any better then some ghetto $500 desktop Windows 10 PC (assuming the RAM and network connectivity were the same).

As for videogame console selection, you might consider judging your pick based on which gamepad you prefer.

I do not own a videogame console but I did pick up a PS5 DualSense controller for my custom build Windows PC because it appears to be the future gold standard of gamepads for the next five years with its adaptive haptics and variable resistance triggers.

Steam engineers have added DualSense support to the Steam desktop client. I assume there is already basic Xbox Series X/S controller support via Steam but as far as I can tell, there is nothing particularly innovative about this new generation's Xbox controller.

Even back in the Nineties, the big reveal of a next gen console was the controller design.

All that said content is king. If you are heavily vested in Sony's exclusive IP, it would make sense to stick with them.

This is how Nintendo is still around. No one buys Nintendo devices based on hardware specs.

 

[maflynn]

judging your pick based on which gamepad you prefer.

No question, that's at the top of my list, and the new PS5 controller is reportedly next gen worthy. MS didn't do anything for the Xbox X controller, its largely the same as prior gen but people have been falling over themselves praising how great the PS5's controller is.

There is an Elite Xbox X controller but its pricey and while it doesn't offer the dynamically changing triggers or multiple dualsense motors, it seems like a solid offering. Enough imo, to keep the Xbox in the conversation.

I have time on my side, and once this craziness with bots snapping up all Xbox/PS5 inventory is over, I'll have made my decision. Not that I was willing to pay a premium but I was curious at how much the scalpers were jacking up the price for the PS5, and on ebay I saw earlier this week or last week some listings for 30,000 all the way to up to 50,000. That's just insane.

Anyways, I do enjoy playing on my PC and I find myself playing more on the PC then my PS4, but sitting at my desk all day playing and working has me thinking.

 

[Jack Neill]

I enjoy my ROG G14 because I can play Flight Sim on the go or at work. It also has NVME and wipes my One X for load times.

 

[Huntn]

I'd consider it acceptable for light gaming. From what reviews I've seen FPS is acceptable on low to medium settings on new games. Although another issue is how many games get ported to Mac and are recent enough for 64 bit x86 support. Not many are ARM native yet. I haven't looked into Crossover performance for Windows games.

I'd say it would be nice for playing a game when not at home. Otherwise I'd want a regular gaming desktop.

Porting games has been an issue as long as I relied on a MBP for mobile gaming. Of note, when I was doing that, I was using Bootcamp just because of the associated issues with native MacOS games And Bootcamp is no longer an option. 👀

 

[MacBH928]

Here is the opinion of someone who only recently resumed playing videogames in the past six months after 20+ years of basically ignoring videogames.

I hope you don't mind me asking but how old are you? I have a theory that people lose interesting in videogames as they reach 40 years old.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

I'm "middle aged."

I played videogames lightly in the Eighties then mostly ignored them (apart from Super NES in the early Nineties), long before I hit forty.

I only recently revisited videogames after COVID-19 struck.

That said, I am quite aware that the videogame industry overtook Hollywood in revenue in the Nineties.

Today's videogames have great visuals and some have massively great writing (e.g., Half-Life) and music. Back in the Nineties, videogaming was pretty fringe. ASUS sold PC motherboards but there was no ROG Strix branding.

I doubt that people who loved videogames really lose interest at age 40 (or so), it's just that the other life responsibilities (work, family, etc.) deprioritizes the amount of available time for videogames.

As someone who joined the current videogame world just recently, I can say that I saved myself months/years of crappy videogame experiences.

How does that work? I searched online for videogame reviews and as it turns out that many of the most popular franchises have been continually assessed regarding individual game quality.

So searching for "Tomb Raider reviews" results in a bunch of "all of the Tomb Raider titles ranked by order" type articles. Someone has played/watched them all (games and movies) so I don't have to.

Resident Evil. Grand Theft Auto. Quake. Doom. Halo. The Alien franchise. I don't have to waste time on the bad ones as a latecomer.

And then there are the mods. What's a better game? The original Half-Life or the community Black Mesa remake? Skyrim and Fallout 4 with or without mods?

There are probably a thousand unmemorable Metroid-vania games I missed. Today I joyfully dabble with Hollow Knight and Ori (Wisp) even if I'm not a platformer type.