Additions to the Mind

Well, I figured I should try to make the blog more appealing by making some changes. One of them is the first thing you see, which is a new theme that still reflects upon the same color styling that I have used since May 2009. In addition, I will be linking my YouTube and this blog together so that ways you make look at a few of the games that are around here. In addition, I have a slight intention to start performing video-blogging in addition to my text posts. If such a thing is possible, then I will attempt at getting this on iTunes, since hosting podcasts is as free as the download so that way you may see my face and thoughts wherever you go (as long as you have an iPod). Due to my lack of coding skills, I think I'll just leave that up in the air. Plus, I'm going to start making use of gaming news articles out there and give my own opinions on the stories to see if you appreciate it or not. If you have any other suggestions, then please feel free to give them here. Plus, if you don't mind, feel free to spread the word a little. Having 3 visitors besides myself isn't that great for my ego…

PC Gamers vs. Console Gamers

The war has always gone on about which console is the best. However, there are not a lot of references towards the PC when it comes to this world. Everyone just thinks that Microsoft's only weapon is the Xbox 360, but those people are quite very wrong. Everyone thinks that Nintendo is selling the most consoles, but those people are, again, wrong. I'm not going to say anything about Sony right now simply based upon the fact that they've still got the PS2 going at a high velocity. What is this foreboding console? Is it the iPad that comes out in April? Is it, perhaps, some new contender to the gaming world? No. In fact, you are most likely using this fiery machine right now. That's right, I'm talking about the PC.

The thing is that the PC was not the best until around the 64-bit era, around the time of the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, etc. If you do not believe me, go look up screenshots of Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, which came out in 1998: the same year as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The PC had games that allowed online multiplayer by default in 1995 in the United States (A feature that only existed in Japan until things like Xbox LIVE and the such came out.), not including unsupported 3^rd party online multiplayer venders. Even consoles like the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Nintendo 64 offered online multiplayer with exclusive downloads, game lobbies, demos, music, and other features that are very similar to Xbox LIVE…in Japan. While that is going on in Japan, U.S. gamers are playing WarCraft II online on their PCs!

In addition, PC gamers had the CD long before the other consoles did. If you want to go back to the whole Nintendo x Sony deal that fell through, that would have made Nintendo and Sony take down Microsoft's plans of the Xbox. It could play CDs and likewise, as well as online and such. However, for some reason, the deal did not go out so well, so Nintendo tried with Phillips, and that did not work as well. Then, we are tortured with 3 painful Zelda titles and a few other painful Mario titles.

However, PC games have far more potential than any console game could ever dream. For starters, the programmers are not restricted by any amount of storage space. All they need is for the potential player to have the hard drive and RAM for it, while PS3 games are locked at 50 GB and Xbox 360 and Wii games are locked at 8 GB. Then, it is much easier to put a game onto a PC instead of putting it on every single console. I may not be a programmer, but I know that it must be painful trying to re-write a game for multiple consoles. In addition, the controls are virtually unlimited in a PC game, which is what I really want to emphasize.

Compare a mouse to an analog stick. The mouse is much more comfortable because it is using your entire hand instead of just your thumb. Then, you also have your classic trigger buttons on the mouse if you are playing a FPS, and you can use the scroll wheel to change weapons. If it is a racer, nine times out of ten, you are using the directional arrow keys, a force feedback steering wheel, or a gamepad. What if you use the keyboard on a flight simulator? You could have a joystick as the main flight stick and then have the keyboard with its hundreds of keys be all of the control buttons on the airplane so that way you don't risk having a tragedy in the skies. Now compare all of that to a gamepad, which does not have as many buttons, so you cannot obtain full control of your plane.

However, there is one thing that consoles can beat PCs at, and that thing is the consoles' "one size fits all" deal. The thing is that eventually, your computer gets old and you have to go out and buy a new graphics card; of which we all know aren't the same. While on a console, you can get great visuals and such without having to go out and buy a new card every generation comes out. However, it is relatively cheaper to just replace a graphics card instead of dishing out several hundred dollars on a console that will most likely not even work with your game unless you pay extra to reuse it (such as the Wii and the Virtual Console). The thing is that PC gamers have a different standard than console gamers do in the magical world of gaming. In some areas, the PC gamers come out victorious with their infinite control schemes, while console games are all the same graphically without having the need to purchase a new graphics card. What is fun is that there are select games on Games for Windows - LIVE that allows for multiplayer with Xbox 360 users without having to pay for Gold membership, which could perhaps prove which gamers truly have the ultimate advantage. On a FPS and RTS, I think that the PC could win due to the mouse, especially with controlling armies and having a sniper. However, in other games, I think they are evenly matched.