Since this is my first article for this site, I feel that I should explain who I am before getting into my reasoning. I am a 26-year-old PC gamer, and have been primarily gaming on PCs since Quake 2 came out, desperately trying to connect to any server that would have me on my 56k connection.
In terms of the kind of PC gamer I am, I would say that I am “that guy.” I will always say that a keyboard and mouse is the best controller, and will always moan and groan when you tell me you purchased the latest Call of Duty title for your Xbox or PS3. Playing first person shooters with thumb sticks is like trying to hit a home run with a broken piece of plywood. It just doesn’t work. That being said, I absolutely cannot wait for new consoles to come out. Why?
Graphics Are All Dated
The Xbox 360 and PS3 are pretty long in the tooth as far as hardware goes, and although it’s impressive to see what developers can still do with the hardware they are still severely limited by it. The cores in my current PC processor are taking turns napping and my video card is now in a coma because of developers holding back to make their titles multi-platform. There have been a few exceptions recently (Skyrim, Battlefield 3), but even those 2 aren’t really pushing the envelope.
New Control Methods
Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of consoles. That being said, I’ve always wanted to use my precious keyboard and mouse and play Halo, Resistance, or whatever other console exclusive shooter is out. Yes, I am completely aware that there are products that allow you to do this, but I really think that it should be a native thing. Screw balance. There are ranking systems now. Let the people who want to play with controllers hover in the low levels while the people who want to seriously play get up to the intermediate/expert levels. Will this ever happen? Probably not. But one can dream.
Consoles ARE Better for Some Things
When I want to play competitively, which is most of the time, I’ll boot up my PC. If I want to sit back and relax and maybe take some story in, I’ll boot up my 360 or PS3. Cinematic storylines are a better experience on a console than on a PC mainly because of my home theatre setup. Bigger screen, bigger speakers, more to take in. While you CAN do this with a PC, it just doesn’t feel the same to me.
Although I am a PC gamer, I am realistic. I know that consoles are the future and that they do bring in a lot more revenue than PC games. Whether or not I will be able to keep using my keyboard and mouse for years to come will be up to the gaming industry.
Follow Ryan Chua @THEREALCHUA
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