Both have their pros and cons, i personally wanna get a gaming PC and that's why i'm waiting but i'll still keep my consoles for the exclusives since Last of Us is coming to PS3 and it looks really amazing.

PC wins by default, why?

Here's my spin on it.. I spent 1500 quid on a PC 2 weeks back, first time getting into PC gaming. I'm still trying to get over how brilliant and open ended it is compared to just owning PS3/360.

If i ever want to upgrade the option is there, it's not necessarily expensive but the "option is there" I can keep up with the industry, i don't have to conform to the same hardware for years and years. I can play all the latest multi Platform titles at 90FPS+ (it makes the difference)

PC gaming to me is ONE massive payment then you're practically future proofed for life. Cheap games, Modding (it's made Skyrim feel like a new game), When i was a console gamer, i was always being held back, that horrid concept of conformity that pissed me off when i seen how easy PC gamers had it.

I used to think "next gen" was being on the subject of the next Xbox/Playstation when in essence PC gamers have had "next gen" for a while now.

1 popcorn please

Consoles. I just prefer the big screen, lounging in my recliner, with my controller. I know some PC games allow controllers, but its not all that do.

You can get a console and that is all you need, buy your games and your good to go.

I know some PC gamers, none of them have these "killer rigs" that people talk about on forums, I'm guessing very few spend more then a few hundred dollars on a computer. The one thing I've noticed about my friends that do like PC gaming, they are cheap and lack cash to buy console games. They pirate games and buy cheap games during Steam sales.

just do yourselves a favour ''GET A PC'' i promise you, you will not regret it one bit...

you buy a six hundred dollar machine and you're set for 10 plus years...

or you can plug that money into a gaming pc..and update you hardware every two to three years...

i think the thing that puts off a lot of gamers to pc gaming is the size of it..

consoles are like a lake..don't get bigger than when they were created..while pc is like an ocean...big...deep..and scary to those who don't know how to swim

PC's can also be a one time, although large investment. Build a great PC for 800 bucks, hook it up to your HDTV and use a controller of your choice, or just stick with your monitor and mouse/keyboard. As time goes on you'll be saving a lot more, and spending a lot less money in the long run with Steam sales and other cheap downloadable alternatives that can be found through various online stores.

People say they love the couch gaming experience, but that same experience is offered on the PC via cables hooked to your HDTV, and you'll be gaming at crispy high resolutions. As your computer begins to get older, and games get more graphically advanced, you have the option to turn down some texture or AA settings without sacrificing image clarity that degrades with lower resolutions; all at 60fps. Keep your consoles for the exclusives you love, but also keep a decent PC handy and you won't regret it.

Nintendo makes consoles worth it. With dark souls coming to pc in a couple weeks, my only reason for playing ps3 is gone. Its been a netflix machine for a year now. Unfortunately even Twisted Metal sucked.

To each their own.
I love being being to game on my 3 monitors.

Console:

Ease of use.
Less initial cost.
Better for local multi-player (split-screen)

PC:

Cheaper games, often times much cheaper.
Mods.
Overall better performance and visual quality.

I say that pc pays for itself in the long run. You can argue the initial cost, that is definitely a factor. But, overall, games perform better, they have more longevity, and, as long as you update your gpu every three or four years, the performance and overall graphical fidelity has always surpassed that of console.

Being that things like steam sales can balance a lot of the extra initial cost to pc gaming, while still supporting the developers and publishers, I say, overall, PC is the better deal. For those willing to put in that initial investment, mind you. I get that for a lot of people, myself included, paying in spurts is a lot easier than dropping a lot of cash at any one time.

For about $600 to $700 you can build a great PC. The Value will always be with PC. Period. Its backwards compatible with ALL OF PC GAMING, you can have games either retail or download (a lot of times WAY cheaper to get the retail disk then to download it, yes Steam Sales are good an all, but take a look at Amazon or Ebay on new PC games vs what they normally are on Steam or Origin or GOG etc)

You can use any controller of choice...yes ANY! There are many mods out there that have SNES controllers.

LCD, LED who cares. You can hook it up to pretty much anything.

But there are 2 reason why PC gaming is the best value of all.

1.Its parts are universal and interchangeable. PSU breaks, get one at Best Buy or CompUSA. HDD fails, go buy one online or at Best Buy, CompUSA etc.

2.Its not JUST for gaming, don't think about a PC for gaming as something that is JUST dedicated to gaming. If you own a laptop, tablet or a desktop, chances are if you add up those prices and add them to what you would pay for a new console, you'll be way over what a normal gaming PC cost. Think of it as a new PC that can also play games, if your getting a $400 or $500 PC, think about building one or just adding a GPU and some more ram to that PC and your good to go for gaming.

With Steam that's hardly a question. PS3 great machine btw.

Skyrim on PC with an Xbox 360 pad and 30+ texture/graphics mods... gaming doesn't get much better.

PC all the way.
While you may pay for in hardware you get your value back in the software with all of the deals on Steam, GOG, Impulse, Direct 2 Drive, Gamers Gate, etc. in the long run.
You have a lot more freedom with your games like mods, graphical upgrades, computer parts & accessories, etc.
Besides you use a computer everyday anyway so I think of it has an all in one use platform for all of my entertainment needs.
I do also enjoy console gaming mainly Playstation for the exclusives.
The way this gen is turning out console gaming has turned into a money pit and your not getting anything back for your money.
PC continues to improve while consoles continue to limit what you do as the player.

im going to upgrade parts in my PC for the first time since 2008, and i will not even spend more than $250, i prefer to do that than buy any console which cant even play games in real HD, PC definitively has the best value.

Overall Value? for the people with the smarts it's easily PC as i can pretty much make my own games :/ and if you're into indie titles there are tons of free ones sooo...

Don't get me wrong i love my PS3 to death and actually play on that more than PC but PC can do a lot more with games other than just play them, you can create them, mod existing ones, enhance them, plus games are usually cheaper and game retailers have amazing deals on digital downloaded games.

Though the value you get out of it really depends on how much you spend on it.

The PlayStation 3 has higher quality games. The production value in Uncharted is phenomenal. Usually, multiplatform games are just shy of being amazing.

if you have unlimited money to burn and prefer top end graphics on PC only games, PC is the best value for money.
if you have limited funds consoles are better for value but you have to make

consoles are upgraded once every 5 to 7 years. pcs require annual graphics card upgrades and once every 3 or 4 years a full PC system upgrade. pc gaming is far more expensive in regards to hardware upgrades to play the latest games but there are a lot more PC games available than console games at little or no cost.

I only bought LEFT4DEAD on PC because I refuse to buy an Xbox.

I still can play my old PC games with my current decent PC, even those from the 90s. PS3 owners have to buy HD remakes of their PS1 and PS2 classics - which are just a selection of the older PS games, not all.

does anyone actually need to read this?

All im gonna say is Sony & Nintendo

annual upgrades on graphics card, motherboard upgrade once every two years and a new PC once every 4 years to play the latest and greatest PC games on the newest OS.
Console system cycles last 6 to 10 years. PS1, PS2 and PS3 are future proof investment with no upgrades of hardware needed to play the latest and greatest video games over a 10 year console life cycle. Nintendo system typically last for 6 to 8 years.

this is easy...console. The PS3 is closer to 7 years old, at the time it launched it cost £425. Now how many PC's that are 7 years old that cost £425 play games like battlefield 3 and skyrim as good as the PS3...NONE!!!

Yeah these games look better and play better on the PC but only after the gamer invests EXTRA money and even then so what as the new consoles come out soon anyway and will be on par with high end PC's again.

To me PC only wins because gamers keep chucking money into it to beat the consoles in terms of graphics but its no way close to having the same value pure and simple.

Cant see how anyone can argue with this

Hate the constant upgrades with PC, too much money *NOT well spent really. Plus the barrage of hardware/software one-upmanship is simply annoying.

I just want to play the game, so I choose consoles.

One thing I love about gaming on PC is that you can always find or create solutions to your technical problems. The main plus is that you can adjust the graphics the way you want. Too much tearing? Turn on or force vsynch. Anti aliasing not enough? Triple the amount of AA than the console version, if still not satistied, force additional AA through your GPU driver or use SMAA/FXAA. Got a GPU that supports DX11? Enjoy tesselation, soft shadows and additional goodies not possible on current-gen consoles. Better yet, you can tweak the gameplay as well with modifications. I've been fighting on horses long before Bethesda decided to bring that to Skyrim, thanks to the huge modding community. That's why I like playing multiplatform games on my gaming rig and use my consoles for great exclusives that can not be experienced on anywhere else.

Believe me, if you can financially manage owning and constantly upgrading your configuration and if you think it won't bother you to deal with technical details yourself, owning both a PC and consoles at the same time is the way to go. That'll also make your wait for the next-gen consoles a bit less tiresome.

With consoles you get one your fine for games for 5 ish years. with pcs even if you get a top of the line pc it's gonna be obsolete with in two years (meaning that the newest games won't run on it)

A 10 year old console can still play new games while a 5 year old PC cant.

Developers have to adjust to the hardware/software of the consumers if they develop in consoles while the consumers will have to adjust to the developers in the PC.

I prefer them adjusting to what I have.

In 2008, I bought my new PC. Core i7, ATi 4870x2, 6gbs of ddr3 memory and the other bits and bobs. In 2011, the only "upgrades" to my PC is my graphics card. I got a full refund of £350 and bought an Nvidia GTX 470 for £210. An upgrade and £140 cashback!!! Still runs all the top spec'd games fine. With that £140, I could buy another 470 and be sorted for the new batch of "Next Gen" games

Maybe the author should include warranty into the argument. Practically all PC hardware come with 2+ year warrantys.

Consoles have exclusives and that is what it takes to keep them alive. PC is more complex and you can do more things. If i have to choose to own only one of them it will be PC any-day.

I was seriously pro PS3. I just recently got into pc gaming. My consoles have been collecting dust and I sold most of if not all my 360/PS3 games. PC gaming is just on another level. I'll keep my PS3 to watch movies on and buy Last of Us and God of War... other than that there is no reason to by any other game on consoles outside of PS3 exclusives. All the games run 100 times better on PC as long as you have the necessary requirements. Mods are a whole different story. BF3 is like a completely different game on the PC. Not to mention Steam.... the unexpected discounts on games are freaking boss

Until developers start to optimize PC games, Consoles will always be a better option financially.Consoles are usually around $500 at launch where as High end PC's are over $1000. Very few games are optimized to push a High end PC to its limits, the only notable games that use the power of High end PC's are Crysis 1 and Battlefield 3.

Where as Console developers are constantly pushing Consoles past it's limits. When Killzone 2 was released, the graphics were so good that many thought the PS3 had reached its limit. A couple of years later, Uncharted 2 released and had surpased Killzone 2 graphically. Same with God of War 3 and Uncharted 3 which had yet again pushed the PS3 past its apparent limit.

However, gameplay videos of The Last of US, and God of War Ascension show that the PS3 still has a lot to offer and the graphics will again show noticable signs of improvement.

This is the same with Xbox 360, Halo 4's graphics look to yet again push the Xbox 360 past the limit that was previously set by Gears of War 3.

This proves that even though on paper, PC's are more powerful than consoles. In reality, Consoles will continue to hold its own and even rival PC graphics because there is competition between elite Developers on both Consoles.

This is why i believe that even if next gen consoles e.g. PS4 and Xbox 720 have exactly thesame graphics capabilities as a High end computer from 2011. These next gen consoles with 2011 PC graphics capabilities will produce better graphics from what we saw in Crysis 1 and Battlefield 3.

Talented Console developers such as Naughty dog, Sony santa Minica, Guerrilla games, Rockstar games, Epic games and 343 industries will surpass the limits of a 2011 PC like graphics Card, to produce graphics similar to a 2012 and maybe 2013 PC graphics Card

pc is just 1080p and 60fps but it still looks like the same game.Its all about exclusives like ratchet and clank hd collection. The last of us is more then good enough graphically.

PC. Cheaper games, better discounts and more exclusives than every console in existence. The hardware MAY require you to spend more money upfront, but gaming on a PC is getting cheaper...while consoles increases significantly in pricing by the console generation. Any console kiddie that thinks the PS3 has better value than PC is ignorant and delusional.

The only thing I will say is that I own my PC. Sony and Microsoft owns the console you bought!

consoles, hands down

That whole build a Gaming PC for under $600 is a load of Bull..

Cooler Master case (decent gaming one ) $69.99
AMD Phenom II X2 $94.99 (can unlock to 4 cores)
Asus AM3 Motherboard $89.99
EVGA Gtx 560 Anything lower then gaming on PC is useless since everyone here talk about 1080p 60fps $179.99
cooler master GX450watt PSU $59.99
Cheap mouse $9.99
Cheap Logitech Keyboard $17.99
Microsoft windows 7 Home 109.99 (new pc's dont have OS)
Crucial Ballistix Ram 4gb $34.99
Seagate HDD 500Gb $74.99

total $741.91 and those are crappy components and not even a monitor

A gaming PC is a much better value because it's not only used for a superior gaming experience, it's used for EVERYTHING else too. Chatting with friends, editing videos and photos, web browsing, burn dvds cds etc. + u'll end up saving money in the long run (steam discounts)

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau