Consoles don't matter anymore

I just don't think video game consoles matter anymore, in the sense that choosing one or the other (of the big two) makes any real difference.

Back in the day (read: 80's and 90's) there used to be an appreciable difference in game consoles.  So much so that kids (OK, nerds) used to stake some of their identity on which one they chose.  The differences in hardware could be pretty significant, which manifested as marked differences in the game experience.  Games were often native to one console, with rare exceptions usually being very popular arcade conversions (that didn't belong to a console maker) and sports titles.  There wasn't a lot of talk about console "exclusives" because it was pretty much a given that most titles would only see the light of day on its "own" platform.  This aspect started to diminish toward the end of the 90's as Nintendo's licensing chokehold was broken by both the courts and the fact that Sega had upended Nintendo's dominance of the North American market with the Genesis.

Today, more than any time in the past, which console of the two major entries (Xbox One and PS4) one chooses makes little practical difference.  Sure, the controllers are different and their approach to online services and multiplayer aren't the same and thus one can have a very valid reason for choosing one over the other due to those preferences, but aside from that, little else differentiates.

The specs of the systems are nearly identical, and are both basically self-contained, simplified gaming PCs.  One still sees "fanboy wars" on the internet but this largely devolves into frames-per-second and pixel counting exercises.  To the casual observer, little, if any, difference between a title on each platform is discernible.  Again, this is in stark contrast to the past, wherein the occasional multi-platform title often looked, sounded and behaved very differently from one machine to another.  In some cases, the entire game was reworked for each platform and sometimes ended being almost unrecognizable from one console to another.  The game library of a console defined the console's character as much as their hardware.

There are also very few console "exclusives" these days.  Given the extreme expense of developing a title, particularly AAA-level games, and the similarity of hardware, there is a huge incentive to release across as many platforms as possible in order to maximize return on investment.  First and second-party development has seriously dwindled and so there is little software-wise to separate the two major systems.  Oddly enough, the platform with the most "exclusives" is now the PC, which brings me to my point...

If you're a "serious" gamer, and have the funds and are willing to put up with some mild inconveniences, the Windows gaming PC is far and away the most sensible choice.  The console is, in a way, defunct.  Since all they are today is low-end simplified gaming PCs (and there's honestly nothing wrong with that), if one can spend a little more and doesn't mind Windows and what comes with it, a dedicated gaming PC offers an experience that can be truly head-and-shoulders above the consoles and play the vast majority of the same games, better.  Given the success of Steam, GOG and Kickstarter, one can also enjoy a number of great experiences only on PC, or perhaps on PC first.  Again, "back in the day", PC games were kind of their own animal, behaving differently and catering to a vastly different consumer than consoles.  Today, those worlds have merged and console games and PC games are largely similar experiences.  Until Nintendo can produce something that is truly revolutionary and not merely niche or "novel", or a new (or old) company enters (or re-enters) the console fray with something genuinely new to offer, it is my opinion that the console as we have known it will likely soon cease to be.  Microsoft has already somewhat acknowledged this with their "Play Anywhere" initiative bringing most of their Xbox games to PC.  In a way, I hope this proves not to be true.  I still love playing old TurboGrafx / PC Engine games... it's a unique experience and that kind of thing really doesn't happen much anymore.  Unless you count waggling a plastic brick at the screen.

PC game system requirements are off the chain

Another week, another AAA PC game release with nutzo system requirements.  As has been widely reported, suspected not-so-Xbox One-exclusive "Quantum Break" is going to be released on Windows 10 (yay!) and will even have cross-purchase and save sync capability across both platforms.  Basically this means that (higher-end) gaming laptops can now effectively function as cloud-save enabled portable Xbones.  Or so the hype suggests at this point, as it remains to be seen how it will work in practice.  But I digress....

Quantum Break's PC system requirements are high.  Like, overall, the highest I've seen, and sits among other offenders such as the Wolfenstein reboot, etc.  Check them out at the bottom of the page right here.  This example highlights a lot of issues I've had with PC game system requirements lately.

(Image from Remedy's Quantum Break website)

You should thank Microsoft for Games for Windows Live. No, seriously.

You should thank Microsoft for Games for Windows Live.  No, seriously.

After playing computer games alongside console games for most of my life, sometime in the mid 2000's I went full console for awhile.  Even as an early computer gamer, to me, the keyboard (and later the keyboard-mouse combo) was not the ideal way to control many games, particularly those that involved fast action.  My Apple II and later my Commodore Amiga both used joysticks and other game controllers.  Admittedly, there are some games that benefit from the precision of mouse and keyboard controls, but for the vast majority of games out there today aside from strategy, isometric RPG and competitive multiplayer games, a modern dual-analog controller makes a lot of sense.  Computer games in the early days of Windows gaming were also horribly buggy in my experience.  These two factors led me to devote most of my gaming time to the then-new Xbox 360.  

So, you might ask what brought me back into the (now re-named) PC gaming fold?  Simple:  large-scale controller support.  Where did that trend start?  Some would point to Valve's Big Picture and more recently their Steam Machines initiative, but actually Games for Windows Live started controller support as we know it today.

Image courtesy Wikipedia and Microsoft

PC Gaming Builds for console alternatives and the living room

Thinking of building a gaming PC for your living room this season?  Take a look at my console alternative PC builds page for some ready-to-go builds you can buy and assemble yourself.  You can also use the suggested specs if buying a custom-built PC from a boutique vendor like iBuyPower or CyberPower PC.

Image courtesy of Valve/Steam

It's all my dad's fault

One of my earliest memories is of my dad taking me to the arcade at Roswell Mall when I was a very young kid. I was probably about five years old, and the arcade was next door to Momma's Pizza, a family-owned pizza joint that was actually kind of similar to Sbarro, in that the pizza sat around and was heated in an oven by the slice when ordered. It was "guy's night out" and we had pizza, but I don't recall if my first pizza was from Momma's or not, however it certainly would've been one of my earliest encounters with the dish. After we finished, my dad took me into the arcade. The entrance which opened onto the interior of the mall was like one large, yawning opening. It was surrounded by a thin border of hand-painted space ships and planets on a dark blue background. I remember it vividly. It was dimly lit inside, and it had the effect on my young mind of being the entrance to a cave. I remember being somewhat apprehensive about going in. It was kind of dark, most of the people inside were older and it was noisy with the sound of explosions echoing from the cabinets of Missile Command and Asteroids. Back in those early arcade days, games were for teenagers and young adults primarily, and that's who populated the place. As my generation grew up and began playing games at home on their Nintendo and Sega consoles, I think that's when people began to think of video games as kids' toys. Not so in circa 1982. My dad held me up by the sides so I could reach the controls for Space Invaders. He put in a quarter. It was my first experience with a video game and honestly I found it interesting but not totally enthralling.  I think I tried my tiny hand at a few other titles then we left for the evening.

photo credit: Old Video Games at the Manitou Arcade via photopin (license)

I'm not sure exactly when because memories that old are foggy by nature, but not too long after that my dad got us an Atari 2600.  It was wood-grained like an eighties station wagon and had several metal toggle switches protruding from the front.  To set optional play parameters, there were smaller switches on the back.  It came with two one-button joysticks and a pair of "paddles", which were one-button controllers with a large knob in the place of the joystick.  The paddles were typically used to control some sort of ball-batting device that moved horizontally, hence their name.  I was hooked.  I began picking up copies of Joystick magazine from the grocery store, which I would read and re-read incessantly.  In those early days, there were not only the usual reviews and strategy tips, but also detailed and frank commentary on the business side of games.  That was a part of the editorial mix that disappeared in the Nintendo Power and EGM days, and has only recently resurfaced.

Fast forward a few years later to circa 1985.  For Christmas, my folks got me my first computer.  My dad had to drive to some obscure computer dealer in Atlanta to acquire it, because most computers not branded "Commodore" were sold business-to-business or for education in those days.  It was an Apple IIc with 128k RAM and a 5 1/4-inch floppy drive.  Crucially, no software.  To my parents' credit, not knowing much about computers, they had researched the purchase well and knew Apple was the brand of choice for education at the time, and they had purchased it with my schooling primarily in mind.  What they didn't know is that the computer required software to really do anything aside from turn on and beep.  However, included in the box was something unheard of today:  disks containing detailed graphical tutorials on how a computer worked and how to start writing BASIC programs... and a bit of LOGO also.  It didn't take long before I was playing The Bard's Tale and Might & Magic on that Apple II, as well as writing a few very simple games of my own.

So that's my story.  Basically, this blog is my dad's fault.  I hope you'll stay along for the ride.  I'm going to be bringing my long experience in the gaming world to bear on things that are often either not addressed, or in my (perhaps not-so-humble) opinion, addressed incorrectly or incompletely in other blogs and gaming news sources.  You won't see me re-post the same information you've seen across every other site, and I'm not going to feel the need to compulsively cover the same things everybody else does.  So if you want something a little different, stick around, and thanks for reading.  Oh, and yes, I still love pizza.