A PC do I want one?

It's time to ask the question I ask every few months:

I am thinking of buying a new PC tommorow, the core2quad Q6600 specified here: www.cpl.net.au/greenguide/20090129-web.pdf

Or I could buy an Xbox 360.

Or I could buy nothing.

Help me decide.

Computer Pros:
This one is showing it's age (World of Warcraft is the newest game I have tried on it.)
Can try those Warhammer 40K games that look cool.
Bloodbowl is comming on the PC I think.
Starcraft 2 looks good.
I hear left for dead is good.
PC is good for stuff other than games.

Cons:
Apart from games this thing is fine for web and the other bits and bobs I need it for.
Can't be fucked moving everything from this shitbox to the other one.
Do I really want to get back into video games?
Might be outdated by the time SC 2 comes out.

Xbox 360
Wont outdate as fast.
Has some supposedly cool games (no idea what though)
Boardgames on xbox live - tide of iron is comming supposedly!
Blood bowl is comming on it.

Cons:
Wii - never used anymore.
DS - hardly ever used.
Not good for strategy games (I like those and FPS's the most.)
Do I really want to get back into video games?

Left4dead is amazing. Doesn't run on a Mac though so I can only play on a neighbours PC (sob).
I'm told the xpox has this 'red ring of death' hardware failure / design flaw.

Mr Skeletor wrote:
"Do I really want to get back into video games?"
That's the crux of it. If the answer's 'no' then stick with what you have. If the answer's 'yes' then you have to consider whether it'll be a repeat of the Wii & DS, i.e. you won't actually use it much. If that's going to be the case then upgrading the PC also gives you non-gaming options; except as you said, your current "thing is fine for web and the other bits and bobs I need it for". Which gets you back to sticking with what you have.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Might be outdated by the time SC 2 comes out.

By the time SC2 comes out, computers will be made of glowing organic matter, and we'll all be slaves to a cruel race of stainless steel robots with breasts.

Okay, I'm biased. I don't like consoles, and I don't like console games. But based on your own criteria, you really should spend the money on a PC. The real key is that you like strategy games and FPSs. So there is no contest; a PC is your only choice.

Regarding FPSs, mouse and keyboard is an infinitely better control system for shooters. There are a ton of games available, both current and dated a few years, to satisfy your shooter needs. PC versions are also almost always moddable, which allows you to make changes to gameplay as you see fit, and often greatly increase your value for money (e.g. see HL2's Source engine).

The real kicker, though, is your enjoyment of strategy games. Besides the commercial titles available, one of PC gaming's biggest strengths is the availability of indie games, a major category of which is strategy games. A game like Armageddon Empires is worth the price of admission alone. Or Dominions, or...

The Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War games are pretty pisser. I keep my old decrepit franken-PC around just for Dawn of War at this point.

There a lot of games on the PC to love, but the never-ending patch, upgrade, tweaking cycle got to me a few years ago and I quit. I picked up an Xbox 360 and never looked back. It's the best console available if you're looking for competitive and co-op gameplay. If you do decide to get a 360, make sure you head over to www.agerocks.com . It's a community of older gamers that offers organized game nights (L4D, Gears, NHL 09, Halo, Ghost Recon, Shadowrun), tournaments, and opportunities to link up with others for co-op. I've made good friends through there.

Bullwinkle wrote:

Regarding FPSs, mouse and keyboard is an infinitely better control system for shooters.

I strongly disagree. I much prefer the dual analog sticks and button layout of the Playstation-style game controllers. I'll never use a keyboard again for an FPS.

I've got an xbox and got off the PC upgrade cycle. It has really been quite great.

THAT SAID, Frank, based on the types of games you like you need to buy a PC. You named the only two areas that are really strong on the PC as your favorite genres. Go with the PC.

Mad Dog wrote:

Bullwinkle wrote:

Regarding FPSs, mouse and keyboard is an infinitely better control system for shooters.

I strongly disagree. I much prefer the dual analog sticks and button layout of the Playstation-style game controllers. I'll never use a keyboard again for an FPS.

Some of us can't get our brains to tell our thumbs to do different things - my 10yr old lad has been embarrassing me for at least 2 yrs.

Mad Dog wrote:

Bullwinkle wrote:

Regarding FPSs, mouse and keyboard is an infinitely better control system for shooters.

I strongly disagree. I much prefer the dual analog sticks and button layout of the Playstation-style game controllers. I'll never use a keyboard again for an FPS.

Absolutely despise game controllers for anything other than flying helicopters in the Battlefield series...and even then, it's still a distant 2nd to a decent flight-stick.

Only thing that has me even remotely considering a console purchase is to play Gary Sax in Bloodbowl whenever it arrives and to play Wings of War on Xbox Live one of these days [mostly because I can't seem to ever get a regular game of it going in fucking person...].

What I despise most, though, are console games ported over to the PC--with all their auto-aim, designated-save point, never patched no matter how broken they are bullshit.


Frank, for all the things you like, a new PC that you can pull along for another 3+ years is the right answer. I'm not a big fan of MS Vista though...I downgraded all my systems back to XP because of the horrible nanny-security settings and the fact that it wholly fucked all my VPN connections to the office ...

Is the specs of the PC I listed good enough or should I go more?
Fuck Vista, never used it. If XP is cheap enough I'll get a legit version of that otherwise I'll stick to my cracked copy.

Yeah, fuck Vista. Less than 3% of businesses in the U.S. have switched to Vista, because Microsoft did such a poor job on it.

I'm biased against console games, and even though my PC isn't able to run the newest games, that just means that I focus on older games that I can buy second-hand for $10 or less.

Specs look pretty good.

The main thing you want to think about is your videocard. It's an *ok* (512 9500GT) card but you could do much better and I the rest of the rig would easily support it. If I had to guess, looking at the specs, that is where your bottleneck will be if you run games. A video card, if you play FPS and good RTS to a lesser extent, is really what you are going to see the biggest improvements in most games from.

Everyone is always saying what a piece of crap Vista is, but it came with my laptop and I've never had any problems. I guess I've just been lucky.

If I had to choose between a high-powered PC and any of the consoles it would be the PC hands down. The reason? Three words: World of Warcraft. Sweet, sweet, gaming crack..

SusanR wrote:

Everyone is always saying what a piece of crap Vista is, but it came with my laptop and I've never had any problems. I guess I've just been lucky.

There were certain design decisions that failed to respect what users might actually want. For example, if you do a file search in XP, it will slowly but surely search your whole computer for the file. If you do a file search in Vista, the search will go faster but fail more often, because it will only search files that are indexed for searching. Another example is the annoying way that Vista questions everything that you do? Are you sure that you want to save this file?

Not that I'm saying Macs are any better. Their engineers have made equally serious blunders, like that desktop with the passive chimney heat ventilation, or that time when they decided that nobody wanted disk drives anymore.