How Consoles Are Still (Somewhat) Better Than PC’s In Gaming

Remember a few months back when I wrote that I might make a second article but explaining why consoles are still better than PC’s in some aspects? Well, of course non of you don’t because that was almost half a year ago and I’ve neglected writing on this site for a long time. But to make it up to my few followers, here are several reasons that support the use of consoles for gaming rather than PC. Obviously, this article won’t be as long as the original article, but I’ll try my best to make it longer than it should be. Without further ado, let’s just get on with the rebuttals shall we?

#1: Use It Right Out-of-the-Box!

While you can’t take this statement 100% literally, you can in a sense both literally and metaphorically once you think outside the box (pun intended). Many people still prefer playing consoles for its simplicity, and nothing beats plugging the console to the television, turning the system on and loading the main menu, and then being able to play the game with controller in hand. You don’t have to worry about driver updates when something fucks up, or lower settings because your hardware is too weak, or have to install mods and shit that might break the game or make you banned.

You also can be rest assured that there won’t be (mostly) any game breaking bugs, poor optimization, or having hardware related issues. True, consoles require manual installation when you power it on for the first time, but that applies to pretty much every consumer electronic device and it’s quite user friendly with a manual included. No extra knowledge or expertise in computer engineering is required as you just sit back, relax, and play. Did I mention you don’t need to buy and build every single component either (they even come with extra hard drives now just in case)?

#2: Consoles Are Still More Affordable

Of course that consoles cost much more in the long-term…assuming that you’re sharing it with other people and plan to buy lots and lots of games. If you’re a casual gamer or just not really into gaming cause of how messed up the gaming industry is, you’ll most likely buy the bare essentials, pay for an online subscription, and then buy about 20-30 games. (I conducted a survey back then on GameFAQS and most people will get that amount per system that they own). Unless you plan to buy hundreds of games and constantly upgrade, why spend 1000 dollars or more for PC gaming?

I know lots of friends and acquaintances that also are very “money-savvy” and won’t buy everything at full price. They’ll usually sell their older games and systems for the newer ones, buy or trade used games and systems (in good condition, duh), or wait for holiday sales when everything will be dirt cheap. Let’s be honest here, unless you’re a truly hardcore gamer (or a man-child), you’re not gonna play the games and consoles once you get bored of using them. Even if you don’t choose to spend money wisely on console gaming, there are many uses besides just gaming much like computers.

#3: Family and User-Friendly

Much like why people now prefer using tablets over laptops and desktop PC’s, many people prefer using consoles for catering to everyone. You can do so many tasks on consoles besides just gaming, such as watching TV shows and movies, listening to music and songs, browsing the internet, and even using web chat! Sure, a lot of these services require additional service fees or severely limited, but majority of mainstream society don’t see these as setbacks and are quite used to it. And besides, most of the services provided allow unlimited access for a cheap monthly fee.

In a way, buying consoles for casual users can actually save lots of money spent on otherwise additional expensive products like 4K Blu-Ray players. The GUI (graphic user interface) is emulated like that of tablets and smartphones, so those of older and younger generations can easily adapt to and use the consoles outside of gaming. There are on-screen prompts for those that get confused of the button layout of gamepad controllers or prefer not to use hand-eye coordination. No need to install updates and patches as the console will do all of that for you in the background.

#4: Co-op Play With Local Players

We’ve all been used to online gaming for probably over a decade now (or a few years for you mobile and Nintendo gamers). If it’s not severely limited by the hardware and/or developers, it’s filled with a toxic community that ruins the experience. That’s way sometimes it’s best to go back to traditional roots and play multiplayer with friends and family members within the same room and system. Setting up a local game on PC requires an online connection for everybody or setting up a LAN game which is annoying and complicated (plus PC monitors are smaller than TV’s!)

There is communication available online but that’s just not quite like talking to your favorite pals up close and personal. Best of all, no need to worry about hackers, griefers, and trolls joining in and ruining the fun for their sadistic enjoyment (since they can’t get any from their miserable lives). Since you’re all also playing in the same room, you can do other social activities such as eating, drinking, texting, or the like to make local co-op gaming even more interesting. Plus, depending on the game you and your friends/relatives can even take turns using the controllers.

#5: Getting Third-Party Games 1st

More and more games seem to be ported now to PC than years ago, although that doesn’t always mean they get it before console gamers do. Since companies still profit more from console owners, they tend to release and optimize their games earlier and better than compared to PC. While people like me have to wait several months (or in some cases, years) just for them to make a port for PC. I won’t really discuss how console games are better optimized, seeing how they’re mostly rendered at 30fps and sub-resolutions, and the fact that major consoles all use similar AMD chips anyways.

#6: First-Party Exclusives on Consoles

Usually consumers won’t just go to a store simply because of the different brands it offers, but also from the unique goods and services it exclusively provides. The same applies to consoles, as many people usually choose between Play-Station, Xbox, or Nintendo because of exclusives (and other factors). Otherwise, if it weren’t for such unique gems, might as well game on PC since literally almost all third party titles are ported there (even some Xbox exclusives are on the Windows Store). You just can’t get God of War, Super Smash Bros., or Forza anywhere else.

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I expected to only like about 4 reasons but managed to end up with 6 reasons on some ways where consoles still excel over PC’s for gaming. Sadly, as predicted by both gamers and developers, either this generation might be the last (or one of the last) or it’ll just go rock bottom from here as they try to emulate PC – and fail at it. But, much like the art industry, we might all just be experiencing a phase in a repetitive cycle and eventually there will be better quality products. I am writing this article as I am waiting for my lecture to start since I’m bored and have nothing better to do.