Ever since I was a kid I was arguing with my brother that Mario is better than Sonic, or trying to convince my peers that I could complete Mega man with my eyes closed and my hands behind my back. I had played nothing but console games, transitions were of course the same for a lot of people I'm sure. Mine went as follows:
- SNES "Super Nintendo Entertainment System"
- Sega Megadrive
- Nintendo 64
- PS2 "Playstation 2
- Xbox
- Xbox 360
Now I'm sure a lot of you 22 year olds (or so) have been down a similar path, branching off in the ever controversial Microsoft vs Sony Era. I didn't mention a couple of consoles I have had due to the fact that if don't play them for at least a few hundred hours then I don't really see them as owned.
I remember the first PC we owned as a family, it was poor but it was expensive. The spec's were a shambles, I swear solitaire would drop frame-rate from time to time. It was always a look into the computer world though. I can still remember the first game I played on the PC. "Theme Hospital". Simple point and click, people come in you buy new resources to make them better.
I know I'm rambling on now, but it has to be said, no-one can deny the fact that your first experience of a PC game was not the best. Today though, I have a half decent PC and an Xbox 360.
My library of games include the usual MMO's and shooters exclusive to the PC experience, and my Xbox is just a vast array of everything from big budget shooters to movie tie-in flops. But I have always wanted to know the answer to the age old (10 or so years) question of "what's better? Console or computer?"
So as a little experiment I bought 3 games I already owned on Xbox 360. Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty 4. I have to say I know, they are all shooters. But from previous research this is where all the arguments lie.
- So I started with Battlefield. Easy enough, mouse got some getting used to but the slow paced action of being the recon class really did help me get used to it all. With obvious pros over consoles being the players on one map at one time.
- Next up, Left 4 Dead 2, again easy peasy as they say. Although it was faster pace the fact that you can just spray and pray was very handy. Not a lot of skill was required and I was ranking up in multiplayer in no time. No real pros
- Now, COD, What can I say? I have never felt so awful at a game in my life. The amount of sheer talent swelling from the servers in this game was nuts. The biggest pro of this game has to be the mods. My god! The mods available just change the game completely and can make you paint ball in an arena or an alien vs a predator.
After my stint of killing and mostly being killed on the servers everywhere. I can't actually make a decision on the whole situation. I'm afraid I will be sticking to the Xbox for the foreseeable future, because I love it for the all the obvious reasons. I will say this, consoles will come and go every few years but the PC will always stick around. Whether its the amount of customisation or support for all the indie games it creates with the different platforms it has been adapted to, the PC is here to stay.