Argue like its the 90s! PC Gaming vs Console Gaming

[GohanX]

I was primarily a console gamer as a kid, but my parents finally got me a PC around 95 or so, so I played both. They were each good for different reasons. PC games were larger in scope, and generally more complicated than a console would allow, but simpler console style games were generally lacking. Ports of console games may have been prettier and higher resolution, but they often had crippling bugs as a result of being a rushed port.

Around the time the Saturn stopped getting support in the US I pretty much went to PC gaming full time until the release of the Dreamcast. After a while, awesome PC exclusive titles that interested me were getting fewer, and I decided the constant video card upgrades were no longer worth it. I think the last PC game I bought retail was Max Payne. My current PC doesn't even have a real video card in it.

I do miss space flight sims. If EA ever got the old Origin team back together for another Wing Commander, you'd better believe a new computer would be on order built around the recommended specs of the new game.

[HercTNT]

yea, the current state of pc gaming is grimm. classic pc gaming is excellent, but has fewer and fewer fans. their is plenty of room for consoles and pc alike, but that goes back to my concept of being a true gamer. real gamers understand that quality games can be found everywhere, not just on thier system of choice. most people in these forums get that, their are a few that have no concept.

[Tatsujin]

Lol tats   I'd lump C64 and Amigas in with PC gaming... they're personal computers are they not?

they were kinda called personal computers, but did things in a quite different way and style than the "PCs" we're talking about here. for me, amiga and c64 had much more common with consoles than with PCs, but in fact they were somewhere between

[SignOfZeta]

his sole focus is on anything that involves a conspiracy theory. if you told him you were M&M's he would tell you that it was designed by "the man" to hold down the minorities while the zionist, isreali butt kissers were holding hollywood hostage and making proganda films. i have no idea why he can't just take a breather and enjoy games, and consoles for what they are. not everything is a front against "the man"

In all seriousness, what the fuck are you talking about? What conspiracy theory? Where did I mention "the man"? Its one thing for me to have a disagreement/flameout with someone on the internet because of a difference of opinion, but I honestly think you might just be too stupid to understand what I'm saying.

In my initial post, which is still there, go ahead and read it, basically said that I was into gaming on computers in the 80s when the stuff was full of character. I mention that as we entered the 3D era we lost sight of things like Full Throttle and Dungeon Master and Leisure Suit Larry and things got boring and brown and action oriented. Then I mentioned that as of today PC gaming is typified by WoW, fps, and really idiotic shit like The Sims or Farmville.

So where am I talking about conspiracies here? Who is "the man" in this explanation of three distinct eras of PC gaming? Either explain these statements or please shut the fuck up. I can take any sort of criticism that is valid, but your shit makes no sense. If you think I'm a grumpy killjoy, fine, I can see that, but you are the one that keeps bringing up Israel in this thread, not me. I haven't mentioned it until just now. Are you fucking retarded?

In the days of C64, Amiga, etc games had a life to them that you really couldn't find on consoles. Most people considered PC games to be more older gamers, those with a sense of humor and maybe looking for something a bit more intelligent that jumping on turtles 100,000 times. I don't see this sort of thing as being well represented in todays popular PC games, its almost completely extinct even, and I posted a sales chart to back up this notion.

There was nothing in the OP that explained a specific era of PC gaming. It just said:


Question:    Which do you prefer?
Console Gaming
PC Gaming
I like all games!
I dont like games   
I like Frungy

No mention of a specific era. I explained that I was into them when they were (in my opinion) cool, but not now.

[Ji-L87]

Oh man, I used to be all about PC gaming. I did have a Mega Drive at the time and later a Dreamcast, but PC always seemed to come out superior in the end. In recent years, however, I've come to appreciate the (more or less) hassle-free world of console gaming. Also, I just like many of the games better.
Before I got back into console games and bought a PS2, I wished for all the cool console games to get ported to PC - I could feel I was missing out. Actually, buying that PS2 was probably one of my best gaming related purchases ever, GAME and other stores was getting rid of their PS2 games for cheap at the time as well - one hell of a gateway drug for sure!

So, I think console gaming wins. PC gaming is flexible and technically superior, but installing games can be a chore and revisiting gaming history on the PC usually presents some issues. Then there's also the fact that the game you just bought most likely will need to have it's settings tweaked with to run perfectly. Some of my friends, who like me and other kids back then, grew up on PC games and with who I've had smaller LAN-parties with when I was younger, have switched to Xboxes instead. Can't blame them really.

Also, in my case, becoming this huge anime/manga-nerd also made me more interested in consoles. Not sure the consoles get more games than PC over there, but they get the most interesting ones. PC remains a haven for visual novels and MMOs but most MMOs are uninteresting and I liked visual novels better when they were called "dating sims".

[HercTNT]

I don't know zeta, maybe you bring the best out in me. It's funny that i'm not the only person thats being critical of your comments but you always seem to single me out. Maybe that's why I give you so much grief at times. Difference between you and me is atleast i'm curtious enough to extend you some respect and understanding. You can't seem to be able to do that with me at all. Maybe another reason i find it hard to cut you slack. Your right, i just need to back off. Its not like you and i are ever gonna see eye to eye on anything, or that your ever gonna extend any respect to me at all.

[TheClash603]

PC gaming < Apple II gaming

I had an IBM PS1 or something growing up and I never touched it, because the Apple II C+ blew it away.

[PCEngineHell]

To be honest Zeta the threads title and the original post content basically implied that this discussion was to be classic oriented. It wasn't that hard to figure it out, but you just kinda went on this tangent about FPS games and killing arabs and crap, implying that's all COD games are about, when in fact they are not. The worst part is you don't really even know what is currently popular and being played on pc, you just assume its only some COD title about killing arabs and Farmville or World of Warcraft. I don't know anyone who plays fucking Farmville or WOW, and the only person who I know that plays The Sims is my daughter.

You dismiss modern pc gaming right off the bat simply because in your opinion if its not a 8-16 bit throwback digital download game then its not "cool". Before you get all judgmental and assuming about what current pc gamers play, maybe you need to join some pc gaming/hardware sites/forums like Guru3d, HardOCP, or Tomshardware and actually READ about what others play. Maybe then you will have a leg to stand on in this kind of discussion.

I can see how you would pine for the days of old, like Sam and Max Hit the Road, etc, but to be honest Pc gaming has matured a lot since the days of the cut and dry 486 computer systems being sold at retail. The major focus now is not just point and klik role play and graphic adventures, but driving and complicated flight sims, mech combat, fps (like Tribes, COD, Bioshock, Crysis, Quake Wars, etc) and RTS games. If you'd have even bothered to look at the pics I posted you'd clearly see there is a vast mix of titles covering many genres, most of which are very popular titles for pc, or were upon their original release, and that's not even all the stuff I own, or even a solid representation of the huge variety of titles on the market.

Some pc nay sayers say pc gaming has been on a decline, but sales on both digital and physical media have been strong lately, and Pc currently enjoys better versions of most games released to console, along with many titles exclusive to pc only. If you don't like modern gaming in general, then yeah current pc gaming will have nothing to offer you, but that doesn't mean it actually is on the decline, it just doesn't suit you personally anymore is all.

Also, Herc was making a point that you tend to get focused on crap like anti-war and anti-government rants and crap and you get carried away and make stupid statements or get into arguments about it. In all fairness, you do do this, and you also constantly try to argue a point that you clearly must know is wrong, that most no one in their right mind agrees with, simply because it seems you don't know how to admit when you are wrong or whatever or simply because you are trying to imply "I'm smarter and better then everyone else here" or are trying to be different just for the sake of doing so.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

Zeta, your examples do not explain your killing arabs theory. plenty of high quality games have come out that have nothing to do with your bizzare fight "the man" theories. this whole thread is about early pc games vs console games of the same period. if your past the 90's, and you are, then you have missed the point, or are making a statement irreleveant to the original thread. not every thread is this forum is based on a conspirecy theory.  play some games, have some fun, then make an intelligent statement based on said games. if you can't then your in the wrong thread. not everything has to do with zionist, anti isrealii, screw the man, corrupt establishment, who gives a f*ck mentality.

That too, he is ignoring the fact that you are referring to the 90s and classic gaming and that is what the thread is about. His sole focus seems to be on modern gaming, and even on that he is wrong anyway.

I too remember a PC (Maybe consoles too?) game that had a spot where you could kill Osama Bin Laden and Saddam.  Wasn't it something like "The War on Terror" or something....?

Maybe I'm crazy...

Regardless, I started gaming with a Tandy CoCo2, then only got consoles up till around 1997 when I got a used Windows 95 PC- (I want to say an Acer Aspire)  Had lots of fun, but in all honestly I probably missed most of the truly great titles of the time due to having an older computer.  In the mid 2000s I got sucked into crap like Maple Story and excellent games like PSO Blue Burst gaming online! 

Now I mostly run Linux PCs at home and play some free games (Most actually pretty rad) and older DOS games.  SCUMM is amazing.

If I had to chose I guess I liked Console games/gaming more, but do enjoy gaming on either!

[HercTNT]

josh, you might be thinking of postal 2. yes you could get bin laden, you could blow away gary coleman as well.

[PCEngineHell]

Yeah Postal 2 was kind of a over the top sandbox fps of sorts. It was ok, but not what I'd consider a top tier title by any means.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I remember in the late 90s when all my dumbass friends got Goldeneye for N64.

The exchange went like this:

Them: HURHURHURHURHURHURHR COME PLAY 007 WE HAVE PAINTBALL MODE

me: fuck you fags, I have Quake 2.

Them: WHATS A QUAKE 2

me: come watch

them: MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM WE NEED A COMPUTER AND QUAKE 2.

me: lol

My friends were all defective and got N64s.  I had Disruptor, FFVII, X-Com, Oddworld, RE 1 and Re 2,  and fucking Tobal No. 1

they were jealous as shit about my PS1.

I remember Zelda came out and I was like lolBraveFencerMusashi

it was like taking a 3 year olds puppy and throwing it off a building.   That's how crushed they were.

[SignOfZeta]

I don't know zeta, maybe you bring the best out in me. It's funny that i'm not the only person thats being critical of your comments but you always seem to single me out. Maybe that's why I give you so much grief at times. Difference between you and me is atleast i'm curtious enough to extend you some respect and understanding. You can't seem to be able to do that with me at all. Maybe another reason i find it hard to cut you slack. Your right, i just need to back off. Its not like you and i are ever gonna see eye to eye on anything, or that your ever gonna extend any respect to me at all.

You're the one that brought up Eskimos and lesbians and "the man" and conspiracy theories. I never mentioned ANY of that shit. Maybe I'm singling you out because you said the stupidest shit out of anyone here. I called you out on it and this is the best you can do? I ask you to explain yourself and the only answer is "you must just hate me". Wonderful.

I'm not the only one here to say "PC gaming isn't what it used to be" so why are YOU singleing ME out?

[HercTNT]

I told you i'm backing off, so i'm backing off.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Eskimo lesbians don't like blubber.

[PCEngineHell]

I don't know zeta, maybe you bring the best out in me. It's funny that i'm not the only person thats being critical of your comments but you always seem to single me out. Maybe that's why I give you so much grief at times. Difference between you and me is atleast i'm curtious enough to extend you some respect and understanding. You can't seem to be able to do that with me at all. Maybe another reason i find it hard to cut you slack. Your right, i just need to back off. Its not like you and i are ever gonna see eye to eye on anything, or that your ever gonna extend any respect to me at all.

You're the one that brought up Eskimos and lesbians and "the man" and conspiracy theories. I never mentioned ANY of that shit. Maybe I'm singling you out because you said the stupidest shit out of anyone here. I called you out on it and this is the best you can do? I ask you to explain yourself and the only answer is "you must just hate me". Wonderful.

I'm not the only one here to say "PC gaming isn't what it used to be" so why are YOU singleing ME out?

Maybe you should fucking drop it already and move on. We get it, you don't like fps, or modern war games of any type, or graphic flight and racing sims, or Dawn of War or Company of Heroes or hundreds of other games you have never even tried. No big deal, to each their own. No one would have singled you out to begin with had you not went on some wild detailed tangent showing us just how little you actually do know about modern pc gaming, and how you think the only popular modern FPS being played is some game about Americans shooting sand people. Shit was already dying down and it would be great to get back on topic concerning the 90's stuff, for serious.

[BlueBMW]

I edited the poll to make it a little more clear.

No one likes Frungy?   Does anyone recognize the reference?

On another note.... been playing some Xcom Terror from the Deep... <3

[HercTNT]

i know frungy is from star control, but i don't understand its meaning. xcom is a fantastic game, to bad i suck at it. strategy games have never been my strong point. Warcraft 2 is probably my all time favorite and i barely made it through.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Terror From the Derp is more like it.


I'm gonna fire up motherfuckin WING COMMANDER tonight.

Shit's so hood.   I got it for 1.29$ at Goodwill.

[DragonmasterDan]

I go with console gaming here. I like some PC games, but the consoles are where I'm most comfortable.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Fun games are fun games, be they console, handheld, or PC.  I play pretty much nothing on the PC now (I've got enough PCE and PSP stuff to keep me plenty busy), but my play time was pretty evenly split between the Turbob and PC back in the early 90s.  Early on my PC favs included King's Quest and other point-n-clicks, Raptor, GTA 1 & 2, Wolfenstein 3D, and Heretic; in the late 90s to early 00s, I was playing the various Command & Conquer titles, Dune 2000, Emperor: Battle for Dune, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and the 3D GTAs.

[Digi.k]

kinda miss the old dos boot up disks and fiddling around with stuff like himem just trying to get games to work properly.

Also really hated the old adlib sound card and were soo expensive in those days and I thought the sound was just superior on pc-e hucards.

It wasn't till I got hold of the gravis ultrasound card and updating it to 1meg ram where the pc sound being more affordable was able to match and in some cases outdo the Amiga 500 sound chip.  Also disliked the lack of joypad support for pc for arcadey games.

Anyway I did enjoy games like Kings quest 5 & 6 along with a slew of lucasarts point and click games.

Those days here in the UK, Virgin handled the master system and elevated it way above Nintendo and it wasn't until the marketing of Mutant hero/ninja turtles was when nintendo got their foot in the door here.

Personally I thought consoles just beat all pc's in those days mainly because games just ran much smoother and had less hardware conflicts better controllers and I really had a dislike for all these game options for pc games.

Also it was pc engine's r-type that won me over.  I thought the amiga translation was just poor

[Tatsujin]

its allaobut JPN games won over european games back tehn..lololwoowowwo. sorry am le drunken..hhe .

[420GOAT]

i could never navigate pc games...they just seemed harder. i can pick up a controler and get it on!.

[KnightWarrior]

Console Gaming for me

[CPTRAVE]

Definitley console gaming, easier to handle. I never really tried playing a PC game.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Then how do you know its not easier to handle...? lol

[liquitek]

I never understood PC gaming as a primary (or even significant) platform... until 1993.  X-Wing, Syndicate, NHL 93 & Master of Orion showed me what I was missing on consoles. 
Ever since it's been a good mix of both.

[geise]

I started most of my gaming on the Amiga and Atari ST before jumping on the Turbo, then Genesis.  At the time they were both great cause computer games were easier to just run and play.  Ever since Windows 95 era you had to start worrying about system specs.  Then it just went downhill from there.  Every damn year it seemed like you had to worry about "God damn it will my computer be good enough to run this game!?" *reads back of the box* "Fuck!"  I pretty much gave up on most PC gaming by the time the Dreamcast got released.  When you buy a console game you know it will run how it's meant to.

[esadajr]

PC gaming has been a complement to me. That was how I was able to play some games like Sonic CD, Sonic R, Need for Speed, the late 90s FIFA games, etc

[motdelbourt]

PC gaming then at least was educational. You had to learn why the sound didn't work, why the game wouldn't install, why it would run terribly slowly, etc.

[Xray]

First PC game I saw was probably mid 80's, my buddies older brother was absolutely hooked on this submarine game.
He'd literally sit for days in a little basement room hunting convoys, and we'd check in every now and then to bullshit with him and watch his progress.
"Yeah, I'm about 900 miles south west of the Azores now, in about 9 hours I should have them in my sights ,,, Wanna stay and watch ??"

Uh, thanks, but no thanks.  Graphics were pure shit, even by 80's standards. Most of it was just numbers and bearings, if he popped up to have a look above the sea, you'd really have to stretch your imagination to see anything resembling a sub cruising on the surface. [The guy, Jerry, was a glue sniffer, tried to get everyone else to sniff. "No thanks dude, I know what it smells like", I'd tell him. Laid him back, and he was heavily addicted. Died of a brain hemorrhage some years later].
When Nintendo & Turbo game out, things picked up dramatically, but I joined the service for an 8 year hitch around that time, so missed out on much of the early action. When I was able to get a system, I went with Turbo, and happily played and built up my game inventory for a couple of years ... But when Windows 95 came out, things changed.
I got it around 97, and got Battlezone, and that game blew me away. Incredible graphics, and a control system that I have never seen before, or since.
I still play it, and it still looks great skimming over the moon, and leading battle squadrons against the enemy. After a dose of that, I pretty much put the turbo away as childs play, until I had kids old enough to play it. [Still was very protective of my Turbo, and made sure they didn't abuse it. I banned one of my sons from Turbo for a whole year when he got pissed and slammed the control pad on the ground].
Never really looked back, I think PC games are far superior to consoles in almost all respects. Although my kids ended up with just about every gaming system that came out, I never got into them. That said, I'm not exactly a PC game addict. I still have many stashed away in the attic that I never even opened, and the majority of games I'd play and lose interest quickly. I have probably well over 100 old PC games, boxes and all, stashed away, many more that were downloaded and saved to CD. Haven't looked at them in years. I can count on both hands the numbers of games that I seriously got into.
Aside for Battlezone, my all time favorite, they include:
System Shock 2
Far Cry
Total Annihilation
And a few others that I can't even think of their names. One was a hot chick named Rhen flying around on a dragon.
The only game I play now and have been playing for years, and the only game I have ever played online, is Dawn of War Dark Crusade, an incredible base building race war game.

[Arkhan Asylum]

PC gaming then at least was educational. You had to learn why the sound didn't work, why the game wouldn't install, why it would run terribly slowly, etc.

HIMEM.SYS, MOTHERFUCKERS

[PCEngineHell]

First PC game I saw was probably mid 80's, my buddies older brother was absolutely hooked on this submarine game.

Sounds like Silent Service.

[geise]

Sure does.  Had that on my Atari ST.  Was boring as all hell.  Maybe it could also be Hunt for Red October.

[wilykat]

Consoles vs computer...  that's a toughie.  I was raised in console only era ('77 with Atari system my cousin owned) and didn't have a home computer until I got a VIC=20.  poor VIC=20 didn't get much use because games were hard to find locally.

A few years later I got a C=64 with better game selection, got Ultima V and Ultima Trilogy set (1-3) and a few games.  I didn't get U4 until 20 years later when I found C64 emulator and arnold ftp site for the games. (and got CIB off eBay so I'd have "complete" 6 games set)

Once I tried to hack U5 save game with disk editing and got maximum gold and some supplies. But I goofed on one part and ended up with my character mounted on a shadowlord.  I was able to control the shadowlord "mount" and go through anything including the tall, unpassable peaks.  But when I dismounted and moved, it attacked me :/

With C-64 I think I spent a lot more time on it than any console system until I got NES in '87. I learned in BASIC and I was able to do crazy tricks* that otherwise seems difficult on C64's limited BASIC library.  I had a few games like Tron light cycle type game (2 players via joysticks, using crude 40x25 ASCII graphic)

*crazy trick like 1 line substitute for if-then-else loop as C64 did not have else support. Instead of that, I used on 1*(a=21)+2*(a=34)+3*(a=54)... goto 100,200,300,400...  Since only 1 variable can be true, it'd return a 1 multiplied by the number, while rest would be a 0 which is still 0 when multiplied.  Without this creative use of on x goto command, I'd have done multiple if-then lines wasting lots of memory.

I am OLD....  not only do I know BASIC (and still do), I also did LOGO and PILOT.  Today's kid would say huh if I mentioned those 3 languages.  LOGO is an easy graphic based programming like draw forward xx, turn right xx, etc.  PILOT is a harder version of graphic based programming.

I've tried newer computer languages but at 37 my brain just doesn't want to save any new information. It is true you learn better as a child than as an old man.