New Consoles

[Liam Neeson]

-Xbox 360 Arcade(xbox only) $300
-Controller $50-$60
-Memory Card(had to get one just to be able to save my games) $20-$30
-Oblivion $60
-Wireless Network Adapter $70
-Hard Drive $100
-Halo 3 $60
-Xbox 360 Elite(after first red ringed for the second time) $500
+$60 for each game
+$60 for each year
Total:
$1140 plus the first 2 years of xbox live service and no other games than just the 2
Grand Total:
$1260 USD

-Dell Inspiron 518 $900
-ge force GT 240 graphics card $100
-Steam Gold Subscription $0
Total:$1000
- 89 steam games $1000
Grand Total: $2000


So for the same price I got 89 Steam games I could get 16.6 full price xbox 360 titles. Also you could easily get a computer capable of running games for $600-$700 and which isn't bad especially if you plan on having a computer for non gaming and then just slapping on a $100 graphics card. If you stick to buying games off steam during sales than you can easily end up spending less than on a console even with today's lowered prices and you still having a functional computer to use for other things(also the amount I payed is mainly void of steam sales)

Also I believe Pillz was reffereing to the MACification that consoles seem to embody(complete control over releases, overpriced modules, etc.) and less so an actual monopoly.

[Tictactoe360]

My laptop was roughly 1000$ and can run the newest games out there (Lenovo Ideapad)
As well, I've purchased roughly 200+ Games through steam over the course of four years and have spent no more than
300$ Using sales and other deals that aren't remotely found on console systems

[Pillz]

The gaming competetion is Xbox, Nintendo and Sony; then there's PC which gaming mainly works through Steam,  although PC gaming exists without it. So my mistake, it's an oligopoly.

My issue is the prices on games, and how little I actually value the 60$ game I buy. I don't hate consoles as I've played them for years and have had many fond memories but since the disappearance of blockbuster I have no way to play games cheaply. I could pay for Gamefly which is just annoying to me because I have to wait for the game and can only have 1-2 out at a time but if the new systems prevent rental services from working altogether I'd have to give up. I don't even pay for gamefly anymore because I so rarely want to buy games; it's only 2-3 times a year I feel the need to play a console game.

I've spent countless hours in Gamestop trying to decide which game is worth the little bit of money I have and often just give up and leave. I'm sure if I had more money I wouldn't complain about it so much but I don't; and I hate myself for wasting all the money I did on my PS3, PS2, Gamecube and so forth.

I'm thinking of just buying an N64 again.. even though the N64 bundle I saw at PlayNTrade was 80$.. So maybe I'll just buy the Gamecube for 20$ @_@

Or I'll just never spend my money on consoles again. I'd consider a Steambox; but technically I can hook my computer and 4 controllers up to a 60" flat screen right now if I wanted; so why bother? The Steambox is just the answer to people who want to play Steam games but don't want to drop 1000$ for a pimped out computer. It'd also be a LOT easier to carry around a console that's the size of your fist instead of a massive computer or PS3. I feel the design they use for the SteamBox is the future of all consoles, unless the whole industry remains stubborn as possible until they crash and burn.

Maybe one day it WILL be a monopoly; I feel that'd be much easier for everyone as we all could play together in harmony. Fuck meeting a friend who has an Xbox and you have a PS3 so you can't play COD together.

[IsYn Wooley]

No one even brings this up...but

My main argument which pretty much makes sense in all respects EVER!

I do not have to get up on  my ass to play a different game on my PC.

I just launch the game and I am good to go.

No getting up...looking for the fucking Game disc. Finding the box empty going SON OF A BITCH! WHERE DID I PUT THAT THING!!!

Shit even when PC games required CDs to play, we had no cd fixes on the .exe

-Nuff Said

Wooley

[Christovski]

I'll be honest here, right now in this thread it just seems like a lot of PC gamers wanking on about how its better than consoles.  We all know PCs are better, why go on about it like its something new?

PC's have been better than consoles FOREVER but consoles still are a huge part of gaming.

They ain't going away, since there's a huge fanbase outside of CG (seeing as how we are a PC GAMING community) there will always be people buying consoles, even if they are worse, because the average person doesn't know the difference and in their eyes consoles are easier to deal with. 

Ok you may now resume wanking all over each other.

[Cadaver]

Ok you may now resume wanking all over each other.

You must be new here. . .

[Pillz]

Idunno. I think Consoles might go on for another two generations at most, but then I believe they'll have upgraded so much there will be no difference between them and PC's. Especially with the Steambox on the way, which like I said will hopefully lead the way for all consoles to follow. They already put Steam on the PS3 INSIDE of Portal 2 though, but if Steam was available outside of games on consoles I would be happy.

[Old Crow]

Costwise I could see them staying around for people that like to play games, but the Xbox barely made Microsoft any money, and the PS3 basically put Sony in the red for a few years. Consoles all depend on game sales, so if all my games are 60+ dollars even titles that are old (most call of duty games stay the same price until the new one comes out....then they drop 10 bucks :/).

This is going to be exasperated by direct download. I know Microsoft has full control on how they price games on the online market, it would then be too easy for them to just make everything 60 dollars and call it a day. Sure they will have some discounts but they control the market, and what we often see from full control of a market combined with low competition is prices stay high.