Not too long ago my fellow OPNoobs writer Mehmed Tiro wrote an article detailing why he felt PCs were better for gaming over consoles, an opinion I just can not agree with or at least not his reasoning. You see, I have been a console gamer since the Colecovision. Now before the PC Master Race light their torches, sharpen their pitchforks, and storm OPNoobs allow me to explain my stance. Also, let me say that I do game on my PC, just not as much as I do on my PS4.
First off, let me just say that most of what Mehmed wrote had very little to do with gaming.
The amount of storage space, susceptibility to viruses, multitasking opportunities, as well as price and the upgradeable nature of PCs are all great things to discuss but they have little to no bearing on actual gaming. Games are not better or worse by the graphics quality or the fact that you have tons of extra storage space on your machine. While playing FPS games I don't feel a need to surf the web. As I said, all these things are nice but none of them should have any bearing on your gaming enjoyment. So, if these things don't matter in the great PC vs Console debate, what does?
The first thing we should discuss is controls and controllers.
Mehmed talked about a PC's ability to change the button configuration for a game as if it was something exclusive to a PC, but that has not been the case since about the 16 Bit console era. You see, most games allow you to change the button configuration and those that don't are not doing so because they are on consoles, but because the developer chose it that way. Now, depending on what type of game you are playing a keyboard or a controller could hold an advantage, but PCs and most game consoles allow you to use either one now a days. Rumble and other types of feedback that were once console exclusive are now being offered on PC which means neither one holds an advantage over the other in this area of gaming.
The second thing we should talk about is game modification, or modding as it is more commonly known.
Gaming on PC is known for the huge amount of mods that come out almost daily. Feel like fighting dragons that look and sound like Macho Man in Skyrim, they got a mod. Want to add a few superheroes to Fallout 4, several mods for that. Almost anything you want to do on a game can be modded into it, which makes gaming on PC a glorious thing indeed. Now, while you can't really mod games on consoles and there are some unplayable games made playable by modding there is no need to mod a game to enjoy it. So, while modding is a great perk it does not make PC gaming better in general as not everybody uses mods nor does every single game allow them. As I said it is a perk, but not a necessary one.
The last and most important thing we need to talk about are the actual games. Both PC and consoles have exclusive games to their systems, but whether that means anything to you depends on what type of gamer you are. Are you a MMORPG fan? Then it's PC gaming all the way. Love Halo? Then no doubt you want to buy a Xbox One. Love Super Mario Bros.? Nintendo Wii U is going to be your system of choice. I myself love traditional turn based RPGs, which were something that consoles had a market on until console game developers decided that we gamers didn't want them any more. So, now I get my RPG fix on PC thanks to all the great RPG Maker games available. Also to consider is the mobile game market, which has little presence on consoles but often have the same games on PC. Now, while I am not partial to Candy Crush or the many match 3 games out there, I am aware they can be found on PCs in droves and rarely on consoles.
You see, the answer to the question of whether consoles or PCs are better for gaming is really all about personal preference and choice. Depending on your personal gaming preference YOU and you alone determine what is the better gaming system. Yeah, neither me nor Mehmed can answer the question for you. You and you alone decide what the best system is for you and everyone else will do the same for themselves. Just remember, whether you pick PC or console, don't try to force your opinions on others.
