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Matt: First up at bat, we'll discuss the differences in hardware -- PCs seem to require a regular budget and a lot of extra cash to keep up to date, whereas a console is pretty much a "What You See Is What You Get" kind of deal. Is keeping a PC up to date really worth the effort, even for PC-exclusive games?
Josh: Well, the biggest issue here is whether or not graphics are a factor to you.
Josh: With consoles, you have a set limitation, due to the lack of upgrades to the hardware...so graphics can only reach a certain peak before performance suffers.
Matt: True, but there's a *lot* of cash at stake if you want to play a game on your PC these days. Did you see those specs for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion? I'm not made out of money, you know.
Josh: My roommate seems to be, though...he's been pining for that game for almost a year now.
Josh: But yes, cash is involved. It's all cost-benefit. If you want better performance, you have to pay more money.
Josh: How is that different than buying a new console?
Matt: There's a certain logic to that, I'll admit. Sometimes upgrades to your computer won't cost as much as a new console would ... but my video card was the most expensive thing I bought when I built my system. And have you seen how much they're asking for the latest cards?
Matt: Consoles have been limited by their graphical inequality in the past, but the next-gen consoles might very well make that a thing of the past.
Josh: Even so, I highly doubt that developers are going to allow upgrades to their products.
Josh: So there will always be a cap.
Josh: And true, video cards are running a bit high, but when you factor in all of the other things you can do with it (video editing, etc.), the benefit starts to outweigh the benefit of purchasing a new console.
Matt: How do you cap technology like that? Graphics can only get so realistic before you start seeing something that looks exactly like the real thing. I can easily predict graphics that will be totally life-like within a decade. You can't "cap" that, can you?
Josh: The quality of the graphics, no. The amount of detail going on the screen at one time, yes.
Josh: Performance will determine whether or not 1000 effects are happening at once or 2000.
Matt: Perhaps. At any rate, consoles and personal computers are pumping out similar graphics (or will be) in the near future. At this rate, if your roommate wants to play Oblivion, he might be spending just as much for a 360 as he will for computer parts... Or he would, if he had an older system like mine, as most gamers might have.
Josh: It's all a matter of personal preference. One of the stronger points for PCs is that if a game comes out for XBox and PC, and another for PS2 and PC, guess who doesn't have to pay more money?
Josh: But obviously, in contrast, if it doesn't come out for PC and the user wants to play it, then he or she will have to purchase that system.
Matt: Very true.
Up next: Interface
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