Yeak Hon's excerpt can be found directly here http://yeakhon.blogspot.com/2008/07/console.html
What is PC Gaming? Well, playing games on the PC of course you nit wit. Alright, alright, it's not just that really. Have you played the little distractions that come pre-packaged with every Windows since '95? You know, the horrifyingly addictive Minesweeper, the mind boggling Solitaire and the newer, but no less fun, Pinball.
Aahh, the good ol times
Yes, yes, they may not be what you call "pc gaming" per se but the fact is, they're on a PC. With no console controls anywhere near in sight.
Let me tell you a story, of a little boy who discovered the joys of pc gaming, who 14 years ago knew there was something really exciting about that plain beige box daddy brought home from work one day, and the hours he spent sitting in front of it, watching daddy do some uncomprihensible things (at the time).
That little boy was me, and from that moment onwards, I have been a pc fanatic, whether in terms of gaming, or just purely technological.
And then came the introduction of the affromentioned distractions as I fiddled around with the "mouse" and "keyboard".
Then skip forward 14 years, and here I am, 19 in age, and still staring at the screen of a computer like I was when I was barely in kindergarten. What is it that a pc has over me that keeps me going back to it?
Is it the bright wonderful colours? Is it the funny weird MIDI sounds that used to play on games? Or is it something more? Well, you gotta read on about it, cos I know you're a lazy bunch and want me to give you a summary of it.
My views may not be shared by everyone, and that's fine (RWAR), but don't go knocking me around for it. Everyone's different and entitled to their own opinions on things, and this is entirely mine.
PC Gaming and Why I Love It
1) It is highly moddable, meaning that it can be twisted and modified, hacked and patched to anything you like. This gives pc games almost unlimited replaybility, but unfortunately, not too many games are worth modding. Some do it for the sake of it, some to project an idea, and some cos they want to give back to the community.
2) It does not require fiddly console controls.
3) It is very customisable, as controls can be remapped all over the keyboard for those that are handicapped, or just prefer it a certain way.
4) You usually get improved versions of games that came out on consoles first, although there might be a little waiting for it to be released.
5) Gaming glory is much easier to try to attain on PC's, because everyone has PC's, and not everyone has consoles. Therefore, making it easier to find potential team mates to train and contend with.
The average cost of PC's nowadays tend to hover around the RM2k mark for something decent, and RM3-5k for something more serious, pertaining to gaming performance. The one advantage, and disadvantage of pc gaming is the option to upgrade. Some may see this as a good thing, and others greeting it with scorn.
The advantages of being able to upgrade your pc is that you don't have to buy a whole new system when you just need one component upgraded. It will save cost in the long run and can fit any budget.
With the consoles, you're stuck with that one machine for years until the new version comes out, and you'll have to get a brand new system to continue gaming, leaving the older machine totally redundant.
The disadvantages of upgrading, on the other hand, is that once you start, you wanna keep upgrading, faster memory, more hard disk space, more powerful graphic cards. You upgrade to keep up with the times, and by the time you've saved up for it, what you had your eyes set on is old news. You upgrade to keep up, and you keep up so upgrading wont be too expensive in any one outing.
On the console front, you won't be needing to upgrade because what you get on consoles is normally slightly more powerful than your average pc. You can play any game meant for the system and it will play without a problem, without worrying whether it's powerful enough.
It's a vicious cycle.
I find joy in detail. I know, for a fact, that 1 Byte is 8 Bits, 1MB is not the same as 1Mb, and 1MB is 1024 Bytes, not 1000 as commonly misunderstood.
This love of detail is what makes me come back to the pc time and again, when I think it can offer me no more avenues of gaming pleasure, it springs up with something totally different and pulls me back.
I obsess over detail. If there were 2 Koko Krunch boxes on a shelf, one with a new box with lots of pictures, and the other an older design with lots of words, I will take the second box in a heartbeat. Why? Because there's more detail in words than in picture.
All the .ini files, the .cfg files, the ability to modify games with and without programming, the intricate workings of a computer coupled with complex worlds filled with complex people getting together to do something complex, mesmerizes me. And will continue to do so as long as computers exist.
