dbsmith's Blogs

When the hell did i become a CONSOLE gamer??

Published: Mon 15 Sep, 2008 | 26 Comments
Tags: XBOX, PC, Lego, Indiana, Jones, Rainbow, Six, Vegas, Gaming

Flashback to one year ago... a proud PC gamer, at odds with my console-based friends. "You don't have to swap discs (much)!" i would argue. "You can keep movies and music on your PC too!" "You can download heaps of free mods!" etc etc...

My PC was a black hole, sucking my free time away through hours of FPSs, RPGs (damn you diablo II) and strategy games. I think my mother would have a heart attack if I calculated the hours I have spent on Heroes of Might and Magic III.  There was no way that game would ever work on a console. Ever. Why is this, I wonder. Certainly, the game needs a mouse I think. But more, it seems like the type of game that requires patience and dedication. A slow turn-based game, I feel that it belongs solely on the domain of the PC. That slow gameplay just doesn't WORK on a console.

 

I would buy a PC game, say Rome: Total War, and the sheer VALUE, the number of hours that it would provide of gameplay is incredible when compared to the average XBOX game.

 

Halo 3: Finished it in one night.

Rome: Total War: Played the tutorial, and won 2 other battles in a night. World domination is gonna take a bit longer.....

 

I would scoff at the price of these "8-hour" XBOX games, laugh at my friends and be secure in the knowledge that MY slow paced PC gaming experience was superior.

 

And then things changed.....

 

The last few months of my life, PC gaming has featured less and less. I find myself going to my PC with the intention of playing a game, but end up doing something else. My patience for PC games has run so so thin. Dying in an FPS, then hitting quickload and waiting a good 30 seconds to revive....starting a brand new strategy game and getting bored before the first damn tutorial is even over.... I was scared that I had just gotten completely sick of gaming. And so, my poor PC gathered dust while I learnt to play the guitar, learnt to draw, ventured out blinking into the sunshine and so on. Maybe once a week, I'd have a quick go at a game, but the addiction no longer worked. I'd burnt out on gaming.

 

A few things happened after that.

Lego Indiana Jones came out. Now, I consider myself a hardcore gamer, but I could not resist this gem. Heading to EB games, I considered my options.

$100 for the XBOX 360 version,

$50 for the PC version.

 

I don't own an XBOX. I own a PC.

 

Simple choice, right? Had a still been a student, it would have been a no-brainer. But I could NOT bring myself to buy what I considered a console game for the PC. Yes, I am that much of a snob.

 

So walking home with my Lego Indiana Jones - the XBOX version (and no XBOX) i thought, huh. I should really find me an XBOX. It just so happened that there was one at work that no one really used much, so I "borrowed" it for the weekend.

A day or so later, and I had finished the game in a few short hours. And was INCREDIBLY satisfied.

 

What the hell happened???

 

The XBOX controls were near perfect, the graphics cutesey and charming, and (bar one embarrassing moment when my flatmates girlfriend pointed out the solution) it was the easiest game I had ever played. In short, it was the exact opposite to the PC gaming experience I had spent all my time defending as superior.

 

The second time round was even better as I had my flatmate join me. Then, a little while later, a friend and I went to a new XBOX cafe and had a blast playing Rainbow 6: Vegas and shouting "Tango down!" at each other to the bemusement of others.

 

Imagine visiting your friend, and they're sitting on their bean bag in front of the TV, playing a console game. Im sure in your head, they're playing something fast-paced, frantic, exciting to watch or visually stimulating. Console-gaming is a spectator sport. You can't picture someone in the same situation playing a decent RTS or roleplaying game, right?

 

Thats how, in general, barring the occasional game that works everywhere, I feel about console games vs PC games.

 

My PC is still gathering dust. And any day now, I think someone from work is going to notice that their XBOX has been missing for a long long time.

Read all of dbsmith's blogs »» Return to Top