Every gamer starts small.
We've all started with something, some of us years or decades ago on systems like the N64, the PS1 or the very old setups that at best were able to run Tennis For Two; and others just got started with the newest setups or consoles 2016 was able to give to us. But where do you start?
I'm positive there are many people out there who'd like to get into gaming but just don't know where to start. The budget doesn't always have to be the boundary, the problem oftentimes also lies in the huge assortment of different setups you could get. Consoles or PC? Which console, or which PC setup?
I've been on both sides - coming from the consoles, but staying with the PC.
When I was young, we had a PC running under Windows 95. I got into the basics of programming at the age of 5, but soon lost interest in that. My best friend had various handheld consoles by Nintendo, and that was more like what I wanted to have.
I was given a PlayStation 1, and I loved it. The controller was great, the games were awesome, it was a whole new world I got into.
A couple of years later, my cousin gifted me her old PS 2, but I didn't find myself playing as often anymore.
With the release of Sims 2 I got into PC gaming. I liked the controls way better than on consoles - mouse and keyboard were much more precise, and the handling was a lot easier.
Today, I'm the proud owner of a custom built high-end gaming PC and a PS3. But one question is still there - which one is better?
Consoles are cheaper. That's the only thing they do better than PCs. The games you'll get for a console are designed purely for that console, thus creating maximum graphics with minimum components since each and every component is used in the most efficient way possible. Console graphics are fine. They're not as stunning as what you'll see on a high-end 4K gaming PC, but they're actually pretty decent. When you're sitting on the couch, playing on your console, you'll most likely find that you don't need any fancier graphics.
So which console should it be? Team Xbox, or team PlayStation - or Nintendo? Throwing the Switch on the market, we're having a brand new console - but is it better than all of the other consoles?
There is no definite answer to that. When it comes to consoles, the decision should always be made based on the games you'd like to play. You like Zelda? Then it's best to go with Nintendo. More of a Halo fan? Xbox is your pick.
Third party games do run equally well on PlayStation and Xbox, so it really only comes to exclusives. If I were to get a new console, I'd go with Xbox - the only reason for why I got a PS3 was that it was for sale and I got Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Revelations for free with it. Also, I like the PlayStation controllers better than the Xbox ones - but that's probably just because the PlayStation ones are smaller.
So if consoles do a good enough job for little money, why bother getting a PC? I spent about £2,000 on my setup - but only £400 on my console, so what does a PC do so much better than a console?
Number 1 - Games are so much cheaper for PC. I remember I got the first Assassin's Creed for PS3 for about £70, and at the same time, I could've purchased the PC version on Steam for about £30. So if you're going to get a huge assortment of games with your new system, you won't spend that much less on a console compared to what you would spend on your PC.
Number 2 - Upgrades. When you buy a console, that console will forever be the way you bought it. Same CPU, same GPU - same setup forever. With PCs, you can modify your build. I started with an office / multimedia PC which was sold in 2008 and, in its original setup, was able to run Skyrim in medium settings. After a while I bought a new case (since the old one didn't have any space for new hardware), a new PSU and a new GPU - and Skyrim ran smoothly in the highest settings. The setup I am having now doesn't have any components of the old office PC anymore, but upgrading slowly gave me time to save some money while having a decent setup already that I could improve gradually.
Number 3 - Mods. Mods are most likely to be the best thing about gaming. There are graphics mods that make old games look brand new, story mods that add countless new quests, there are mods to add new characters, new items, new spells - new everything. Mods are by no means mandatory, but they add so much to each and every game. Just look at Minecraft. Vanilla Minecraft in all its rustic beauty, the way we played it for so long. And now compare it to mod-sets like Life In The Woods. To some degree it feels like an entirely new game, even though it's just mods - new graphics, new items. Mods can add so much to already awesome games, and unfortunately, there's no such thing as mod support for consoles.
Number 4 - PCs can do much more than just running games. No matter what PC you decide to get, it will always be able to run software - any software that is. Apart from gaming, you could use it to create digital art, to render videos, to compose music, to program your very own games - or to do whatever you'd like to do! Consoles don't do much more than allowing you to play games, watch movies and browse the internet (which, by the way, isn't the most practical way to browse the internet) - but with PCs you can do whatever you'd like to do! Consoles and PCs, generally speaking, consist out of the same components, but with a PC, you can use them much more universally than with a console.
So in the end, the ideal system for you depends entirely on what you want to do with it. If there's only one game you'd like to play and you don't need to get anything else done on a PC, go get a console - it's everything you need, and the cheaper way.
If you want to play something with a friend, make sure you get the same platform as them! Most games don't support cross-platform multiplayer, so keep that in mind when you go shopping for your new setup.
This hopefully gave you an idea of what kind of gaming equipment you should decide on. Feel free to leave the platform you play on - and possibly some feedback - in the comment section down below, and I hope I'll see you in another post!
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