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I have a Steam Link, and I get all the benefits of PC gaming from my couch. It's a pretty seamless best-of-both-worlds situation.

MBCook 9y ago
You also get the downside of having to maintain/upgrade the PC, which is one of the things I was happy to leave behind when I became a console-only gamer.
- theWatcher37 9y ago
  I have less free time than most here and somehow I find a way. "Maintaining" a PC is super easy...
  - govg 9y ago
    Upgrading a PC is a one time thing you need to do once every few years. You'd be "upgrading" your console by putting it in the bin and buying a new one, so I'm not sure what the argument is against PC gaming here...
    - HumbleGamer 9y ago
      There is a convenience factor. You dont have to think if you will be able to play 'xxxx' game on your ps4, if its a ps4 game. That plays heavily in keeping me away from PC gaming. I just dont want to have to even consider can I play the game or not.
      - MBCook 9y ago
        Right. If I was using a PC all the time at home for something else it wouldn't be such a big deal, but given that I was only using it for gaming and most games I wanted to play were on the console it was just easier to give up. Like you said, it's an appliance and I never have to think about it. You buy a game for the PS4 and it works on your PS4 and that's all there is to it.
      - mikewhy 9y ago
        Until the Pro and One X have been out for a bit, then the question might come up. Or "Pro only games", which they've said won't happen, but I can see any way around that other than "well you'll just have to accept the awful performance".
  - ew 9y ago
    Go watch some of the major streamers on Twitch. They're constantly trying to figure out why they're dropping frames or why SLI is suddenly fucking up. The illusion that the PC-Master-Race folks like to push is that maintaining and building PCs is easy. Having built many, and owned a computer repair shop, I know that it simply isn't that easy for your average consumer to troubleshoot a computer.
    - kogepathic 9y ago
      > I know that it simply isn't that easy for your average consumer to troubleshoot a computer. I don't see how you can state that it's any easier to troubleshoot a console. Usually your only feedback is a generic error code which if you Google refers to 20 different problems all with the same error, or an LED blink code which is equally vague. Sure, PCs have their own unique problems that consoles don't suffer from (e.g. malware on Windows) but I find that PCs typically have much more descriptive error codes, and usually lack the kind of design flaws present in consoles (e.g. Xbox 360 RRoD due to insufficient cooling).
      - MBCook 9y ago
        See that's the thing. I've been a console gamer since the NES and I don't remember ever really having to troubleshoot one. And since the hardware is fixed games don't have incompatibilities. None of the "this version of the driver causes this but that version of the driver causes that" issues. No worrying about system requirements. If it sold for the system, it will play.
        Aweorih 9y ago
        I can't remember that I ever had the problem of not having the right driver since windows 7 or so. Since Windows 10 drivers are also "automatically downloaded and installed through Windows Update" ("for many devices").
    - ric2b 9y ago
      > They're constantly trying to figure out why they're dropping frames or why SLI is suddenly fucking up. But consoles drop frames as well, people just don't care. You can also not care on PC, like lots of people do. And hardly no one uses SLI or even recommends it, precisely because it's annoying.
  - notyourwork 9y ago
    It is about where you play your priorities.
- ekianjo 9y ago
  > You also get the downside of having to maintain/upgrade the PC, which is one of the things I was happy to leave behind when I became a console-only gamer. Oh, you mean the 15 mins swap of a graphics card every 3 years?
  - MBCook 9y ago
    Plus researching WHICH graphics card to buy, plus constant driver upgrades, plus the driver upgrades may cause issues with some of your games... It's not as bad as it used to be… but it's still not like an appliance.
    - ekianjo 9y ago
      On Linux driver upgrades are pretty easy and I have not recently experienced any game break related to drivers. Getting much better than before, thats for sure.
- nabla9 9y ago
  > downside of having to maintain/upgrade the PC Easy solution: You can treat your PC like a console. Just clue everything so that you can't maintain and upgrade it. Now you have PC that is like a console. Buy a new one when this is not good enough.

MBCook 9y ago

You also get the downside of having to maintain/upgrade the PC, which is one of the things I was happy to leave behind when I became a console-only gamer.

theWatcher37 9y ago
I have less free time than most here and somehow I find a way. "Maintaining" a PC is super easy...
- govg 9y ago
  Upgrading a PC is a one time thing you need to do once every few years. You'd be "upgrading" your console by putting it in the bin and buying a new one, so I'm not sure what the argument is against PC gaming here...
  - HumbleGamer 9y ago
    There is a convenience factor. You dont have to think if you will be able to play 'xxxx' game on your ps4, if its a ps4 game. That plays heavily in keeping me away from PC gaming. I just dont want to have to even consider can I play the game or not.
    - MBCook 9y ago
      Right. If I was using a PC all the time at home for something else it wouldn't be such a big deal, but given that I was only using it for gaming and most games I wanted to play were on the console it was just easier to give up. Like you said, it's an appliance and I never have to think about it. You buy a game for the PS4 and it works on your PS4 and that's all there is to it.
    - mikewhy 9y ago
      Until the Pro and One X have been out for a bit, then the question might come up. Or "Pro only games", which they've said won't happen, but I can see any way around that other than "well you'll just have to accept the awful performance".
- ew 9y ago
  Go watch some of the major streamers on Twitch. They're constantly trying to figure out why they're dropping frames or why SLI is suddenly fucking up. The illusion that the PC-Master-Race folks like to push is that maintaining and building PCs is easy. Having built many, and owned a computer repair shop, I know that it simply isn't that easy for your average consumer to troubleshoot a computer.
  - kogepathic 9y ago
    > I know that it simply isn't that easy for your average consumer to troubleshoot a computer. I don't see how you can state that it's any easier to troubleshoot a console. Usually your only feedback is a generic error code which if you Google refers to 20 different problems all with the same error, or an LED blink code which is equally vague. Sure, PCs have their own unique problems that consoles don't suffer from (e.g. malware on Windows) but I find that PCs typically have much more descriptive error codes, and usually lack the kind of design flaws present in consoles (e.g. Xbox 360 RRoD due to insufficient cooling).
    - MBCook 9y ago
      See that's the thing. I've been a console gamer since the NES and I don't remember ever really having to troubleshoot one. And since the hardware is fixed games don't have incompatibilities. None of the "this version of the driver causes this but that version of the driver causes that" issues. No worrying about system requirements. If it sold for the system, it will play.
      - Aweorih 9y ago
        I can't remember that I ever had the problem of not having the right driver since windows 7 or so. Since Windows 10 drivers are also "automatically downloaded and installed through Windows Update" ("for many devices").
  - ric2b 9y ago
    > They're constantly trying to figure out why they're dropping frames or why SLI is suddenly fucking up. But consoles drop frames as well, people just don't care. You can also not care on PC, like lots of people do. And hardly no one uses SLI or even recommends it, precisely because it's annoying.
- notyourwork 9y ago
  It is about where you play your priorities.
ekianjo 9y ago
> You also get the downside of having to maintain/upgrade the PC, which is one of the things I was happy to leave behind when I became a console-only gamer. Oh, you mean the 15 mins swap of a graphics card every 3 years?
- MBCook 9y ago
  Plus researching WHICH graphics card to buy, plus constant driver upgrades, plus the driver upgrades may cause issues with some of your games... It's not as bad as it used to be… but it's still not like an appliance.
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    On Linux driver upgrades are pretty easy and I have not recently experienced any game break related to drivers. Getting much better than before, thats for sure.
nabla9 9y ago
> downside of having to maintain/upgrade the PC Easy solution: You can treat your PC like a console. Just clue everything so that you can't maintain and upgrade it. Now you have PC that is like a console. Buy a new one when this is not good enough.