Is PC gaming affordable to most people?

froggyboy604

froggyboy604

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I think it depends on what quality settings you set your PC games to, and types of games you play since there are tons of older games which can be easily played on most modern computers at high to medium quality settings. But, FPS games tend to require faster computers for smoother gameplay.

Plus, games like MineCraft only cost about 20 dollars, and can run on most computers made in the last 6 years or more.

 
It depends on what games you want to play. If you want to play the major games from developers like Crytek and Valve, then you are going to need a high-end PC with lots of RAM, HDD space, and a powerful graphics card.

If you like indie games such as Minecraft, then you don't need a powerful PC at all. Most PC games aren't designed like that, and it has those graphics so that it appeals to a lot of people and also to make it unique and stand out from the crowd.

Overall I would say PC gaming is definitely not affordable. Developers want to take advantage of all the latest hardware that's coming out and that keeps PC gamers upgrading their system every 1 or 2 years. That's why the market is the way it is with PC gaming: small and shrinking.
 
Not for me.. for a really good gaming PC, it costs a ton! I wish it was cheaper.
 
I agree the hardware for computers can be more expensive, but if you play a lot of computer games a year like 30+ then you can end up saving a lot more cash to afford hardware upgrades for newer PC titles.

The games are usually cheaper for PC I notice especially if you buy games from Steam : http://store.steampowered.com/ , and even at electronics stores like Best Buy.

For example, the PS3 versions of Sims 3 cost 69.99 at my local Canadian Best buy : http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/the-sims-3-playstation-3/10148155.aspx?path=b08d2f140de8361511675048cbdd3765en02

while

the PC and Mac version of Sims 3 cost 39.99 : http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/the-sims-3-pc-mac/10124228.aspx?path=37a7f82fb170e18f537eca4d0ff3369cen02

source:: http://www.bestbuy.ca/Search/SearchResults.aspx?path=ca77b9b4beca91fe414314b86bb581f8en20&pcname=MCCPCatalog&q=sims%203&sp=BBY_en-CA_Site-WideSP&Category=Entire%20Site

If you play buy 24+ PC games a year or 2 PC games a month from online and offline stores, you can save up to $ 720+ dollars = 24 x 30 dollar average discount on some games which is enough to pay for a new PC or better parts to upgrade your PC.

Onlive is also available on the PC which lets you play PC games on the internet as a purchase or subscription/rental service. I heard the system requirements for OnLive are low since the games are run off of OnLive's servers and streamed to your PC via the internet.

 
I absolutely love steam. As much as it feels Valve fucks me over with their games, or as pissed as I can get with them with stupid calls that they do, for example, all these tie-in items in Team Fortress 2, they could be as bad as Activision and produce a new sequel every year, and not care AT ALL about the quality of their games, which they still try to do. Even then, I got way more than my money's worth off of the orange box, with around 3500 hours of gaming between all the games and mods. I got L4D1 gifted to my by a friend for my birthday(Thanks Levin_Q, an old friend of mine. Bit of a shout-out.), which wouldn't have been as easy to do, I got L4D2 on preorder by another friend as a gift. Not only that, but there are always sales on steam. I bought Far Cry and Far Cry 2 for $15USD, which is a good deal, even if FC2 is kinda bad. Borderlands was another gift from Levin, but most games don't need the most powerful PC out there. It just won't provide the BEST results. With some tweaking, I got Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 to run on my laptop, which has an Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.0 ghz and an integrated Intel graphics chip. It's not so much that PC gaming is expensive, it's that console gaming is cheaper. My boyfriend has a PC that's a couple years old and isn't top of the line. I haven't really prodded around in it, but I know it has some AMD Dual Core @ 2.8 ghz, a GeForce 880gt, 4 GiB of RAM and runs Vista and can max settings on most games. I've seen it run Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, Crysis, CoD: Black Ops, Borderlands, and Far Cry 2 on max. And most games that he can't run on max can be run on medium settings. So it's not a matter of costing a lot, it's a matter of the fact that it costs more than a console.
 
Great points, Sarx, Steam does have a lot of sales I notice from browsing their website.

I think it can be easier to buy used/new video cards, and CPUs for upgrading your PC from Ebay, Online, Craigslist at a discount price like $100 then buying a used 360 or PS3 for the same price.

If you know friends, family, or co-workers who buy new computers a lot, they might sell you their computer parts for a cheap price, or give it to you for free.

Plus, if you build your gaming PC yourself, you can save hundreds of dollars, I saw some "build your own PC" kits for 199-300 dollars which are good enough to run most games at medium to high settings when combined with a good video card.
 
PC gaming is cheap, I think. I always use the good ol' mouse and keypad and the game cost themselves aren't any different from console games.
Some PC games are actually 10-15 dollars cheaper than console games.
 
There also are more free games for the PC like http://maplestory.nexon.net/ , http://www.aeriagames.com/ , http://gunbound.softnyx.net/default.aspx , etc which can make Gaming more affordable for people who don't have money to spend on games.
 
I think it is.. as now there are good PC's for 400$ ... I payed my shitty pc before 5 years 1000$, and now it's worth 100$ or less... Buyed new one for 800$ and It's beast. :)
 
For the most part, online gaming is very affordable. I think the one time price of $20 is very reasonable for a game that you will have forever, similar to the $60 one time price of some larger games. When you get into the MMORPG games, though, it tends to get expensive. $45 for only 3 months is a little unreasonable. I think if they were to make the price $7 a month it would make the gamers much happier and the companies will still be making a lot of money for new content and for expansion.
 
the hardware for pc gaming is expensive... but i think the prices are low and quantity and quality is much more better than the consoles

pc's are the best machines for gaming
 
Hardware is more, but games are generally cheaper. It's a tradeoff situation. On theone hand, if you intend to play many games, especially new releases, then PC gaming will work out cheaper. Plus, you can do much, much more with a PC then you can with a console.

If you're not interested in the latest releases and will only play occasionally and only a few games, then consoles are probably cheaper.
 
In my opinion games are pretty expensive, and what about the consoles... so if i want a game i do have the patience for the prices to drop.
 
The PC is the first gaming platform to imbrace cloud gaming where computer games are run off of powerful servers on the internet, and streamed to your monitor, so you do not need a powerful video card or PC to place newer games.

Onlive ( http://www.onlive.com/service?autoplay=yes ) already have a service which uses cloud computing to make gaming on almost any PC a great experience, but you need a decent broadband connection.
 
Omg i haven't heard about that froggyboy. if it's really so good as it promises i will give it a shot ;)
 
It can be affordable for me if I save up my money for sometime. However, with my not-so-new computer, minecraft can lag a bit for me. Still, I definitely think most peple can afford it since a computer can last a long time(if not infected with malware or physically damaged).
 
AzH said:
Which games? PC games are cheap now. Even new games are typically £10 cheaper than console games.
Click to expand...

Well many new games (console or pc) cost like 60 euro in my country which is about 85 dollars. So that's not very cheap in my opinion. Unless I wait and buy them for cheaper.
 
The games are usually cheaper than consoles and don't usually stay full price for long with the exception of Call of Duty which seems to stay full price for almost forever. Steam sales are a plus, sometimes a game will be much cheaper on Steam than retail during a sale, or a game can be bought online on sites such as Amazon for much cheaper than other places. The hardware needed to game on PC on the other hand can be more expensive than consoles. Since I have a capable gaming PC, I primarily game on my PC.
 
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