Can they both fail? Consoles kind of suck. Closed platform owned by mega corps. Their main appeals of “easy” and “cheaper” haven’t been true for years.
Microsoft could have done like a … Steam machine for windows like 25 years ago. Optimized windows install on certified hardware, games that also play on desktop windows. They could’ve made steam. Except they couldn’t because they’re a souless corporate husk full of parasitic ghouls.
25 years ago, they weren’t going to get any closer than the original Xbox did. PC gaming was extraordinarily different from what we know today, and much as you might not want to hear it, a lot of the reasons it got better were also because of Microsoft. The truth is we can only have something like a Steam Machine today because of incremental improvements that have been done over long periods of time. Valve basically started work on Proton right after the first batch of Steam Machines came out and bombed, and it took until 2022 for their next batch of hardware to materialize that made use of it. Closed platforms can fuck off and die these days, but they solved real problems for decades.
Consoles failing isn’t going to make PC gaming any better, though. It’s certainly not going to drive prices down. Though I’m not sure the inverse is actually true: hugely successful consoles with good competition isn’t going to drive component prices down.
Microsoft actually sort of did try that. The Xbox was originally (internally) referred to as the “DirectX box”; it was basically a computer stripped of all parts not necessary for gaming. Microsoft has been pushing DirectX and gaming technologies for decades. You’re right though, the games should have also been Windows compatible. I don’t know why they weren’t. Microsoft is going that way now, sort of, with Play Anywhere games that, if you buy them on Xbox, you can also download them through the Windows Store (which still sucks).
Their main appeals of “easy” and “cheaper” haven’t been true for years.
Please help me get a machine that compares to the PS5/XSX in terms of performance and cost. I’m being serious. Every time I look at putting something together it’s gonna be like $1500-$2000.
The up-front cost of a console is probably cheaper, barring putting some labor in and getting lucky on sales. You’re right about that.
A PC has more utility, a larger library, and no subscription fee. That $80/year PsPlus subscription eats into the savings pretty fast. And when your playstation is end-of-life, it’s far less useful than an older PC.
I’m sure some PC-building nerds would be happy to help put together a cost effective machine for you, but sadly I’m not that kind of nerd. I splurged on a pre-built machine when I had a nice job.
Can they both fail? Consoles kind of suck. Closed platform owned by mega corps. Their main appeals of “easy” and “cheaper” haven’t been true for years.
Microsoft could have done like a … Steam machine for windows like 25 years ago. Optimized windows install on certified hardware, games that also play on desktop windows. They could’ve made steam. Except they couldn’t because they’re a souless corporate husk full of parasitic ghouls.
Fuck em. Fuck them all.
25 years ago, they weren’t going to get any closer than the original Xbox did. PC gaming was extraordinarily different from what we know today, and much as you might not want to hear it, a lot of the reasons it got better were also because of Microsoft. The truth is we can only have something like a Steam Machine today because of incremental improvements that have been done over long periods of time. Valve basically started work on Proton right after the first batch of Steam Machines came out and bombed, and it took until 2022 for their next batch of hardware to materialize that made use of it. Closed platforms can fuck off and die these days, but they solved real problems for decades.
Consoles failing isn’t going to make PC gaming any better, though. It’s certainly not going to drive prices down. Though I’m not sure the inverse is actually true: hugely successful consoles with good competition isn’t going to drive component prices down.
Microsoft actually sort of did try that. The Xbox was originally (internally) referred to as the “DirectX box”; it was basically a computer stripped of all parts not necessary for gaming. Microsoft has been pushing DirectX and gaming technologies for decades. You’re right though, the games should have also been Windows compatible. I don’t know why they weren’t. Microsoft is going that way now, sort of, with Play Anywhere games that, if you buy them on Xbox, you can also download them through the Windows Store (which still sucks).
Please help me get a machine that compares to the PS5/XSX in terms of performance and cost. I’m being serious. Every time I look at putting something together it’s gonna be like $1500-$2000.
The up-front cost of a console is probably cheaper, barring putting some labor in and getting lucky on sales. You’re right about that.
A PC has more utility, a larger library, and no subscription fee. That $80/year PsPlus subscription eats into the savings pretty fast. And when your playstation is end-of-life, it’s far less useful than an older PC.
I’m sure some PC-building nerds would be happy to help put together a cost effective machine for you, but sadly I’m not that kind of nerd. I splurged on a pre-built machine when I had a nice job.
Total ~ $570 - $665
Plus you don’t have to pay for online and get cheaper (or free 🏴☠️) games.
Buy a used liquidated office PC, add GPU and SSD. Done.
The current market’s kind of making it rough to find that at the moment though.