So I finally bought a PS3

SubJeff on 4/10/2009 at 09:40

Quote Posted by Thirith

Out of interest, why would you do that? If you want the experience, why wouldn't you just plug a gamepad into your PC and play them there?

I thought this. I don't know if I can plug my PC into my 40" Sony Bravia TV but I've put off playing Assassins Creed until I got the TV (arrived yesterday) as I couldn't see the sync meter and whatnot on the smaller 32" CRT (due to size and res).

Now having played some AC and Mirror's Edge on the big screen I can totally see why someone would want to play them this way. The PC gfx are great but on the big screen these games just look fantastic and the experience is quite different.

It's that bad I'm now thinking about upgrading the PC and getting a massive LCD monitor (current one is 21").

Ostriig on 4/10/2009 at 14:54

Quote Posted by Subjective Effect

I don't know if I can plug my PC into my 40" Sony Bravia TV

There shouldn't be any problems. If your PC video card doesn't have an HDMI output to use directly, use a DVI-to-HDMI cable to hook up the video, and then an RCA/Jack Y cable for the audio. The only thing you may have to fiddle with is the resolution setting, depending on what your TV supports.

mothra on 4/10/2009 at 15:58

or do it like I do: hook it up to your projector/beamer and volá: as big as you want (going over some size does not work for me, just gets to hectic and can't keep of track of the action onscreen, depends on your distance to the screen). I use it for "relaxed" games like turn-based RPGs, adventures or fun racing games and is far cheaper than overprized LCDs/Plasmas.

The Alchemist on 5/10/2009 at 09:30

Quote Posted by mothra

Man, every time I hear someone say something like this I laugh.

I would never -ever- trade my 1080p 32" screen for some hackup projector.

If you want to come up with a good excuse, what you CAN say is "hey man, why dont you just output your computer to your tv?" Which coincidentally I'm also (staring at you in very big font right now, actually thats not really true 1080p doesnt look too bad on 32"), but seriously this whole lol consoles are rotaded thing is getting old.

I just finished playing about 4 hours worth of Killzone 2 multiplayer in a row because it was so engaging. Sure, the controls might take time to get used to if you're not a big console fan, but in other words, fuck off.

It looks fucking awesome, it runs fucking awesome, it has built in partying/server finding, it takes me about two second to get my friends together and join a server, we barely suffer any hiccups, and none of us have to upgrade our drivers to play or any shit like that. And if you're gonna tell me that the PC looks better you can just fuck right off.

And believe me! I'm not some console tard. I've been addicted to PC games since Doom, or earlier. But right now, I'm very fucking happy with my $499 32" 1080p monitor and my $299 PS2, which is about the price you'd pay for a computer that can run comprable graphics. The controller, I actually like it. I PREFER it, in fact, but that's entirely subjective so feel free to ignore that comment. The online system is free. It has "Ventrilio" built in. It works. There are some great games out for it, and the experience is phenomenal. My PC runs Linux, I've been a die hard Linux geek for the last 10 years. Believe me, I'm no mainstream pup. But fuck man, I know value when I see it. I would need to spend as much as my PS3 just on a graphics card to play this games, and I still wouldn't be able to enjoy blu-ray movies. And for the record, they make a fuckin difference. Maybe not on a 720p tv (not "maybe", "definitely" because I have 720p before and it sucked) but on 1080p, you won't go back.

So long live computer gaming. I hope Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 rock. I never ever want my roots to die. But do yourself a favor and don't give people these ill informed half assed reasons why they should abandon consoles and output there PC's to a tv or whatever the fuck you think is reasonable.

Another way of looking at this is the sad, captalist, financial truth.

PC gaming is difficult because most PC's aren't sold with the required specs in mind. Most people don't understand what the fuck that all means. A console is true plug and play. Yeah, sure, they have to download updated OMG LOL OLOL but it takes about five minutes and you'd do the same on a computer. So for fuck sake, enjoy playing Lemmings or whatever it is you get a hard on for, hell, this is a forum for people who love TTLG, a PC only game, but seriously, give the OMG LOL CONSOLES shit a rest. Consoles arent half fucking bad. No, they're pretty fuckin cool if you ask me. I haven't bothered upgrading my PC since the day I saw a good 1080p game running on a big ass tv with 4 people sitting on a couch all playing together.

Just tired of this stupid lol why play consoles so pointless they're so ghey :nono: shit that goes on sometimes. They've definitely got their purpose, and I feel really really bad for you that you can't find a way to enjoy them, because you're really really missing out.

The industry is on the other side now, I hope you enjoy those shitty ports!

Btw this isn't directed to anyone specific, it's 5:30 and I'm tired and I just finished playing a great online game on my D: D:D: console and to read people still bickering about this shit is just ridiculous.

Fragony on 5/10/2009 at 10:00

quite a rant, but yeah. If people insist on ignoring the consoles their loss. True gems are rare, even more rare on a single platform. Last gem on pc was imho STALKER, after that all quiet on the western front.

Thirith on 5/10/2009 at 10:22

Quote Posted by Fragony

I'd agree that ignoring the consoles out of vague but very strong ideological objections ("Console tards, grrrrrr!!!!!1!1") is stupid. However, the main reason why I only got a console very late was that I already spend a lot of time and money playing computer games. At least on the PC I don't block the TV when my girlfriend wants to watch something. I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't have a console (until relatively recently) for such reasons.

Fragony on 5/10/2009 at 10:30

I just take what Ilike, no Europa Universalis or Hearts of Iron on the consoles. Why someone wouldnt want to play the ico team games for example is beyond me

Thirith on 5/10/2009 at 10:36

Quote Posted by Fragony

Why someone wouldnt want to play the ico team games for example is beyond me

I'm sure Koki's got an answer for that one if you ask him. :p

Fragony on 5/10/2009 at 11:01

cant affordski? Oh common yeah I had to do that

EvaUnit02 on 5/10/2009 at 11:04

*yawn* That was quite a frothing-at-the-mouth rant, but honestly you're largely preaching to the converted. Most of us own at least one current gen console.

Someone who limits themselves to one platform often misses out on a lot of the gaming medium's brightest moments.

Quote Posted by The Alchemist

But right now, I'm very fucking happy with my $499 32" 1080p monitor and my $299 PS2, which is about the price you'd pay for a computer that can run comprable graphics.

Oh please, one can easily built a $800 PC (inclusive of monitor) that decimates an antiquated machine from 2005.

Upscaling 1280x720 sure can make a difference though... it's often blurry and lacking in definition. I'm not a graphics whore, but immersion and atmosphere is paramount for me. A blurry upscaled picture and jaggies can pull me out of the experience.

Closed-platform, standardised solutions can be very nice as they remove a lot of headache and hassle, but it also remove choice. I use my PS3 mostly as a Media hub, but I'm limited in what I can watch on it due to the limited number of codecs supported. I like to watch fansubbed anime, but the popular open source codecs and container formats usually aren't supported. I haven't much luck with trancoding either. My PS3 relies upon WLAN and it is rather laggy, due to the WLAN access point being on a different floor of the house (and it doesn't help that the PS3 uses the antiquated 802.11g standard). Whilst playback is usually smooth, rewinding/fast-forwarding are the particularly annoying aspects due to this lag.

Then there's Blu-ray playback. The PS3 is region-coded, whilst 70% of BDs are region free, there's still the other 30%. I'm a serious film buff and I value the art of the medium. I specifically bought an American PS3 for the Region A BD playback, since it encompasses North America and Asia, giving me access to the widest library available. But I ran into a snag with this plan - buying discs locally or importing from the UK (Europe and Australasia are Region B) can not be more convenient for me but cheaper at times AND there's a lot of Region B exclusives. (Europe seems to value Genre Cinema more than America and thus there seems to be a lot more "Cult Classics" available on HD in that market.)

The point is I can playback any region blu-ray disc on PC, which is why I've been slowly gathering parts to build a HTPC as a side-effect of upgrading my gaming PC over the last couple years. Two week ago I just upgraded from 500W PSU to 750W, so all I need to do now is to buy a case and hard drive. The centre-piece of all this was investing in a LG hybrid BD/HD-DVD ROM drive, giving me access to the largest HD library available to consumers. The HD-DVD format dying was lovely, as the fire sales were glorious. For little money I quickly amassed a library of 70+ films. Also there are still quite a few films that still haven't made their way to BD, such as Mulholland Drive - definitely one of my favourite films.