Doug LaRue wrote:
If you don't know, I really don't "do Windows" but I tend to follow some of
what goes on in that off-world plant. I just searched for DX10 and XP and
the first 7 returned links point to installing DX10 on Windows XP. So there
is no reason to have waited for Vista to play games if they are just depending
on DX10.
He didn't wait for Vista. He waited til he could afford hardware
powerful enough to play some of the latest games. Vista just happened to
come with the hardware package.
BTW, is there a reason such a "gamer" as yourself is not using a new console
instead of a general purpose PC for video games?
[snip]
Doug
That's an easy one. Because set-top consoles are still behind PC games
in some genres, especially FPS. There is not a set-top box that is
powerful enough to play, for instance, Crysis.
Plus game play and/or game control is usually different enough between
platforms that playing a game written for one platform doesn't play well
on the other.
The advantage of a general purpose PC is just that, general purpose. It
has many uses. Since it has many uses, unless there is always someone in
the house playing a game, a console doesn't make sense unless you gotta
have games which are only available on the console.
A game written for a PC can be installed and played on more than one PC
in the house. Granted, you can't play online with more than one at a
time, but that's a minor limitation (and actually, often easily gotten
around).
It's a bit easier to play a quick game session on the laptop during
lunch/break time, or to de-stress, than to do some coding on the set-top
box.
Only one player can use a console box at at time (multi-player games
aside). Since game consoles are considerably more expensive relative to
PC's when comparing hardware, it's also pretty expensive to have one for
each gamer in the house.
And there are several console boxes. Which one to get? Not every game is
available for every brand. If one has more than one console, which one
to buy the game for? Console games are generally more expensive than PC
games.
Most game consoles are connected to a TV. And of course any real gamer
wants the game playing on the best monitor in the house. Having a
general use TV is not the same as having a general use PC, in terms of
actual use. Getting a monitor to dedicate to a console game is not
usually an option in most homes (power supplies, cases, and monitors
have no Fun Factor).
My observation is that except for a very small segment of the market,
console games are a waste of hardware. Most of the time they sit. If one
has lots of both discretionary income and discretionary time, then a
console game box (or several) may be a good use of both.
My wife and I were looking into getting a Wii just for exercise
purposes. We knew nothing about them except what we'd heard. When we saw
the actual price of the damn thing - just the basics mind you - we
decided that walking around the neighborhood was much more practical.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
"Is that four hundred DOLLARS!? Are you NUTS!? I'll give you four
hundred bucks to roll around the store floor naked before I'll give you
four hundred bucks for THAT".
--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
