I was going to call this “Is PC Gaming Dead?”, but that seems to be the cry of people who just want to stir things up. I just wanted to write about the general preferences between the two. Your powerful PC vs. console (PlayStation, XBox). There is also the Wii (which I already owned) but it’s not really a “serious” gaming machine.

I have been doing serious gaming on the PC since Doom was released in 1993 and, except for a couple of short breaks, I haven’t stopped playing FPS (First Person Shooters). I had always said that PC gaming was far superior to the console platform and I’d never move over to a console. The PC was just better in every way: more powerful, more customizable, more games, easier controls, and more. Every time a new game came out then the gaming community would run out and upgrade their computer just so they could play it. Even if you could already run it you could go out and do upgrades so it would run better. Plus there were all the add-ons: gaming mice, keyboards, headsets, etc. You could buy a $50 game and end up spending a few hundred dollars to make it even better. You couldn’t just sit back and barely get by – you had to upgrade to keep up with everyone you were trying to beat online. That $200 video card could make all the difference when playing against your online opponents. With a console you couldn’t do that – you were stuck with a console that you couldn’t tweak to get that advantage. But is that a bad thing?

My health changed and I was forced to stop playing games entirely for almost year. In that time I dearly missed playing, but I also had time to reflect on my past years of competitive gaming. Maybe it isn’t right that one player could be potentially better than another just because they have the knowledge and the means to purchase superior hardware. Money doesn’t necessarily buy skill, but it helps. I’m now of the opinion that consoles are more of an equalizer. Everyone has, basically, the same hardware. It all comes down to skill. On top of this all the games are created specifically for a specific console – there is need to push the envelope of the latest technology since the game is built to play on only one piece of hardware. In the past games were made for the PC and then converted to run on consoles. Now games are being created for the consoles first and then converted over for the PC. Consoles seem to make sense.

Things got better and I thought I could start gaming again so yes, I went to the “dark side” and purchased a console – an Xbox S with Kinect. The XBox always seemed to have the edge in my mind plus it integrates into my Microsoft technology base. I have to say that I’m extremely impressed with the performance of the system. The main game I’ve been playing is the new Call of Duty: Black Op’s and from a technical point of view the gameplay has been flawless. No crashing, perfect graphics, surround sound – everything. Rarely did I have such an experience with my PC. There always seemed to be something that needed to be changed or upgraded. The XBox controller is the biggest learning curve and I still get frustrated and miss using the mouse/keyboard combo, but I’m getting better.

The XBox wasn’t cheap ($300 for the 250GB version without the Kinect), but when I look back on all the money I’ve spent on upgrades just to play a game on my PC it’s a drop in the bucket. More RAM $50, new video card $200, upgraded power supply $80. Already I’m over the $300 and I’m still not done. Throw in a headset, better keyboard and mouse and you could easily be hitting double the price of the XBox.

The biggest change is the feeling of fun knowing that everyone is playing with the same hardware and the amount of cheating is greatly reduced. This just makes the experience much more fun since I’m not suspecting others of having an unfair advantage. I’m starting to like this console idea.