[quote name='MSI Magus']I disagree on console life span vs computer life span for two big reasons. First off console gaming has generally been extremely reliable up to this gen which outside the 360 is still fairly reliable. The PS2 had some issues at launch with DRE, but Sony fixed them and most people still have working fat PS2's and their original GC.....hell most of us still have working Nintendos and Super Nintendos if we kept them, how many PC gamers can say that about a PC they bought 15 years ago?[/quote]
NES had problems reading CARTs. Eventually, would lead to complete failure. This was widespread. "Blow on your game!"
Xbox had widespread power cable/power supply failures. They even had to announce a recall on the cables involved to try and replace them. This was caught at the tail end of the console's life when they were ready to dump the console as a failure and move the generation to the 360 to get away from its many failures (sales, cost, marketshare). However, its power supply/cable issues also bled over into the steering wheel accessories for both the Xbox and 360, causing them to be plagued with the same issues.
360's failures are well known RROD, DDE, etc. No need to beat a dead horse, except to remind that this was a case where a $400 launch console that sounded like an aircraft carrier blended with a race car track during Daytona would fail within a year AT LEAST 33% of the time. Where every IGN editor (every single one) had their launch console die within one year's time. Where one of their programs is named, "Three red lights."
Firmware updates are constantly causing failures on consoles, including Wii, 360, and PS3. This happens with every firmware update. Sometimes, it is more widespread than others, but especially around the BIG updates they do during the Fall (The Fail?).
So I think you're using the history of consoles to mask the current reality of consoles. They fail a lot more often than most electronics and easily on the scale of a pre-built gaming PC.
[quote name='MSI Magus'] The second big reason is because with a PC if you do not know what your doing your
ed when a single thing goes wrong. If something goes wrong with my console in the first year or two I generally can just return it to the store I bought it, if its after that a lot of times you can send it in to the manufacturer and they fix it for $100 regardless of whats wrong with it. If your a PC gamer and you are good with PCs you can fix it yourself...but often only after hours worth of diagnostic work and headaches and then discovering you need a new $200 graphics card. If you are a PC gamer and you do not know how to fix a PC(which is still most of the worlds population)you would be looking at $50-$200 to take it in to a PC expert and have them determine the problem, then another $100-$400 for parts and labor. Generally if something on your PC breaks and you can not fix it yourself your looking at $150-$300 easy.
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Unless of course you treated your gaming PC like your console and bought it pre-built and have a warranty on it. If you go past the typical warranty period and did not buy the EXTENDED warranty, then you pay to have it repaired/replaced, just as you would on a console. The only difference is that you have the OPTION to save some money, build your own PC, and take on the warranty/repairs of the computer as a whole (with individual warranties on the different components) yourself.
You speak as though the gaming PC must be bought and built. This is not so. It can be pre-built. And you can buy a mostly built PC and update the video card alone to make a gaming PC out of most of the cheaper desktops.
[quote name='MSI Magus']
So, as I said I disagree strongly there. I find consoles more reliable before this generation and pretty on par this generation. And I also find that fixing a PC that breaks down is pretty on par to a console that breaks if your a fix it yourself person, but vastly more expensive and annoying if your not.[/quote]
Wrong. Fixing a PC is a lot simpler due to how easy it is to get into the case because it's BUILT for you to do so. If you are fixing it yourself, it's easier for the user to get into the OS (because the gaming OS is not built to be manipulated), easier for you to get inside the hardware (because the console's case is not built to be opened), and easier for you to figure out what's wrong because the whole thing is built by you (if it IS built by you). Even if you buy a pre-built one, it is still easier to open and access than the console's. In the scenario where you are fixing it yourself, PC's are easier to fix. No if's, and's, or but's.
Consoles do not allow you to open them completely without violating your warranty and do not allow you any capacity to manipulate the underlying software or even regress firmware updates.
If BUYING repair services, the consoles may be cheaper, depending on what is wrong with the computer. But the computer is capable of so much more than the console, it becomes a cost-benefit scenario where you pay $100 to get your gaming console back or you pay $200 to get your gaming computer that also houses your music, your videos, your photos, can allow you to use MS Office, produce videos, edit photos, stream movies (to your consoles ironically enough), etc.
[quote name='MSI Magus']
As we seem to agree on at this point though I think this really comes down to your needs and your means. If you can build, fix and maintain your own PC then I think it works out quite a bit better for you, especially given the fact that PC developers are not pushing technology these last 5-6 years like they had the last decade or two. If you can not, well chances are you are not nearly as big of a PC fan.[/QUOTE]
PC developers have all become indie developers. All the hardcore PC developers of yesteryear, sans Valve and Blizzard, have become console developers first, PC porters, and the lack of hardware change in the consoles has led to the games not pushing PC hardware hard at all. We're in year 5 of the 360. It only took a year for the gaming PC to match 360 visuals at higher resolutions and everything since then has been gravy.
The longer that the console makers keep this generation going, the better the PC value proposition will become. It does not take much on the PC side to match the specialized, cut-down version of the Geforce 7900 in the PS3 or the very specialized prototype of the Radeon 2600 in the 360. To say nothing of the Gamecube-level hardware of the Wii.
