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Topic: PC Gaming

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RR529

So how viable would it be to get a gaming laptop in place of a PS5 or Xbox Series?

Granted, I'm rarely interested in the big AAA games (outside occasional titles such as FFVIIR), so I think I'd be OK with a "Series S" comparable machine (due to screen size, I think 1080p resolution would be good enough for me) that wouldn't have trouble with mid range titles and the occasional big title at lower settings.

I find PC appealing due to potential VR compatibility & the fact that I won't have to worry about potential censorship in Japanese titles (which is a mild concern with PS5), and a laptop particularly because I wouldn't be tethered to one location in the house (and would be able to connect it to a TV if need be).

However I've heard really mixed things about them such as price (even a Series S comparable machine would probably cost a bit more than a PS5 or Series X) & questionable long term reliability, however I've seen a few people really sing their praises.

For the record my PC gaming experience is limited to Age of Empires back on our old Gateway PC back in the late 90's/early 00's, so this would be a whole new world for me if I decided to enter it.

Edited on by RR529

Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)

Dezzy

@RR529

Gaming laptops are pretty much the most expensive way of playing games with modern graphics. You'd have to pay at least twice the price of the Series S in order to get a laptop that has equivalent specs as it. Probably even more than that.

It's dangerous to go alone! Stay at home.

JaxonH

@RR529
Personally, I think laptops appeal more to those who aren’t currently gaming on PC. Most people, once they’re involved with it, kinda realize the pitfalls of laptops. At least for current AAA games.I mean, you can do it, but it takes a lot of power to run modern AAA games, which means you’re not gonna get much battery life on the laptop and that’s even with settings turned way down. Not to mention, you’d really need a controller to play properly (even if you like mouse and keyboard, it’s super uncomfortable to try to do so with the built in keyboard, and obviously you’d need a separate mouse). Carrying a laptop, power cord, controller... it all gets to be a bit much. If you’re dead set on a laptop, I’d be glad to help any way I can, but personally I would recommend just getting a desktop and connecting it to your TV like a console, getting a controller for it and use Steam in Big Picture mode like a console. That’s what I do.

Desktops are cheaper (still more than consoles like Series S or even X), but the big benefits over console are as follows:

  • free online ($60/yr savings right there)
  • gyro aiming in nearly every game through Steam via their amazing controller config that lets you map virtual mouse input to the gyroscope in 5 seconds by hitting the Home button on the controller when a game is running
  • Emulation for GameCube, Wii, Wii U, PS2, PSP and even PS3 (I can play Persona 5 on my PC at 60fps). Older systems too, but the newer ones interest me more. Games look gorgeous rendering in HD.
  • Almost every multiplat comes to PC, all Microsoft exclusives come to PC, almost every 3rd party Playstation exclusive comes to PC, and even Sony’s 1st party exclusives are now starting to come to PC.
  • Virtually unlimited SSD storage space, as much as money can buy- I have 10 TB of SSD storage on my PC, whereas my PS5 is capped at 650 GB usable space out of the box right now with no way to upgrade, and even once they patch in ability to add storage via NVME drives, the largest size for Gen 4 speeds will be 2TB.
  • Great sales and multiple websites that sell Steam keys for games, like IsThereAnyDeal which you can use to find the site with the cheapest price for a game you’re looking for.

All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans

God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John

Dezzy

@Ralizah

Yeah I saw that. Incredibly disappointing from them, although not too surprising. The reality is that most companies are gonna do the same. The value of being allowed to sell on the Chinese market is just so much higher than any hit they'll take by banning a random indie game.

I don't think it's realistic in the long run to expect companies to solve an issue like this. The cost-benefit analysis is way too rigged against them. We need western governments to intervene to force China to play fairly.

It's dangerous to go alone! Stay at home.

Ralizah

@Dezzy Maybe. It's interesting that Steam didn't take action to remove the game themselves when heat was at its highest years back, but GOG buckles less than a day after the release was announced. With some terse, weaselly post about "messages from gamers," no less.

It's not that I don't understand the obvious cost-benefit analyses and/or angry phone calls that were taken. But we shouldn't take it as a given that corporations are always going to act as pure profit-generating mechanisms and nothing more. The reason many of the games they distribute, and certainly the games they publish, are allowed to exist in the first place is because distributors and artists have, in the past, pushed back against censorship and threats to their livelihood in service to a greater social and moral good.

What's particularly frustrating is that it's almost impossible to deal with this game and NOT know about its particular history re: China. CD Projekt HAD to have known what they were getting into, but they apparently buckled at the first threat of reprisal. What a terrible look. Was someone who runs GOG unilaterally making decisions about hugely controversial titles without telling anyone else?

I think I know everything I need to concerning where this company stands with regard to issues of artistic freedom and censorship, and I frankly regret having given them my business for as long as I have.

Edited on by Ralizah

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

Dezzy

Ralizah wrote:

But we shouldn't take it as a given that corporations are always going to act as pure profit-generating mechanisms and nothing more.

Eh, I'm not sure about that. I'd prefer if we DID take it as that, because that's what they are.

Almost no business is going to take moral stances on things, if that consistently negatively affects their bottom line. They're just not set up to do that. Nor should they be.

As for Valve, it does look like they've been catering to China quite a lot as well:
https://win.gg/news/4554/valve-quietly-releases-censored-stea...

It's dangerous to go alone! Stay at home.

JaxonH

Companies do things all the time that go directly against their own interests. Big tech, for example, routinely alienates customers with double standards.

The difference is, they only do it when it’s something in line with their own ideology, and since censorship is not something they are ideologically opposed to, they don’t think twice about enforcing it.

It’s unfortunate because China is the single biggest threat in the world, with their 3D social security and digital monitoring systems, authoritarian regime, and unholy melding of the communist state with semi-free markets, and desire to be the global powerhouse to the extent they use unrestricted warfare (spying, bribery, manipulating the circle of power in the US which we have leaked video of a CCP professor boasting about how they have “old friends” in the US that are friendly to China and secretly work toward Chinese interests, and from both parties which is scary to think about).

It angers me seeing companies bend the knee, but... the reality is, China is the new global empire, and they want a slice of the pie. It’s easy to justify small appeasements. The problem is if you won’t stand firm on the small things, then you won’t stand firm on the big things either.

Edited on by JaxonH

All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans

God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John

PSVR_lover

Too bad, Devotion looks like my cup of tea. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

The PSVR is the best VR system on the market today.

edhe

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1029260/Unsung_Story/

Anyone interested in this? I've got a free key for anyone who wants one. We'll connect on Steam, and I'll send you it in a message.

I backed it on Kickstarter way back in 2014. The project fell through, and a new developer bought the rights and started building it from the ground up. It was promised as a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics, with input from Yasumi Matsuno, Akihiko Yoshida and Hitoshi Sakimoto - big names in Japanese tactical RPGs. That's why I backed it initially, but since the original developers ran away with the kickstarter money, their involvement is unlikely.

The steam store page declares it "a tactical RPG from the mind of Yasumi Matsuno (FFT, Vagrant Story)", but few are confident he's actually involved any more. The devs on the forums said they're attempting to repair the relationship between him and the development, but it's been a long, long time since I've been excited about this game. Over a hundred kickstarter emails sent to my inbox, and finally, I've the ability to download an early access version of it, and I couldn't care less.

Normally, I'd paint a prettier picture for a game I'm attempting to palm off on someone, but I have to be honest - this isn't ever going to be a remarkable game, but it's one I've got no desire to play.

So who wants it?

PS - here's the article that got me to back it on Kickstarter:
https://www.destructoid.com/final-fantasy-tactics-director-ta...

Edited on by edhe

My Backloggery.
Follow a cow?

Switch Friend Code: SW-6650-8335-1908 | 3DS Friend Code: 4682-8598-1260

BruceCM

Well, I'd definitely give it a go, at least, @edhe ....

SW-4357-9287-0699
Steam: Bruce_CM

BruceCM

Thanks, meant to get mine but you put that up before I found it ....

SW-4357-9287-0699
Steam: Bruce_CM

JaxonH

Who here plays with Steam Controller? And who here plays with PS/Nintendo controllers using the Steam Controller Config?

All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans

God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John

Dezzy

JaxonH wrote:

Companies do things all the time that go directly against their own interests. Big tech, for example, routinely alienates customers with double standards.

Yeah but in most of those situations, it's because they don't know if its against their interest or not. If you have incomplete information, people have to make a judgement call. So they either default to the most risk averse-feeling position, or they default to some kind of guiding ideology they have.

In the case with GOG, it IS entirely possible that censoring a game will do them more harm than good, because the respect they lose in the western market will do more damage over the long term than the potential sales in China (especially when you take into account how much they'd have to alter the content of Cyberpunk to sell it in China). But they just won't know that yet, so they're probably defaulting to what feels the safer option.

Edited on by Dezzy

It's dangerous to go alone! Stay at home.

JaxonH

@Dezzy
Ya, that’s a fair analysis.

All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans

God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John

JaxonH

I love PC 😁

Been binging on MH World, and it’s just so good. The top end graphics and performance, the free online, the gyro aiming, the Steam Controller configs and setting up like a console connected to the tv... why it took me so long to wake up to PC gaming, I’ll never know. Better late than never.

All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans

God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John

Buizel

Just finished the main story of Control.

Fantastic game, highly recommended to anyone who wants a fast-paced action game with a somewhat intriguing story. Jesse was a great protagonist to play as with an interesting pool of abilities that continues to develop well into the game, and the FBC as a setting was fascinating. Plus the game ran great on my PC (although I opted out of ray tracing in favour of smooth frame rate and 21:9 resolution).

At least 2'8".

BruceCM

Well, I think I'm getting towards the end of Cyberpunk... Done plenty of side stuff & it came up with a warning to save before continuing when I decided to get on with the main story

SW-4357-9287-0699
Steam: Bruce_CM

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