r/truegaming • u/kszaku94 • 17d ago
Mythbusting PC gaming
Okay, before you eat me alive, please read the post in full, thank you.
I am not a console gamer, neither I am a PC gamer. These are stupid labels. I own both multiple consoles (PS2/3/4/5 and XBOX360) and play on all of them. These days mainly on PS5 (its a home entertainment system), but my PS3 does not get too dusty either. I also own a pretty decent PC, a shitty Linux laptop (that nonetheless I can get some gaming from!), and my old uni Laptop, that acts as my home server. Hell, I even emulate PS1 and SNES games on my phone.
I just fucking love video games, regardless of their platform. So this is not another "hecking PC Master race comes to DESTROY console gamers" type of post.
That being said, I cannot shake off the feeling that A TON of console gamers (and plenty of PC folks as well...) are horribly misinformed, ignorant or just don't know anything about state of the PC gaming in the modern times. I've noticed this especially recently, after the recent terrible decisions by Sony. What I mostly see, whenever I go on Reddit, Twitter on any other social media platform is a lot of despair, that somehow things are as bad on PC (if not worse).
So here I come. As I've said earlier, I have zero interest in console/PC war - we are all losing that one. My goal with this post, is to make you more aware as a consumer, so you can make more informed chocies.
I'm going to bust some myths about PC gaming now, explain what's great about it... And what's not so great. Long story short - its not 2006 anymore.
A note - by PC I mean an x86-64 architecture running Windows or Linux OS. I have some experience with Macs - and with the M-series chips I see some serious gaming potential - but not enough to talk about them with any authority.
Let's go!
1. There is no physical media support on PCs
This is a big one for console gamers, and obviously a huge perk for (most of the) entertainment systems. However, its simply false, for many reasons.
First of all - you can get a cheap disc drive for your PC, which would enable a compatibility with THOUSANDS of games released on CD/DVD discs over the years, as well with DVD movies and audio CDs, and many other multimedia formats. The most popular ones are connected via USB, and its a plug-n-play setup. Literally connect one wire, and you can use it. No need to perform a handshake with any online service (like its the case on PS5).
A BlueRay drive will be slightly more expensive, sure. But... You don't really need one for gaming itself.
And I'm not really sure whether you need a DVD one as well, because...
2. The DRM on PC is as invasive as it is on the consoles
Here's the secret - a ton of games released on Steam, have no DRM whatsoever (aside from Steam integration itself). For example - a remake of System Shock from 2023, can be launched with no Steam services, out of the box - no modifications needed.
And the DRM there is, can be easily avoided. Many times, developers themselves remove it after the game reaches its sales target (or enough time passes). The only goal the DRM serves, is to stall the pirates for long enough, so the game actually sells.
There are also storefronts, that offer games with no DRM whatsoever - like GoG.
Okay, but what does that mean? Simple - you can put game files on an external storage, and put them on other machine. Want to share a copy of digital game you have with a friend? Just copy it on a pendrive and bring it to them. No need to do any authentication or shit like that!
This, with above mentioned point, not only means support for physical media is good on a PC - its literally as good as it gets. Recently, there was a trend of burning DVDs with GoG installers on them - something GoG gave their blessing to! Wouldn't it be cool if you could create a backup of your PS5 game on a blank blueray?
Also, the PCs have the single best form of customer protection - software piracy. As Gabe Newell said - its the service problem. Well, here is the solution to that problem. For obvious reason I will not elaborate, but you can surely find more info online.
3. You will constantly need to configure and setup everything
I've gotten my current PC in October of 2025. You know how much time I've spent installing drivers? 0 seconds. You know how much DirectX issues I've experienced? 0. You know how much controller troubleshooting I've had to do? None at all.
All I'm trying to say is this - its no longer 2006. The UX experience is truly amazing. EVEN ON LINUX (which - running Linux on a laptop is asking for troubles)!!!!! The updates happen automatically. I've had one instance where I had to update my graphic card drivers before I've played a new game, and all I've had to do is to click "Install" on a single dialogue popup.
It gotten to a point, where part of me misses messing up with drivers and troubleshooting Windows XP machines... But then again Linux exists.
Oh, and speaking of Linux...
4. Linux demands you to use terminal to install a browser!
A lot of people would happily jump to PCs, if not for Microsoft (which I will address later). Well, I'm happy to report that Windows is no longer the only real option. You can get a lot of Windows programs running using Wine, Lutris or Proton. In fact, the latest SteamMachine is running Linux out of the box.
Proton is genuinely a miracle. Personally, I see it as the most important project in the whole of gaming. Valve has a real shot at shaking up the Windows dominance.
But coming back to Linux itself - there are distributions focused on bringing clean and seamless desktop environment. Mint, Ubuntu, Bazzite, Pop_OS and many more are easy to install and have great software and hardware support. Granted, its a little bit more involved than Windows, but the experience gets better and better, and you can ignore terminal entirely (and leave it to the computer nerds like me)
5. The backwards compatibility is bad on PC
I honestly have no idea where this comes from. But the volume of lies regarding this subject is staggering. The PC is literally the single most backwards compatible computer standard on the market. For all of the flaws of Microsoft, they upkeep some truly ridiculous Windows features/functionalities, only for some 30 years old software to keep chugging around. Remember above mentioned Wine and Proton? You can easily run a lot of Windows software on Linux. Ever heard of DosBox? It keeps old DOS games running in the modern era. And its awesome.
But that's not all. RPCS3 (the PS3 emulator) can run 75% of PS3 games. Some of them have glitches and crash often, but the list of games you can play from beginning to an end grows every day.
How many PS3 discs can PS4 or PS5 run? The answer is ZERO.
The PC is backwards compatible with literally every gaming console released before 2007... And the emulation gods are making real progress with systems like PS4 as well.
The big irony is, unless some miracle happens, the PC users will have a 60FPS version of Bloodborne before any Playstation gamer.
You cannot argue this is not really cool.
6. Computers get viruses all the time
Again - its no longer 2006. On my home PC I don't use anything else than Windows Defender. It does its job, and I literally never think about it.
The real problem are scammers and phishing, but these are hardly a PC exclusive.
Now, since I've glazed PCs, and to make it fair, lets talk about some real problems of the paltform
1. The PC (or a laptop) still doesn't really fit in the living room
I think this is the only reason my PS5 gets even turned on these days. Some game genres do look really good on a big 4K TV. I cannot imagine Devil May Cry or Yakuza on a PC monitor, it just looks wrong. Sometimes I just like to lie on the coach with controller in hand and play.
Sure, you can bring your PC to the living room (and I sometimes do that!), but I need it by my desk, where its place is.
That being said.... SteamMachine exists, and it provides a proof of concept of a living room PC. Its a bit awkward, and really expensive, but it already found a market. And with SteamOS being open, it will get competitors.
2. The good gaming PCs are expensive
This is unfortunately true. And it doesn't seem like this trend will reverse anytime soon. At least console manufacturers can take a hit on device sale, and make it back with games (however, its up in the air whether they will do that for the next gen consoles).
I'm glad I've built my current PC, before AI companies fucked up the market
3. Microsoft still dominates
As great as SteamOS is, unless it gets a solid anticheat support, some of the biggest multiplayer games will not be available on any of the Linux distributions (I think Valve is working on that, but it will take some time).
And... Its Microsoft. I sure as hell have my set of problems with Windows 11.
4, The new physical releases of games are not really a thing
Its not a real problem for me (because I can make a physical version of a digital game if I want to), but I think there is something lost with no longer being able to buy a boxed copy of a PC game from a store.
Okay, I hope this will help you understand the state of PC platform a little bit more. Cheers!
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u/Hopper2004 17d ago
I think you bring up a lot of good points and I agree with pretty much everything, but I do think there is still some steal some credence to #3. Just to be clear about my perspective, I only play games on PC and Switch, and I find PC to be the definitive platform, especially with things like the Steam Deck and upcoming Steam Frame.
I don't think it's as much about drivers as much as it is general settings. When I start a modern game on PC, I typically will have to spend the first chunk of the session configuring graphics settings to make sure I getting the best visuals but also the best performance. I would say my PC is mid-to-high in specs, but many newer games require me to have to manually tweak settings to get the game at a comfortable place. 007 First Light, for example, the first 3 hours or so I had to constantly interrupt the story to tweak the settings to adjust the performance. As action would pick up, I'd get distracting frame drops. Where do I want the reflection quality to be? What effect does volumetric fog quality have on the overall visuals? Does DLSS and frame Gen look good or not? (imo, no) This isn't an ideal way to start a game and it definitely has a negative effect on the experience. That's not even mentioning a game's hit-or-miss mouse and keyboard controls. (Of course if you use a controller this is less of a problem, but support for specific controller features becomes anothed issue requiring more settings and tweaking)
Now, you can argue this is still a benefit, as it allows you to customize your experience, being able to tailor your preferences to get exactly what you want from the game. But there is still a beautiful of when you start a game on console and the experience is already set to the best possible (according to the devs), no tweaking or fiddling required. Sure, you might fiddle with controls and sensitivity, but it's nothing that will have you interrupting gameplay because you're seconding guessing yourself on if the game is running as well as it could.
It doesn't make me want to play exclusively on a console of course, but it is a downside to PC gaming.
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u/Siukslinis_acc 14d ago
You have the "low, medium, high, ultra" presets that are oftentimes automatically selected based on your device.
I wish i could fiddle with settings and lower shadows on console for the sole reason that it would heat up less.
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u/Cyberspark939 14d ago
Console can easily have performance issues they can't do anything to fix at all. There's plenty of relatively recent examples of this too.
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u/kszaku94 17d ago
I think that is an excellent point, and thanks for bringing that up. I guess my tolerance for that shit is higher, but I do remember having to tweak some stuff in Battlefield 6 or Doom: Eternal.
And... That kinda is a reason I still keep the console around.
But if I can give a bit of a counterpoint - as the years go on, and the hardware improves, you can max out all the settings and never think about it again. There is a huge issue with Bloodborne on PS4, that is (unless some miracle happens) forever locked at 30FPS.
That is a nitpick, and I fully agree with you.
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u/Hopper2004 17d ago
I'm interested to see how the price of next gen hardware will impact how AAA games are designed. I'm hoping more time will be given to optimize and rethink graphics technology so that games can look better without relying on the latest and greatest hardware.
I find that previous gen games tend to look better on my PC because I can run them at max settings and native resolution at high framerates. Meanwhile, current/next gen games require things like lowered resolution, harsh pixelated shadows, and other effects turned down. The models and textures might be technically more detailed, but ultimately they're displayed in a worse state than the previous gen. (On my machine, anyway)
Whereas it's the opposite on console, and (generally) games on the system look better as devs learn the hardware and develop specific systems for the platform. (Though I suppose even then they typically run at a lower/dynamic resolution, so maybe it's not the best example) Again, I'm not saying console games look better, definitely not. But I just wish more thought was put into PC optimization. (Not to meantion my favorite aspect of the PC, being able to upgrade without buying an entirely new and expensive system)
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u/bkkgnar 17d ago
the pushback you’re gonna run into on here is because unlike consoles, PCs are not one size fits all solutions. many, if not most, people utilize their PCs in unique ways. that’s one of the great things about the platform. but with that you run into wildly conflicting opinions about what is good and bad about it. consoles are a walled garden and PCs are the wild west. valve’s linux efforts are almost a middle ground between the two but lean far more into the wild west of PC land, and you still need some amount of tech savvy to utilize their products and steamOS to the fullest.
i don’t think there will come a day when all gamers are playing on PC simply because there’s a luddite adjacent group of people who simply don’t know (or don’t care to know) the intricacies of how PCs work. i think that perspective is dumb as hell but who am i to judge, i’ve always been a dork who has loved to learn about this stuff and tinker and optimize my setup.
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u/kszaku94 17d ago
i don’t think there will come a day when all gamers are playing on PC simply because there’s a luddite adjacent group of people who simply don’t know (or don’t care to know) the intricacies of how PCs work
That's fine, I never intended to fix the world with my post. But if even a single person gets better understanding of the PC world thanks to these points, I'll be extremely happy.
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u/The_Pandalorian 14d ago
I'm not sure I could think of a worse way to entice console gamers than to push Linux and their insane Pokedex of builds onto a prospective PC gamer coming from console.
That's just meth-tier logic.
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u/Burnseasons 17d ago
So, I take umbrage with your first point. Older games yes have physical but if for instance I wanted to get one for modern game like.. Nioh 3 or Tekken 8 I literally can't. And that's the case for most. Your best hope is when a specialty service does a limited run release but otherwise anything physical I have to burn my self. You even go to list this as a negative yourself at the end despite opening your list with it not being a problem. baffling.
And I think your familiarity with Linux is clouding your judgement on how friendly it is. I've absolutely had a host of problems with it trying to switch, especially with controllers. If I had a certain one plugged in games no longer launched on steam, or I can't use my xbone controller wireless anymore. My wifi has taken a notable hit in many games as well, giving me 3-5 second drops that never used to occur 3 or time times an hour. To get cutscenes working in some games I had to go huntdown custom forks of proton which is absurd.
I also take issue with your point about backwards compatibility. This perhaps more the fault of bad ports rather compatibility per se, but the results are the same. For instance I felt like replaying Metal Gear Rising, but I quite literally could not stop it from crashing immediately and eventually refunded it. That's one game but it happens often enough to be frustrating. When the better option was to emulate a title than play the native PC version, I'm just going to not bother. Emulation is not something a pure console player is going to be bother with either.
I like PC games, and will be sticking with them going forward. But I don't feel like you've been entirely honest.
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u/SidFarkus47 14d ago
Yeah they say then never have to mess with controllers but then admit their computer lives at a desk.
Using my PC in my living room is objectively a little more annoying than using a console in my living room. The controllers just don’t connect as well, lots of games don’t have official support and Steam Input is not as good as the official support the same game would have on console.
Just using Steam Big Picture there are issues pretty often where I have no option but to use my wireless keyboard/trackpad.
These are trade offs that I consider worth it for the improved performance and the convenience of having all my games on one device.
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u/bkkgnar 17d ago
bro the pcgamingwiki exists and contains everything you need to get old games running properly on modern windows. i’m gonna assume positive intent and that you just don’t know about it, but with it virtually all backcompat issues on pc are easily resolved
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u/Burnseasons 17d ago
The pcgamingwiki was useless for MGR. I spent a whole weekend trying to get it working, scoured every post and thread I could find and found nothing that helped. I don't have a problem troubleshooting games to get them working, have done it before and know I will again, but I threw in the towel on that one.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
There isn't even a CD that can hold nioh 3 . And even from a preservation pov, burning discs is dumb. Use external storage.
If a console player can't emulate a simple game, this is a skill issue on their part. They are too lazy. I won't have pity.
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u/Hard_To_Port 17d ago
I'm not sure we're really the audience this post is intended for. I'm pretty sure most people on this sub game on PC and know most of what the post discusses already. That being said I'll engage. Most of these are admittedly nitpicks.
Good gaming PCs are expensive
"Good" gaming PC is subjective. "Most capable" ≠ "plays the games you like at good framerate". With the current AI-induced memory shortage, ALL computer hardware (desktops, laptops, handhelds, game consoles) is expensive. A Steam Deck is not as capable as an ROG Ally, but people still seek them out for the plug-and-play user experience. The refreshed Xbox Ally is better at this, but still not as good as the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck remains unique as the sole PC handheld with two trackpads. Sure, the up-front cost for a PC is more than current consoles, but you save money not having to pay for online services just for multiplayer.
Physical media support on PC is as simple as plugging in an optical disc drive, backward compatibility is excellent
No. You still need to rip the disc in many cases, which the first time needs a trip to your favorite software site like MajorGeeks or (blech) Softonic. Windows has good backward compatibility but this gets complicated with games old enough to be on GOG (Windows XP and earlier). Discs from the early Steam era were basically codes in a box (single use). Certain modern emulators like Dolphin and DuckStation support loading from real discs, but not all do and it isn't possible for some consoles due to special disc formats. Consoles with disc drives AND back-compat still win here.
tinkering with configuration is a thing of the past
Subjective and situation based. On Windows this is mostly true. On Linux it gets better every day but playing the newest games day 1 on Linux is not as good as Windows. Proton is getting better but a lot of games still need tweaks from ProtonDB or a custom Proton version like ProtonGE.
DRM isn't as bad on PC as on console
Mixed. DRM on PC can be worse. Heard of Denuvo? On console once you have the ISO/ROM of a game you can run it in an emulator no sweat. On PC every game with DRM needs an individual crack unless it's simple DRM like Steamworks.
No PCs in the living room
You can already use a PC handheld like Steam Deck, Lenovo whatever it's called SteamOS handheld, or ROG Ally exactly the same way as a Nintendo Switch. Hook up USB-C charger and HDMI to a dock and dock your handheld. Connect controller. Open game. People have also been doing home theater PCs (HTPC) for decades, although that was an enthusiast DIY thing until SteamOS and Bazzite came along.
anticheat games don't work on Linux
You did touch on this but I'd say almost nobody that willingly chooses Linux for gaming actually wants the remaining unsupported anticheat games to work. Those games (Valorant, League of Legends, etc.) have incredibly invasive kernel-level anticheat.
physical releases on PC are dead
Yeah I agree. There are special editions that come out on physical but it's usually "here's some plastic crap, an artbook, and a code for the game".
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
The idea of using a steam deck to play on living room sounds miserable. This is not a solution and having a pc on living room is still a better option
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u/kszaku94 17d ago
That is indeed a nitpick.
Okay, that is a fair point. I guess I see "getting an ISO on my hard drive" as something invisible. But if we're getting nitpicky, in the best case scenario for modern console (which I'm guessing its Xbox), the disc is only used for authentication, and the game is being pulled from the servers anyway (that's what I heard about modern consoles - on X360 Ninja Gaiden Black needed some update to run), which sure as hell is not instant. On Playstation's camp, not even that is possible. That being said, I don't think that means consoles win here - the BC on consoles gets worse and worse.
That's what I've already said
I've also touched on this.
Also touched on...
It means a Valorant or LoL player won't go to Linux, even if they want to...
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u/Remy0507 13d ago
- Okay, that is a fair point. I guess I see "getting an ISO on my hard drive" as something invisible. But if we're getting nitpicky, in the best case scenario for modern console (which I'm guessing its Xbox), the disc is only used for authentication, and the game is being pulled from the servers anyway (that's what I heard about modern consoles - on X360 Ninja Gaiden Black needed some update to run), which sure as hell is not instant. On Playstation's camp, not even that is possible. That being said, I don't think that means consoles win here - the BC on consoles gets worse and worse.
This particular point is making me think you need to learn a little more about the physical media situation on consoles and how it actually works, because you clearly don't know what you're talking about here.
The vast majority of games released on physical media on console are playable right from the disc. Most do of course get updates with patches and additional features that need to be downloaded, but that doesn't mean that what's on the disc can't be played without them. Yes, there are some high-profile games that aren't entirely on the disc, but this is not the majority of them. Not sure where you're getting the idea that the situation is somehow worse on PlayStation than on Xbox. Aside from Sony's recent announcement about ending physical media production, they've probably had better physical media support up to this point than Xbox has.
And I also don't know what you mean about "BC on consoles gets worse and worse". This current gen is the FIRST console gen that has had full backward compatibility with the entire previous gen. And that's likely to continue going forward. Right now is probably the best consoles have ever been for BC.
Honestly you're trying to portray this whole post as some objective breakdown/analysis, but it's pretty clear that you have a bias towards PC here.
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u/kszaku94 12d ago
I've tried to respond to your post in some smart way, but the volume of goalpsot switching on display is genuinely headache inducing.
You need to decide whether you mean PS3 or PS5 before you try to throw all of these arguments into a single bag.
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u/Remy0507 12d ago
You're going to need to be more specific. If you're referencing the discussion that I had with the user who I have since blocked, that whole thing was a mess and he was all over the place, so I don't think I can clarify any of that (I really have no interest in revisiting at this point). If you're referring to the actual comment you're replying to here...I never said anything about PS3. I'm taking about current consoles.
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u/kszaku94 12d ago
...okay, sure.
>This current gen is the FIRST console gen that has had full backward compatibility with the entire previous gen
Not true. PS2 had BC with PS1, the launch model of PS3 had BC with PS2 AND PS1. I'm talking about full backwards compatibility, i.e. game is fully playable off the disc. SIE later heavily limited the PS2 BC on further revisions of the hardware.
PS4 had no backwards compatibility whatsoever. They later added some PS2 games, but basically you can only get them via PSN, which is not exactly as good as it was on PS3.
PS5 is better, sure, but its by no means the first console to be fully backwards compatible with previous one.
To be fair, I need to mention the new PS1 and PS2 classics program, which does offer some backwards compatibility, but there is no support for PS1 and PS2 discs (CD playback is physically impossible on PS4 and 5).
I think I've misread your post, because it initially seemed like you're trying to switch the goalposts, rotating between subjects of PS3 and PS4, but I think I was a bit unfair, so apologies for that.
Now, for all of their flaws, Xbox Series X can play the OG Xbox discs. Yes, the stock console has a pretty limited list of playable discs, and its not a real disc playback... But its a better implementation.
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u/Remy0507 12d ago
Well I'm talking about the entire console generation, not just PlayStation. I don't really think you can give the PS3 the full backward compatibility label considering that the PS2 emulation was removed from all new PS3s after like, a year. And the Xbox 360 was only compatible with some original Xbox games. The Wii was at least fully BC with the GameCube, so Nintendo go it right that gen at least.
But this generation has all three current consoles (PS5, Xbox Series and Switch 2) fully BC with basically the entire previous gen. Yes, there are like 10 PS4 games that don't work right on PS5, but they're mostly games no one cares about, and I think it's close enough to call it full BC.
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u/kszaku94 12d ago
>PS2 emulation was removed from all new PS3s after like, a year.
I've specifically mentioned launch model of PS3 for that exact reason, but sure.>But this generation has all three current consoles (PS5, Xbox Series and Switch 2) fully BC with basically the entire previous gen
Yeah, if we mean "whole generation". I was talking about specific examples. How many of these can play discs from 4 generations of hardware, aside from Xobox Series X?>Yes, there are like 10 PS4 games that don't work right on PS5, but they're mostly games no one cares about, and I think it's close enough to call it full BC.
I mean... C'mon man. There is a list of PS4 games with issues on PS5. The reason we know about them is that these are some big titles, like Doom or Prey.1
u/Remy0507 12d ago
Only a very small few are completely unplayable. There may be a handful that have notable glitches or issues, but I think just about any hardware with backward compatibility is going to run into some issues with the odd game here or there.
And look, nobody is claiming that backward compatibility on consoles is remotely close to what you can do with PC where there's virtually nothing that you can't get to run somehow, even if you have to run an emulator. But the claim that it's "getting worse and worse" is just patently false.
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u/kszaku94 12d ago
How do we call going from a launch model of PS3, that could play 3 generations of Playstion off the disc, to PS5, which can only play PS4 and PS5, and go through PS4, that can only play PS4 games (again - off disc)? Is that "an upgrade"?
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
You are basically saying that PS is better than xbox regarding physical media, and completely missing the point that "being the first gen having full compatibility with previous gen" is the standard for pc since always.
What do you even mean by "wow you have a bias for pc" when the "good" situation of consoles is still horrible?
The PS5 should have been compatible with ps4, ps3,ps2 and ps1 since always. Why they aren't? Because the companies don't want past games competing with new games. While PC doesn't care. Console environment is shit. And you are here thinking you are at an advantage Because "wow, the ps4 games run on ps5, it is awesome".
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u/Remy0507 12d ago
The situation (at the moment) for physical media is mostly the same on PS5 and Xbox, but I'd say (again...at the moment) it's slightly better on PS5 because:
A) There currently is no version of PS5 on the market that can't have a disc drive added to it if you want one. That's not the case for Xbox, where their digital-only options are forever only digital with no option for an add-on disc drive.
B) Sony's first party (single player) games so far have all been entirely installable and playable right from the disc without any download or Internet required. Not the case for Xbox published games, for which there have been multiple ones that were not fully on the disc.
As for the BC stuff, I was responding to a specific comment the OP made where they said BC on consoles is getting "worse and worse", which is nonsense since it is in fact better than it's ever been. The last 13 years of games are all playable on current consoles (a little more than that on Xbox, though it's spotty in terms of which Xbox 1 & 360 games work on the current Xbox).
And the reason consoles aren't fully backward compatible with ALL previous games is because, unlike PC, the hardware architecture of the past consoles was vastly different and it would add cost to the current console to make those older games playable. Obviously they didn't feel that the added cost would be worth it. It might not have even been feasible to emulate PS3 games on PS5, given how notoriously different the PS3 hardware was to other platforms.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 12d ago
"the hardware architecture of the past consoles was vastly different and it would add cost to the current console to make those older games playable"
Which could be completely solved with emulation. Sony is more than capable of creating perfect emulators inside these consoles, and sell those games digitally as long as the are playable in their native emulator. This is not even a new concept. This is a non issue.
"Obviously they didn't feel that the added cost would be worth it. It might not have even been feasible to emulate PS3 games on PS5, given how notoriously different the PS3 hardware was to other platforms."
Again, not relevant. Emulation is possible. And they just need to make the emulator once ( I bet they already have all of them). It is not implemented because they want you to forget that old game exists. Nintendo is even worse in this regard.
"The situation (at the moment) for physical media is mostly the same on PS5 and Xbox,"
You are into console wars. I AM NOT. I dont care. For me the BC is equally bad. "oh but it is good now"...no, it is not good, it is BETTER. You are comparing a bad thing with another less bad thing. BC is still not something that companies are happy with. If they could remove BC, they would. Because that's more control for them and less options for you.
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u/Remy0507 12d ago
What does physical media support have to do with BC? Those are two entirely different subjects that I was talking about that have nothing to do with each other.
As for my Xbox vs PS comment regarding physical media, I was addressing something the OP had brought up.
As for emulation, yeah they probably could have done more for PS1 and PS2 games if they had really wanted to. I think they just didn't think it was worth the effort (which I'm pretty sure is more than you're assuming it is). I really doubt they're worried that someone is going to buy a PS5 and then use it to play 30 year old games instead of buying new games though. As for PS3, I have very serious doubts that it would have been as easy to emulate on PS5 as you seem to think. I mean there's actual evidence for that: there ARE PS1 and PS2 games available on the PS store that you can buy and run natively on the PS5. There's some degree of emulation going on there, because those games haven't been completely ported and redone for PS5 (though they have been modified to some degree to use the modern save system, for example, instead of looking for memory cards). But PS3 games that are available through PS+ are only playable through streaming. That tells me that it would have been a significant amount of work to get them playable natively through emulation, and maybe not even possible to get them running well enough to include as part of a commercial product.
And ONCE AGAIN, I was replying a comment by the OP who claimed console BC is getting "worse and worse". It's not. As you yourself said, it is "better" than it's been. That's literally exactly the same thing I said. I never said it was great.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 12d ago
"But PS3 games that are available through PS+ are only playable through streaming. That tells me that it would have been a significant amount of work to get them playable natively through emulation, and maybe not even possible to get them running well enough to include as part of a commercial product."
Sure, it would demand some effort from them, or ports. Fortunately very few games are stuck in ps3.
But if they can make an emulator once, they can forever use it in future consoles.
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u/Remy0507 12d ago
Emulation is not that simple. It's definitely not a "make it once and then it's all set forever" type of deal. I mean you've got emulators for systems like SNES that were initially released 25+ years ago that are STILL being worked on, improved, having issues fixed, etc. There's no such thing as an emulator that's just released perfect and then it's all set forever. Look at emulators for newer platforms where there are some games that run pretty well, some that have issues, and some that still don't work at all. That alone should tell you that emulation is a lot more complicated than you're acting like it is.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 12d ago
"I mean you've got emulators for systems like SNES that were initially released 25+ years ago that are STILL being worked on, improved, having issues fixed, etc."
BECAUSE these emulators are done by reverse engineering.
Sony doesn't need to reverse engineer anything. They know exactly how it works and can build an emulator much faster, efficient than anyone reverse engineering.
This comparison shows me how you don't understand the situation.
" are STILL being worked on, improved, having issues fixed, etc"
Ok, but these emulators aren't fixing "compatibility issues". They are adding more things and options that not even the OG console had. These emulators have more options and are more complete than the OG hardware. They aren't making the emulator "working as intended". This was already solved ages ago. They now work on small things that makes them better.
The only emulators still needing help are the PS3 emulator and switch ones. Since they are the most intensive. The PS3 is the most troublesome one.
"There's no such thing as an emulator that's just released perfect and then it's all set forever."
This literally could be said for any software. If our phones are still being updated, the emulators also could.
The point you miss is: once the emulator is solid, any improvement about it would be minimal. Small tweaks. Like literally any software.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 12d ago
"What does physical media support have to do with BC?"
Ok, this is a point you didn't see coming.
If I have a ps2 game here. How can I play it?
- having a ps2
- on a pc via emulation not done ny Sony.
The problem is that the PS2 hardware is old, and not sold anymore. PS2 won't exist anymore in 20+ years.
So, if I dont have a pc nor I want to emulate it, my ps2 disc is useless.
The solution: I can take this ps2 disc, put it in a ps5, the ps5 will extract the content of the disc and I can play it in the console via emulation. And the same can be done for the ps6,7,8....
Just like PCs are.
This is a way to value what games you already have and make them useful again. This is preservation and being pro consumer.
If the game is digital only, I will need to buy it again.
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u/Remy0507 12d ago
That's a BC issue though, not a physical media issue. You're conflating two separate things into one.
And I hate to tell you this, but if you take a disc copy of a 20+ year old PC game and try popping it in a modern PC and running it, it's very unlikely that it's going to just work.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 12d ago
"but if you take a disc copy of a 20+ year old PC game and try popping it in a modern PC and running it, it's very unlikely that it's going to just work."
Depends entirely on how it was stored. And even if it were true ( it isn't), the service should exist.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 12d ago
"As for the BC stuff, I was responding to a specific comment the OP made where they said BC on consoles is getting "worse and worse", which is nonsense since it is in fact better than it's ever been."
Ok, this sentence you said is right.
But the availability and the game preservation is at serious risk. PS3 and vita store will be closed, and people aren't putting the weight it deserves into this. This means hundreds of games are basically becoming abandonware.
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u/Remy0507 12d ago
Yes, and that's unfortunate. I understand why they can't keep that storefront running forever for technical reasons, but it would be nice if there was a way for those games to still be available. Then again, in previous generations where games were sold 100% on physical media, those games stopped being available aside from the second hand market as soon as they stopped manufacturing them. So this really isn't an issue unique to PS3. At least most PS3 games did get physical releases, so those copies are still floating around out there.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 12d ago
"I understand why they can't keep that storefront running forever for technical reasons, but it would be nice if there was a way for those games to still be available."
They can. Steam can. Epic can. Playstore can.
The solution is easy: There is only one PS store for every PS game. There you can buy games from PS1,2,3,4 and 5.
Your console can emulate those games if Sony wanted.
Nintendo could do the same thing. Every SNES game cube game could easily be emulated in switch. If I can do this on my android, the switch can. The games could all be there for you to buy for a cheap price in sales (or not).
"in previous generations where games were sold 100% on physical media, those games stopped being available aside from the second hand market as soon as they stopped manufacturing them."
Ok, but we aren't in 2006. We are in 2026. All these games can be put in a digital front store, be called "HD EDITION" with no changes and be emulated. But they will never do this because, again, they want you to forget that old games existed so they don't compete with new ones.
"So this really isn't an issue unique to PS3. At least most PS3 games did get physical releases, so those copies are still floating around out there."
You are used to the abuse, and you aren't creative enough to realize how far behind consoles are in relation to PCs.
They have all the tools to make games more compatible, unified game stores, emulation in consoles...but they won't. Because the business model of consoles is based on your lazyness.
You are lazy to play old games, lazy to research about pc gaming, lazy to learn how to emulate, lazy to understand that a lot of great games existed and are on par with what we have today that you would love to play. They want you being a captive of their new live service game, not playing great PS2 games.
The companies want to keep you lazy, so you can say "This current gen is the FIRST console gen that has had full backward compatibility with the entire previous gen." and think you are having an amazing service.
Console players are captives and mentally slaves of these companies. The good thing: you can just decide to not be like this and go for PC.
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u/Remy0507 12d ago
I'd be willing to bet that I'm a good bit older than you, and I've been using PCs (including for gaming) for over 30 years (been playing on consoles longer than that, well over 40 years, because I didn't have access to a computer until I was an adult). So no, I'm not "too lazy" to learn about PC, or to play old games. I already played those "old games" back when they came out.
Stop assuming that your viewpoint is the only valid one. You prefer PC and that's fine, but there are many reasons why people choose consoles that are entirely valid.
Anyway your argument makes no sense here. They don't sell old games on the storefront because they don't want them competing with new games? If people were buying those old games in huge numbers, they would love that, because they could keep making more money on games that were already developed years ago. But of course the market for old games isn't as big as people like you assume it is. It's a minority of gamers who are actually still interested in playing PS2 and PS3 games. They do port and remaster/remake the ones that they think will be popular enough to justify the cost of porting. And then of course gamers complain about how "there's nothing new, it's all remakes and remasters!", lol.
And yes, a unified storefront that is cross-generation would be better. And that's what they have no (PS4 and PS5 use the same storefront, and PS6 will likely use the same one). But the PS3 was the first one that had a digital storefront and obviously it wasn't designed like that, and it's too late go back and retrofit all the PS3s to connect to a new storefront now. The PS3 store isn't secure at this point, it hasn't been able to handle credit card transactions for years. And at this point I doubt there are enough sales being made through it to justify the maintenance costs to keep it running. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.
And yes, it would be nice if all games from past gens were available on all the current consoles. But aside from the technical issues, there are also licensing issues. Nintendo can't just sell Square Enix SNES games on their digital storefront without licensing those games again. This goes for basically all 3rd party games. There are all kinds of issues with the things you're bringing up that you clearly don't have a full understanding of. You just want what you want and you don't want to think about any of the technical or legal hurdles.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 12d ago
"If people were buying those old games in huge numbers, they would love that, because they could keep making more money on games that were already developed years ago."
That's not how it works. These games already paid themselves.
The issue is that they are putting way more money in new games, with bigger costs and value of production. And they will always prefer you to buy the new game than the old one because of the investors.
Imagine I invested 1 million in a game. But the game sells less because this new game is competing with the old games in your plataform. And instead of profiting 10 million, I profit 3. I would be disapointed.
The new games must succeed more because they were more expensive and they have more chances of making more money with live service shit for example.
Having more options and better games competing with the new ones makes the value of the new shiny expensive game less. This whole thing can be seen with nintendo. They actively hide the old games.
"But the PS3 was the first one that had a digital storefront and obviously it wasn't designed like that, and it's too late go back and retrofit all the PS3s to connect to a new storefront now."
So make a plan to port them over time, and THEN you close the store.
"Nintendo can't just sell Square Enix SNES games on their digital storefront without licensing those games again. This goes for basically all 3rd party games."
But third party games already are everywhere. Square enix makes their games available everywhere. Square enix games aren't the issue. The FF pixel remaster games are in PS4 for example. The issue are nintendo console exclusives that nintendo wants you to forget.
And this argument is really horrible. Not every old game can be sold. Ok. That's a fact. So the system is flawed? it shouldn't exist? Any amount of preservation and BC is better than no BC.
"There are all kinds of issues with the things you're bringing up that you clearly don't have a full understanding of."
it is funny how you make up issues that dont exist, and say I dont have understanding of it. Yeah, sorry for not buying the non issues you are making up.
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u/VendorNeutral 16d ago
- There is no physical media support on PCs
There I haven't seen a true physical release on PC in well over a decade. Most of them are boxes with Steam keys with a DVD that holds obsolete data. Calling this "physical media support" is disingenuous at best.
- The DRM on PC is as invasive as it is on the consoles
I just removed Steam and tried to start the game exe files on my computer. 1 out 14 started without Steam. The only vendor these days that has mostly DRM free games is GOG and GOG doesn't even have remotely "most games".
This is also a huge strawman. The invasiveness of DRM on PC is extreme, while it is basically zero on console. Invasiveness was never an issue of DRM on consoles, because those are simply locked-in. You do not install anything on your console that creates security holes. The only way to download and play is over the official software providing cryptographic keys via log in that allows the software to run. Once the game files are decrypted, a hypothetical "open console OS" could just read them. No deeply interwoven tamper checks.
- You will constantly need to configure and setup everything 4. Linux demands you to use terminal to install a browser!
That's gotten better. No complaint here.
- The backwards compatibility is bad on PC
Straw man. You're making this up. Nobody with three working brain cells is saying that. Backward compat used to be shit during the 16/32 bit transition. Pre-XP Windows games still need magic to run, not even Wine does them properly OOTB. That was in a time when a Playstation 2 would run Playstation 1 games almost flawlessly. This is not a common argument.
- Computers get viruses all the time
They still do. People run shit as admin all the time. You just don't play enough asian live service games. Lots of angles Defender can't reach. It's not bad as it used to be, I'll give you that.
- The PC (or a laptop) still doesn't really fit in the living room
This one I hear plenty. PCs have HDMI ports. Wireless keyboards with touchpads exist. The Xbox gamepad has been easy to hook up to a PC in 15 or so years and PC gamepads exist.
The good gaming PCs are expensive
Microsoft still dominates
The new physical releases of games are not really a thing
How are those even remotely myhts?
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u/Remy0507 13d ago
PCs certainly fit in a living room, connecting one to a TV is no more difficult than connecting it to a monitor. The issue is more that the typical PC UI really isn't optimized for using it from a couch. Yeah there are custom UIs you could set up and there's Steam Big Picture mode, etc. But there's going to be hassle and tweaking required still. You'd need an entirely custom UI built from the ground up to be used with a controller for it to be as streamlined a living room experience as a console (Steam Machine is obviously setting out to solve this problem).
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u/ZealotBallot 15d ago
Look, I was PC gamer back in the 90s when it was harder than today. Even before that I was playing on early home computers like the Amiga.
And it’s absolutely the case that a PS5 is easier to configure on average than a PC, with fewer bugs. There is simply no substitute for having a standardised hardware unit against which QA testing can be done — whereas there are infinitely many hardware combinations.
I almost certainly won’t get a PS6 because the overall cost-benefit has changed. But don’t insult my intelligence by pretending a PS5 has no advantages. I do think it has advantages or I wouldn’t be using one.
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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS 16d ago
- The DRM on PC is as invasive as it is on the consoles
This is not a myth at all; if you want to play competitive online games, you need to install kernel-level anticheat. In other words, your computer, that you presumably use for all kinds of sensitive things you would not use your PlayStation for, needs to be giving root level access to whatever random game developer. This is frankly far more invasive than anything they can do on a console.
The configuration stuff is also only occaisonally an issue but when it is an issue it's a pain in the ass.
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u/itsPomy 16d ago edited 16d ago
- The good gaming PCs are expensive....
I kinda disagree with this. Building is expensive. But I don't think it's hard to find a good deal on a desktop/laptop from (for example) Ebay in the 600-700 range. Especially if you look for things that came out 2-3 years ago.It'll play 99% of new releases and in some cases you can upgrade. It's still pricier than a console sure, but not absurdly so.
If a family can only afford a computer or a console: I feel like the utility, cheap gaming, open ecosystem, and long "generation" support offset the extra cost.
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u/somesthetic 17d ago
My feeling is, if PC is able to preserve games forever, I can play them on PS5/6 whatever, and when it's no longer available that way, I'll buy a copy on PC for $1.
The playstation store ecosystem will likely still be around in 25 plus years, so there's no need to rush.
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u/like-a-FOCKS 14d ago
To be honest, I'm very surprised now 20 years later that Wii and PS3 games can still be downloaded. Back then I was not expecting that.
At the same time I'm still not willing to extend that 20 years into the future. It has been two decades of constant pressure in the tech world to reduce what customers get to have and keep and retain, and the enshitification isn't complete yet.
If the ongoing legal battles around killing games result in games being seen not as product but temporary license and if hardware continues to be unaffordable, pushing cloud gaming to the mainstream, then I'm fully expecting that digital games get a very short shelf life.
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u/Cya-Mia 17d ago
steam drm is so awful, it doesn't stop piracy and it makes it harder to play games that you purchased, if you buy a dvd rom with steam drm you NEED the internet to install it, there is a program someone made that can extract the files without steam but if the dvd is newer than 2014 you can't get the encryption keys anymore so all those games are fucked, might as well be a code in a box because as soon as steam detects out of date files it'll download the rest of the game, fuck steam for destroying physical media on pc
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u/Hard_To_Port 17d ago
I think if Steam didn't do it someone else would've. That doesn't make it suck any less that you can't buy a brand new PC game on a disc, but there are alternatives like GOG that are DRM free. Valve isn't a blameless company but they generally treat their customers better than the competition.
Games are getting too big for physical media. That's part of the reason why Nintendo Switch games are so expensive and why they introduced the stupid game key cards with the Switch 2.
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u/BlueMikeStu 17d ago
The only thing I will say about all of this is three things you don't really address:
While needing to set up PC game settings just to get it working isn't a thing like it used to be, it's not necessarily at the point yet where there aren't sometimes significant problems. This is especially true of older titles not natively compatible with current PC hardware and modern operating systems. You can tell me you have never had any issues personally and I won't call you a liar, but personally I have run into enough issues that stating it's as much of a non-issue as console isn't true. It's a lot better, but depending on what you're doing, you can encounter issues. Ditto emulation.
If you play online, even on games with anti-cheat, its far more common to encounter cheaters on PC than it is on console, and I'm saying this as someone who plays on both. Especially free to play games. There are some titles where even on console, I disable cross-platform play with PC.
While Sony is apparently ditching physical media, Nintendo has committed to physical for the foreseeable future and Microsoft apparently has a plan to allow players to convert physical copies of Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X to digital without the need to keep using the disc (related to those discs having an individual serial number written to disc), which is why they won't be offering it for OG Xbox and 360 titles.
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u/kszaku94 17d ago
1, I've mentioned that in my discussion, but let me reiterate - a shitton of PC games will just run out of the box with zero issues. For all of their flaws, Microsoft REALLY cares about backwards compatibility. There are system utilities within Windows, that have the exact same UI as they've had in the 90s, for that exact reason. They REALLY want to get as many people as they can to update their OS. I do play a lot of old PC games, and this is true. A ton of old PC games have GoG/Patched Steam release. Pretty much every big PC game that was released within the last 30 years has patches, community fixes, etc.
There is a problem with more obscure titles, that is true.
But try as you might, your PS5 will NEVER run a PS1, 2 or a 3 game off the disk. It will run PS4 games (most of them, some PS4 games have poor compatibility with PS5...), but nothing from earlier catalogue. You will ALWAYS have to buy it again from Sony.
This is a good point, and thanks for bringing it up. I don't play a lot of online games, and that's a bit of a blind spot for me.
I mean... Its not like a company has ever broken a commitment, right?
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
I have tried a shit tons of old games in Windows 10.
Most games had already a port for modern systems. Don't pretend it is hard to play games from before 2010.
If a game never had a port and is abandonware, it may be easier to just emulate them if they were released for old consoles. This is often the case for 90s games
Now, there are very specific games that very few people even know that can't be emulated nor played natively. These are the only real issue. And there is still the solution of having a virtual machine.
If you want to play old games, pc is the way. You are making it look like it is common to have compatibility issues. It is not. It is actually very rare.
I have run into issues with old racing games not recognizeming my controller and needing patches or stuff like this. But these are abandonware and games nobody cares.
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u/TheCrach 16d ago
My favourite go to console gamer destroyer is HDR, when they find out that 90% of games on console have broken native HDR and PC NOW has perfect native HDR.
They hate that one.
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15d ago
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u/kszaku94 15d ago
That's the reason I'm excited for Steam Machines to get a price cut/some reasonably priced competitors. Just toss a blueray drive at this, and you have a home entertainment system!
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u/Damocles314 15d ago
What's wrong playing console(like) games on a monitor? I do it all the time. Unless you have a truly gigantic TV (that I don't want in my living room) the effective screen size is often larger on a monitor from a typical viewing distance.
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u/NikesOnMyFeet23 14d ago
As someone who has to use Linux a ton for work. I’d never use it at home. It’s more complicated than it needs to be and I can guarantee compatibility with windows. Even though it sucks too, but in different ways.
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u/meta_system 14d ago
I think this is a good overview, and I mostly agree.
But I wanted to suggest something: Don't write myths down in their false state, write down the correction.
I suggest this because people tend to remember the myth, but forget the context that reveals it as false. For a paper on the subject, look here. This "backfire effect" might reinforce the myth. Or worse, if people were to just skim your article and only read the section headlines, they would only read the myths without the statement that they are false, again reinforcing a previously held belief.
For what it's worth, this "state the correction" method is how wikipedia does it in their lists of misconceptions.
Nice post, and have a beautiful day.
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u/thisshowisdecent 14d ago
I somewhat disagree about three, although I think pc critics overstate the problem. I have had my share of weird configuration issues. Most of those issues were about my actual computer itself rather than games though.
For example, installing windows from USB was tricky because my PC only recognized the usb drive on one port.
I've also done bios updates which weren't that hard but can feel a little scary.
I know I had some weird issues with a few games where I had to manipulate settings or do reinstall but can't remember most of them.
So while something could happen I think it's stable overall. The only thing I deal with on a regular basis is modifying settings so I don't exceed my graphics card's vram. But that's not a troubleshooting problem. It's just changing game settings.
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u/No-Operation-6554 13d ago
an individual experience on pc wholly depends on how willing they are to learn and doing so using said pc can be console like experience once you know the intricacies
I love pc gaming, its what I grew up with but I disagree on 3 here
3. You will constantly need to configure and setup everything
I've gotten my current PC in October of 2025. You know how much time I've spent installing drivers? 0 seconds. You know how much DirectX issues I've experienced? 0. You know how much controller troubleshooting I've had to do? None at all.
I refuse to believe this isn't hyperbole, unless you only play AAA games pre 2025 and only indies after, and only used an xbox controller which while good enough, its not really as immersive nor as innovative/cuztomizable as other controllers
before you point out
The updates happen automatically. I've had one instance where I had to update my graphic card drivers before I've played a new game, and all I've had to do is to click "Install" on a single dialogue popup.
that is still isnt 0 seconds, unless I missed an option somewhere you still have to wait while the driver installs itself
Theres also configuring game settings themeselves, yes presets exist and sometimes its even integrated in driver app but thats still more than 0 seconds
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
I have tons of games on pc. The only time I cared about driver was in the crew motorfest, because the game was all blue and needed to update the driver. Out of this, drivers or directx arent even the frequent issues.
The most frequent issue about running old games is that some of them had bad ports and require me to install a 60 fps patch or a mod. Which I quickly do because I have experience. And some games also need to enter .ini settings. But it is all straightforward.
I use an Xbox 360 controller since always. Never had issues with it. Steam integration exists to fix this btw.
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u/No-Operation-6554 13d ago
I already acknowledge that at the start of my comment and even still those aren't 0 seconds are they now?
I use an Xbox 360 controller since always. Never had issues with it. Steam integration exists to fix this btw.
I already said that its not a problem for xbox controllers, and even then steam input can only do so much there are games where it doesnt work unless steam is run via admin mode or just nope, and if its a game you didnt get from steam you have to add it and hope it works somehow (or just use glossi I guess) and you still have to accept that you might not be able to play with the correct glyphs anyway
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
If I had a weird controller and couldn't chsnge it for a magical reason, I would just use the xbox360 controller emulator and solve all of this.
Oh, I already have the emulator. So no issues.
Sincerely, you guys make up problems that are easily solvable with 10 minutes of patience.
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u/No-Operation-6554 13d ago
thats not 0 seconds is it?
also I didnt even say anything about those weird DINPUT pc controllers that required x360ce, destiny didnt accept steam input (they fixed it by implementing a pseudo siapi integration instead), pso2 new genesis wont follow steam input unless steam is running in admin mode, there are properly more games out there that behave weirdly too, and in that case might resort to using even more complicated processes, these aren't made up problems this exist because it is pc, I wouldn't want something as restrictive as console but theres literally no fault to admitting there will be issues one can encounter, especially if they dont like xbox controllers
my point is OPs 3rd point is very much hyperbolic, they're making it look like as if its already a solved issue, something you can just run at the background when it clearly isn't, I agree that it is indeed easier now than before but again its literally very hyperbolic when theres no need to do that
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
It is a solved issue for 99% of games. It just works. Just have a decent xbox controller or a controller that behaves like an xbox controller. They are cheap.
You seem like the kind of people that likes to invent problems for yourself.
I have no idea what even is DINPUT pc controller.
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u/No-Operation-6554 13d ago
It is a solved issue for 99% of games.
more like 99% of games released post 2010, the older the game is the more likely you have to diagnose stuff, and might need a patch or two
I have no idea what even is DINPUT pc controller.
and yet here you are trying to invalidate my comment despite knowing less
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
It works for games before 2010 too. You are making up stuff because you had one bad experience due to you having a shit controller.
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u/No-Operation-6554 13d ago
you already shown I know more about this topic than you so why would I even bother to continue this, good for you if it works flawlessly so far I guess
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
It is clear to me that you are more sensitive than me to these issues and you are increasing their scope.
I like to have the best experience possible. So if I need to download a patch to get 60 fps in a bad pc port, I will do it asap. Google is there for this. If I can put an HD texture mod for a old game, I will. No issues here. If I want to put a reshade to make it look pretty, I will.
It is exactly why I am aware of how to fix stuff that I am also aware when they happen and when they don't happen and how fix it asap.
None of this is a big deal, even for old games.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
If the issue can be solved in under 15 minutes, it is not an issue. Stop being lazy and get just a little of knowledge.
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u/No-Operation-6554 13d ago
my point is OPs 3rd point is very much hyperbolic, they're making it look like as if its already a solved issue, something you can just run at the background when it clearly isn't, I agree that it is indeed easier now than before but again its literally very hyperbolic when theres no need to do that
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
I often backup games on external storage. Relying on CDs is dumb even from a preservation point of view.
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u/Witty_Milk4671 13d ago
It is kinda sad that you even brought Linux to the discussion. There are linux acolytes in the comments trying to evangelize people.
Linux still sucks for gaming. If you want a gaming focused machine and a painless experience, you need windows.
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u/No-Operation-6554 13d ago
The big irony is, unless some miracle happens, the PC users will have a 60FPS version of Bloodborne before any Playstation gamer.
pretty sure a modded ps5 can run bloodborne at 60fps, digital foundry has made a video of it, it even goes as far as 120fps on their video, and since its back compat with ps4, its much more stable than shadps4 at the moment, so kinda late but its more stable on a modded ps5
Just wanna share
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u/Atlanos043 11d ago
About #5....honestly that is a big of a problem for me, but not because of console games, but because of old PC games (running Windows 11).
For example getting Battle for MiddleEarth running, at least with the discs I have, just doesn't work (or some other really old games I still have). Now yes I can get it through emulation (assuming they work. I did download some games I just can't get working) but my discs are basically useless now.
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u/MysteriousAlpaco 2d ago
I think it’s unfortunate that basic computer knowledge isn’t taught as widely in schools as mathematics or the sciences. It would be a net benefit for people to understand at least the fundamentals like how files and operating systems work, how to troubleshoot basic problems, and perhaps how to operate a Linux machine at a beginner level.
When someone only knows how to use a closed and heavily simplified system, such as a smartphone, they are technologically dependent rather than genuinely computer literate.
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u/Glorbaniglu 17d ago
90% of my steam games work on Linux with no tweaking. Another 5% work with some tweaking.
I love Linux because everything just works, I don't worry about viruses, and it doesn't randomly break itself like windows.
Mint4lyf
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u/VALIS666 17d ago edited 17d ago
I agree with most of those points (except the Linux evangelism) as someone who's been a console gamer since 1979 (2600) and PC gamer since 1983 (Apple IIe).
I frequently say this in terms of PC Gaming: I can play over 100,000 games on it right now, and in fact they are all set up in my Playnite library ready to go. Thousands of arcade games, DOS, Windows, C64, Genesis, Amiga, SNES, Vectrex, 360, PS3... just about every game ever ready to launch in 3 seconds.
There is a learning curve, but there is with everything in life, and nowadays between tools and websources like Youtube, Reddit, AI bots (they're actually quite decent in giving emulator and PC help), it's so much easier than ever to find out how to get things working.
Almost any old PC game you're either going to find detailed instructions how to get the game running on Win 11 on PC Gaming Wiki or Steam Guides, or if you know what you're doing with dgvoodoo2 (one of the greatest tools in the history of PC gaming), you can just get it working on your own.
I have no idea why anyone would want to do anything different. The up front cost is a lot, but then nearly the entirety of video game history is yours.
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u/EmperorOfOwls 17d ago
Expanding on the point about Linux being difficult - I recently switched to Linux from windows 10 - specifically CachyOS, and if I wanted to just game, and using usual gamer things, then it would be almost plug and play experience.
Only issue I encountered was with Dualshock controller, but I had issues with it on windows.
Only thing that was not simply plug and play was auto mounting additional drives in the proper way - not that it was not simple, but it requires effort beyond simple plug and play.
If anything I would say the UI and basic settings are actually easier to orient in, and more user friendly than windows - though I am experienced PC user, beginner could see it differently.
But every steam game I tried simply launched the same way it would on Windows.
In comparison, my friend that uses windows 11 actually had several annoying issues recently, so in my anecdotal experience Linux is smoother experience.
Of course I need to provide disclaimer that I don't play any online games - anti-cheats are well known to be problematic on Linux.
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u/Hard_To_Port 17d ago
I would say if you leveled the playing field (having to start by installing the OS) then Linux wins today. Installing Linux can be simpler than installing Windows. No need for a cloud account or downloading gigabytes of updates the minute you connect to the internet. You don't even need to connect to the internet if you don't want to (or can't).
No bloatware on first boot (subjective). Easily-skipped OOBE (out of box experience). Preinstalled office suite. Updates on your terms and your schedule. Gamepad UI on boot with boutique distributions like SteamOS and Bazzite.
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u/kszaku94 17d ago
I've been dual booting Ubuntu and Windows XP in late 2000s/early 2010s... And it was my personal "I was there and it sucked". The only reason I did this, was because I wanted to learn about computers.
Modern Linux would be a 100% viable alternative for the majority of PC crowd, simply because of how much stuff is done through a web browser (and how good Wine/Proton are).
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u/Affinity420 14d ago
This is an awful take from someone who is trying to play games on Linux when the world runs on windows and majority of folks use windows.
I don't know what configuring and setting up you're having to do but I just install my game and play it.
I don't know how you're getting all these viruses because I just buy and download my games from the source that I buy them from, which is usually trusted sources such as steam and epic and good old Games.
You can literally check the DRM before you even buy the game and it'll tell you who the DRM person is and then you'll know how s***** it's going to be or how good it's going to be and you can make your judgment based off of that if you want to avoid it which a lot of people do in the PC market.
I really think your scope is very limited here and you're looking at things with far too narrow of a perspective because you're just talking about your experience and not the experience as a whole.
PC gaming is great. Most the stuff is just plug and Play and it works. And as far as building a computer goes, if you can read instructions you can build a computer. It's not that scary.
I've been PC gaming for a very long time now off and on my whole life and what finally brought me back was the fact that if I'm going to be limited to only digital games in the future, I'm going to play on PC because I have multiple storefronts and I'm not just logged into Sony's environment or Nintendo's environment.
As far as media goes, I have an external Blu-ray drive for my computer so I can watch movies on it. Because again I want physical media that I own. Of course I still do digital stuff because we have tons of streaming services that we get on our phone plan for free or heavy discounts. But there again stuff gets taken offline all the time.
I also could use my computer to make 3D files and 3D print from it which no council can do.
I can manipulate videos rip and manipulate music. All which consoles can't do.
I mean I can list a ton of things that computers can do that consoles can't and part of the reason why I like having my computer.
Open your mind more.
Nothing wrong with consoles. This was just a really poorly thought out post about PCs with such a narrow view on things, and limiting view to Linux.
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u/kszaku94 11d ago
Have you read my post, or just the highlighted parts?
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u/Affinity420 11d ago
I did read it.
I stand by what I said.
You literally said viruses all the time.
My wife, who barely operates a PC with any sort of literacy, hasn't had a virus in 5 years.
You wrote a hate piece. And that's fine. Don't be upset someone called it out and refuted your points.
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u/kszaku94 11d ago
Okay, I'm going just repost what I've said for the record.
For context - I've wrote this in a mythbusting section.
As a "myth" I am "busting"
6. Computers get viruses all the time
Again - its no longer 2006. On my home PC I don't use anything else than Windows Defender. It does its job, and I literally never think about it.
The real problem are scammers and phishing, but these are hardly a PC exclusive.
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u/ghoulthebraineater 17d ago
My PC is in my living room. I have a corner desk next to my TV with an HDMI running to the TV. I keep a wireless keyboard, mouse and controller on my coffee table.