It was about the prices… THEY are the same
EXACT same as Computers
I wouldn’t call it exact same. Hardware, yes, compatible. But that is not what a console is about. The hardware compatibility to a PC if any is a positive for consoles, because it makes ports and develop on the games much easier without much fuss. And consoles aren’t worse to a PC in all cases, they still have some value. The operating system and game compatibility, and ease of use are major factors.
ceiphas@feddit.org 1 day ago
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Oh, right. I thought you were talking about the architecture. And for the prices, well I wouldn’t say its the same, but let’s say that consoles no longer have a price advantage of the hardware. Because PCs gone up in prices too, as consoles gone up, so consoles never catched up to PC in that regard.
emb@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
It’s not exactly the same, but I do feel like it’s almost always worse in the console side (excepting Nintendo here).
On console you’re juggling patches and updates, installing to drive, you have concerns about whether games will play well on non-pro versions of the system, Xbox is traditionally hostile to physical media while PS is ending it.
If you’re going to install digital games and download updates, worry about compatibility, might as well play on PC. Those issues are less on console, but present on both.
Meanwhile most games are getting PC ports (since modern consoles are very PC like and games need the extra sales), you’re not as locked down to a single store, you have more room to upgrade incrementally (in theory). Operating system is also in favor of PC.
Ease of use I’d still grant that consoles have advantage, sure.
I don’t argue all this to put down consoles, I love consoles and played only/mostly on consoles for many years. But I think there’s a lot of truth to saying modern PS and Xbox have moved so close to PC that they’re losing the pros and embracing the same cons.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 16 hours ago
This is a much more nuanced take I could agree with. The previous comment wasn’t like that. I decided to go full PC gaming around the end of XBOX 360 generation, because I saw it coming and consoles were more PC like ever, and PCs (thanks to Steam) more console like ever. It’s been what, 2 decades almost and I can say confidently that consoles are not exactly the same like PCs.
But in an other comment the user I replied to said he didn’t even talk about all of the stuff, but was talking about the price. If we talk about the price, yeah sure, the gap has almost vanished. One of the biggest advantages of buying a console was also its initial price of hardware.
As for the PC more and more like console, it’s even more true with something like Steam Machine and Steam Deck, but without the downside of locked down console. That’s the closest we get to a console like experience and usability. Meanwhile current gen consoles have a PC architecture, getting digital only, supports keyboard (and mouse?) for selected games, updates are similar to PC, but without the issues of a PC. The user does not need to type in password on boot, doesn’t need to update several parts of the system, no need to install drivers.
They are closer than ever in history of computing, PC and gaming. But there are lot of differences that I cannot say exactly the same (which you personally agree with me, based on the reply).
AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social 15 hours ago
That’s how it works on a steam machine/deck. You get an update from steam that updates your whole system. That’s it. If you install other stuff from outside steam then things change, but you can’t do that in a console anyway.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 13 hours ago
I know (own first gen Steam Deck myself), but most people don’t have SteamOS. In Windows this is still necessary, because it’s not just for gaming and unlike SteamOS it isn’t read only mode.