I was wondering: Should I get an expensive new PC for gaming, or just buy a nice HDTV and a bunch of games for Xbox 360?
I’ve always wanted to get into PC gaming, but it’s really expensive and I already have an Xbox 360.
What would you do?
It depends. First, I don’t know if you’re going to be playing multiplayer games, and second, I don’t know what kind of games you like to play, but I’ll try to cover it all. Console gaming is just so much different from PC gaming, and all of it boils down to personal preference. Of course with PC you have a lot more customization. You can download mods and special maps and such. Xbox dominates in the first-person shooter field, however. Multiplayer is great and it’ll allow you to connect with friends and such.
If you play multiplayer games, you’re going to want to make sure you have a good internet connection, especially with PC gaming. Half of the Battlefield 2 games I join end up kicking me because my ping is too high. That being said, multiplayer strategy games like AoE, Starcraft 2, DotA, etc. are exclusively PC, so if you really like stuff like that, that should make your decision easy.
If you’ve never tried PC gaming before, you should definitely try it out before you commit to it. However, it is very fun and if all you play is single player games, I suggest going the PC route. There will be a wider spectrum of games available for you. If you already know and enjoy the Xbox side of things, stick with it. If you’re like me, and just like all games, then all I can say is try both of them and see which one you like best. With my old, bad computer, I downloaded Halo Trial for the PC and played around with that, as well as a few other games, like Freelancer, IL-2 Sturmovik, etc. While it was fun, the constant bad connections bothered me, and I just ultimately felt that I liked using a controller better than a mouse.
As a minor note, you might also want to compare how much you use the computer on a regular basis as compared to how often you watch TV.
If you do decide to go the PC route, don’t do something dumb like buying an alienware. Those things are insanely overpriced. If you really want to save money and get an awesome PC, spend a little time researching what you want and build your own PC. It’ll be hundreds of dollars cheaper for an incredibly good system. And though I’ve never done it, all I’ve been told is that setting everything up is very easy. And if you doubt that, you can always just call someone to help you set it up.
Hope this helps.