...I don't have that much trouble.

Wow you have some seriously bad luck there man.

Ever played Rigs of Rods? THE most unstable game I've ever played, and guess what: it works without incident 90-95% of the time, so much so that I don't even care all that much when it does crash.

The majority of crashes on my PC are due to me overclocking it too much or running too many things at once or mods. All of those things are the fault of the user.

And as said, never get a pre-built pc: you'll pay 3 times as much and get half the performance you could have if you'd built it yourself, or had gone to a computer shop and said "hey here's $2500 build me a gaming pc!".

Or maybe I and everyone I've ever known are blessed by the Fates themselves :P

All the more reason publishers need to give the development teams more time to fix bugs.

I didn't think that was a particularly professional article, you sound like you have no idea what you are doing. Crysis never crashed once for me on my old dell, the problem is probably steam.

I understand the frustration, but instead of PC gaming I've had issues maintaining a Nintendo-worthy wireless setup. And when I finally got one going, my router seems to have given up the ghost. -_-

The only PC game I've ever had real problems with is Nomad Soul and that is most certainly the software's fault.

The nerd rage in this thread is the best ever.

PC gaming is annoying, frustrating and complicated when compared to console gaming.

ACCEPT IT PEOPLE!

Doesnt mean that console gaming is better.
You cant play gmes like Starcraft or WoW on your consoles. Me, i used to be HUGE into hardware updates. Always buying the newest parts, always doing what i could to play the newest PC games on their highest settings.

And then i brought an xbox because someone said Gears of War was fun...

And you know what? Never looked back.

I have well over 100 xbox games, and i own a nice little laptop which i use to browse the internet. Its all i need.

Me, i prefer console gaming simply because its social (dont you dare mention LANs) and free of headaches.

If playing your new beloved PC title justifies sitting in your study alone while tweaking your graphics settings after the 3rd CTD in a row.... Then so be it, but it still does not eraze the irritation inherent in PC gaming.

If you like PC gaming, dude thats cool - Just stop pretending.

Cyan.:
The nerd rage in this thread is the best ever.

PC gaming is annoying, frustrating and complicated when compared to console gaming.

ACCEPT IT PEOPLE!

Doesnt mean that console gaming is better.
You cant play gmes like Starcraft or WoW on your consoles. Me, i used to be HUGE into hardware updates. Always buying the newest parts, always doing what i could to play the newest PC games on their highest settings.

And then i brought an xbox because someone said Gears of War was fun...

And you know what? Never looked back.

I have well over 100 xbox games, and i own a nice little laptop which i use to browse the internet. Its all i need.

Me, i prefer console gaming simply because its social (dont you dare mention LANs) and free of headaches.

If playing your new beloved PC title justifies sitting in your study alone while tweaking your graphics settings after the 3rd CTD in a row.... Then so be it, but it still does not eraze the irritation inherent in PC gaming.

If you like PC gaming, dude thats cool - Just stop pretending.

Talk about nerd rage huh.

Everyone has a different experience, its probably pointless trying to tell people that their experience was the same as theirs...

fallout 3 on pc made my life hell, yes. but i didnt run crying and yelling "never again, pc!" . that's just stupid.

As someone who is a whole-hearted PC gamer, I don't take offense to this column. PC gaming can be a righteous pain the ass when it wants to be. I always regard my computer as a fickle god, only deigning to grant me use of it's celestial being when it so desires. I treat it right, giving it offerings of upgraded hardware, regular updates and the promise of constant tech support, in the hope that it will not rebel against me and shatter my life into a million pieces.

PC's are very fickle indeed. Every PC gamer knows this, whether they admit it or not. Every PC gamer becomes frustrated with their machine from time to time; it's the frequency of said frustration that varies from person to person. This is something that, as a PC gamer, you are required to acknowledge before you get too deep into the platform or you will become as frustrated as you seem to be. I'm not implying, of course, that you haven't come to terms with this: from what you've said in your article, you obviously signed that contract a few years before I did. It's just something that we must deal with if we want to use our computers for gaming.

I do take offense, however, to the tone of the article. I get that it was meant in jest (mostly), taking a bite out of the tense love/hate relationship you have with your PC. But, really, you just sound like you're looking for things to be wrong with PC gaming.

If your car breaks down every five minutes, something is obviously messed up with your car. Take it to a mechanic to get it fixed. If they can't do anything about it, get a different car. Same thing with your PC, man.

I get that you're tired of having to deal with this shit every time you want to play a PC game. God knows that I'd much prefer if I didn't have to deal with it either. But it's the devil that you know versus the one that isn't fixable, I guess. Better the possibility of being able to fix the problem quickly, with a download or two, as opposed to having to send the entire console away because it's shitted the bed so bad that it's too ashamed to work again.

My two cents, anyways.

Dana22:
Talk about nerd rage huh.

Talk about a nerd troll huh.

You probably have bad karma.

This has been exactly my experience with PC gaming. It was my sole platform for 12 years and I always had a competent but not top-of-the-line PC and just too many games refused to play nice with my robust but not elite hardware. Eventually, enough was enough and instead of sinking anywhere between $600-$2000 on a pristine gaming rig, I spent $300 on an Xbox 360. One year later and I couldn't be happier.

PC gaming has so many advantages and amazing benefits that simply aren't present in the console community, but it sucks when you can't enjoy them because your machine gets outdated every two years.

Woah, I agree with you 100%. I've had nothing but trouble from PC games. I buy a game, I want it to work. I don't want to spend twice as long as I play the game trying to get it working!

But you've gone and kicked a bee hive then pissed on it. The Escapist is absolutely full of PC fanboys.

I can relate with the author of this article completely. I was a PC gamer for over 10 years, Sim Tower, Starcraft, Warcraft, Everquest, etc. But I found myself needing hundreds of dollars in upgrades every time a new game came out. I switched to consoles for gaming because honestly... it's just a whole lot cheaper and you basically get the same experience nowadays. Sometimes you just want to buy a game... and play it. No fiddling, no troubleshooting, nothing. And no, I don't overclock and all that jazz.

This is why I only play old Rpg's on My PC, no special specs, and they've been maintained through extensive fanbase use.

Problem is you're using a Dell XPS. Another problem is list your hardware specs. A decent rant needs some decent backup... list your specs.

My Dell XPS would act up on me too. I remember trying to install Aion and coming up with .NET dependencies that I simply could not fix. I know what caused it... a Vista patch that messed up .NET forever. Basically my PC had me by the balls, reformat and lose everything that has a dependency on the registry, or install Windows 7. I wonder which one I chose. Ironically my XPS is sitting dead in my room. The registry for that OS tanked and while the data's still there (HD works as a storage device still), the computer won't start.

Now with that being said, I'll say this: Ever since I built my desktop in January, I haven't had one issue with it. Not even a quick fix issue. When I install something, it works, perfectly. Which is a plus for me, because I'm never gonna use my thumbs to aim a gun again. Ever. At least until my Western Digital Caviar becomes that small statistic, that .01% that explodes before a year of use.

Your rage towards PC gaming is understandable. Before this desktop, I had tons of issues. Mainly from Windows Update killing Vista. Your rage is understandable, but don't attack the PC gaming community. God knows I'm willing to help you with whatever issues you have, or I'd have suicided when my grandparents got a PC.

But fine. If you want to consider some asshole trying to break my trachea as a sign that we're cool:

You obviously got problems.

Also, no, we're not. I want a refund for the 20 dollars because the job didn't get done or I'm gonna sue. The washing machine works great though-- recommend it to DIYers everywhere. Just be sure not to react instinctively if you order the Scum Suffocation package.

Huh. Sounds like the writer's computer sucks and he's taking it out on the game. My computer is a few years old and runs Crysis just fine, no problems.

Weird. I've played most of the games mentioned on multiple PCs, and had zero problems that I can recall (including Fallout 3, Borderlands, Crysis and Crysis: Warhead).

Maybe I'm just lucky?

Mr. Wendig,

I'm really really sorry for you. I really am. Here hoping your experience with Civ V will be better.

I started reading the article expecting to be angry by the time i'm through because one can call me a PC fanboy but what remained once i finished was only sadness :/ poor guy.

What is your thought of a "robust" PC? What are your specs man? I played Crysis with a fx-57 with 2 7800gts and 2 gig of ram lol when it came out. The game didn't look totally awesome on that rig, but it never crashed not once. The next time you write an article you should consider being more specific. Like I said the problem is "dude, you're using a Dell". I'd like to know how old this system is. What it has for a cpu, memory, and video card(s)... I'd also like to know if your OS is up to date, if your drivers are up to date? If watch alot of porn, or dl pirated software, movies, music. Really simple PC knowledge of stay away from these types of sites can do alot for you PC. Would you drive that classic car off a cliff? I'm betting you won't. So why do it with your PC. You change the oil, keep your car tuned up right? Its really no different than a PC. Update, defrag, scan for virus/spyware... so on.

chuckwendig:

PaulH:

Games for you seem to be a cheap thrill ... but would you also take the same attitude to picking up a new sport you've never had the chance to invest physical effort in like tennis or fishing? How about billiards?

All require patience, all require organization, all require time, all require effort. This culture of instant gratification in gaming reduces the complexity of experiencing videogames as a medium for the exchange of ideas and art. You're not helping the fact with your incessant diatribe against problems for which my personal experience informs me is but a base defamatory attack on a cultural medium that is both fallacious and grievous.

You're conflating "learning the rules of a game" with "creating the effort necessary to get the game to a stable starting point."

Learning how to fish = learning how to play a game.

Learning how to fish does not *require* building your own rod, your own pond, troubleshooting the reel, adjusting pH levels, updating the fish drivers, or any other hundred errors.

I go buy a rod and some bait, I can start to fish. Maybe not well, but I can fish. I don't have to study the discipline. I don't have to be a rabid hobbyist. I can just... fish.

And, I can choose to master the discipline if I want to.

But I can do it as a beginner without worry.

PC gaming is difficult for the amateur, average gamer. It's becoming increasingly marginalized, and I suspect some actually *like* that it's marginalized.

-- Chuck

Sorry for another post but I just read this one. Learning how to fish requires that you do need to know how to troubleshoot the reel. If not, well you're done fishing bud. What happens if your line/hook gets snagged? Do you just walk away for lack of knowledge? PC gaming is the same deal. Game crashes, you figure it out. Thankfully, you can usually figure it out quickly through a search online. The problem is not with PC gaming but with devs/studios/publishers. Its not a problem that the PC has a zillion options. The main problem is that console gaming is considered more popular, and produces more cash flow(so it gets more attention and time). So stick to the PC gaming, eventually it will conquer all. Eventually publishers will say lets make more PC games. In this imaginary world of awesomeness Pc gaming will thrive becuase it will have that quality support, and quality games. The whole Console vs. PC thing reminds me of reality tv.. cheap tv show to make for the "brainless", and the viewers keep swarming in.

What a preposterous article. Get a decent computer. And a brain.

Mangue Surfer:

But the worse of the worse is a game named Sacred 2. It simples crash 100% of the times for me.

Haven't played it, but if it's anything like Sacred 1, you're not missing much.

The combat felt tired and tedious right from the start.

I agree with you all the way. I've been playing Fallout 3 since they had this wonderful deal on Steam... those glorious bastards. And it did crash on me a few times, but then I found the modding community and well... it crashes a lot more.

I don't think I had any trouble with Saint's Row 2 or Guerrilla (except for some extremely annoying crap with Windows Live). It may be because they are steam versions. I don't know.

When every fat guy with a beard and a pony tail thinks he will awe anyone by requiring his crappy generic game to use the very latest video card to look exactly the same to the human eye. We have reached the point where human eyes cannot tell the number of pixels apart, so why do we have to keep upgrading out computers? To feed your twinkie addictions, fat guys?

I love all the fanboy liars denyign they have any of the problems with any PC game they have ever playes. Youa re either lying about the problems or lyign that you have ever actually played any PC games.

Two years ago I had a choice between building a new gaming rig or buying a HDTV & PS3. I bought the HDTV and PS3 and never fire up my PC for gaming any more except for retro sessions of Age of Mythology. I'm not even tempted by Steam sales...