Xbox 360 Vs PC for Gaming – Which Is Better?


Oppposable Thumbs wrote recently comparing the experience of playing Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox 360, which has been

ported over from the PC. Ben and his friends concluded that the experience was the same, although the Xbox 360 had the advantage of also being hooked up to his 56inch screen ad surround sound system.

Reading the comments on the post is very interesting, as the post has kicked off the ‘PC Vs Console – Which Is Better?’ debate again, which seems to happen everytime the next generation of consoles come out.

In my view, if you are gauging which platform is better based on just the graphics of games, frames per second, textures etc then PCs win even though consoles can close the gap temporarily when each new gen come out. However, what is more important for me is the experience and the ease with which this can be achieved.

What £300 computer can match the performance of the Xbox 360? To achieve the same level of performance you will need to spend three times that amount. I know this, as I was planning on building a new computer principally to play AOK3 until I came to my senses and decided against paying nearly £1500 to build a computer to do it justice. Another benefit is that I will be able to play any Xbox 360 game in the future in the knowledge that I won’t have to add more memory, upgrade my graphics or add water-cooling to my case!

I’m also investing in a Xbox 360 because a lot of my friends are getting one, which will ensure that I won’t be playing on my own as I would be with a PC, both in-person and now also over the internet as all of my friends now have broadband.

I will also be able to play in comfort in my living room lounging on my sofa with the Xbox 360 hooked up to my big TV and my surround sound system. A PC simply cannot offer this.

Man, I can’t wait – only six days to go. I’m getting a bit worried though as I haven’t had an email asking me to pay for the system I put a deposit on. I may have to camp out at Dixons overnight like the people in the picture from Engadget

Update: After panicking I did end up getting an allocation

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About the Author: Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK. He also writes for Windows 8 News, Windows 8 News and One Tip A Day.

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  1. Christian says:

    “The PC simplay cant offer this”

    It’s not even hard to hook up your PC to your TV and SS.

    HOWEVER People dont do this because standard TVs and Even 1080P TVs cant give the graphical quality a PC screen does.

    XHD (about 150% of 1080P HD) was normal in new PC games back in 2005.

  2. Aaron Bewza says:

    quote: “I will also be able to play in comfort in my living room lounging on my sofa with the Xbox 360 hooked up to my big TV and my surround sound system. A PC simply cannot offer this.”

    A PC DOES offer this, it’s called a “graphics card”. You can hook your PC up to any TV for that matter, even the old style RF modulator connections. I can put together a PC that can easily compare to an Xbox 360 (graphics and processing power) for around the same price. Maybe “your” pc simply cannot offer that, but anyone’s can if they want to make it happen.

  3. peter says:

    bullcr@p my pc far out specs xbox, PC FOR GAMING ANY DAY OF THE WEK

  4. Marvin says:

    People say that you need to always pay to upgrade for parts… No you don’t. I’m still useing the graphics card I bought for £45 from eBay back in 2006. I just overclock it everytime. It plays GTAIV in full graphics – High.

    Pwned. Once again. Stop being lazy. Plug in 2 more cables and use your fingers god gave you to hit “install.”

    Ha.

  5. RandomDude says:

    I just want to say, I’m still running my $600 PC I bought back in late 2004-05. It was on christmas sale, price cut from $700 (in 2005, don’t forget.) It came with its standard 17″ TFT etc.

    It came with Pentium Dual 3.2ghz x2 with 1GB Ram and a 80GB HDD. In the past 4 years, all I have done is added a new graphics card and an extra gig of ram, for $80 and I’m still useing it! I just recently tested it against an xb0×360 playing Far Cry 2, and it was 99% the same in graphics and speed.

    It’s my AIO. I have MicroXP and Media Centre 2005 on it, I use the MicroXP for gaming, and Media Centre 2005 as my Satalite, T.V recorder, DVD Player… etc. And yes, it is hooked to my T.V, the same way you get the cable for your console and hook it up to the T.V, it’s not rocket science.

    So just to say, stop being falling for propaganda, and corporate advertisments. I mean, I went on a website recently, and it was promoting a so called “gaming monster” for $4000 with the hardware that wouldn’t cost me $399 on Newegg or eBay.

    It’s all a scam, it tests peoples ignorance and ability to think. Just becuase its the new thing on the selve, they know millions of people will buy it.

    Blah! Makes me sick.

  6. drmony says:

    ya this is true that gaming console can not get close to pc graphics power

  7. RandomDude says:

    ^^ The problem with PC Gaming is, they yet to this day have not created a PC “Gaming OS” You always need to have around 150-250 Windows kernal files running in the background forcing you to own a faster PC just to play a game.

    The original “Xbox” or “PS2″ OS was only 2MB’s… Compare that to Vista? 2gb+ it’s terrible. I mean, if they had of made a Gaming OS, you would be able to play GTA IV on a Pentium 4 1.8ghz – With a decent graphics card. But no, they force you to purchase a Quad core PC, which even then uses up 95% of the CPU on medium.

    It’s all a scam, to force people into purchasing Consoles. I even considerd getting the 360 for a second, but I changed my mind. I’m a Keyboard + Mouse FPSer, I can’t play on a controller when it comes down to FPS.

    Blah, anyways, to point is, its all propaganda, I mean, the specs of the 360 is pretty close to a Pentium 4, and the graphics to it is around the same of the 7300GS… (Which is a very old card) but becuase the OS is dedicated for one thing, and one thing only, it plays games to its fullest and best.

    Screw Microsoft in my opinion, they have killed PC gaming and their loving it, due to the billions they made of the 360.

    Just my 2 cents.

  8. Jazzy Spo says:

    This will be an ongoing debate and what seperates people is their preference.

    The more “hardcore” of us will choose the PC and most PC gamers build their own whereas the less technically aware of us would choose the console option because of its simplicity of use. That’s not to say they’re not as hardcore but, from what I have decduced, that’s what the hardcore generally tend to sway towards. As I have said, it’s all down to preference.

    Personally, I think PC is the best.

  9. RandomDude says:

    Well Jazzy, your right. And as you know, PC gaming is dying because the major corps like Microsoft have seen billions in Consoles, instead of the little millions they would (if they where lucky) rig in from PC gaming. Reason? Torrents/Copies.

    I don’t blame them, but it also ticks me off that they just don’t through a few hundred towards making a game for the 360 for Games for Windows.

    Don’t forget, in the early 90’s, when you walked into a computer store, it would be nothing but PC games. But as the years went on, that died because people could easily replicate it and give it out for free.

    I mostly purchase all of my games, especially the ones that are good with Multiplayer, like CoD and Halo.

    I’m also ticked off that they never made Halo wars on PC, and that they killed of Cross-Platform gaming.

    Hell, I just hooked up an old Pentium 4 3.4Ghz HT 2MB cache computer up, over clocked it to 3.76Ghz, added 2GB DDR2 Crucial Ram to it, and a 8800GT and away it went. Plays Crysis and GTAIV lawlessly on medium. The computer was released in late 2004, it just comes to show.

    I honestly do not blame the ignorant for not wanting to learn and turn away from mainstream products, as they are forced to buy it. You know, the “new” thing on the selves that’s a “must have” because “everyone else has one” etc.

    The only thing I hate is when both platform players fight each other over the internet on things like YouTube. I’m going to finish by saying: Fighting on the internet is like running the Special Olympics, even if you win, your still retarded.

    Regards,
    - One pissed of random guy at Microsoft.

  10. Blindsaruon says:

    The PC is only good the internet and thats it. Sure you can have outstanding Graphics but It takes longer to install Or update. With an Xbox you can just put in the disc and play the game.

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