Console vs. PC Gaming

I've never been much of a PC gamer, never got into it. When I wanna relax and play a game, I don't wanna be worrying about my system specs and that bull. And then have sit 2 feet from a 15-inch screen for 2 hours.

I just wanna grab the game, pop it into the console, crash on the couch and game! And my 360 lets me do just that. But I came across an interesting article today on techradar.com. It's definitely worth the read if your thinking about going over to the dark side, a.k.a. PC gaming.


TechRadar: 12 reasons PC gaming is better than consoles

While Xbots and the Sony Defence Force argue among themselves, and Wii-mers (Wii-ers?) throw ever more ridiculous shapes pretending to play the tambourine or something, there is another group of gamers who quietly, happily, enjoy the best gaming platform yet invented - the PC.

And while, granted, some huge percentage of PCs are never used for anything other than Outlook and basic web, PCs remain the most flexible and happiest way to game. And, unlike Wii Sports, it won't cause you permanent physical damage.

1. Mouse and keyboard support
Well, duh. Console kids who have grown up with a controller in hand might argue, but there's still no better way of playing just about any game in any genre – not just shooters – than the combination of keyboard and mouse. It just works, offering orders of magnitude more precision and speed than fiddly analogue sticks.

2. High screen resolutions
While Microsoft and Sony scream about 'true HD' in their games – but in many cases don't actually deliver it – the PC has been happily running games at 1080p and above for yonks. In fact, the near-HD default res of 1,280x1,024 is very 2001; even a medium rig can handle 1,600x1,200 or more these days.

3. Free mods
Were you a raw naif, you might be forgiven for thinking that LittleBigPlanet et al single-handedly invented the idea of (nnnggh) 'user generated content'. But guess what? PC gamers have been coding mods (modifications) such as add-ons, total conversions, unofficial levels and all manner of other gubbins for… well, pretty much forever. And then distributing it for free, for the sheer love of it.

4. Upgradeable hardware
With the aforementioned higher resolutions and textures, chances are a new PC game already looks better than its console counterpart right now. But even if you can't run it with all the visuals tweaked to the max, processor and graphic cards prices drop so quickly that it's hardly bank-breaking to refit your rig in a year or so, for better graphics and more speed.

5. Cheaper games
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo's licensing and publishing costs inevitably drive up the cost of every single game released, and even pre-owned games tend to be far pricier than the PC equivalent.

6. You're not tied to one online service
Imagine not having to rely on a single, central server such as Xbox Live or PlayStation Network whenever you go online. Imagine not having to suffer downtimes, silly licensing agreements, or daft console-restricting DRM. Oh wait… that's the PC online, isn't it?

7. No extra dosh needed for playing online
Okay, this only applies to Xbox Live, but who's to say that Sony might not start charging for PSN as it keeps haemorrhaging money? And yes, Xboxers can use the free Silver service, but really – why would you?

8. Unlimited storage space
The Xbox 360 is limited to whatever can fit on a DVD (or, if you're unlucky, more than one). The PlayStation 3 has to struggle with turgid Blu-ray access and enforced installs. PC games, meanwhile, just sit happily on the potentially unlimited storage space of your hard drive. Easy.

9. Save game hacking
Like modders, PC gamers are rabidly enthusiastic about pulling apart save games and data files, fiddling therein, and finding ingenious ways to cheat or fix corrupted files. Try doing that with your Wii.

10. Unofficial fixes for older games
PC games such as Vampire: The Masquerade often get unofficial, free, support long after publishers have gone kaput and official support is abandoned, thanks to the tireless efforts of their fans. Bug fixes, enhancements, new hardware support – it's all there.

11. Abandonware
The geek term for 'old games which you can't buy any more'. There are a huge number of classic PC titles out there from years gone by, and many thousands are available to download, legally, for free.

12. No red ring of death
Well, you only get this on the Xbox, of course, but the last thing you want your gaming machine to do is to completely konk out. At least when a PC goes wrong, it really goes wrong. Like, with fire and everything (possibly).

Be the first to play Gears of War 2

I just saw this on IGN.com, thought I'd spread the word:

"Microsoft and Spike TV are looking for one Gear Head to be the first Regular Joe to play Gears of War 2. How do you get your name in the running? It's easy, really. All you need to do by Friday, September 19, 2008 at 5:00 PM Pacific Time is fill out this questionnaire and send it with a picture of yourself as well as a 150 word essay that speaks to why you should be among first to play Gears of War 2 to SpikeCasting@Spike.com.

Of course there are a few other catches that could stop you from making it to Sera. First, you must be 21 years old. Second, you have to be in the Los Angeles area for a three-day period either at the end of September or beginning of October. Other than that, everything else is pretty much run of the mill." -Nate Ahearn, IGN.com

Sounds pretty sweet. Good luck anyone who enters.

Spore for All

Spore finally came out. Probably the most anticipated PC game in recent times. There was so much hype built up during its development, I don't think it was even possible to live up to it. But nonetheless it didn't disappoint. I mean, who could turn down a game that pretty much makes you god for a couple hours a day.

Hmm... with that said, its not all happy-go-lucky. The game seems to be having a bit of a piracy problem, well actually, a lot of a piracy problem. According to Big Champagne, a peer-to-peer research firm, Spore has been illegally downloaded over 150,000 times in the first week alone. Okay, so it’s not uncommon for a game of this caliber to be massively pirated, but to reach six digit figures in such a short time frame is pretty much unheard of. And the piracy seems to be more than just a means for freeloaders to smooch off of. It's building up somewhat of a movement.

EA's infamous DRM copy protection (which has annoying constraints, like forcing you to have the disk in the drive while playing) has been under heavy criticism for some time. So I guess now the gamers have decided to fight back, sticking it to the man. So far they have a great start, we'll just have to wait and see where it goes from here. Me personally, I'm hoping it becomes the most pirated game of all time, just for the heck of it.

Marcus Fenix (Vector Speed Drawing)

This is the second in a series of vector drawings I'm gonna put out. First one was of Niko Bellic (GTA IV), you can check that out here. This time I decided to do Marcus Fenix from Gears of War 2. The games coming out November 7th, so I figured it was a good time to put the video up.

The illustration was done in Adobe Illustrator CS3. I used a program called Snag It to record the screen while I did it, then put it together in Adobe Premier CS3. I was having a bit of a debacle deciding what music to put in. I eventually decided to go with 'Jesse Cook - All that Remains'. I think it came out pretty cool.

Last time everyone was asking me to make the Niko Drawing into a t-shirt. Unfortunately, due to copyright, I can't do that. However, this time I decided to make it into a wallpaper, for your downloading pleasure. I just formatted it into the two resolutions listed below, I'm pretty sure thats what most people are using.


Download 1280x1024 | 1024x728

The Invasion

So its 1978, the most advanced piece of technology in your house is the toaster your mother bought from Wal Mart. The video game industry is unheard of and few dared to dream such an industry could even exist. But lucky for us, one of those few happened to be Tomohiro Nishikado, the man behind the Space Invaders!

The Space Invaders hit the scene in June 1978 and changed the fate of modern gaming as we knew it. Quickly becoming one of the most successful arcade shooting games, generating approximately $500 million in revenue. It has since become a permanent fixture in pop culture and the epitome of retro video gaming.

Its been 30 years since the original game came out. Since then, gazillions (yes gazillions!) of remakes have hit the market. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Space Invaders we're releasing a classic Space Invaders dedication t-shirt, featuring the aliens in all their pixelated glory.

Ga Ga for Gears of War 2

On May 9, 2008 the first of ever gameplay footage of Gears of War 2 was released. At first glance, it looks a lot like Gears of War (Which was gorgeous game to begin with) but then I had a look at the GOW vs. GOW2 side by side graphics comparison. The differences are subtle but I gotta say Gears of War 2 looks pretty damn awesome!

Since Gears of War 2 is coming out this November, we're busy pumping out really cool Gears of War t-shirts. My favorite Gears of War T-shirts so far are the "Come Get Some" tee and the "Gears Two" tee. We'll be putting up more Gears of War t-shirts soon!

GTA IV is taking over the world!

GTA IV is now officially released and it’s kicking some serious behind. If you haven’t read the reviews yet, IGN and Gamespot (The two big kahunas of the gaming press) gave GTA IV 10/10. Which is just insane! I can't remember the last time a game got 10/10 from both IGN and Gamespot. GTA 4 FTW! Kudos to Rockstar for making GTA IV.