[quote]I think the bigger issue here is that by the time you throw in eyefinity resolutions like 3840x1024 or higher you may end up getting substantially inferior FPS than playing it at 1080p (similar to that on a console). At that point I basically have to be playing with all the graphics settings looking inferior (resolution not with standing) or play it on a single monitor at which point I might as well have bought it for the console (at least if its not a shooter, shooters you need the superior M&K).
To me, PC games aren't very enticing if they don't support EyeFinity (sick of devs doing Vert-), except for their superior control schemes.
There are tons of reasons to play games on consoles, you just listed graphics and framerate among them and that makes no sense, both are better on PC in every single case.
I don't understand what is being missed here. I said that playing PC at EyeFinity resolutions it's common to get worse FPS than playing at console 720p/1080p resolutions. This should be pretty intuitive even to anyone who thinks about it for a moment. 3X the resolution of course the FPS will be worse.
If we can agree on that obvious statement, then the next question is comparing playing single monitor on the PC to the typical console resolution. Sure it is quite possible for people with modern computers to get better looking graphics, but at the cost of playing on a single monitor. Now personally I get confused whenever my 2 side monitors are inactive, I am used to using my peripheral vision a lot and all it sees is a bunch of black. At that point even though the graphics might be a lot better, it's still only on one monitor so it's not a slam dunk superior experience by any means.
Plus, there's going to be lots of other factors too.. like it's common for living rooms to have a giant TV with a good couch so playing there will be more comfortable. (For me that's not actually the case, I recently put my la-z-boy recliner next to my PC :o , but still the TV is bigger :D) What's more commonly the issue is how fast do games come out on the PC vs consoles (assuming that for console exclusives like MGS4 it's a slam dunk to buy them on the console)?
Take Mass Effect 1, late release on the PC so I got it on the console since I wanted to play it right away (and they didn't announce a PC port at all at the time). When it did come out on the PC eventually it didn't support triple monitor so great, no real win anyway. Mass Effect 2 came out simultaneously, so I got it (well I was gifted it) on the PC and now I'm patiently waiting for them to patch in multi-mon support (I think it should happen eventually, it's BioWare for crying out loud).
Then you got AC1/AC2, similar story, later PC releases. Except with AC2 they are also adding a draconian DRM scheme of always forcing people to be online to save/load your games. So now already you have no multi-mon support
and they shove DRM down your throat, it's no wonder I consider that the status quo AC2 PC experience will be inferior.
So given a crappy PC game, people can give in, buy a PC game with a crappy PC experience or avoid buying it on the PC at all..
And 1080p is not the same as console by the way, console games are all 720p and under with rare exception. Just because the console sends the signal to your TV in 1080p does not mean it is a 1080p true resolution the game is in. The jump from 720p and under to 1080p on PC is a heaping massive one and reason alone to play console-y games on a PC with my Xbox pad. On top of that you have more AA, more AF, etc. etc., as well as possible tweaks.
Indeed, I said "similar to that" not "equivalent of" since there's games like Halo 3/MW(2) that aren't even 720p but even less.
