@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

With the subscription model, let's just say $10/mo, that's $120/year in games (not bad if it meets your needs) but you get a total of 100 games to play (something like that), but it's not 100 that you select, it's 100 that they select.

I look at it like this, which I think is the only real way to look at it:

The $10 per month subscription is THE game. Every time one of us plays a game that is available via and through the Game Pass subscription, counts towards the cost per play of THE $10 "game".

For example, It's January 1st, I play AoE DE twice that day, and some combination of me/daughter/son plays "New Super Lucky's Tale" 3 times that day, the cost per play becomes $2. But of course it doesn't stop there... over the course of a month, it may likely exceed 40 times. So the cost per play is then $0.25. So the $10 subscription "game" is at a $0.25 cost per play. That's not bad given there's lots of games available for all our needs.

This hasn't been the case yet, but if a game were to leave Game Pass that I or we often play and don't want to do without, we'd buy it at a discounted Game Pass price as we can probably guesstimate it would be worth it at some point.

If there's a game that like... well the cost per play is like $2.50 and I don't see it being played more than a few times per year or whatever... then it's easy to realize it's not worth it... or maybe it is. It depends on the game and a bunch of other factors.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Game Passes are great for trying games, but bad for really getting deep into them.

Works for us. If I truly like a game enough to want to play it enough to justify the cost per play, then sure.

Treating all games as a cost per play model, makes it worth it in our situation.

The $10 subscription is treated as a single game using that, and yes per month.

So far it's been worth it.

Having over 2000 games and counting, I can imagine most of those having a high cost per play and I could never justify it personally. I'd rather use that on games I really like and upgrading a console for a fraction of the cost of a gaming PC, if said games were not already in my library or already available on the platform I prefer.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Age of Empires DE (4K remake)

Yeah I have all of those installed on Xbox for PC on my gaming PC (for free* via gamepass), they are so awesome! If I had the newest Xbox, I'd still play them on PC because those aren't family games really. My kids wouldn't play them with me.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@Obsolesce said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@Obsolesce so let's talk real games. What kind of games DO you play, if you don't like anything that has been released on a PC?

You should already know I have a gaming PC, the Rog strix laptop from like 2016 I think. I play some pc only games. I also have family game consoles, some of the games I can play on PC or whatever.

Right, but what games would you play if you had your druthers? What kind of game is on the console that doesn't exist on PCs?

My gaming PC is getting crappy and wearing down, and I don't want to spend a ton of money to get another one. I would rather buy a new Xbox for just a fraction of the cost of a new gaming PC (laptop), which all games I do play are available both on Xbox and Xbox on PC, and all PC-only games I currently play, I can keep playing on my old PC. The console-only games we play are fine as-is on their ~15 year old consoles (they don't leave the house so portability is not a factor at all).

My Xbox 360 lasted 11 years. My gaming PC is less than half that and aged so much worse, while costing SO MUCH MORE! Even the PC games I play, are way more expensive than the xbox games.

But times are different now, so most of this stuff is playable cross-platform.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@Obsolesce so let's talk real games. What kind of games DO you play, if you don't like anything that has been released on a PC?

You should already know I have a gaming PC, the Rog strix laptop from like 2016 I think. I play some pc only games. I also have family game consoles, some of the games I can play on PC or whatever.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@Obsolesce said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

I don't see why you need to buy new gaming PCs for these 2000 crappy steam games.

Wow, so you define PC gaming as crappy just because it's PC? Talk about some bias.

I've played consoles, you aren't fooling me.

Because if I had to pick 2000 steam games, I can kinda guess their quality.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@Obsolesce said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

But ALL of that is background noise. The real factor is the games. I have an existing library, that is constantly growing, of over 2,000 games.

That's.... wow, yeah. For me, I probably wouldn't be interested in a single one of those games, like ever! But yes I see your point there, a 2000 game library that's some serious investment and definitely justifies sticking strictly to PC gaming for that specific case. That's very subjective, when you start getting in to game specifics, because like I said, depends on your taste of games. I personally probably would not be interested in playing any of those even if given to me for free, but the games I chose to play on console, and have available to me there, I do, but you likely wouldn't.

There's really not very much on console that you can't get on the PC. There's some, to be sure, and vice versa. I hate that any platform has exclusives, but they all do. But I don't know any category of game that the PC doesn't have good representation in.

It's not just the investment in the past, that's obviously significant, but the investment for the future as well. Like the best price you can get on a game for the Switch (which is crazy bad specs) is like $50 and the same game on Steam is like $8 and the Steam/PC version is way higher graphics, and way more multiplayer options. To get the same on the switch would be like an extra $400 on top of the game and console you already have, all to match what you get for $8 on the PC! It can be crazy differences for games that are on both.

Grand Theft Auto V is another great example. On PC it was on sale for free (yes, free.) Consoles might have it cheap, but I doubt anyone gave a digital download for free.

I don't see why you need to buy new gaming PCs for these 2000 crappy steam games. That's like saying I need to upgrade my Xbox to play my original Xbox library. You don't. The point of upgrading is to play new games that require newer hardware to look and play better than your old games, or to keep current with other features you like.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

And even after that, because of how much power they tend to have, they can always be redeployed for work or other tasks because they are PCs!
And all of that is in addition to them being useful as desktops whenever you need them to be as well.

At that point, you're no longer comparing apples to apples.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

And that's just the tip of the iceberg... any old console I own just turns into worthless crap that you put in a box or throw away. What the heck do you do with last gen consoles?

But gaming PCs can be moved into "secondary gaming rigs for less demanding games" that handle new games for many years after you want to replace them as your main rig.

My kids still enjoy a first gen Nintendo Wii in 2021!

You can do the same with an old console as you do with an old gaming PC.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

way too costly and we don't want the lower quality

Not if you spend more money on worse hardware than a console. Depends on what/when you buy, what ecosystem, what your existing gaming investments and portfolio looks like, etc. Like that you have 2000 steam games... that's never something I ever have to worry about lol. IMO it's kind of ridiculous, but I am sure there are a few of you out there. I mean, some have petabytes of movies, others music, and in your case games. To each their own I say.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

So when you look at it from an IT / business perspective, it all makes sense.

Looking at it from a business perspective also means realizing different businesses exist in different industries and have different goals and requirements. So rather than you saying, yes this solution is the best solution (PC gaming) for 100% of all businesses in the world, I take a different approach.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Add to that that if I buy games on a console, I have to play them on that console and tie it up. But if I buy games on PC I can use them on any of several computers that I have otherwise (not all are gaming rigs) so that I have loads of flexibility with them on hardware I already own. So the utility of any individual game is magnified significantly. Case in point... my wife played loads of games on her laptop over the holiday, no need to bring our gaming machine with us to use all the games. I have some games on my laptop for when I'm traveling and need something to play. My kids have an older gaming rig in their bedroom and the big gaming rig in the living room. We get so much more out of it (before we even consider streaming elements) than you can with a console (without buying lots of consoles.)

This is changing now. All games I want to play on Xbox (as example) now I can also play on my gaming PC and some on Android... so meh, but console provides us as a family with a different experience than a PC does. This may be just us, and I suppose your case will be different.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

But ALL of that is background noise. The real factor is the games. I have an existing library, that is constantly growing, of over 2,000 games.

That's.... wow, yeah. For me, I probably wouldn't be interested in a single one of those games, like ever! But yes I see your point there, a 2000 game library that's some serious investment and definitely justifies sticking strictly to PC gaming for that specific case. That's very subjective, when you start getting in to game specifics, because like I said, depends on your taste of games. I personally probably would not be interested in playing any of those even if given to me for free, but the games I chose to play on console, and have available to me there, I do, but you likely wouldn't.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Then there is the GPU. While the PS4 Pro has a decent GPU, it's still 20% less than this one. There's a reason that this GPU alone costs so much today - it's still above all those consoles in power.

Right, but again, when you spent your money, what you're comparing it against is still 3+ years older so of course. A lot depends on when you buy what you buy.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Not only is it old and slow, it's only four cores in those devices. This is double the cores, each vastly higher performance.

Not what i'm seeing here, but again, don't think it really matters at all so much for playing those games.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

The PS4 Pro XBox One uses a Jaguar processor, replaced in 2014.

Oh, I thought gameplay mostly used the GPU. Oh wait, it does!

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Bought the machine over a year ago, 16GB RAM, Ryzen 7 Third Gen eight core, RX580 4GB for ~$620

I've since added an 8TB Helium drive to it as we store so many games.

So you paid $620 for a gaming device in 2019 (excluding accessories like games, monitor, controller, keyboard/mouse, etc), that isn't any better than much lower priced consoles released in 2016/2017?

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@Obsolesce said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

What PC and specs do you use for gaming?

I've got a Dell gaming machine that's about two years old. Ryzen 7 third gen and Radeon GPU. Had to get something better than our six year old gaming laptop as the kids wanted VR.

What GPU?

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

What PC and specs do you use for gaming?

Never heard of or seen these before. Are they only used mostly in Asia? Seems like a smaller company.