Why I’m a PC Gamer

I’m a gamer. While I do tend to lean towards Japanese games, I still play a variety of games of various genres and national origins. Despite this, I do not own a PS4, Xbox One, Switch or any eighth generation gaming device. The PC is my only source of games and while some may find this strange, I do have my reasons.

This is not meant to be taken as hostility towards consoles and people who use them. There are plenty of good reasons to own a console, from exclusive games, the portability of the Switch and the lower upfront cost of a console compared to a gaming PC. These are just my reasons why I choose to play my games exclusively on PC.

My first reason is that I like the continuity of my game collection. I have a friend who bought a variety of games through PSN for her PS3 and, when she bought her PS4, had to rebuy any games she had already bought for her PS3 on her PS4. While an argument can be made that she can just play her old games on her PS3, I like the idea of continuing to have access to my gaming library when I change my computer.

It is true that many older games may not be straightforward to play on a modern system but there are a variety of compatibility options and helpful programs that can help make these games run smoothly. A particular favourite of mine is DOSbox which has allowed me to play the original Doom and the Leisure Suit Larry games with relative ease.

One of the greatest strengths of the PC platform is the ability to customise your graphical settings and performance. Most console games aim for a performance of 30 FPS whereas most PC games are capable of running at 60 FPS or greater.

An excellent example of this would be Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for PC. When Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was released for PS4, the frame rate was locked to 30 FPS. On the other console versions released, including the powerful Xbox One X, the frame rate continued to be locked to 30 FPS. However, the PC version is capable of running the game at 60 FPS and, as a platformer, benefits enormously from this.

The final reason I’ll give in this article is the keyboard and mouse. Many of you might raise an eyebrow at this but allow me to explain. There are a variety of games that benefit greatly from a keyboard and mouse being used as an input device. First Person Shooters, Real Time Strategies and Point and Click games all benefit from playing with a keyboard and mouse.

However, there are a variety of games that benefit instead from using a controller. I love the Dark Souls series but could not imagine trying to play those games with a keyboard and mouse. Thankfully it’s an option to plug in a controller and play. Consoles, on the other hand, tend to be very restrictive when it comes to keyboard and mouse support with only a handful of games supporting this feature.

I could go on and on about why I prefer PC gaming over consoles. Perhaps in the future I can revisit this topic. Hopefully you found this article interesting and informative and you understand my choice a little better.

Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.