I have been an exclusive console gamer my entire life up to a few months ago. I bought Diablo 3 and it got me into PC gaming. I haven't played a 360 game since May. We use the 360 daily for netflix and hulu, but I haven't played any games. I had no clue that most games you can just plug in your 360 controller and play. The mouse and keyboard always steered me clear from PC games. I love using mouse/keyboard for dungeon crawlers, but FPS and 3rd person action games I have got to use a controller. Another thing that really amazes me is the amazing deals you can get on games. Steam has freaking crazy sales. Lots of games go 75% off at times and sometimes they will have these incredible bundles. For instance yesterday and today you can get the entire Assassin's Creed franchise in a bundle for $38.00. That is insane. I just recently bought Dead Space 1/2, Darkness 2, Dead Island GOTY, Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City --- for $40 total. Why can you get PC games for such great prices?

The only thing that will hold me back is my hardware eventually. I got a laptop last year, that I didn't intend to play PC games on. It does pretty well right now with the games I have, but eventually it will struggle. This laptop will have to hold me for a while. Can't convince the wife to let me get a new PC just to play games.

Nothing beats a mouse and keyboard for FPS games.

Competitive FPS, I agree, for single player I still prefer controllers - mostly the 360 gamepad. Just more relaxing to kick back on a couch with the 7.1 blasting killing aliens/monsters/commies on a 106" screen that isn't as comfortable on a kb+m combo.

But I agree, build a nice desktop, get a solid bluetooth kb+m, get a 360 game pad, and get Wireless HDMI. It's a great setup.

PC Games tend to skew cheaper since the process is more basic - you put it out, people buy it. You don't need to seek approval from Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo before releasing your title, and more and more it's all digital distribution -- Steam / Whoever gets a cut of your profit but there's far less of an upfront cost than there is for console games. With Digital Distribution some money is better than no money at all, thus sales.

I grew up playing FPS games on the computer so I have always hated playing FPS games without a mouse and keyboard. That is probably the main reason I never really got into Halo/COD. I still haven't opened Halo 3.

If you like RTS games get Company of Heroes, Warcraft 3 and StarCraft 2.

I have been console exclusive for all my life. I just can't get the hang of playing FPS with mouse and keyboard. Yeah, I know it is the most accurate way to play, but I can't do it.

tell her you need this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130790

tell her it will improve your sex life....

I used to love mouse + keyboard for FPS (Duke Nukem 3D... Quake... etc.), but I agree with RichC2 who said, "Just more relaxing to kick back on a couch with the 7.1 blasting killing aliens/monsters/commies on a 106" screen that isn't as comfortable on a kb+m combo."

wow! almost $1100 for just a video card?? anyone here have that one? i bet you can get 1,000,000,000 frames per second

You're half right. A mouse for aiming is great, a keyboard for movement sucks ass, especially if there's running/jumping involved. Also, pulling triggers for shooting guns feels so much better than clicking a mouse to shoot that the advantage goes to controllers.

true, i like pulling the trigger and the rumble support

cough cough.... (any chance I get to brag about this...lol)

Naw not 1,000,000,000... more like 58 fps.

While playing Metro 2033...

With everything set to High, AAA and 4x MSAA.

...in 5760x1080 resolution (3 x 1080p monitors).

however with all of the amazing deals, I have to keep my cool. I am bad at the "OMG, great deal. I have to buy it" mentality. Before I know it I have a 20 game backlog with games that were bargains but I will never have time to play.

20 games is nothing. Wait until you discover the indie bundles; your backlog could extend into the hundreds.

Yeah, my steam catalog is absurd for a recently returned PC gamer. I'll probably never play 3/4's of them.

Welcome to the free market. PC games have always been cheaper, or dropped faster in price because there is no certification or platform holder controlling the pricing. With downloadable games it has gotten even better for pc's because the distribution savings are eventually passed on to the consumer in the sales you mention. In the closed platform console world, the console makers set up rigid pricing that doesn't respond very well to the demand, because once you are invested into their ecosystem you are stuck. And downloadable games are still an afterthought for the consoles, it is slowly transitioning to where pc's are now.

The beauty of the pc is that you can play games however you want. If you prefer a controller you can play that way, if you like mouse/keyboard you can use that. I like a mouse for FPS games, I just can't stand using the joystick on a gamepad for gaming. But I have my computer hooked up to my tv so I can play the games on my couch with my 360 controller just like a console. And I like the Steam Big Picture mode a lot more than they 360 or ps3 interface.

I use a nostromo N52te instead of a keyboard. It has a joystick for movement and the buttons are better spaced and more accessible.

Ok, so I'm a lifelong Mac user considering getting a PC for gaming. Alot of my friends have those shuttle PCs that kind've look like a Gamecube. Anyone having a thoughts on those?

I own a Shuttle case but found it to be too loud (poor airflow causing fans to kick up). They're high quality but if you don't plan on using it as a HTPC, I'd just go full size.

Why don't you just dual-boot into Windows, or use Windows in a VM like Parallels or VMWare, or possibly even CrossOver?

The biggest thing with going with a smaller PC case is the performance issues; it's going to be harder to cram a quality video card and CPU in there, without heating issues. Here's one that's roughly the size of an xbox:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5543/a...box-with-teeth

I can get pretty comfortable on my couch with a keyboard and trackball. Who says you have to be chained to a desk to play PC games?

I'm exactly the opposite.

I'm talking about precision and accuracy. I guess with a single player FPS it really doesn't matter. But playing against other people I wouldn't hamstring myself with a controller, regardless how it feels.

I had a shuttle for a long time, I started a thread about it years ago.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-...sff-style.html

It was a pretty good machine but over time I did start to get tired of the proprietary setup. The psu went bad and I was very limited in psu options because it isn't a standard size psu. I wasn't thrilled about being tied to one manufacturer in terms of choice. My current pc is now a matx system, bigger than the shuttle but much smaller than the desktop tower. Plus it uses all standard components (micro atx is a standard mobo size) including a full size ATX power supply and can fit full length graphics cards, or multiple graphics cards in SLI. I like having a choice in my components and not being tied to any one manufacturer. In my eyes it's a good compromise between the mid-full tower, which is much more space than necessary and the shuttle which might be too small.

My current case is this Silverstone SG01F-B, although there are a bunch of other choices out there. These cube style cases don't seem as popular as they were 5-6 years ago though.

The cube style seems like it has kind of been replaced with more home theater shaped systems in the mini ITX form factor, which is more standard and has a pretty good number of parts available.

Welcome .

I would avoid small cases for any kind of powerful machine. These things get hot and you need good airflow and internal space to keep your components from burning out early.

A lot of people are proponents of building your own rig, but I say fuck that. I'm a working professional and between that and other hobbies, interests, and commitments, I have no time to dick around with it.

I bought my machine in August 2011 from Digital Storm. I recommend them highly. I bought one of their Ode systems (2600k, SLI GTX 570, 8GB Ram, SSD) and it has been an absolute beast. No issues whatsoever and kills whatever I throw at it on max settings and 60+ fps all the time. The machine is beautifully assembled internally, with all the cables hidden. Tech support is great, for the few questions I've had. Really professional shop, and the machine I bought was only $150 - $200 more than if I had bought it all and build it myself.

Steam is great. I have 100 games and like you guys, I've hardly played half of them. I have no self control during their sales.

To all the PC gamers in this thread, buy Chivalry: Medieval Warefare immediately. Only 25$ and it is the best MP game I've played in years. So much epic fun - especially now there are 64 player servers.

I love PC gaming for the variety of games we get. Between indie games like Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress, plus all (or almost all) the games which get released on console, and PC exclusives and genres that only work on PC (RTS, city building, strategy, etc). And then mods. It just puts consoles to shame in terms of options.

To be fair, you'll have performance issues on most Macs as well. The cards they throw in those things are usually pretty marginal, even in their best machines. The new Retina Macbook Pro has INTEGRATED Intel 4000 graphics. Terrible.

Before I got my PC I did dual boot, and it works okay if you turn down graphics a lot, but I am a total graphics whore and this is unacceptable.