Comment on Asus and Lenovo’s handhelds get price hike as Valve pauses some Steam Deck sales
squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 weeks agoYou know the PC vs. Console debate isn’t new. That one has been going on ever since PCs and consoles existed.
When I was a teenager, I, too, didn’t understand why anyone would buy a console over a PC because the PC can do so much more than a console.
Then I got kids, and I understood.
There are two main angles:
- Parental controls
On a console, a kid can only play what I allow. I get the games, I can disable features (e.g. browser or social features) that I deem risky. It’s all easy, it just works. My 7yo won’t be playing Fortnite or Doom without my approval. Try locking down any kind of PC (Windows or Linux) to a child safe level so that the kid doesn’t have access to age-inappropriate content. It’s borderline impossible. My dad tried and failed, and if I tried, I’d most likely fail too.
- Ease of use
Every second time, my wife and kids want to play something on the living room PC they call me to fix some issue. The controller isn’t pairing. The controller is pairing, but the game doesn’t recognise it. Steam link to the gaming PC doesn’t work. Or it does work, but the resolution is crap. Or all sorts of other issues. With consoles, you don’t have that. It all just works.
A PC is definitely the more capable system, and a power user will get more out of it than out of a console, no question about that.
But claiming there is no use case for a console is entirely wrong, too. A look at sales numbers for Switch (152mio sold) vs Steam Deck (3.7mio sold) should clear the question up whether there’s a use case for a switch.
Rooki@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I mean especially as a parent do i want to waste 80€ for a game?
squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Let me rephrase that:
I mean, especially as a parent do I want to waste hours setting up the system, fixing misconfigurations and trying to keep my elementary school kid from watching porn or heavy violence on the system?
€80 is a lot, but not nearly as much as the time you spend on the device if you factor in your hourly rate.
And for most non-techy parents the choice doesn’t even exist. They don’t even know how they’d setup parental controls or fix issues on a PC.
Rooki@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Still 80€ is too much dont freaking accept this bs pricing
squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
If it’s too much for you, then don’t pay it. It’s not like there are no alternatives.
I usually just buy games years later for a fraction of the price. Or wait until a platform becomes abandonware and I can’t buy a game in retail any more (meaning the publisher doesn’t want to take my money), and then I pirate it.
There are a couple hundred of thousands of great games, I don’t need the flashiest, newest thing.
I’m just saying that the €80 pricing isn’t that crazy, it’s just inflation adjustment. In fact, the €60 price point for full-price games has been around since at least 2005. Adjusted for inflation, that’s around €100 in today’s money.
In fact, SNES games even cost up to €80 in 1993, which would be ~€180 in today’s money, and even the cheapest titles back then (akin to our current low-budget indie titles) started from €40 (~€90 today).
So, the price is really not that bad. And, as I said, you can just wait for the sale and get it cheaper anyway. Full price is only for people who need exactly this game exactly right now.