I STARTED MY GAMING career on consoles, specifically the PlayStation. When I was younger, PC gaming wasn’t really an option, as most of my friends either had a PlayStation or Xbox and it was a case of picking one or the other. It was more of a social divide than anything and choosing to game on a PC would mean that you missed out on a big part of my group’s social life. At that age, of course, it was more about hanging out with friends than the pure gaming experience and party chats were a great way of being social.
There were other issues, such as ease of use. PCs can take up a lot of space and are more complicated than a console, which is pretty much ready to go out of the box. PC gaming wasn’t the cheapest option either. Sure, we had laptops and a desktop PC at home, but these were mainly for homework and perhaps even the odd browser game.
Anyway, my point is that what I most enjoyed about console gaming was the form factor and ease of use, something I’m still trying to recreate in PC gaming to this day. When I became a writer at Maximum PC, it took me no time at all to realize the benefits of the PC over a console. However, if you want the latest and greatest in performance, size is inevitably going to be a compromise. Liquid-cooled machines are substantial, extremely pricey, and you’ll probably need to reinforce your desk to support one.