Console gaming becoming too expensive?

I bought The Saboteur for £7 and I've already but about 50 hours into it. That's crazy value!

I rented that game for 'free'. It still cost me part of my soul. I can't think of one demographic that game doesn't offend. >_>

I'm not...

Assuming that all of the "basics" (HDD, SSD, good monitor, case, little stuff like optical drives / wireless cards etc.) are already in place, to stay up to date with PC gaming (play the latest releases on "high" or "ultra"... not even top of the range), like I said you need a new CPU (and therefore almost certainly Motherboard) every 4 years and a new graphics card every 2 years.

Assuming, then, £250 a pop (a decent estimate for a good graphics card or mobo/CPU combo at any given time) you'll have 4 graphics cards and 2 CPU/mobo spends in 8 years... so £1500. And that's assuming that you don't want to upgrade anything else, like gaming KB / mouse or a new monitor. And actually thinking about it... you're likely to need at least one HD / SSD replacement in that amount of time.

You CAN push it for longer between upgrades but you'll be playing new releases on "medium" settings and probably at a reduced framerate - usually still better than a multiplatform counterpart on console but... annoying, especially if you go looking at videos of the same game on full settings.

I've definitely spent at least £2000 on PC hardware in the last 8 years, and I only do the bare minimum as I've got mouths to feed and can't justify many big spends. That only works out at £250 a year so it's not huge... BUT, if I was young, free and single I can guarantee I'd be spending more. I only bought my current graphics card 14 months ago and I'm already itching for an upgrade .

In contrast, in the same amount of time I've spent less than £500 on console hardware... a PS3 quite close to release, a 360 late in the game for £90, and a few controllers etc.

On the other hand, while I've probably spent over £1000 on console games, I can't have spent more than a few hundred on PC games.

So like I said it's hard to work out what's more costly... although, obviously PC has the clear "bang for your buck" advantage every "cycle" as it overtakes the latest console generation within a couple of years. For example, the last game I played through was The Last of Us on PS3 - probably one of the best games I've ever played - but there were SEVERAL times when I found myself thinking "...this would look so much better on PC".

the price of the games is a reason why im sticking to Pc gaming even if there are loads of games out there for consoles that i want to play, even though new pc games have been going up in price to around £35 depending on game, its still alot cheaper than console games by a wide margin

All of your assumptions are ridiculous.

I've got it down to £564 for a computer that will last for years on end, and that includes a lot of parts that will last a lot longer than that.

You really can get a PC for under £500 that will play almost every game perfectly.

When you consider the fact that most people need a PC anyway, even if they only play games on consoles - and if you add in the price of whichever console they choose - PC gaming definitely works out cheaper.

Does anyone else think that Console gaming is becoming insanely expensive these days? GTA around £45.00 for example.... Do you think this will put people off Consoles? It's a huge chunk of money every time there is a new release!!

A computer that you buy now for £564 will 100%, definitely, certainly not play the newest games in 5 years time on anything but the lowest settings. For it to outlast the PS4/ Xbone you will have to upgrade at LEAST once, bringing your minimum instantly to £1128, not hugely below what I said. £1500.

How is PC gaming cheaper? To be able to play games on a PC with comparable performance to a console you need to spend at the very minimum around £700-£800 but most of the time much more than that.

Nope. That computer already has the processing power to match or beat the next-gen consoles. Games aren't going to need more than that, so it'll be perfectly capable of matching it with little to nothing in terms of upgrades.

Are we talking about the same game? The one set in Paris? I can't think of anyone it offends?
Or are we talking about GTA5, the topic of this thread?

N64

Consoles use standard components, this means that console games can be optimised in ways that PC games can't. They also run low-profile operating systems designed for gaming, unlike resource-hungry Windows / DirectX. You can't compare the hardware like-for-like and assume the same performance.

Not at all. Games are the same price as they have been for years, GTA is the only one that seems to have an RRP of £45.99 and to be honest I'm happy paying another £5 for that, even more as I got the special edition.

If you're buying loads of games then possibly but 4-5 a year which to be honest is all I get now is fine.

Don't get me started on the console itself though, £55+ for an Xbox wireless adaptor, up to £20 for a HDMI cable, £30+ every time you want another wireless controller, £40 a year for live...!