In 2014 many gamers were consumed by the ferocious battle of current gen consoles. The PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One competed for market share, and along with that came huge news items, widespread discussion, and some fun times had by those who remembered to play games instead of just talk about them. But no matter how well they did, they couldn’t steal the thunder of the PC, a platform that has lived on through the harshest winters, and has amassed a library that is inconceivable in scope.
The truth is, if there’s one platform you can always count on to be there when you need entertainment most, it’s the PC. In 2014, that statement was as true as ever with strong exclusives, well-tailored multiplatform games, and huge developments in hardware.
Also Read: PC Gaming is Now Larger than Console Gaming Worldwide
There are a multitude of reasons that you should consider investing in a gaming PC if you haven’t already. Below, we’ll go over eight of them.
8 Reasons 2014 Was Another Year Best Enjoyed by PC Gaming
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It had by far the most games
The PC had 338 releases in 2014. That's more than double what any other platform received. When you couple that with the fact that the PC has a compatible library dating back several decades, it's easy to see why many PC gamers are able to stay exclusive to the platform their entire life.
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...and its games are less expensive
In just about every case, PC games are sold at a more affordable price than on consoles. You'll find games that MSRP at $59.99 on PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One sold at $49.99 on PC. Soon after, the PC version is likely to receive a price cut.
Made better, digital distribution platforms such as that of Steam and Amazon commonly drop prices in a major way during major sales that other platforms still haven't been able to duplicate—although Microsoft is making a strong effort this holiday season. For example, you can pick up Alien: Isolation for $24.99, The Evil Within for $29.99, and Metro 2033 Redux for $15.99 on PC today. These games are going to cost at least $10 more than that on console platforms.
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eSports is bigger than ever
Believe it or not, eSports is on the rise. While League of Legends has enjoyed record-breaking viewership, the debut of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has earned the attention of gamers who previously thought that eSports were reserved only for lengthy, team-oriented matches. This has resulted in the growth of livestreaming where you can watch professional teams practicing and competing around the clock.
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The GeForce 900 series is a phenomenon
If you haven't heard of the GeForce 900 series, you owe it to yourself to read up on it. One of its cards, the $349~ GeForce 970, has a theoretical computation power of 4 teraflops. In contrast, the PlayStation 4 has a run capability of 1.84 teraflops, and the Xbox One a mere 1.23 teraflops. In other words, we're only a year into a new generation of consoles and they're already well behind modern PC hardware, which has become more affordable than ever.
We're used to seeing PC lead in power, but not like this. Nvidia has delivered technologies in an efficient and breathtakingly new platform called Maxwell that delivers features such as Multi-Frame sampled Anti-Aliasing, Dynamic Super Resoluition, Voxel Global Illumination, and more that have unlocked potential that consoles simply can't rival.
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Uncontested eye candy
Speaking of computation power, it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that PC games are still king of the jungle when it comes to graphics. I just finished The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and was staggered by its beauty. Similarly progressive visuals can be seen in the PC versions of Assassin's Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, and my personal favorite, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.
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More value for your money
I must have played over 30 console games in 2014 that lasted me fewer than 20 hours, great games like The Last of Us: Remastered, Sunset Overdrive, and even Bayonetta 2.
On PC, play value is never a concern. I have already logged over 300 hours in World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, over 150 in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, 45 in The Sims 4, and another 60 in Divinity: Original Sin. This is typical for PC exclusives, which tend to be built to last.
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SSD prices are coming down
One of the things that bothers me most when I play on my PS4 or Xbox One are the loading times. Sadly, both use a 5400 RPM HDD which results in loading screens that surpass the 30 second mark
The solution to long loading times is the famous solid state drive, a disk storage solution that has no moving parts, and is able to read and write multiple times faster than its archaic adversary.
While the barrier for many has been the pricing of SSDs, you can find a 250GB solution for fewer than $100. Just a few years ago they were far more expensive, so those who haven't invested are likely unaware of the improvements to the manufacturing process, and as a result the price.
You won't know what you were missing until you experience it for yourself.
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The home of Twitch
As with eSports, live streaming is on the rise. It's an important part of today's gaming culture, and while it's great that the Xbox One and PS4 support it, they don't replace the full experience on PC.
Third party PC apps such as Open Broadcaster Software allow for a ton of customization that results in a better streaming experience. You can create presets that allow you to display a certain configuration when you're AFK, or zoom in on your webcam when you want to address your audience. This can't be replicated on a console. You can also stream at any bit rate and resolution, provided your PC and internet connection can handle it.
Although the Xbox One Twitch app is quite impressive in that it allows you to watch any stream and share a 720p image, the PS4 app isolates gamers, preventing them from watching non-PlayStation streams, in addition to capping at a low bit rate. That's not the way to experience live streaming.
