War, increase in energy, skyrocketing cost of living, inflation, and so on and so forth. Recently, with the advent of the new generation of consoles, we have witnessed to the increase in prices even software that has gone from €69.99 in the previous generation to €79.99 as the new standard. It goes without saying that among new technologies, new systems like Ray Tracingcutting edge controllers and whatnot, I wondered if actually playing video games was “stuff for the rich” or whether it is really possible to obtain decent results with a non-prohibitive expense. Here’s my review.
PC Master Race
The first step to take is the crossroads that every gamer faces at least once in their life: PC Master Race or Reference Console which you prefer between PS5 or Xbox Series Some – undoubtedly lucky – will be able to say “I buy everything so I don’t have to give up anything”And “Thank you“, I reply but not everyone has this opportunity.
Let’s hypothesize a player who wants to approach the world of PC Master Race: at this point we should think about a build, that is, building the PC based on the desired characteristics. We need to divide things into three steps and analyze them:
PC Entry Level:
A thoughtful build “to save money” that is, with a low economic entry and aiming for a low gaming resolution, with many compromises. It’s a suitable gaming solution also to those who play titles not particularly demanding in terms of graphicsor who are willing to give up the aesthetic result in favor of a performance that is not excellent but still acceptable.
Assuming products Entry Level (we are talking about the prices of the new one, without taking into account the used market which is too complex to quantify) the cost incurred for a machine of this level is approximately €930 to which must be added approximately €180 for peripherals such as keyboard and mouse and another €200 for a 27-inch screen with 2K resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. The total cost is therefore approximately €1300. Perhaps also considering an extra €50/100 in case of assembly carried out by a professional, it reaches around €1400.00.
Entry figure into the world of PC gaming without a doubt, comparable to that of a console (which we will talk about later), however must be considered that probably a console currently works better of this product, or rather, it offers a better experience from certain points of view.
Mid Level PC:
we are in the kingdom of difficult choicesthat is, a machine that has some high-level components and others “savings”, so it must be considered that a lot depends on personal choices.
If I had to hypothesize a build, I would say the expense it is around €2500 for a Low-medium range PC and around the €3500 for a product of medium-high range.
Much of the difference on this product is made by the external components such as the keyboard, mouse (generally all mechanical) and high-performance screen, to which we can then combine a controller if our budget allows it, and here too the figures vary from €70 to €280. In short, It basically depends on your needs and from your wallet.
High End PC:
It is the ultimate in machines, a product that represents the maximum possible for each generation. There are no compromises here and the expense is enormousI’m not joking: let’s say that for the camera body alone, also assuming that in this case the eye demands its part (therefore excellent design elements will be chosen, as well as functional), you will spend on average from €4,000 to €6,000 (we take into account the top of the top to generate the final price).
By combining a high-level screen, keyboard and mouse, you can easily spend €8,000 including assembly and extras. In short, the world of PC Master Race is summed up with a cost that varies from €1,300 to €8,000so it can cost relatively little or infinitely much.
Consoles and TVs
Let’s start from the fact that the purchase price of a console is quite standardized, varying from €550 for PS5 to the Xbox Seriesconsidering them top of the range. I can also consider the two consoles “losers” as the PS5 Digital for €450 and the Xbox Series S for €299.99although in this case I consider them good only for the “low budget” example.
Low budget gaming console:
As above, the choice is divided into €450.00 for PS5 Digital and €299.99 for Xbox Series S, to which a Entry Level TV between €400 and €800 (that’s roughly the expense you’ll face). We will then add a headset that varies from €29.99 to €99.99, and we are between €730 hey €1350 (similar to that of the first-rate PC, all things considered).
No budget gaming console:
This includes those players who can afford the top of the range, everywhere: headphones from €300 and TVs from €1800 and more. Assuming a top on everything, they spend money €2,800 to €4,070€ where objectively the voice bigger expense is represented by TVand not from the console.
Luxury or affordable for everyone?
Summing up the two analyzes I have proposed, I can safely say that entry-level gaming is more or less within everyone’s reach (with some compromises), while true luxuryto date, it’s the high levelwhere the costs of access to the top of the range, visually and otherwise, are the prerogative of a few subjects, which is why games are developed (and for this reason they are often poorly optimized at launch) for different levels of hardware, it being understood that the ‘High End overcomes many problems with the “brute force” of the calculation elements at its disposal.
I have defined some consoles “losers”and the reason is easy to say: in my opinionbuy one PlayStation 5 Digital is not worth it as not having access to the disk is a significant lack, given that anyway with the PS5 Standard I can do everything the Digital doesWith the pluses of being able to access the second-hand market with games at a discounted price, of not having to wait an infinite time to download games but simply copy the disk to the consolehave more free space in memoryand clearly the backwards compatibility cith a myriad of PS4 games that many still own.
Xbox Series S on the other hand is another storyperhaps worse: although Microsoft’s business model is now closely linked to the digital service of Game Passthe same Phil Spencer (head of the company) declared that, objectively, those who choose a Series S to play video games will have to deal with a Next Gen (or current generation in this case) sweetenedthat is to say seriously Entry Level and with many compromises. Playing on this platform will never be like accessing the Xbox Series
Ultimately, you have all the options in front of you now, to understand which solution is right for you or simply to answer the question of whether gaming is a luxury or not: access to the software it’s enough simplified todaypassing through the service Game Pass from Microsoftthen going to the various similar services such as EA Access or UPlay Of Ubisoft for example, even at the various steps of PlayStation Plus and finally we get to the used ones available in high street shops and online.
Access to the hardware it is therefore actually the real economic obstacle to overcome.
#Video #games #luxury