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Which is better, the home PC or the games console?

Really it comes down to a matter of preference and gaming style. I will discuss the merits and faults of both the home PC and the games console.

The home PC allows a player to adapt his machine according to how well he wants to be able to play a game. For example, to run Half Life 2, one player may invest more money on a new Graphics card to run the game while another might invest more in tuning up his computer's RAM or Processor in order to achieve smoother gameplay overall.

The ability to modify your home PC to the requirements of the games you play can be quite good fun, if a little costly, as it allows you to decide exactly how well the game runs on your computer, whereas with a console there is little opportunity to upgrade a specific component of the machine as everything is built specially for the console and cannot be upgraded separately.

PC games are varying in genre, the same as those for consoles; only they tend to have better graphics and better physics engines to run the games, up until the recent release of all the next generation consoles, which are pretty much games only PCs stuffed into different shaped boxes at different specifications.

The controls for PC games tend to use the WASD key formation on the keyboard for directional movements through a game, the mouse is used for aiming and selecting, although this depends greatly on the game you play, and then there are hot key functions, such as quick save and quick selection of weapons, and other buttons for actions such as jumping, running and crouching. These controls vary per genre; generally you will only use the mouse in games such as the Sims, or Pharaoh.

PC games can also be played using a variety of controllers and joy pads which can be plugged directly into the machine, it is even possible to get adapters for the Xbox and Playstation 2 controllers and use them through a computer.

Consoles are not as easy to upgrade as PCs, unless you buy the latest model and trade in your old one. The console market is booming at the moment with the introduction of the three new, next generation consoles, the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. These consoles each bring something different to the market and target different game players.

The Xbox 360 is primarily targeted at gamers who play PC games; this is shown in the controller, which is the largest of the three consoles, and in the genres of games present on the console which tend towards

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