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Alex Watson

Customised - Fighting talk

Posted at: 23rd January 2008

Granted, it didn't look a lot like a workplace; the month before Christmas, the CPC lab was dominated by a gorgeous 32in Philips LCD TV and all three 'next-generation' consoles - Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii. Next to them on the desk was a gaming PC, because this month, we decided to tackle the question of which machine is best for gaming.

It isn't hard to find fanboys, pundits and journalists willing to debate whether the PS3 is more powerful than the Xbox 360, or if the Wii is more innovative than both, but I can't recall ever seeing anyone test and compare the capabilities of all three consoles head-to-head, let alone against the PC as well. Far too often, the PC is ignored in these debates, as though it isn't a serious option for gaming. The only justification (if you can even call it that) that this lazy thought has is the fact that no single company supports a PR push for the PC, and retail PC game sales don't bring in the cash like console titles. However, PC gaming is in great shape. As Roy Taylor from Nvidia pointed out when we spoke to him this month, while PC game sales on the  high street are static, this is due to game buying moving online. Direct download services such as Steam, and subscription games such as World of Warcraft and EVE Online, have been massively successful - although as Roy pointed out, since they're privately owned enterprises, they don't have to publish their results.

We were keen to confound lazy prejudgements and find out how PC gaming really compares to the games consoles. Last year was great for gaming in general and, as all three consoles have been on sale long enough to gather momentum, now seemed like the ideal time to pit the four against each other, and find out which offered the best gaming experience. In true CPC fashion, we didn't settle for anything less than finding our answers through rigorous testing and reasoned argument. The PC vs consoles article is the longest feature we've done, and the debate will continue online too. The battle begins on p106.  

Having all the consoles and a big telly in the lab didn't completely squeeze out PC hardware, of course. With a range of demanding games such as Crysis and Call of Duty 4 arriving just before Christmas, we thought it was high time that we revised our graphics benchmarks, and put the piles of new GPUs that ATI and Nvidia have been releasing to the test. This issue's Labs test looks at mid-range graphics cards. If you want to play the latest games at high detail, but don't have your own trust fund to call upon, then it should make ideal reading.

The reviews section is stocked with interesting kit, too, including the debut of Nvidia's high-end mobile GeForce 8800 GPU, the 8800M GTX in a laptop from Rock. We've also got a UK exclusive look at the Blackbird 002 LC, the first gaming-focused PC from US leviathan HP. The help of Voodoo PC has certainly made the machine distinctive.

Of course, I should also introduce myself too, as I'm the new Editor. While this is my first issue in charge, I've worked on CPC since its launch in 2003. I believe CPC is a fantastic magazine, with a fantastic set of readers, both dedicated to the most interesting piece of technology out there. I can't wait for 2008 - it's going to be a great year for the PC.

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