I just realized that I haven't written an blog here in a very long time, but time flies by so fast and the days go by in blurs. That is my excuse. And the fact that an error on GI's part also erased my other blogs that I had. I didn't even have time to say goodbye. May they rest in peace wherever they are. 

Anyways, back on to the topic everyone is so excited to hear about. This blog stems from the fact that I visit several gaming sites and I always tend to go to the forums because that's where the community interaction is at. Now, from the past several months I have noticed some very pre-concievned notions about PC gaming, and I'm here to set some facts straight. I'm sure some of you read my one of my blogs that was titled "My Journey into PC Gaming" which was here several months ago. In that blog, I listed some of the things I had come across into my first week of PC gaming. I'll try to go in more detail this time, but I don't have much time these days, so excuse me if there's something missing, I'll try my best to rectify it next time. 

1) PC Gaming is dying!

I figured I'd start it off with this. The age old phrase born even before the rise of the PC. In reality, the PC is not dying, it's actually going stronger than ever before. Steam, the leading digital distribution platform, recently broke the record for 5 million concurrent users online at one time, while also just recently restringing 40 million accounts. Also, Valve (they own Steam in case you didn't know) also reported that they once again have gotten an 100% increase in sales over last year, making it the seventh year in a row, which is unheard of. Now Steam is not the only player in the field for PC gaming, but it quite the biggest and there are many other retailers which sales were not disclosed.

Verdict: DEBUNKED!

2) You need to spend $2,000+ for a gaming PC / PC gaming is expensive!

Ah yes, the phrase used by some people who have no clue what they're talking about. No, you don't need $2,000 for a computer, not unless you want it to look like this:

In fact, I built my computer around $850, and it can run almost every game at high settings with 30+ FPS. Add to the fact that this computer will last me around a good 2-3 years with minimal changes. Although I do plan to juice it up even more, I actually don't have to.

Also, PC gaming is actually very cheap. Steam sales have really spoiled me, so much that I when I look at a game around $60, in my mind I'll just say “wait for a Steam Sale”. The sales are really quite good, and just this last Holiday Sale, some other competitors were price-matching Steam, meaning the consumers are the ones that profited in the end.

Verdict: DEBUNKED!

3) You need a PhD in Computer Building to actually build a computer!

The truth of the matter is....you don't. Surprising isn't it? Take me for an example. Only last summer I had an XBOX 360 (friend's actually), and I didn't even know anything about PC gaming at all. However, near the end of July, I got some funds and I wanted to get a PC because I had always wanted one since I had a really crappy computer. My original plan was to get a pre-built since I had no idea how to build a computer, and at the time HP was also offering a free 360 if I bought a PC. So I went on some PC forums and asked for advice, and they gave me very helpful insight. So, after reading through the advice, I ended up wanting to build one. Now it seemed like a very intimidating task, but I wanted to do it.

I remembered reading something on the WoW forums back when I used to play WoW about some person that gave a few tips about the CPU and the Motherboard for building a PC. So I looked it up, and I got that info. Now onto the rest of the parts. Once again, I went to the forums and asked people, and they gave me a list of parts. It took a short while, and soon everything was compatible and ready to go and the only thing that remained was to order the parts. So I did just that, ordering the parts and soon they arrived at my doorstep. Going through some Newegg videos on Youtube, it took me 3-4 hours to put it all together (I wanted to take it slow). So I wanted to a test run, and my finger hovered over the power button. I took a breath and pushed it and....it worked! Everything booted up correctly and soon after that I installed all the necessary software, and I was golden!

So as you can see, this is coming from someone that only last year did not know a single thing about PC gaming much less what kind of parts I needed. And it's a good thing that I never got the 360 because it would have been still in the box if I had gotten it.

Verdict: DEBUNKED!

Unfortunately, I had some other stuff to discuss, but since I'm running out of time, I will make another blog post that will go in detail about PC gaming. Also, if any of you guys have a question about PC's, don't hesitate to stop by the PC Gaming Forum here on Game Informer. We try not to bite!

Thanks for reading my blog post, and please leave your input below! Happy Gaming!  

And as always, I leave you with a poll! (Although we technically don't have one here...)

Which PC Game are you looking forward to this year?