The best gaming platforms

The gaming industry has reached an unprecedented heyday in our time, when many projects collect billions of dollars after the release, overtaking Hollywood's highest grossing films. And after all it only the beginning - consoles are on sale huge editions, and accessories on the PC become more and more progressive and modern. Below we will tell you about the best gaming platforms available on the market. Well, let's go!

Personal Computer

The most popular platform on the post-Soviet space, why it is sometimes called "Slavic". On the objective side, the PC has both advantages and disadvantages, which we will discuss in more detail later. So, the advantages of computers are as follows:

• In our region, games on PC are much cheaper, in view of the commercial system. As a rule, compared with the console for the games will have to pay 30-50% less than for a similar copy on the Xbox or PlayStation.
• No less important advantage of the PC is the possibility of its upgrade. The fact is that the life cycle of consoles is very long - 6-8 years. Manufacturers do not modernize them, which stops the engine of progress. In turn, more powerful video cards, processors, RAM memory and other components appear on the PC regularly, which allows owners of this platform to enjoy a much better and more detailed picture of 60 FPS, and even at higher resolutions: FullHD, QHD, 4k and so on.
• A huge number of manipulators, which are not available for consoles: keyboards, mice, steering wheels, gamepads, joysticks and others.
• Exclusives. This is another advantage of the PC, which, however, is true for consoles. Many projects go exclusively to computers: the series "Civilization", Total War, XCOM 2, STALKER, World of Warcraft and others.

However, there are some disadvantages, which are very sad for PC owners:

• Many developers make a priority in the development of games on consoles, as the sales on them are much higher. The reason for everything - piracy, thriving on various torrent trackers. Of course, many manufacturers are trying to create the latest types of protection, but not always they are effective.
• Expensive upgrade. That's the drawback that slowly "pours" from the benefits of computers. Today, games are becoming more beautiful and demanding to the hardware, why gamers every 2-3 years have to upgrade the PC, buying expensive accessories. At the same time, the iron remains unchanged on the consoles, and the picture corresponds to the settings of the PC in the middle-high interval, and even without annoying suspensions or sagging. Finally, the cost of the set-top box corresponds to the price of the top-end video card. Then everyone makes a choice for themselves, deciding what it is better for him to buy.
• Inaccessibility of some console exclusives. And it's not about individual exclusivity, as it was on the PC (release only on one platform), but about the multiplatform. These games include Red Dead Redemption, many parts of Final Fantasy, Dragon's Dogma and others.

And anyway, if we compare gaming platforms for games, the PC remains one of the best of its kind.

Xbox

Game console from Microsoft is also very popular, due to excellent exclusives and relative cheapness. At the moment, came out 3 consoles: Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The latter, unfortunately, significantly loses to the main competitor from Sony, which we will discuss further. A distinctive feature of the console is the presence of the Kinect game manipulator, with which any user can interact with the console without additional accessories using gestures and voice. In addition, specially for this device, many projects have been developed, which are fun to play in the circle of friends and relatives.

As for the exclusives available for the Xbox, you can bring a few of the most popular series: Halo, Gears of War, Forza, as well as a number of others for Kinect. The current value of Xbox One in Russia - from 18 thousand rubles.

PlayStation

Another popular prefix, which began its life in the distant 1994. The latest version of the console, released from under the wing of Sony, is the PlayStation 4. The latter sold 40 million times since the day of sale, almost twice as fast as the Xbox One. It's not surprising, because the Japanese device comes out better exclusives, and the number of them is higher. In addition, the filling of the PS4 is also much more powerful, why the quality of graphics on it is better than in the X1. As for the exclusives, at the moment the most popular projects are Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Killzone, infamous, God of War, as well as singles The Last of Us, Heavy Rain and The Order 1886. The average price in Russia is 23 thousand Rubles. Comparing the best gaming platforms, many gamers around the world prefer the Japanese brainchild.

Android and iOS operating systems

These operating systems are now installed on most smartphones available on the market. There is also a Windows Phone, but there are fewer games on it. As for the main competitors, Android was developed by Google employees and at the moment it has the highest market share - 80% versus 15% for iOS. The latter, in turn, is installed only on devices from Apple.

Unlike consoles, smartphones are only gaining popularity in the video games market, which is why developers are increasingly paying attention to mobile platforms. So, on phones you can play trilogy GTA (3, Vice City, San Andreas), a series of Modern Combat, Need for Speed and many other titles. Earlier smartphones did not have such capacities to reproduce a smart picture and a sound, however now all has changed, and on mobile devices of a toy look nothing worse, than on the personal computer or "adult" consoles. That's how in recent years, gaming platforms have moved beyond stationary devices by the type of computers or consoles.

Varieties of platforms on the PC

Once on the PC there were only a couple of platforms that united the community of players, and also offered to purchase licensed copies of games. The most popular was and remains Steam, developed by Valve. Steam is the distributor of games from many developers, and also represents an extensive platform for gamers, able to brag of system of achievements for games, numerous forums, guides, trading platforms and many other things.

Some time ago, the largest publishers on the market began to produce their own platforms, similar in functionality to "Steam". So, Yubisoft has a gaming platform called UPlay, Origin from EA, RGSC from Rockstar Games and others. Of course, this loses a few gamers, forced to download numerous customers to install purchased games, but the market indicates its rules.

A very interesting platform can be called Gog Galaxy from CD Projekt, where the old games of the late 90's and the beginning of the zero years are laid, which will provide you with the necessary nostalgia for the old projects. After the release of the third "Witcher", attention was drawn to the Polish studio, which increased the popularity of their own platform. Now "The Witcher 3" has collected more than 300 awards, among which "The best game of the year 2015", which gives CD Projekt an incredible credit of trust from the players.

Playtech Platform

In the last section, we point out a client that is somewhat different from its predecessors. The fact is that the Playtech platform is a special platform, designed for online casino games. Of course, there is the possibility of playing "live" money, which puts it on a par with popular online platforms for gambling applications.

PlayTech is a young aggressive software company, which is also extremely international in nature. So, the owners are the immigrants from Israel, the developers from Estonia, and the domain is registered in the Netherlands. Released on the market in 1999, the company quickly gathered the original clientele, and even squeezed its rivals. The casino itself constantly encourages its visitors with regular tournaments, bonuses and incentive systems.

Finally

Game platforms are an extensive list that collects millions of fans from TV screens and monitors. Video games have long ceased to be children's entertainment. Today it is, rather, an art that can be safely compared with a movie. Stunning quality graphics, krepenky plot of individual projects, strong-willed characters - what else is needed for a true masterpiece of art?