PC Games on Xbox: A slap in the face, or something to be proud of?

We’ve heard it time and time again. We lash out simply because we are sick and tired of hearing it: The Xbox is nothing more than a PC in console clothing. But I have to ask you all: Whats all the fuss about?

It seems these days that any well made PC game is basically required to have an Xbox port. Games like Painkiller, Far Cry, Doom III, Half-Life 2 will receive ports, while games such as Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowwind, Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament 2003 (In the form of Unreal Championship, of course), and a slew of Tom Clancy titles have all gotten the Xbox treatment. Even a few titles on the console are spawned from titles with origins on the PC, most notabally MechAssault and Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge. Even the mighty Halo was once destined to be a PC title, until Microsoft acquired Bungie, and had the game built into the best Xbox title ever. So what does this mean?

Almost all of these titles are spectacular. Be it their excellent multiplayer options, a gripping single player campaign, fantastic graphics, or the total package. Is it so wrong to have great games on your console? Publishers such as Ubisoft, who widely support the PC, support the Xbox just as well. Developers say that the Xbox is very easy to work with, considering its basically like developing for the PC.

And more often than not, these titles benefit from what the Xbox has to offer: The graphical prowess of the Xbox, an extremely functional and secure network that publishers need not even run in the form of Xbox Live, and friendly support of HDTVs. This can do nothing but help these already fabulous titles.

But looking at three of the titles I mentioned coming to the Xbox from the PC (Far Cry, Doom III, Half-Life 2) will send PC fanboys into conniptions and a roar of laughter at the console. “It will be nowhere near as good looking as the PC version, controllers suck, the resolution will be horrible compared to the PC, did I mention controllers suck?”. Well, they obviously wouldn’t put these games on the Xbox if it wouldnt be close to, if not identical to the PC originals, now would they? Would they even bother ANNOUNCING console versions if their wasn’t any incentive? Companies like Valve, Ubisoft, and especially the legendary id Software know exactly what they’re doing, and if they didnt see something in the Xbox that made it worth putting their titles on, they would have never even considered putting these top notch games on the system. So for the love of God, stop whining and complaining about how the console “won’t do the game justice”, and go back into your dark, lonely computer room and rehunch yourself over the keyboard, if your not there already. Your not going to buy the console version, so stop moaning and crying over something your not going to even assosciate yourself with.

Of course, a lot of PC games also appear on the other consoles as well. Take a stroll through the Gamecube and Playstation 2 library, and they are both rife with PC titles. However, when you compare their versions of these titles to those on the Xbox, well, there is little to compare. The Xbox version outshines them both. We’ll compare the Xbox version of Rainbow Six 3 to the Playstation 2 version of the game. The Xbox version boasts far superior graphics, faster load times, and better, more streamlined online play, including the ability to host a full 10 players more than the PS2 can support.

So in the end, is it really that bad to have that large a number of games from the PC on our console? The answer, is a reassured no, considering its nothing but the best from the PC. Luckily, its not all PC games on the Xbox, and with a large number of original titles for the console, it’s clear the Xbox is a top notch game machine