What Platform Is Better for Minecraft?

[Gerowen]

So I started playing Minecraft on the PS4 a while ago (the demo) and, having never played Minecraft before, found it quite enjoyable.  There was a built-in "crafting" dialog that makes crafting items easy because it lists everything and shows you what you need to make it, whether you have it, etc.  It also comes with a built-in tutorial to help you get going.

 

However, before committing to it, I created an account and am playing the Minecraft demo on PC (Ubuntu Linux) right now.  I have read that unlike the PC version, the PS4/XBone version's world, while very large (36 times larger than PS3 and XBox 360 from what I've read), is not "effectively infinite" like the PC version.  On top of that, the PC version I'm assuming has mods and things you can download.

 

I'd like to purchase Minecraft, but I'm torn as to which platform I should purchase it for.  The PS4 is considerably more powerful than my laptop, but from what I've read, Sony and Microsoft have limits in place about how much room "saved data" can consume on the consoles' hard drives, and that is what limits the world size in the console version of Minecraft.  Playing on PC would give me access to mods, an infinite world, etc., but playing on the PS4 would give me a game with more user friendly dialogs for crafting, a higher resolution and framerate (my laptop seems to be hanging out around 46 fps at 1366x768 while out in the world and 60 fps indoors).  Resolution and framerate aren't the be all end all, it is Minecraft after all, but framerate especially makes for a more pleasant viewing experience.

 

What platform would you guys recommend playing Minecraft on, my PC or my PS4?  I'm not a huge PC gamer and am not going to run out and buy updated hardware just for Minecraft, but I do have a couple PC games that I enjoy playing and if the PC version offers a superior experience, albeit at a slightly lower framerate on my hardware, then that's what I'll go for.  Aesthetically, the PS4 looks better, but I'd like some input from people who have played Minecraft on multiple platforms.

[Cyberkiller]

I have minecraft on xbox one, mobile and pc. 

 

Console vs pc has their strengths and weaknesses. 

 

Like you said on console, the crafting recipes are given too you which is nice. I also have a pretty decent pc and even with Max settings, minecraft just looks better on the xbox one. It's much smoother and less pixelated on console. 

 

Pc has mods and tons of free skins and texture packs. Is always more up to date, usually one major patch ahead. And has dedicated servers. 

[Gerowen]

32 minutes ago, Cyberkiller said:

I have minecraft on xbox one, mobile and pc. 

 

Console vs pc has their strengths and weaknesses. 

 

Like you said on console, the crafting recipes are given too you which is nice. I also have a pretty decent pc and even with Max settings, minecraft just looks better on the xbox one. It's much smoother and less pixelated on console. 

 

Pc has mods and tons of free skins and texture packs. Is always more up to date, usually one major patch ahead. And has dedicated servers. 

I'm leaning toward the console so I don't have to worry about my saved data being lost if something happens to my computer.  With PS+ my PS4 (and the PS3 in the living room) auto-synchronizes with the Playstation Cloud every night.  On top of that, the game did look noticeably better than on my computer even with all the settings on "Fancy" or "High" on the PC version, all with a higher framerate.  I may just purchase it for both and that way I can play on my laptop when I'm on the go and sit down with the huge screen and the more powerful hardware when I'm at home.

[+rdlenk Subscriber²]

Hard to say, I have played nearly every version. I play the Java version with friends (i run a dedicated server) but I also play solo games on the Xbox One version and the pocket edition. I like the console/pocket editions because they run really well (C++ > Java) and I am a sucker for achievements. I have also had a lot of fun with mods on the Java version, Galacticraft especially, which nearly make it into a whole new game. Depends on what you want to do.

 

For being such a simple game graphics wise, it take a lot of CPU power to run it well (I despise Java). As far as it looking better on the console vs the PC, that kinda seems moot to me. It's just a bunch of blocks, it is not going to look "great" on any platform. The PC version has shaders (with or without mods) and texture packs too that can completely change the look of the game. See some of the videos from FyreUK to really see what the Java version can do, but you will need a decently powerful machine to do it.

[Skiver Veteran]

Hands down PC for myself.

 

I own it on Xbox and PC and my Daughter has it on her phone and tablet so I've experienced it on most platforms.

 

I've enjoyed it on all of them but I have to say the thing that keeps me coming back is the mods on PC. I spent well over 150 hours on one world before I modded it into a land that was no longer stable. Since then I've created another custom mod pack of my own and I think I've played another 100 hours easily and as long as I don't do something to make it unstable again in my head of what I want to achieve I actually couldn't put a timescale on it. 

 

You'll enjoy it whatever platform but imo once you move to mods (I wouldn't do it straight away) you'll never look at vanilla again.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Another vote for PC.

[Sszecret Veteran]

I'd say play it on PC. And if you're looking for texture packs, go for John Smith Legacy which works with 1.8.9. I think they're making one for 1.9, if it's not out already.

[Gerowen]

I paid for the PS4 and Wii U versions for consoles.  I'm thinking of paying for the PC version if I can get it to run reliably.  It starts fine the first time and I played the Demo for an hour or two, but then when I try to close and re-open it, the little terminal window that it opens (Java version) just hangs at "Starting launcher".

 

If I can figure out what's broken with the PC version it'd be nice to have it on my laptop to carry around with me.

[Gerowen]

I think I figured it out.  Even if I save and close my world, if I close Minecraft (PC Demo) by just closing the window, it won't start up again next time, but if I use the in-game "Quit Game" button, it restarts just fine.

[Gerowen]

Hmmm, nope, hanging up again.  I'll just play it on consoles, :-)

[exotoxic]

The mods make Minecraft so PC.

[Gerowen]

I picked it up for PC a couple hours ago, and it seems to be starting up more reliably now on Ubuntu and running great.  Perhaps it was just a brainfart somewhere between the flux capacitor and the computer to chair interface.  Haven't done much cause' I had to run down the road and pick up an extractor set to try and get a bolt I snapped off out of a part on my wife's car, but I plan on sitting down this evening and just playing vanilla Minecraft on PC for a while and getting the hang of it.

 

I did notice an option that's not on the console versions; "Large Biomes".  Sounds like something that might be interesting, especially in Survival mode.  From what I understand (I haven't been playing Minecraft for more than a few days) it multiplies the size of each "biome" with different types of trees and materials by 4.  That way if you like (or need) a particular type of wood for your house or whatever, you can get more of it in one place without having to run around.

 

Maybe once I get the hang of the game in its stock form, I'll start looking into some mods.

[Skiver Veteran]

11 hours ago, Gerowen said:

I picked it up for PC a couple hours ago, and it seems to be starting up more reliably now on Ubuntu and running great.  Perhaps it was just a brainfart somewhere between the flux capacitor and the computer to chair interface.  Haven't done much cause' I had to run down the road and pick up an extractor set to try and get a bolt I snapped off out of a part on my wife's car, but I plan on sitting down this evening and just playing vanilla Minecraft on PC for a while and getting the hang of it.

 

I did notice an option that's not on the console versions; "Large Biomes".  Sounds like something that might be interesting, especially in Survival mode.  From what I understand (I haven't been playing Minecraft for more than a few days) it multiplies the size of each "biome" with different types of trees and materials by 4.  That way if you like (or need) a particular type of wood for your house or whatever, you can get more of it in one place without having to run around.

 

Maybe once I get the hang of the game in its stock form, I'll start looking into some mods.

Yep, I'd definitely give vanilla a good go to start with and then start thinking about mods

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Obligatory plug for the Neowin Minecraft server goes here.

[Gerowen]

So I'm not sure what the actual cause is, but the java version running in Ubuntu, at least for me, runs into an issue where it likes to freeze at "Starting launcher".  Deleting "launcher.jar" and "launcher.pack.lzma" from ~/.minecraft seems to fix it.  Minecraft.jar recreates the files and Minecraft then launches fine.  I just modified the startup script I made on my desktop so that it deletes those two files before launching the game.

 

Anybody else have this problem with the java version (.jar file) of Minecraft?

[domboy]

I've played it on Ubuntu for a little over a year now and I haven't seen that issue with the terminal window hang. This is an old PC too (first batch of dual-core Opterons) so it's not blazing fast by any means, but it runs Minecraft without much trouble, especially vanilla Minecraft.

 

To answer the original question, in my opinion the console version is for what consoles are best at, playing with a group of friends in the same physical location. Otherwise the PC version is better. Aside from the differences already and mods already mentioned, there are also a lot of online game servers you can play on that I don't believe the console version can use (correct me if I'm wrong).

[TechGiant44]

Windows most likely is the better choice but, whatever you want to game on is totally up too you.

[Gerowen]

19 hours ago, TechGiant Techperson said:

Windows most likely is the better choice but, whatever you want to game on is totally up too you.

I don't even have a Windows partition on any of my PCs; it's usually the first thing to go when I get a new computer,