Good post.
People seem to forget how long the consoles have to last, and for such a small price too when compared to a PC that could run the same games at the same or better resolutions and with the same level of detail. Somebody said about putting a Media Center PC underneath a TV. It wouldn't look out of place, but it wouldn't be ideal for gaming, and in my opinion it wouldn't be as suitable for quick gaming sessions as consoles. You still have to boot up Windows and launch the game, which will take longer than just being able to turn the console on and launch a game. Then there's the added hassle of updates and drivers. Plus, sitting on a sofa or a comfy chair with a control pad in your hand is much more comfortable than sitting at a desk hunched over a keyboard or a mouse, it is for me anyway. I'm not bashing the PC though, it is technically way above the consoles in terms of audio/visual quality, but as I said in an earlier post it's all about accessibility and ease of use. If you give a kid the choice of being able to buy a copy of COD4, bung it in the machine and be online within a matter of moments, or the choice to have to install it, update it, update punkbuster, create a login name for that specific game, alter and tailor all the visual settings to the computers capabilities, bind all keys, and then finally play... I think they'd choose the former over the latter. But that's just a very quick example.
PC gaming and the consoles both have their pro's and con's and at the end of the day it's all about what the end user requires.
I have a media center under my tv, it was my 2nd spare pc (single core and 7950gt) which was fine for 720p for all xbox games, use a couple of joypads and job done, also have wireless mouse + keyboard for sofa gaming. Now ive just bought a 1080p LED jobby ill be putting my better spare pc there (dual core and 8800gtx) as itll need the extra power, but they still **** all over my xbox 360 for performance, and graphics niceness. Also, because i built it, put shorcuts on the desktop for a few games, emulators and to my main rigs music/films it boots in around 30 seconds and then can load a game. Dont fill a pc with a load of rubbish that boots up when you start up and it wont take ages to boot
I do still like my xbox though, although i only wanted it so i could get a few beat em ups, which are now probably out for pc so i didnt need to waste the money on it, when i spent a similar amount putting togethor my 8800gt e6300 system (second hand parts)
