[citation][nom]technogiant[/nom]Contrary to what you say I'd say no pc game is released without forums full of disgruntled customers having problems with multiple and various issues.Much of that is due to user ignorance, poorly set up systems and the huge variety of hardware OS and software configurations that are out there.[/citation]
Agree.
[citation][nom]technogiant[/nom]But you must consider that video gaming has now become mainstream...[/citation]
If you mean mainstream as in, Angry Birds and Farmville... ok but those aren't considered video games around here.
[citation][nom]technogiant[/nom]the gaming market, including the pc gaming market, is no longer populated by computer geeks that know how to do things correctly.[/citation]
Huh? Where did the geeks go? You must be trying to say the Angry Birds and Farmville fans have since become computer savvy and may populate in numbers higher than the computer geeks?
[citation][nom]technogiant[/nom]Many come to the pc for the superior graphics it offers with little knowledge of computing and this is going to continue to increase as higher level graphics is finding its way into budget level pc's.[/citation]
Actually, I think most people "come to the pc" to type words, communicate and print stuff on paper. Only after pop-up ads, spam, television comercials, store ads, and general advertising do they realize "somebody" makes games for it.
[citation][nom]technogiant[/nom]It seems to me that as there would be no way to standardize the pc environment[/citation]
I'd say its pretty well standardized... at least as well as could be expected. There's always room for improvement. Things like directx, opengl, opencl, glide, html, C, C++, python, basic, binary, .jpg, .bmp, .wmv,www.*.xxx, .mkv... I think those are the means to the end as far as trying to standardize aspects of what may be accomplished by a personal computer.
[citation][nom]technogiant[/nom]an upgradable console would be an ideal solution as game developers are increasingly not bothering with the pc due to the extended time they need to spend on QA because of system diversity and subsequent customer service problems.[/citation]
Couldn't disagree more. Let's take one aspect. Technical support's 800 number. It's free for your customers. You, however, end up paying quite a lot once those phone calls start going beyond a certain amount of minutes. It would be ridiculous. Did you open your console? What exactly did you touch? The green thingy with a cobweb? When facing the front of the unit, can you read to me the screenprinting on pcb, starting from the left-hand-upper-corner just directly below those grey and blue capacitors? What? Huh? Could anyone get thru support calls in under an hour talking to the "typical" Angry Bird or Farmville fanatic? I don't know, I just see all kinds of wrong going on if they attempted upgradeable consoles.
Take a look at your xbox and xbox 360. What component(s) if any, would you want from the 1st to the 2nd? You could salvage the plastic housing, and the remote. Electronics wear out. Solder joints wear out. If you buy a console and like it, great. Everything in this world nowadays is not built to last. They are designed to last a certain period of time, but generally not too long after that. Imagine the economy and world we'd live in if nothing ever broke or needed replacing. Some estimates say we'd (the U.S.) would be a 3rd world country within a decade. Anyway, back to the point. Nobody realistically expects a console to last 10 years. Your game discs will, but not the hardware.
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