[citation][nom]necronic[/nom]Also, people complaining about prices for consoles need to take a step back and think about it. A computer capable of playing current gen games will cost 3 times as much, at least, and something that cheap won't be able to keep up for more than a couple years at best. A ultra high end system (2-4k) will have problems keeping up after only 4-6 years without some serious upgrades. My computer, for instance, was built right before the i7 socket shift was announced, so my obsolescence cycle got fed in the a.On the other hand, you have an xbox, which costs ~250, has a 2 year warranty for RROD and other failures, and has an expected turnover of 6 years. So you can buy a computer that may give you 6 years if you are lucky, for 2k, or you can get an xbox that WILL give you 6 years (unless it bricks right after warranty, MS is still pretty good about fixing them after warranty expires), and will have far less issues with bugs than PC games (Borderlands for example). Console gaming is incredibly cheap[/citation]
These are all very good points. I took a HUGE break from PC gaming (3 or 4 years? maybe a little more.) just because there weren't many games coming out for it that justified the hardware upgrades that couldn't be played on a console and look relatively great and play similarly.
Now I just got done spending probably about $700-ish on a system with a 4870 that can play anything I want which is cool because at heart I think PC gaming was and can be way more fun that consoles (if you like having up-to-date graphics and what not; I did). The only problem I'm now noticing is that I'm mostly replaying games I've already played on Xbox360 or PS3 for the simple fact that there aren't really any compelling exclusives. We all know why that is... I hope...
If you notice, the quality of gaming on PC and consoles is dipping. Devs have to release several 'junk' titles to build up budgets for the rare good one or two a company may be well known for. The business model is crumblish and it is largely to do with pirating.
This is why we are slowly moving into the 'cloud' which I think will be a gaim for developers but a loss for consumers who know any better. All because some consumers are too greedy.
We all pay in the end.