I have to admit that I really hate PC gaming. It's not that I hate the PC or gaming in general, but when it comes right down to it I would rather not play games on the computer. There are a lot of cliche reasons you have no doubt heard before (it's more comfortable to play in from of my large HDTV, the diversity found on the console market, the keeping up with the hardware issue, etc.), and I find myself agreeing with all of them.

That's not to say that I don't think there's a computer market out there, but I definitely see it being different from where it was five or ten years ago. I'll gladly play a casual game on the PC, it's nice to have a short time waster when you're at work or working on something on the computer. However, I never want to think about having to update my drivers, buy new hardware, change operating systems, etc., just to play a first-person shooter that looks better, but is exactly the same as what you get on the console. I'm sorry, I don't care how good Crysis looks, it's still just another sci-fi first-person shooter ... and as far as I'm concerned there are already enough of those on the Xbox 360.

I'm not sure the real problem with computers is piracy. Don't get me wrong, I do agree that piracy is a problem (there more than just about any other platform), however, I think that the consoles have taken a huge bite out of the PC gaming community that will not be easy to get back. Perhaps it's because you're getting roughly the same experiences (all three of the games John mentioned are on the consoles) or maybe it's just the convenience of the consoles (and the fact that they play movies, allow you to stream content from your PC, etc.), but whatever it is, I think that a big chunk of people have moved from PC gaming to the console space.

I also don't think those people are likely to go back to PC any time soon. They may buy one or two of the exclusive PC games, but I don't think they are going to flood back to the PC en mass. The PC business market has been leading to this kind of problem, the idea of constantly trying to outdo everybody else with graphics and thus making people buy new cards and hardware is patently ridiculous. That's not a business model that can keep most companies in business, especially when competing against the likes of the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

First and foremost, I am certainly not trying to suggest that you (or John ... or anybody that prefers the PC) is wrong. As is noted, it's all based on opinions and what each of us feels comfortable with.

I do take exception with your comments about the keyboards, though. Yes, there are genres that are better with keyboards. I don't think anybody is going to argue that a real-time strategy game is better with the keyboards than with the controller, that's just one of those games where you need a lot of buttons (hot buttons, etc.). However, that seems to be the exception to the rule.

I grew up playing first-person shooters on the PC, I was a big fan of Doom, Quake and spent hundreds (if not thousands) of hours playing Counter-Strike on the PC. I'm not one of those console gamers that thinks that the FPS starts at GoldenEye 007 or Halo. For years I argued that first-persion shooters are better on the PC because of the mouse and keyboard, but I have slowly started to come around. At this point I don't see a real big difference in how these games control, and I'll gladly take the ease and knowledge that if I buy a game it will work over a slight (if that) improvement when it comes to aiming.

I have never been a big real-time strategy game fan (I enjoyed StarCraft and WarCraft back in the day, but not much since), so the idea of me spending hundreds of dollars to upgrade my system for something like Supreme Commander is outlandish to me.

As far as I can tell the keyboard is really only good for the RTS and FPS, which may explain why every other game on the PC is one of those two genres. When it's not an RTS or FPS then it's an MMO. It just seems like there's a general lack of diversity on the PC side. That's certainly something that has turned me off. There are exceptions, of course, but not to the extent that the console has. I like the fact that I can go to my collection and find everything from first-person shooters to Rock Band to party games to fighting games to compilations of classic arcade/console games. There's just a lot more variety, and that's one of my biggest concerns about the PC market. I don't care how great Crysis is, after Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, BioShock and The Orange Box I was not all that excited about another first-person shooter. FPS and RTS is great ... but for every genre that works great with the keyboard/mouse, I can name you three genres that are better with controls.