*adding to my previous post.*

On another note you can build a great bleeding edge gaming PC now for less than $1000. I put together a full gaming PC + winxp OS at newegg minus monitor/keyboard/mouse for $600. I could have pushed for $400 but felt it was solid build. Back in the 90s/early 2000s a decent gaming pc cost you $1500 at a minimum.

Unless some devs decide to push the PC hardware there is no need to upgrade (unless your pc is already outdated). Bleeding edge PCS can handle the huge majority of games now with ease. With devs creating multiplatform games and not PC exclusives they are not taking full advantage of what current PCs have to offer. I hope that changes soon now that Vista is an old issue. I think it/directx 10 really put up a major road bump for pc gaming.

Weird I just saw this after 4 years of WoW and to many characters/alts I was yet pissed off royally again becuase I'm sick and tired of Rogues "stun" killing all my casters and losing 95% of BG rounds. I play alliance. I'm fed the "F" up so instead of play WoW I'm out roaming on the web and found this.

Also, I just won an auction on ebay for a new copy of Warhammer. I infectiously await it.

Microsoft shat on pc gamers when they pushed their console initiative while at the same time stealing its franchises and hardware features. Anyone who was a pc gamer and games on a 360 should be ashamed of themselves for supporting them. Now Microsoft pushes for charging for downloads and paying for online service. Microsoft is not the friend of any gamer.

Also I don't believe pirates and hardware price (since they are cheaper than ever)are the issue. There are two huge ones IMO,

Gamestop becoming greedy and realized they could buy used console games for practically nothing and resell them for almost full price. They needed the shelf space so PC games became the victim. Now people go into gamestop/eb and see buttloads of console games and a fraction if any PC games and don't realize the better gaming experience they will receive from PC gaming so like sheep go for consoles games. I know this for a fact because the kids at our LAN parties prefer PC gaming over consoles since they had the chance to experience it.

This come to number two and I believe it was mentioned in the article. No one to champion pc gaming. How often do you see pc game advertisements compared to consoles? Practically never. The fact that pc gaming continues to thrive tells us nothing less than what a great gaming platform it is. It survives from word of mouth.

So people buy your games and get people into pc gaming. I've been saying this in forums for the past two to three years fighting the exclusive ex PC gamers who are now exclusive 360 weasels. These people are most vocal in stating PC gaming is dying. I believe it is because they don't want the PC to succeed since they decided to abandon it. Well I say "F" them. They want the rest of us to come to their side, to nothing but neutered pcs wannabees. I'm not gimping my game play and game options thank you.

dirkbelig,

Ummm, I install my games and they work. So whats your issue? DONT blame the platform because something is wrong with your rig/s not the software. By the way these days games are also being released buggy for consoles so that "fact" that console games work isn't true anymore. I had a skater drop through the work in one of my PS3 games with no hope of the developer fixing it unlike pc devs.

and to answer this comment "How can PC gamers in good conscience recommend forgoing the certainty of the console experience"

I can easily forgo it. I get a much more engrossing entertaining experience on my pc than on my consoles. My consoles honestly bore the tears out of me. I can't stand playing fps/rts games with a game pad. I've tried many times and come to the conclusion why try to do what is unnatural and handicap teh game play experience. As Wil Wright says, playing on a pc vs console are two different experiences and he has hit the nail on the head.