| VAMatt said: But, it is also clear that even playing at console quality on PC is more expensive than just buying a console. It's a fact, and it is significant to many people. |
This is a very vague and often misleading argument. For starters, yes; console hardware is cheaper due to the manufacturer incurring a loss on the hardware in return for a locked-in guarantee of licensing fees for any title that publishers bring to the platform. This cost isn't absorbed, it's passed onto the gaming consumers in the form of higher priced games to cover the license. Those additional costs do add up, and unless you're only buying, say, 10 games for the lifetime of the console, the manufacturers still reap plenty more over their initial loss, with a healthy profit to boot...
