That's a whole bunch of made up numbers and silly assumptions that anyone who plays games on a PC has to have cutting edge tech and won't settle for anything less than ultra-high settings.

Personally, I don't give a rat's fuzzy rump about "ultra-high". I probably won't spend over $900 for a new PC and it will likely last as long as a console. Components are cheap if you install them yourself and you're not paying a huge premium for new to market parts. Repairs can be done pretty cheaply on a component basis; you won't have to throw the whole thing out and get a new one if something goes bad.

The other point a lot of people seem to ignore is that most gamers are going to have a PC even if they have a videogame console. I think it's safe to assume that at least $400 would go into that baseline, so really what you're spending for a gaming PC would be minus that standard investment. In effect, then, a gaming PC doesn't really cost much more than a new console.

There are some negatives to PC gaming but I don't consider price to be one of them. It's just a larger initial investment.

As an idort I still quite often buy games on the console even if the game is also available for the PC. Only games I can't get on a console or games I want to mod get played on my PC.

This isn't about cost, regardless of gaming, I tend to have a good PC. Never more than 2 years old.

It's about the controls and games.

Only one reason? How about longevity? My original GameBoy, Sega Genesis, and N64 (and every other console I've ever owned) all still work perfectly. If I want to play Sonic the Hedgehog, I can set up my Genesis in about 5 minutes and pop that sucker in the cartridge slot and go nuts.

Not only do my PCs tend to get really sucky after about 5 years, modern PCs seem to have some kind of issue with running really old PC games. It's much more of a headache to set up an old PC and monitor (if, for some reason, I kept my old Windows 98 setup) than to dig out my old consoles and plug them into the tv. It may be possible to run those old games on my newer rigs, but it's too inconvenient to bother with, especially not knowing whether I'll be able to pull it off. One example: I haven't been able to get Roller Coaster Tycoon to work since upgrading to XP a looooong time ago. And don't get me started about trying to game on a Mac -- I think the issues there are well-documented enough, yes?

I do play games on my PC, and I don't mind it. There are plenty of great PC games to be played, and Steam is an excellent service. But I consider it a supplement to my consoles, not a replacement.

You are definitely describing a very high quality PC. Obviously that nice of hardware will cost you a lot. My 1000 dollar laptop can run I would say any game on at least the medium setting. I've never had to use medium settings, but then again I don't have the most advanced games on my PC. Usually I choose not to use the highest settings, many times I have game and texture detail on the highest setting, and set foliage/water/shadow settings on low, as I don't really care too much for those. I usually have anisotropic filtering on a low setting, because I don't really care about the difference, and frame rate is much more consistent when it is lower. It's not the best computer, but it can run any game with no problem once I turn down the settings I don't care about, which conveniently gives me better framerate. I'd rather have higher framerate than fancy shadows and plants. But, anyway, that's my rant for today that completely deviated from the topic.

But heck, I could run a game on my laptop on the settings I mentioned above and it would still look better than it would on my PS3

I love my pc for mmorpgs and I love my console for Nintendo games and a few other third party games. End of the story.

I have spent maybe 2000$ in the past ten years on pc games and PCs. Consoles would be over that in the past 10 years. I can play any game comfortably on my PCs, in a year I will probably need a new console.

Although the majority of my gametime is split depending on the season.

My main point is that gaming is expensive, no matter which way you go.

What about PC exclusives Basil. I see you adding hours upon hours on Dota 2, Torchlight 2 and all the free updates and dlc you get for Left4Dead games. What what!

OT: The OP exaggerated the hell out of everything. Went with the most expensive pc parts. Totally ignored the cost for proprietary controllers. How many Wii motes does one need for those party games and the sticks do get quite lose on those 360 and ps3 controllers after all those COD and Halo hours. Also i hope no one breaks their Wii U pad. That would be serious blow. He did have a good point in there but seriously went overboard Imo. 

That's true, I also like console gaming because it allows me to own physical copies product key free and I don't like putting up with all the crap that you get with PC gaming.

This is true, and untrue, at the same time.

For people who own PCs for regular use:

People upgrade their regular PCs every few years as well. If you decide to turn that regular PC into a gaming machine, it's not expensive at all. You can shoot for very high specs and still get out cheaper than purchasing a $599 PS3 (if you minus the total PC cost from the cost of building your "regular" PC instead).

PC gaming is really only so much more expensive if you aren't actually using your PC as a multimedia device...which a PC is supposed to be.

No, it's console exclusives.