Bigger "Market" is debatable.
The PC is a much larger market than all the Next-Gen systems combined currently.
It's also larger market than the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.

I'm all for expanding PC game's to new platforms to reach more gamers, but ONLY and I must stress the "only" when it doesn't impact the PC version. - Not all developers are that kind, considering I am on my way to owning 1,000 games on the PC (Steam, GOG, Disc etc'), I know all to well what console development does to PC games compared to what we used to get 10-15 years ago, not all games are like that however.

On the flip side, more console exclusives should also go to the PC, I wouldn't mind giving Uncharted/Last of Us/Halo 3+4+Reach+ODST+Wars another shot with actual decent graphics.

As for Sim City, that was dumbed down for the casuals, the "Social Media" integration kinda' hinted towards that... And it's EA/Maxis. (Say no more after Spore!)



And in other news... Civilization: Beyond Earth is going to support Mantle, thus, those without hex-core Core i7's should see some fantastic boosts especially during turn processing. :)
(Provided you own an AMD card.)
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/civilization-beyond-earth-amd-mantle,26540.html

That's part of the problem, true.

However, people generally don't sit close to the TV, they usually sit farther back, requiring larger fonts, GUI elements, icons and navigation that's dumbed down and controller friendly... etc'.
Essentially when that's translated to the PC, it looks downright horrible.

There is a reason why Steam has a "Big Picture Mode" for those who prefer to play PC games on a television, running the default client/skin is next to useless otherwise.

Higher resolution helps make things clearer, it doesn't bring them closer.... PC games are designed around a screen that's at most 50cm away. Any game designed for a TV screen even in the next few years still should be catering for at least 720p screens, as well as for screens of different size and distance away. (wheras PC screens remain a similar distance so on a higher res/bigger screen the FOV can increase and UI elements can stay the same size)

Personally I have found most console games in HD have much harder to read fonts than games did on PS2/GC and further back, mainly because developers don't scale them up enough. Playing GTAV for the first time I had to get up off the couch to read what the button press was doing (~45" TV screen about 3m away)

^ PC may be a larger market, but console games mostly generate more revenue.
Civilization was never about the graphics, my favorite is still the first one, which I played in 320x200 EGA.
Non scalable UIs are not a plus point. PC has to cater to low res monitors too, 720p and 1280x1024 are still used for PCs and laptops. PC games on my 15" 1080p laptop have me lean in with some of their tiny fonts.

My reasons for wanting to play it on console are:
- Sitting behind a desk is not comfortable for long periods of time.
- Sound from my pc sucks, I don't have a 7.1 amp in my home office.
- Moving the pc back and forth to my home theater is inconvenient, especially since a lot of times when I go to shut it down it says, please wait installing updates.
- Using mouse+keyboard on the couch is inconvenient, I'm hoping DS4 will provide a solution.
- I still associate my PC with work, it's not as relaxing as playing on a games console.
- On console you don't have to change settings when it starts to slow down too much.
- Paying $50-$60 on day 1 for a digital only title, never.

Some things like editors probably have a better place on PC. The map I made for Cim2 would have taken a lot longer on a console, especially since I was flicking back and forth between Google map and street view. Although making my level in LBP didn't cause physical pain. 15 years of working behind a pc 10 hours a day, then play another 4 at home has partly fused my neck :/ The only way I can do 3 to 8 hour Civ sessions like I used to do is with a controller. Maybe I'll buy a Steam box some day, but it seems to have gone quiet around those.

And sure I'm all for putting Uncharted / Last of us / Halo on PC. With the same conditions of course, as long as it doesn't compromise the optimization process on consoles. Making 2 slightly different UI's can't be that hard. One thing that baffled me with The Witcher 2 on pc, why was mouse control so bad. Or Skyrim on consoles, why was there no radial select menu. It works both ways, blame the developers for making a bad UI, not the systems it's working on.

Civ 5 is the only Firaxis game that might actually be better than SMAC, so naturally the two need to hook up and make babies.

I think I'll hold out for a tablet version, though. Or at least wait for an expansion pack or two.

This thread makes me want to play civ.

I'm interested though in this new approach, very curious to see what they make of it.

The entire console argument you're having is silly and pointless.

You can hook your PC to a TV and play from couch.

Which I do now and then. I'm just hoping they'll support DS4's track pad. If that works on PC then I'll play it on PC.

The argument is more about compromises for longer viewing distances and different control methods. Playing PC on TV from the couch would need exactly the same adjustments as playing it on console. So if it's made compatible with steam big picture mode, than there are no obstacles left for a console version.

Nope. You won't need to work in a controller. Could still use kb/ms.

Additionally, you won't have to lose out on resolutions sizes. Just need a big enought TV and not sitting too far away.