I've gone from consoles to pc back to console and am currently back to pc. Pc is superior there is no argument here. The cost is cheaper easily much cheaper. I spent $250 on ps4 games that all sucked and I couldn't get any of my money back no refund policy which steam now has. No demos on ps4 as well which pc also has. I get to try every game before I buy it right now something my ps4 would have saved me over $250 if the option would have been available. Honestly the demo thing is just something that is required these days for me. I like to buy games soon after release and reviews are unreliable and I can't watch someone play games to see how good they are I need to physically play it myself.

I've countless times done quite a bit of research into PC parts, always considering to build my own gaming PC. In the end, I can never justify it, considering the cost vs the amount of time I spend gaming, but that is purely a personal issue. There are many multiplat games I don't have much, if any, interest in (not because of their quality, but simply because they just aren't for me), so better graphics on those don't really matter to me. There are, of course, some games that would be vastly better on PC (Like The Elder Scrolls, for instance) that I do like very much, but they aren't enough to justify the cost for me. Couple that with the fact that many of the good PC exculsives can run perfectly fine on my relatively crap school laptop, I don't need a gaming PC.

If I were to build a PC, however, I wouldn't do it to replace my console. I'd do it to supplement it. My console(s) for the exclusives and a few multiplayer heavy games (where your friends game are important too), and a PC to run multiplat games on the highest settings.

If you bring Arkham Knight as an example of a PC game, I'll bring up ET for the Atari 2600 as an example for console.

Optimization is the choice of the developer. Yes, it's easier to optimize for consoles, but if the developer doesn't try then the game will run like shit regardless of the platform.

You can hit pretty much all genre of games on Nintendo consoles, so a lack of variety isn't an issue. And honestly for the third party games, they are close enough on all consoles I typically just go with whatever is cheapest whenever the need to get them comes. Luckily for me this gen I was able to get a free Xbone.

Don't know where you live but half money back is guaranteed within a month or so after release via trade ins. And you can easily get more if you take the effort of using Ebay or equivalent. Steam does not offer that. Sure with less than 2 hours of play time you can request a refund, yet for a lot of games that's hardly enough to sample the game.
Where can you try every pc game before you buy it? I would love to try out Dirt Rally, but am not paying $55 for early access. Or do you mean try it for an hour then request a refund?

PC is just another platform for me next to consoles. It has its advantages and disadvantages. They both compliment eachother. No need to choose one over the other.

Bang for buck is always going to be a thing (performance for $).

PCs cannot compete with consoles on that front (currently and unlikely to in the future).

1) These aren't really hidden fees at all. They are common sense lol - how are you going to read discs without an optical drive?!

2) Yes CHEAP PC's are not better price/perf than the PS4 (Though I would argue they are better Price/perf than the X1). A $500 PC (Because you need an OS, and case) is about as strong as a $350 PS4. HOWEVER, a $700 PC can be twice as strong as a PS4 so that's really the price you should aim for.

This is why I, as someone who has played on both PC AND console for years and works in IT, always thought that argument was stupid as hell.

It's only truly "cheaper" if you have everything else you need but the actual PC build itself. And if it's someone like the OP, who mainly used a laptop first, the odds that they'll have stuff like a monitor, a copy of Windows, a keyboard and mouse, and so on just lying around is slim at best. And to begin with, I don't believe in "console equivalent" builds anyway, since they aren't as future proof. If you end up having to upgrade core components again soon anyway, how much have you really saved overall?

Really, though, trying to belittle people for not picking a side is stupid anyway. Just buy what you want and fuck the rest. It's videogames.

• Which open world western RPGs for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as The Witcher 3, Fallout 3 + NV + 4, Skyrim...?
• Which open world action games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as GTA IV + V, Saint's Row III + IV, Just Cause...?
• Which stealth games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as MGS V, Dishonored, Hitman, Alien: Isolation...?
• Which sport games (soccer, american football, basketball) with up-to-date teams for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as FIFA + Madden?
• Which open world FPS games for Wii U can you recommend? Are they as good as Far Cry 3 + 4?
• ...

Don't kid yourself, there are many genres on Wii U lacking of good games. And most genres that have a good game don't really offer much alternatives/choices of similar games.

Been a long time since I saw the "you need a monitor" argument, easy to forget that consoles actually require screens too and these are quite a bit more costly in most cases. Yes; you use your TV for other purposes as well, but that argument also easily covers a PC as a platform.
I'm also amused that OP was startled when he realized that you need an OS to run any platform!

Personally; I find the PC to be a far superior gaming platform, regardless of cost. I chose to spend a ridiculous amount on my current gaming rig but the gaming in and on itself is actually quite a bit cheaper than on consoles. Plus there is a myriad of accessories and peripherals for every need and everything can be customized, free online, connects with pretty much everything and the backlog/gaming library is quite simply unbeatable; you have access to literally every game ever released (or very close, at least).

A 300-400$ PC is not a gaming PC, that's a cheap common desktop at best, I paid that amount for my laptop and that has piss poor specs and I use it for writing, media and browsing. The cheapest gaming PC I ever bought cost about 1000$.
Ramp it up to 700-800$ and you're talking a rig that can best One and PS4 on performance and the excess cost of purchasing hardware is easily covered by free online and much cheaper games (don't even get me started on Nintendo in this regards, their software pricing is ridiculous, especially on older titles) with the added bonus of flexibility and a lot more functionality and compatibility.
The whole complexity issue is also largely a thing of the past, doubly so with digital purchases, and the patch craze has hit the consoles just as hard.
If someone is able to operate their smartphone and buy and install apps and use them; they are more than smart enough to purchase, auto-install and start and play a PC game, people who aren't tech savvy enough for this are largely the ones who have trouble finding the right buttons on a simple gamepad as well.

PC gaming is certainly not for everyone, so naming a "winner" in this perpetual debate is impossible; it comes down to preferences in the end.