It's descending into irrelevancy with less and less exclusives... so... kinda dying.

I don't think PC gaming will ever actually die but it's definitely wayyyyyyyy less popular than it once was.

Steam has convinced me that it is definitely not dying. Maybe stagnant, but not dying.

I don't think it's that it's less popular than before, but that console gaming is sooo much more popular now. Actually I think PC gaming is growing, but it's at a snail's pace compared to console gaming.

It can never be said that having a multibillion dollar multinational corporation, invested in your success, is a bad thing.

That said, no, of course it's not dying. It has, however, become far less relevant at the upper levels of core gaming, imo.

I think  it should be far more relevant. It seems that all companies that focus on core games on consoles are having serious financial troubles, even Activision would have been in deep last quarter (when MW2 had record sales) if the PC games hadn't been there to save its ass and pathetic games.

It's far from dead.

It's just niche.. as hell.

I just wish that the PC was backwards compatable. Since Windows 7 I havn't been able to play Half Life 2 without getting sound loop crashes, and havn't even been able to start MoHAA, it just crashes.

I think there is a very strong argument that consoles are just becoming prepackaged and uniform PC's

I don't believe that's true. Can you link me this 400 dollar PC that has graphics on par with a 199 dollar Xbox 360?

Also, keep in mind, that even if it is technically as powerful as the Xbox 360, the games made for it are not optimized for the hardware, and thus, performance will be worse, at equal spec levels. I think you are far underestimating the dollar amount it costs to build a HD gaming worthy rig. I estimate about 900 bucks for something you wouldn't be embarassed to link on the internet, and something that wouldn't have obtained complete obsolescence last year, and something that wouldn't play a game that came out tomorrow at over 20 fps.

To top it all off, you would have to build it wouldn't you? How many console owners could do that, dya think? You think my 11 year old brother should go out and try to put together a 400 dollar gaming rig, so he could save 10 bucks per game, with little or no increase in graphics or MODERN library over a console?

Also, I can buy games used. I can buy console games for far cheaper than they usually are on steam if I buy them off ebay, or rent them. Can't do that one PC usually.

Also note that most people would probably want a store bought operating system, if they built a PC....

Not as cheap as advertised, imho.

It's not as expensive as some people try to make out either, but it certainly isn't for everyone. Consoles are. That's their selling point. Nell, from the movie Nell could have an Xbox 360 up and running in 10 minutes.