"Post-PC" is the term Apple used at its iPad 2 unveiling to describe it's iOS products, and you can find an excellent analysis of what the term describes here.

Basically, post-PC is about user experience as opposed to horsepower, it's about delighting your users with your products, making things smooth and easy and all in all, just making your product feel good to use.

For gaming, in a way this is what consoles is to the PC (even though Steam is taking the PC a bit in the post-PC direction, and it's getting motion controls too). Consoles are straightforward and simple (relatively anyway), and the direction is emphasized by all the motion controls we now have. Before Move and Kinect came out, the Wii would have been much more of a post-PC product than the Xbox 360 or the PS3, but with the new add-ons, the gap has closed to the point where I think everyone is heading this direction more or less.

And while Apple is only coining the term now, Nintendo has been riding this wave (sort of at least) since it released the DS in 2004, and all it's "bringing more smiles" PR is only nailing it down even more.

So post-PC isn't about motion controls, touch screens, games or hardware, it's something that is essential in gaming now. Nintendo (DS, Wii, 3DS), Apple (iOS, OS X "Lion") and Microsoft (Xbox 360 w/ Kinect, WP7) are all riding high on the post-PC wave, and Sony is getting in on it (NGP looks like a nice step in that direction, as is the Move). It's all about differentiating through experience rather than hardware, and it's a strike at the current PC setup (or rather, Windows and Linux) as well as Android (with the hardware race being a big factor for new products).

So, are you for or against what this term represents? Not just in gaming, but in general with computers, smartphones, tablets, etc.

I'm personally really excited about this development, I'd much rather that my devices are focused on features and usability than just getting increases in power. That's not to say I don't enjoy powerful hardware, but focusing on making that hardware more accessible and fun to use should be the next step now. We've reached a level of power in the hardware, where I personally don't need to see it climb alot, but finding new ways to utilize it should be a higher priority.

This is why I'm so excited about Windows Phone 7 and what Microsoft are doing with Kinect and natural interfaces.

Power to usability!

I guess it says something about the quality of my poll that not a single person has voted "Other", but you're still welcome to reply to the thread.

I guess I don't mind as long the hunger for "real" games is sated, I don't really care. Would I pick up Kinect? Maybe. If they begin to concentrate all their effort on this, then I'll be disappointed. I'd like to have an alternative to the "post-PC" world but wouldn't really mind either way. If there is a Halo/Gears sports game then I'd be severely disappointed with the franchise and the direction in which it's heading. If they can stick to their world, I'll stick to mine :p

Not convinced, the apple way of things gives the users too little control for my liking.

A focus on usability is good, but this has to come with strong hardware as well, and room for me to fiddle with things, which is why Android is so good!

The problem with this "post-PC" idea is that if you follow the same train of thought all the way to the endpoint, you ultimatly lose freedom and become totally reliant on the company and their proprietary systems.

Every system you mentioned as "post-PC" is a closed system giving the illusion of form over function. Whilst I appreciate usability, I'd rather it wasn't at the cost of consumer freedom.

I hate it.

Apple is fragmenting the market. I want universal devices and standards (PC), not a jungle of incompatible junk devices (pods, pads and phones).

Why is that a prerequisite? Yes, all the systems I mentioned are closed, but that just makes them easier to control. That doesn't mean you couldn't develop an open system that would run on the same principles. Ubuntu is being made to overthrow Windows as the number one OS, but it has to be more userfriendly and more focused on delivering a quality experience than most Linux-based OSs, if that's going to happen.

It's not about robbing consumers of choice, it's about seperating the user from the hardware.

Don't understand the term. Windows 7 is smoother and more easy to use than anything Apple has ever made...soooo? trolololololololllllllll!

Ok seriously on topic:

Yeah I do like what we have gotten out of it as in terms of power I think we've reached a stage where going much further isn't "that" necessary, improving user experiences through innovation and refinement might be better paths than just focussing on the powah.

I think the next mainline Windows Operating System will also show this, it won't be about, ZOMG YOU CAN HAVE BACKGROUND MOVING AT 60 FRAMES PER SECOND, TEN THOUSAND WINDOWS OPEN AT ONCE!!!!!! No I think the next big operating system will try to change the way people use PC's (Improved version of Kinect as a sort of PC might really become real in the future), so MS themselves might be going for post PC stuff soon.

That isn't what the term represents though.

EdiT:

I voted good in principle....but honestly I haven't seen it done all that right yet EXCEPT FOR a system called NINTENDO DS.