Really not much harder if at all than a console even with a standard PC, just plug it in with an HDMI cable or DVI/Display port if your TV has it. The issue with PC on TV is more the fact that PC UI is designed for a high resolution display a few feet away and a pointer bassed interface, but that is changing Windows 8 will offer a UI that is basically the same as what is on the current XBOX which unless MS are stupid will be controllable the same was as on an XBOX with a gamepad/Kinect, the Steam "Big Picture" mode for TVs should be available soon as well. 

Plus there are these 

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/01/18/alienware-x51-is-a-console-sized-gaming-pc/

http://gamingallthetime.com/?p=6944

Tablets should be able to deliver a 360 level experiance by 2014 on your TV given the current trend of increased power every year. And gamepads for phones/tablets and TV out already exist. But as shown by the Wii most games don't really care about graphics that much and you can already get better graphics than the Wii on an iPhone. And then there is Project Fiona http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/news/ces-2012-hands-on-with-project-fiona-the-razer-pc-gaming-tablet which will offer a 360 level experiance, but no one cares about that because it Razer (they have a habit of not releasing projects like this) and it looks ugly as shit.

But none of these features alone matter, even in 2020-2026 (arround the time people will be looking to a console generation past the next) you will be able to play touch games on your phone on the go come home place it on your coffe table pick up a wireless controller and play COD 20 with much better graphics than a 360 while your phone wirelessly charges. But even that won't be enough to kill off consoles.

Then you have the fact that most TVs from 2014 on will have the ability to stream games over a service like OnLive, and you will be able to pay a netflix style monthly fee to play any game at any time instantly. And even that won't be enough to kill off consoles.

But all these things combined could mean they may not be the dominant force they are now, they will likely still exist but Xbox and Playstation will be more a (cross platform) service than a device, you can already see the first indications of this with Playstation suite and Live intergration into Windows phone and Windows 8. Of course there could be some drastic change in direction 10 years is a long time in tech.

qft. Either way, with strict (Halo-Smash) reasoning you come up to a 10mil figure ex aequo Nintendo-MS. With loose reasoning (NSMBWii-COD and co.) you come up with a 30mil to 40mil core base once again ex aequo N-MS. Either way it's quite neck and neck and my point is driven home. If nobody is interested in Ninty games, then noone is interested in MS games.

And since we know neither are true, and with biased consensus that at least one of the two is untrue, then by logic the original statement is trash.

The trouble with that is that consoles are becoming ever more internet focused themselves with most games today coming with online components (if not online focus to the entire game) and DLC and even online passes that lock out singleplayer content. They are also offering more and more digital distrabution with even full retail games now starting to be available on XBL and PSN that trend will only increase next gen, and as the industry starts to fight priacy and used game sales they could well help kill off consoles themselves as online passes are just a step away from requireing an online activiation to play like many PC games do.

And as DLC becomes ever more prevelent many games will offer more and more content via DD so people that just buy retail and don't have good internet could well be locked out of huge chunks of many games next gen. And even Nintendo are starting to adopt DLC.

Pretty soon playing games without an internet connection will be a very limiting esperiance if the industry keeps heading down the dark path that it is currently heading.

Plus fast Internet adoption is picking up and in another 10 years the majority of the market for high end videogames will be in highly conected internet enviroments, the people most likely to buy an expensive console and expensive retail games are the ones most likely to have high speed internet. Oh and those that collect physical media are a small minority as proved by the massive uptake in digital distrabution and the prevalence of used games. 

Enter hardware accelerated HTML5 and streaming both of which are platform agnostic.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/12/09/play-bastion-in-your-browser/

http://web.appstorm.net/roundups/browsers/10-html5-games-paving-the-way/

In 10 years that may include traditonal console experiances as the raw hardware will be beyond most developers capabilities to "max out anyway" so the median level cross platform experaince will be more than enough for the vast majority of gamers. Not that there aren't still issues but where there is money to be made business will find a way.

I have all of the major Sony, Nintendo, and Sega consoles, and I would have to agree.

The Gamecube had a much better library of games to choose from than the Wii (though some Wii games I have are Very great games).

What really surprises me is that the GameCube didn't do better than the N64; I guess Sony had enough influence over the market in that point in time, but it seems such a shame with the many great games available for GameCube (I even preferred multiplatform games on the GameCube because they loaded faster and had better frame rates).

You don't have to own a console to be disappointed with it, but you can’t be disappointed in something you don’t have any interest in.

I have no interest in the Twilight book series, outside of details that I have encountered by accident I know nothing of the series because I haven't bothered to look into it. No matter how bad other people say it is, or how much damage they claim it has done, I would never consider myself disappointed with it because I have no interest in it.

In my opinion it is completely fair to say that (after years of neglect by third party publishers) gamers have lost interest in the Wii, or that many gamers were disappointed because the Wii did not live up to its potential, but saying that they had no interest in it is clearly false.

Um wouldn't those people buy a 10k PC and 3k worth of HD monitors rather than consoles? You know for the best possible experaince I imagine that consoles with static hardware is basically the enemy of those people. Consoles are for the masses that want a relatively cheap peice of hardware that gives them access games. That is why they are currently the dominant sector of gaming because they are accessable for the masses.

I could see portable and home consoles merging into one device.

Say if a handheld console (like PSVita 3 or DS Ultra) could morph into a home console controller and stream 1080P @ 60FPS wirelessly to another display. At the rate mobile tech is moving, I think it could be possible by about 2022.

This would still be a fixed hardware set as with all consoles (to reduce hardware price over time, and to offer lots of value to customers for a one time investment). But, it would be a game console with additional fuctions (weather you count that as dedicated or not is sort of subjective).

If there is demand, supply will follow (cause companies like money).

The article's premise relies on the complete lack of demand for any consoles produced after the PS4/Xbox^3. Weather or not that is true remains to be seen.

Exactly, but the key here is gamers as a whole reacting to the general dearth of content on Wii in 2011-2012, not this "core gamer-everyone else" nonsense