Stop pretending PC gaming isn't a constant hassle. You claim to have played hundreds of PC games and yet deny there's a lot of hassle, frustration and time spent on solving all kinds of problems. I'm a smart guy and I've been playing on PC since 1995, I know exactly how it is. Some problems are even so complicated that a person with average IQ isn't able to solve them. I've been forced to help my friends get their games to work time and time again.

The OS, games, drivers and patches have become much more stable over the years but a PC gamer still has to spend significant time solving problems. Now we're all different, many PC gamers I know actually like to solve problems and mess around with settings and hardware rather than actually playing the games, but if you're a plug & play person and want to experience lots of games, then PC gaming will frustrate you a lot.

Good for you.

Averaged over the 17 years I've been playing it's more than 50% of the time (although I have to admit that some of this has to do with pirated games).

I did notice a trend since around 2006 where Windows, drivers, patches and the games themselves started to become increasingly more stable. So I guess there is hope (I still play on XP and in the last two years I haven't installed any new PC game and I'm also not much on Steam, so I admit I'm not perfectly up to date with the stability issues).

I plan to buy a new rig soon and it would make me very happy to realize that stuff in fact has become much smoother since the last time I built and installed a PC and filled it with games.

How do they not work?, you do know you can use joypads on PC's right?.

I own SFxT and SSF4A for PC and have no trouble playing them games with my 360 joypad.

Things have improved in recent years indeed. Many of the issues cited in this thread are no longer frequently encountered. I'm running Windows 7 on a system I built about 18 months ago and the only problem I had was Half-Life 2 ironically. Personally, pirated games have provided far more issues than purchased games hence why I don't pirate anymore. When was the last time you built a gaming rig?

@Mr Puggsly + sega4life

I wasn't boasting, quite the opposite in fact.  I clearly have a weak machine, but that thing from a few years earlier was very weak even for its time.  Trying to brag that such a huge box with 'multimedia capabilities' is living room friendly is silly.   So many more HTPCs (even some real nice PC laptops) can do at least as much, and at the same and cost less (from that time period or otherwise).  And UPGRADE POTENTIAL?  That thing maxes out at 2GB 533Hz RAM... and it retailed for $2k.  Certain rigs, like that one, were made to look better than others and cost much more.  I think you both miss the point of what an appealing HTPC really looks like, and what better deals there are out there.  You may continue trying to argue how my opinion is without merit, but you fail to make a point of how that particular machine fits into this thread to any effective degree.  When "what the h*ll is that thing?" comes up right away, maybe its because that machine isn't a great example of the point you're trying to make.

I don't know what you've been playing but the vast majority of PC games are easy to install and play on a modern system. It takes longer to install a PC game? It also happens to load faster every time I launch it thereafter. Enter a single code to install the game? No biggie, takes less than a minute. Link a game to Steam or Origin? Again, takes seconds and has perks. I update my drivers a couple times a year and that's both easy and sufficient. Tweaking settings, using beta drivers, editing ini files? I've had to do the first a couple dozen times, again no big deal. I've never needed a beta driver and I've had to edit ini files maybe three or four times in my life. It seems that despite the fact that I've played hundreds of PC games I've had less problems then you. What type of setup could possibly cause so much trouble?

Really?? so you never said "Sports Games, Beat em ups and Hack´n Slash games just don´t work on PC"? .

And no SFxT and ssf4 is not the only beat em ups for PC as the has been more released, but i was just using that as an example to show you they work. And IMO thanks to emulation i think PC is the ultimate Fighting game box (Hell when you include emulation imo PC is the ultimate gaming box)

And no i wouldnt use sales to show if a game works or not on the PC, as the only thing that shows is that not many PC players are interested in DMC, and as for Fifa im sure why alot of people buy that game, same with NBA on consoles is cos thats where most of there friends are. It still says nothing about if the game works on PC or not, as everyone of them games works and looks better on PC then console. Same with any multi plat game..