Apparently I touched a nerve?

Yes, I'm sure a modern computer can run Crysis.  Go back to 2007 with a $500 PC and do it.  I'll wait.  The request was for someone to price out PC gaming over a 10 year period.  From 2002 until the present day.  That why they could quantify the actual costs, rather than just attempt to belittle people who disagree with them.

The bottom line, regardless of how you justify or price it, PC gaming is more expensive than console gaming.  Until people concede that this is just FACT rather than an issue to get angry about, you're going to have a bad day.

No shit it is more expensive, that's how the world works (more expensive things are better, who would have guessed it huh?).

The thing is, it isn't that much more expensive as you say.

And I don't get why you compare recommended specs with console gaming, recommended settings are way above the low/medium settings, sub HD and barely 30fps you get on consoles. You don't have to upgrade a 2006 PC to play current games, a 8800GT can run every game out there yet (it will run like a console, but that isn't the point).

That depends on your perspective, if you are a multi console owner, they are about the same overall but you have much higher graphical prowness on PC, but if you are talking about the cheapest option there is, you always go Nintendo, Nintendo offers the best value in their products no matter the generation other than the lawl-worthy Virtual Boy and continue to take in profits like crazy. The winner on cheap accessible gaming has always been Nintendo.

Dude my $380 netbook from 2 years ago can run crysis alright on medium settings in 720p.  A $500 PC could easily run it when it came out.  Oh and stop mentioning Crysis because (Even though it looked god damn 2 generations ahead of its time) it is terribly optimized and requires way to much power to run it maxed out.  You didn't touch a nerve (sorry about the moron comment).  I am just sick and tired of people suggesting PC's cost $3000 when anything over $1000 is heavy overkill, and anything over $2000 is just throwing money in the trash.  Even a $600 PC now is a gen ahead of these consoles and can do so many more things it's silly.  

Again I used to agree with you, but the current prices have placed PC in the lead for now.  A matter of fact, I bet a $350 PC could beat a wii u graphically.  All you keep saying is it can cost less overall.  No sh!t!  Congratulations you can do math.  Want a cookie?

 Well guess what I could build a $ 200 PC that can run all modern games, and the games will cost less than on console.  Will they look as good?  No.  But it costs less so I guess I win.

Most people wouldn't disagree with you that a high-end gaming PC would be more expensive from a hardware point of view but the example you provided is a wasteful PC build. You would only buy that if you are a kid living with your parents and don't understand how to build a good value gaming PC or you make good $ and to you $4k is not a lot of $ based on your monthly/annual income. For example, if you clear $20k a month, then a $4k PC is not a lot. 

Also, why do you keep ignoring what I said? You first argued that building a PC in the past was too expensive back when PS3/360 launched. That's true. But someone who built a PC in 2005 can still continue using the Case, DVD-writer, power supply, dedicated sound card and hard drives. So from now on they just need to upgrade the motherboard+CPU+RAM+GPU. The incremental upgrade costs after your first PC are not $3k. Once again you are going to use the argument of a $3-4K system this generation against PS4/Xbox 720. 

OR you can just build a very good gaming PC to start with and upgrade it for the next 30-50 years of your life! Add up the costs of PS4-PS15 and see what happens. You keep delaying buy a PC and thus your argument is flawed since it constantlycompared some uber $4K PC against a $300 console.

Start with this combo for $565: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1094435

You get:

1) Core i5-3570K 3.4ghz = This will for sure last 5 years and in 2.5 years if you need more speed, you can overclock it with a $30 cooler upgrade. Don't believe me? Here is a 1st generation 2008 Core i7 965 @ 3.75ghz and it's as fast as a 3rd generation 2012 Core i7-3770K:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/far_cry_3_graphics_performance_review_benchmark,7.html

2) Case + Motherboard + 8GB DDR3 + 530W PSU + 120GB SSD

3) Add a 2TB hard drive for $100: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148910

4) Add a GTX660 for $180: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500270

5) Add $20 DVD Writer

Total: $865

^ That's me doing 0 work to find deals. If we drop the SSD and drop the HDD to 1TB, go with a slightly slower CPU, that's still going to be more powerful than PS4/Xbox 720s, we can get an even better deal:

Here are my manual builds:

We didn't even touch on bundles. You can go places like MicroCenter and get even better deals.

Add FX8120 + MSI 970 chipset motherboard for $175:

http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

(The same store also carries i5-3570K + Gigabyte Z77 motherboard for $265)

Add 8GB of DDR3-1600 for $35: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096

Add nice case for $50: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119259

Add a $40 700W PSU on super special with $20 off coupon and rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153167

Add a 1TB hard drive for $70: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

DVD-Writer for $20 + GTX660 for $180 

Total: $570

^ A 8-core FX8120 + GTX660 will sure be more powerful than a PS4/Xbox 720.

Then all you need is to upgrade the GPU every 3 years, just keep getting $200 ones. If you already have a case, DVD-writer, PSU and HDD from your previous CPU builds, just carry them over! Upgrading becomes even cheaper. I just showed you that CPUs now last at least years using real world modern games. That 2008 i7 @ 3.75ghz will easily last another 2.

You are also not assigning any value to superior graphics on a PC. Even a basic 2D side-scroller like Trine 2 looks way better on a PC than consoles.

The smaller compressed images on VGChartz make PS3 graphics better than they are. Go here to view full sized and you'll see how blurry they are.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-trine-2-face-off

And if you get Xbox 720, you have $50 a year Xbox Live? Well over 7 years that's $350. Guess what, that's nearly 2x $200 GPU upgrades I talked about you would do every 3 years. So if you were to build your system next year, the price of Xbox Live over 7 years is nearly enough to upgrade your GPUs over 6 years (2x 3 years apart).