I feel that PC gaming has gained popularity due to the awesome deals on Steam and the ability to use a gaming controller for most games. Steam even introduced “Big Picture” for the purpose of bringing the service to your living room and is built completely around a controller. But with the new generation of consoles and new controller types, what is going to happen to PC gaming in the future?

I currently use the X360 controller but Logitech offers a compatible dualshock as well. PS4 now has a new controller with touchpad functionality and most likely, the nextbox will also introduce a new controller. So what is going to happen to PC games? Will the gameplay change for the next gen of games? Will the new games go back to only supporting keyboard and mouse? Or will PC users have to go out and buy new controllers with every new gen of consoles? 

The gameplay will stay the same on PS4, you saw the Dualshock 4 yesterday right? I doubt the touchpad is for games.

You can use all the controllers on PC if people bother to write drivers for it, getting the Wii U Game Pad to work would take a lot of effort though.

You're probably right... just curious on how it will play out

True, but most people don't like that extra work (or don't know how). I use xpapper with some games that don't support a controller but perfer games that already have that option built in. 

Would the touch screen on the gampad even function, or would you only use the buttons and joysticks?

Well, it will be the same. Probably compatibility with next-gen Xbox controller. Graphics will improve on PCs following the new next-gen engines. More ports from consoles since the architeture is similar and that is a very good thing.

PCs will remain that awkward older sister nobody really likes but is still there in case you need her.

You'd need to reverse engineer the Wifi protocols used to get the gamepad screen to function, then you need the CPU to be powerful enough to encode the image and pass it via a Wifi adapter, it would be a major pain in the ass and we need college kids or fresh outta college kids with a lot of time to do that shit.

NEW MOUSE, NEW KEYBAORD AND YOU UPGRADING YOUR PC!

Hey i like the older sister she is sexy! I just built a new gaming pc and i love it! It is holding me over till the new game consoles come out, and when steam has thier sales i will clean up. Most of the time to buy a full game is about the same price if not cheaper than renting it.