You can emulate windows programs with wine and no its not a hack. :)

Well, theres also transgaming with cedega,

http://kahvipapu.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/nfsc_01.jpg

And of course theres linux games too.

http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/items/free_games/Images/extreme_tux_racer.jpg

(Haha, yeah for example doom3 has linux binaries.)

I just can't post this link enough. :D

crysis all HIGH DX9 on a $400 PC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpO4FwTpR3Q

And lastly my linux <3 ,

Ok, this one is last thing. Its for all windows users.

You really should think about these things.

False... for Vista users. We get Windows Media Center included with Home Premium and above.

Ya...bash Vista all you want, but as of now it's about equal on game performance with XP, but it also comes with Windows Media Center, and that was REALLY nice combined with my TV card.

It had enough bugs that I felt like switching back to XP though.

That's the biggest thing I miss though.

And for $10, Vista with Media Center is the farthest thing possible from "expensive."

One thing we need to understand, is gaming is about fun and games. Not about graphics. A PC is missing a key feature that consoles have and that is the word "local."

Wheather a PC can match up or actually beats a console in games is arguable. Therefore, PC verses console has strengths and weaknesses. In other words, it comes down to a man's opinion. One mind is, "I like console gaming, controllers, couch setting, and "local,"" the other comes down to "I like more complex UI, better graphics, and excellent online offers."

The general premise of this post is that the only thing that separates the two things, console and PC, are graphics. You only need look at the Wii to realize that far more separate these two methods of gaming and that no matter how profound your argument seems one way or another, the true answer will always come down to taste.

Know that, and you may know everything.

Can't help but notice that 3/4 of your arguments have something to do with a TV set. Honestly, do you boot up GoW for "chill" gaming? Why would you need to plug your PC into the TV in the first place, hell if you really want something awesome, just hook up your PC to a projector and you are set. It almost sounds like you bought a PS3 for its media capabilities and not gaming. I love my couch, when I'm playing boom blox or soomething nice and chill like Baird, but dear god is the couch horrible when I need to play any shooters on it.

That's news to me. If no one wants to, why is there are market for HTPCs? Go to places like AVSForum and there are numerous threads about people setting up PCs for use with home theaters. Having setups with large amounts of disk space are quite popular for those with money to spend, as they rip their entire Blu-ray/DVD/CD collections to the PC and just run them from there.

Put linux on there, hook it up to a network and get that Nokia pocket PC which comes with Linux installed. Full control of your computer from wherever. As to the issue of not having enough room for the PC tower, I said this once and I guess I will repeat it again. Throw away your crappy TV and grab a projector and keep the PC next to it, or even better under it.

Let me say it again.

You do not need Windows to play Windows games.

Just because "99.9% of gamers use Windows" doesn't mean all gamers need Windows. You can use Linux, which is free, then emulate Windows inside Linux. What this will do is, firstly, allow you to pay absolutely nothing to get the same functions as Windows. And secondly, it allows you to actually have better system performance because Linux uses virtually zero system resources, unlike Vista which practically halves system abilities after all is said and done. Your system will perform immensely better this way. Yes, it requires a lot more know-how, but it's worth it. Why does a PC have to have Windows? Fourteen years ago, nothing required Windows. You used DOS, and that didn't have to be Microsoft's version. It just had to be DOS. Commander Keen, Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem, Castle Wolfenstein, Epic Pinball, Jill of the Jungle, Prince of Persia, Wacky Wheelz, etc. All great games that existed prior to the Windows conquering of the market. Just because Microsoft makes the operating system that everybody uses just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it.

This is not exactly true. Nowhere near all Windows games work in that way and even if they do they often require specific versions of said Windows emulation software (or specific hardware) so you can't play all games at the same time. I know this because I a) tried it myself and b) saw a guy who is basically Mr. Linux (works, plays, eats and sleeps the darn thing) install Windows for gaming because using Linux caused far to much headache to be worth it. Though I do admit it was fun to try and play WoW without mouse support and some-shooter at 5FPS because of bugs in the emulation. The Kernel panics where less fun though. Usually these bugs get fixed eventually but it's hardly a convenient approach to gaming.

I do find your 'almost zero system resources' statement funny though. I mean, Linux is in many ways better than Windows but it is not that much better and what's more - the main, overriding complaint about using Linux for gaming I've personally seen on the message boards of Cedega, Wine, WineX etc is that game performance is less than using it under Windows ;)

And if it's an HD movie, it's probably a BDrip. Meaning it is the blu-ray movie, which means it's the exact same quality.

Again, get your facts straight.

So, we're down to more piracy again? That is just a weak excuse - there are no legally available HD movies for the PC in that quality and you damn well know it. So my facts are straight, I just don't condone piracy.

As for being able to download on the consoles, you can download, yes, but you have less compatibility, less variety, less of nearly everything.

Almost all movies are distributed in codecs that work just fine on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

 Sorry about the layout of this  post - I can't seem to fix in a reasonable timeframe.

The fact you said movies when he said downloading shows how restricted downloading is on consoles. Clips are some of the least downloaded files out there. Fully agree with you on Linux as great as it is it just plain sucks for gaming. I also still don't see what HD movies has anything to do with a gaming machine, seriously, but I can assure you than within a few years tops, not only will gaming PCs be even more powerful than consoles than they already are, but you could stick your bluray player in them as well. The point is that as of a few months ago, the PC is back on top in terms of power for cheap, and that was the only area at which the consoles could hold their own against a PC.

If you have an older PC just play the older games or games which only require minimum requirements.