There is no question that the latest graphics on PCs will always outshine the consoles after 2-3 years on their lifetime. On the other hand, the console graphics usually look considerably better when they are first released before catchup of the PC and look better for a long time than the average PC (not the new/high end PCs). The problem with gaming on PC is not only about price, but lack of smoothness and stability of the consoles. When you buy a console, you know that every game for it will run from day 1 till the end of its life.

People forget something, who claim that a PC which is bought now will have a reasonable price and be much more powerful than the consoles. That's kind of true but confined to a very narrow outlook.

Let's assume that you have bought a console on the same day as Xbox 360 was released back in 2005. You paid like $400 for 360 and like $800 for the PC (general purpose, gaming + other things, so the price is ok). And lets assume that the life of 360 is around 6-7 years. So I will be able to play all the games on it till 2011-12 with an almost perfectly smooth and stable experience. Let's see what's going to happen with the games on PC.

- Most games require huge installs, and many other tweaks, in order to start playing the game, you need to give extra effort and time.

- You will have many problems on the way, some of them will be incompatible with your system due to some unknown freaking reason, system conflict, whatever.

- Let's just not forget the virus, spyware and other god darn problems!

- For the first few years, most games will work with few problems, but game will not run as smooth and as stable as on the consoles. Because of the million different type of PCs out there, your configuration is too specific to be optimised for.

- After a couple of years, there will be a significant number of games that you either cannot run or can run on very low settings, losing a lot of the graphics, smoothnees and gameplay stability.

- For the last few years, there will be only a handfull of games that are playable on your computer, some of them not even at optimal solutions.

- Your PC which was bought on the same day of the 360's release almost never outshined its competitor. The graphics on the PC usually had little or no improvement on its life cycle due to the lack of optimization for your hardware, but they could possibility get even worse as you'd play future games at lower settings etc. The console graphics have improved considerably on the other hand as game developers had better optimizations for the specific hardware.

- In Summary, PC graphics will outdo the console graphics only if you buy a new PC or make a hefty upgrade every one or two years.

 What a load of total tosh, you're writing is almost completely incorrect.

Pyro as Bill has put you straight!

Im new to these forums and this is my first post on the VGchartz.... and you will see more and more

Anyway Good post and Good point.  I remember when my brother first got his Xbox360 in 2006 and I just upgraded my PC to Ati pro 850XL 512mb ram and 2 Gb DDR2 ram.  It wasn't top end by any means but great for PC gaming at the time.  After seeing his Xbox 360 in action I felt a bit dis-hearted with PCs in general.  But saying that I felt the same way when the PS2 first came out.  It will happen again and we get 'The death of PC gaming' talk coming up again.

But now I have a Alienware PC 3ghz, 4Gb ram, 2x Gf 8800GTX (SLi) and it wipes the floor with both Ps3 and Xbox.  PC graphics have more detail, clearer picture, higher resoulations and runs smoother at 60FPS with V-sync on (well im talking about my own PC here).  But since the late 1990s only PCs have been true HD gaming machines running 720p and beyond until now that is.

@Pyro

lol...pretty arrogant there aren't we? PC works for people that have the elitist complex like you very well.

Regular users that are tech savy or have a little patience will also get their moneys worth out of PCs.

However normal people are much better off with consoles if all they want to do is play games.

I bought a video card few days ago and some RAM and it cost me about 200 bucks.

I discussed it in this thread...
http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=54695

Since I've had Crysis crash and refuse to install...keeps rebooting my machine.

Similar to these problems below...
http://www.gamingnewslink.com/2007/11/15/fixes-for-crysis-errors-crashes-bugs-and-install-problems/

So don't pretend PC gaming is smooth sailing for everyone at all times.

The bolded is my response to Pyro.

@perpride

lol...well played.

Look, with PCs you get what you pay for and yes it's not as simple as a console. Fucking duh. But if you are willing to put down a little extra money (not nearly as much as console fans like to think though) and actually know what you're doing, PCs blow consoles out of the water in terms of graphics, and smoothness, as well as longevity on account of prevalent modding. But yes, you do have to pay a little more, and yes you have to know how to use one. There are an abundance of PC gamers that don't have their systems crash, and bugs, and incompatibility issues. It's because they are PC gamers, and you're doing it wrong.

Just like people say Blu-ray and PS3 and a HD TV and 7.1 surround are top of the line as far as consoles go, and yeah you can buy a cheap ass wii and play on your SDTV for way less, but you get what you pay for. Not everybody cares or wants blu-ray, a PS3 and HDTV and a receiver for the speakers and all the other equipment, alot of people are obviously very happy with a wii and SDTV, but all that other stuff is there if you are an enthusiast that wants to put the time and money into it in order to get the absolute best.

PC is the same damn thing. Yes you have to upgrade, you have to know what you're doing, and you have to want it. If you don't great, go enjoy whatever you have. But if for some reason you want to play the latest games in 1080p at 60 frames a second with improved textures, shading and geometry that option is there. So don't act like that option is somehow inferior, that's just dumbass.

This is an age old argument. Yes, PC gaming has its flaws. Halfassed unfinished ports like GTAIV, general non-userfriendliness, PC requirements, cost, elitist snobbish fanboys, ect.

There are also many apples/oranges aspects between PC and console, such as non-userfriendly interfaces verses dumbed down userinterfaces, couch verses computer chair, patch-hunting verses autoupdate, lack of first party exclusives, stability issues, lazy ports, and secuROM.

The PC also has many advantages, such as user-mods, controller options(in some cases), and graphical potential.

There is no doubt that PC fanboys have damage control for every negative, but it's usually bullshit:

1. PC and console cost is comparable because of addons to the console

2. PC doesn't require upgrading that often to play latest games

3. Console gaming is as patch reliant as PC gaming

4. PC stability is usually as good and only as buggy as console gaming

All bullshit

5. PC gaming doesn't have a high barrier to entry - megabullshit

PC gaming will always have the highest potential. It has the "potential" to hook up to your television, but really....give me a break. It has the potential to have the best graphics. Certainly. You pay for it though. PC gaming has a completely different feel to it than console gaming, and in the end, it's apples and oranges, and no amount of know-it-all PC elitism can fool Zenfoldor. Basically, it all stems from an inferiority complex. Console gaming has always been looked down upon by the PC faithful, ignorantly. Afterall, when they were playing Doom, we were playing LttP and Mario Brothers 3, and they thought we were the dumb ones.

Anyway, yes, PC gaming has the highest potential, but it's usually not the best choice for the average gamer, unless you like to play MMOs, in which case you'll probably want the interface the PC has to offer.

The crux of the matter is, PC gamers spend upwards of 2-3 THOUSAND dollars on their gaming rigs. They are proud of them. Thus, they ascend to a super-fanboy state of cognitive dissonance. Any anti-PC rhetoric is smoten by the capabilities of their mighty rig, with which they also purchased a 42" samsung HDTV as a monitor for.

The simple truth is, they probably aren't getting a better gaming experience this gen, than someone with a PS3 or an Xbox 360 and a HDTV, unless they really hate Japanese games, all console exclusives, and are all about some RTS and World of Warcraft.

This isn't an anti-PC post, but instead look at it as a more balanced look at PC gaming. I actually went out and built a PC recently, and it's actually significantly more badass than most other PC's built in the past year, worldwide. However, PC gaming isn't something you have, it's something you chase. It's not all green grass and lollipops, and if it were, then the PC fanboys would be so damn defensive.

Don't mistake my tone here. PC gaming is great. It's just not the end-all be-all that most PC gamers adamantly project it as. Especially when you look at an upcoming exclusives list, and you see the way the industry is treating multiplats, while treating the PC version of those multiplats as a red-headed stepchild.

/respect

Although there are many more considerations, you generally have the performance of a computer system (including videogame consoles) limited by the price you're willing to pay and the quantity of heat that your system can handle. No matter how much they hype it a videogame console will always be more limited by price and heat than a PC is, and it is impossible for a console to outperform the top of the line system that was available at its launch.

By the end of the second year of a console's life a fairly modest PC with a mid-level (roughly $100) graphics card is far above the capabilities of the console.