If pc had Japanese developed games on it that were released in a timely fashion (no I'm not talking about a crap port of Dmc4 available 6 months down the road) then I would be all over it. As it stands this is not the case, and since pc is predominantly western developed Fps games and RTS I could care less.

The main problem with OEM systems is that every spec tends to be more than enough for games... except for the VGA card.

Naturally, cheap systems with integrated video go right out.

Slightly less cheap systems with very cheap discrete video cards (well under $100 retail bought separate) aren't much better.

Unfortunately, most OEM systems with decent video cards (9800GT or HD4850 for example) will charge the buyer an unnecessary premium since it will likely be marketed as a "gaming" rig. You will not find these for $500 or even $600, barring inventory clearing sales.

Best bet for the low tech savvy buyer is get a low cost rig with a decent processor and memory and buy the best VGA card your budget permits. Learn how to install a PCI card and install/update drivers. If you can't do that, then stick with console gaming.

And no, this won't be a $400 or even a $500 game slaying box.

I thought the port of DMC4 was excellent, but I agree with the time span from the console release.  Same with the upcoming RE5 (it comes out in September I believe) port.  Overall, Capcom has stepped up their game on the pc though.

I agree with the OP, in both ways. Although these days I play more on PC than in consoles (fucking economy), I grew up playing the PC and consoles (SNES, N64, PSOne and now a GC and a DS), and I'm glad I don't have issues with any of them lol

Yes, I was being abit Dramatic with the DMC4 port, I just wish they used the time to add maybe a new stage or two. Hopefully Capcom will be on time with LP2 for pc, or atleast close to the 360 release date.

I'm increasingly under the notion that it's better to keep your workstation and gaming rigs separate. And yes, this effectively doubles the price of your PC use, but I still see it as being better to keep your productivity and entertainment boxes separate.

With a workstation/productivity system, you just want it to work smoothly and reliably; period. All the little tricks and mods done to gaming rigs to make them squeeze out that much more performance almost always result in reduced reliability and serviceability. Things will break faster on overclocked and modified components, but that's hardly a concern when parts are regularly being upgraded anyway.

So, it pretty much boils down to cost, as with many things.

And if all you need is a terminal for e-mail, word processing and the like; even simpler. Stick with consoles for games.

Bioshock, Gears of War, and a version of Counterstrike are all on consoles.

Thats pretty much how I feel.

I got tired of spending more time on upgrading, installing and patching games than playing them. Buying all 3 Wii, Xbox360 and PS3 was a lot cheaper than upgrading my PC every 6 month for "a" new game. For the most part I can just put the disk in and start playing no more waiting.

upgrading and patching are no longer problems of modern PC gaming. New Gaming PCs without upgrades can keep playing new games much more than consoles can. And patching nowadays are streamlined and you no longer need to hunt for patches due to services like Steam (most games themselves now have an automatic way to upgrade even).

Installing I don't even call a problem because that's something I believe most PC gamers would do it just to help on the loading times. Consoles now even have installs.

I think the best thing about PC gaming today is that you don't even need to put a disk to play! All you need is to click on your game's icon to play it, no disk.