there is no such thing as a "just a game console anymore" that is the point..they do more than just play game's!

so they are "entertainment computer's"

and a PC:

CAN ALSO BE A "ENTERTAINMENT COMPUTER"

SO YES IT CAN BE A GAME CONSOLE!

the very fact that you could install LINUX on the PS3 and PS2 made them PC's. hell you could install Linux on the first XBOX AND GAME CUBE even had its own version of LINUX.

"PC"

it the term of 

PERSONAL COMPUTER

that's what the term of PC means. 

The Beginnings of the Personal Computer Industry

Kenbak-1

he Kenbak-1 is

the world's first personal computer. It was designed and invented by John Blankenbaker of Kenbak Corporation in 1970, and was first sold in early 1971. Unlike a modern personal computer, the Kenbak-1 was built of SMALL-SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, and did not use a microprocessor. The system first sold for US $750. Only around 40 machines were ever built and sold. In 1973, production of the Kenbak-1 stopped as Kenbak Corporation folded.

With only 256 bytes of memory, an 8-bit word size, and input and output restricted to lights and switches, the Kenbak-1 was most useful for learning the principles of programming but not capable of running application programs.

Datapoint 2200

Micral N

Xerox Alto and Star

IBM 5100

A console is simply an electronic device, essentially a cut down PC, designed purely to support playing games. Because our commercial society insists everything be uniquely identified we called the cut down PC built for games a games console so people knew what they were buying.

In the end, whether playing on a 'games console' or a PC you are leveraging a common ancestry of electronic computing devices.

One thing, though Ironman, as the 360 and PS3 clearly muddy the waters by both being built far closer to a PC, with plenty of capabilities that have nothing to do with gaming, despite marketing claims, are they strictly speaking 'pure' gaming consoles? Was the PS2 a pure gaming console when you could play a DVD on it? What about the Wii? I can read the news and check the weather on it.

Games console is a marketing term, a definition for consumers, and one that, I would argue, is becoming increasingly vague as consoles continue to support more than just playing games.

YUP. the point being the "the term game console" does not apply this generation and from now on game console's will no longer just made to play only game's. that's the main point many consumer's want the device to do more than just play game's. multi-media capabilities, web interactivity download software , software update's with added function. before game console's that "just played game's" was not designed to do those thing's today's game system's are. thus it is "computer entertainment system's"

or

computer's made for entertainment.

This. Its not a gaming console... neither are handhelds or mobile phones They are simply gaming platforms

even the game console's are gaming platform's...

It can still play games, just like consoles can. So what...

Consoles are just PCs dumbed down for casual gamers.

This.

/thread

Console more or less = gaming platform these days.

Not much point in quibbling over which functions suddenly make a console a limited function computer since the primary intended function will always be a platform for the development and playing of games.

With PCs it's further muddled by the fact that as gaming platforms, they are further divided by the APIs used in the development of games (which in turn are hardware dependent upon API specific VGA cards) as well as the OS they are coded to run on.

But as for this whole game console is a dumbed down casual gaming PC notion; if you want to believe in the tooth fairy and the easter bunny, that's fine too. You would have to be going on the assumption that playing online poker, flash games, Bejeweled or World of Warcraft on a PC or using a keyboard makes one feel "smarted up" by contrast.

Naturally, there's a metric ton more to PC gaming than that, but the vast majority of PC gaming will always be in broad appeal, extended market games, ie "casual" games.

LOL to this thread...sounds like who can win in a fight between Superman and Planet: Hulk...wtf...