Is PC gaming really dead?

[Daz]

Originally Posted by Bijstan

The same can, of course, be said for PC gaming. Programmable joypads have been available for PCs for many years (I have one with about 3 inches of dust on it), did these cause a major unleveling of the playing field?

Maybe, maybe not, but I'm not arguing for a level field on PC's. By it's very nature the PC is 'unlevel, just from the infinite number of different hardware combinations you can have - it's part of the deal.

Originally Posted by Bijstan

Some of us prefer the keyboard/mouse combo and some prefer the joypad option. At the end of the day, if you can afford £300 for a console and £20-£50 for each game, you can afford £20 for a keyboard and a mouse if you feel it gives you an advantage.

But is that in the best interests of the gaming masses on the particular platform?

Gaming arguments aside - my real problem with adding a 'proper' keyboard and mouse combination - or making support official - is the potential future direction of the console. Put Office available on the marketplace and what have you got? A proprietary PC (hello Apple? though at least this one can play games ). Even if we ignore the politics of that, the net result could be a big hit on the consumer PC market.

2 reasons why that's unlikely to happen though are, as I said before, they're pimping the image of the 360 as a games centric console, not a computer in it's own right (and I support that attitude, so part of that is living without a proper keyboard and mouse combo) - and secondly if Microsoft has a console that could replace it's own PC operating system then it will ultimately hurt them - their software business model is based on a 3 year refresh cycle, something that just isn't conceivable in the console market.

Are we off topic now or not? I'm not sure anymore