I was browsing news articles online and saw one about pc gaming and how it has been seeing a steady decline since 1999. I know that the next gen consoles are out and they do kick ass, I would like to know why pc gaming is dying. I know it is expensive, but what I don't understand is why does the pc have to be so powerful to run the same game my xbox 360 can play flawlessly? The resolution might me one thing, but that can not all be it. I love pc gaming, always have, also it seems like lately the technology for computers has been changing more rapidly than ever. Will we see it steady out when vista is out?

We will continue to see PC games because of the hardware that's available.  There is also a strong hardcore base, and game developers will make game for them.
 
Some of the best games ever are for PC, and I don't think that'll change.
 
I also think that piracy/torrents have a part in the "decline" also.

Yea the torrents/piracy do have a huge impact on it. When do you think dual core support will be full blown? I do know that some of the best game sare on the pc eg: half life 2, and FEAR is better on pc that say the xbox.

Personally, I would rather play my games that are available for console and PC on my PC.  Except sports games and games that are only available for consoles, PC gaming is just better for me.  I used to like console gaming until I got a good enough PC to appreciate the games more.  I sure hope PC gaming isn't dying, I like building PCs more than building consoles

theres a genre with over 15 million people in it that can only really be done with PC gaming, thats MMORPGS. A current gen console could probably run World of Warcraft, but due to the vast amounts of memory an MMORPG needs, something like EQ2 and Vanguard would not run satisfactory (i.e. more than 20FPS)
 
That and the fact that PC gaming not only is better than consoles, control wise, graphics wise, but they have a community that really isn't available on the console, the modding community. That and the fact that PC's can accomplish more than one task, video editing, email, photo editing, have the ability to burn media and other things like that. I don't see PC gaming dying, but rather evolving. Theres still plenty of games out there that you can enjoy without having the latest and greatest DX10 gfx card, Core 2 duo system with 2 gigs of DDR2 memory. As a matter of fact you can play a good majority of the newer games out there on a 6600GT AMD 3000+ system, and for a little more upgrade to a 7900 system which plays almost eveyr pc game out there flawlessly besides Oblivion.

FPS, MMORPGs and RTS games only really shine on PC... Age Of Conan, Crysis, Supreme Commander, and C&C Tiberium Wars being a taste of what PC gaming will get with DX10, and much more. PC gaming may decline, but it won't die. Sure, Developers may have to produce games which can support a wide variety of machines each with varying performance abilities, but at least they don't get screwed by extortionate licensing fees when making games for the PC. Consoles will play a bigger part nowadays, but the PC will fill its niche and will do just fine, because come on! DX10 and Vista! Should make things better for PC in terms of a platform.

I remember an article at gamespot...  ah here it is
 

 
The Moore's law effect is much higher in PC hardware - my favorite quote:
 

The Moore's law effect is much higher in PC hardware - my favorite quote:
 

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LOL!! I love my PC and will always keep upgrading it and such. Some people just do not realize the tremendous power a pc really has. I cant wait for the ATI's DX10 cards, got sick of nvidia, and yes the mmorpg community is huge and i like it. I do play wow and it is fun and addicting. My question is why does it take so much power to run a game on a pc vs. a console on a 42 inch screen vs the computers 19 inch screen?

listen, im a pc gamer, and by that, i mean i play video games on my pc. i dont care what else it can run that a 360 or ps3 cannot..im talkinga bout gaming...and just because im a pc gamer doesnt mean i cant say when pc's have been defeated by consols. Pc gaming is defenetly, as of now, NOT better in any way than consols. the graphics are flat out flawless and they run perfectly smooth at all times.  and everytime i say that i always get the same over excited respsonse from geeky pc gamers " BUT BUT BUT IT CAN DO OTHER THINGS TOO!" i dont care what other things the pc can do, we are talking about gaming, nothing more, and for gaming, pc has defenetly gone down hill...from delay in games up to and over a years worth of waiting, over expensive hardware (650 bucks for a video card?!?! 1500 bucks for a quad core processor!?!) new technology or not, thats way over priced considering that this will drop in price over months. iv been a pc gamer, for 5+ years now, and before these new consols came out, i swore by the graphics, the playability in games, and controls of the pc...personally, the only reason im staying with my pc for now, is because of the simple fact that i have a keyboard and mouse for my controls, nothings better..."BUT BUT BUT YOU CAN TURN UP THE RESOLUTION ON YOUR CUNTPUTER MONITOR TO 1900x1200" ...you know what, i dont care, i dont visually see a difference between 1024, 1280, or 1600x1200..let alone going up that high. gmaes like fear and counter strike is what kept me a pc gamer for right now, but , hey what do you know, fear is out for the 360, so are alot of other games. "BUT BUT YOU NEED A HIGH DEF LCD 2000 DOLLAR TV TO PLAY THEM ON"..ehem, if youv forgotten, i can easily hook a 360 up to my monitor, but i wont, cuz again, keyboard and mouse is the best. theres prolly only a few games in 2007 im looking forward to, half or most are coming out for the consols that cost as much as a single video card. (assassins creed, bioshock, stalker, ut2007, brothers in arms HH and a few others i might have forgotten) but all and all, Pc gaming is just becoming too expensive, enough is enough with these insanely high prices, all the hype about how powerful the new video card is to make it sound like its worth the 650 bucks. dont forget about buying a high end processor, esxpensive sticks of ram to go with your video card. So , i most defenetly think pc gaming is dying...when prices go down on these new video cards it will start all over again. now once again,  i AM a pc gamer and i dont own any consols, im not taking sides, but, not using scientific garble, or nerdy hardware specs of the consols versus pc specs...i can simply say this...iv seen how good games look on the 360 and how good they run, and it just looks flat out amazing "BUT BUT BUT THE PCS VIDEO CARD DOES 9823432 GIGAFLOPS OF INFORMATION A MICROSECOND! SO IT HAS TO BE BETTER" ....that doesnt tell me shit, iv seen with my own 2 eyes, teh graphics power of these consols, and pc's , as of now, have lost the battle...crysis was the only game that looked like it could graphically annihilate the consols..but guess what, to no surprise, it got pushed back till september!!!!!

Not sure what you're asking...  I know my PC will run higher frames connected to a 42" hdtv running 720p (1280x720) than running 1600x1200 on a 19" LCD monitor.  I am not even sure if you can connect a plain old LCD monitor to a console, so I am probably the wrong person to ask...

 
LOL That was the answer i was looking for!!! I feel the same exact way. I do like pc gaming, but when it comes down to holding a 600$ graphics card in one hand vs. ps3 in another you guess which one ill get. Personally i do think it is a tad expensive and don't tell me "pay to play" crap!!! WHY DO PC"S GAMES NEED SO MUCH POWER??

obviously your have a crappy setup.. if you cant see the difference between 1024X768 and 1600X1200..  either that.. or you need better glasses.. lol
 
 
Im not going to take part in this argument though.. just thought i'd comment on that..  I will say that Consoles have a long way to go before they can compete with a high end PC.

 
i have plenty good set up, i see no difference, im sure there is, i cant see it, not enough to make me wanna buy 55384537 dollars worth of new hardware to go up to retarded high resolutions. simply put 7900gtx fx55 2 gigs of ram. over clocked.and i think you mean, high end pcs have a long way to catch up to the cheaper, more powerful, better games..consols.

FPS will always be better on PC. Also, torrents etc. crack PC games pretty easily, so that is a contributing factor. To my knowledge you can't torrent a free console game. Sports and racing games are probably better on console imo, but FPS is always going to be dominant on PC.

Console games are carefully tweaked to maximize performance and image quality. Seeing as Windows is such a broad platform, it's harder for a developer to optimize any title to any specific piece of hardware as they would be limiting the enjoyment of some other users.

Yes they are better, but 2nd up would be the 360 controller. I also heard that the performance of source games are going to be better when the release the dual core update.

obiously the display is the culprit.. or your eyes.  10X7 to 16X12 is pretty much night and day difference.

 
 
I play at 1280x1024 and see no need for higher. Wide screen is different tho