It could also mean that it is harder and harder to produce more and more advanced technology.

Harder if you mean that it would be difficult to make one for less than the cost of a full blown PC. Money being no object, they could make a console completely insane.

No, hardware has never been easier to do, but it´s a gamble to apply the gilette-business modell. I.e give a way the handle (console) for "free" and expect to earn it back on the razorblades (games). But this problem will go away when people can use one system for everything, instead of have a PC, a HTPC and a console. If you melt these into one, a 1000-1500$ price tag isn´t that horrible after all...

more like the xblows 360; PC is 4 generations ahead of this dinosaur..

Guess the console is so complicated that it takes forever for developers to really unleash all that it's capable of.

Still curious for the next gen as I always am.

Meanwhile the PC has "just been released" and is cutting edge for the Xth consecutive year. Oh wait...the PC will always be better...

Xbox 360: Red-ringing your death since 2K5

not complicated the fact that its not gonna be updated yet just like xp compared to win 7

"It's good for the industry and good for _console_ gamers."

Fixed.

The rest of us are stuck in DX9-land with the assumption 512Mbyte RAM and a Radeon X1800 is top of the line.

Of course, I don't generally play the kind of games that ends up on consoles anyway but it's easy enough to see how the least-common-denominator of dated console hardware negatively impacts advancements in PC gaming.

I comepletely disagree that this is good for gamers. The sole reason that the PS3 and Xbox360 are not yet stale is because of lack of progress in programming for the PC. In past generations the PC gaming industry has far outpaced the console. Now... this simply is not so. You only have to look at Crysis (still the defacto PC benchmark) which was released in '07 to see that there has been little to no developement on the PC.

Everyone knows that gaming pc's employ better technology for better graphics.

Everyone also knows that more consoles and console games are sold than gaming pc's (bought or built) and pc games.

A pc's claim to fame has always been the graphics. But if the pc market doesn't find its feet soon, there won't be any more pc gaming. Sorry to say, but it's true (at least when looking at the next 10-15 years). I feel sorry for all you guys that feel the need to bash consoles in a console article. I guess those are just some of the symptoms of a dying market.

100% truth, slow progress is never good. Even if consumers save a buck in the short term.

Don't try to compare two different machines here: a gaming PC and a game console fill two different roles and serve two different markets that overlap occasionally.

A game console is built for broad appeal to a wider consumer base. The "I just want it to work" mentality has always been a driving concern for consoles: you buy the game, stick it in the machine, and get to playing. No install, no system requirements, no updates (well, there didn't USED to be...).

Case in point: your grandmother could pick out any game for an Xbox360 and it would work in the console. Not sure if it would be the case for any PC game she may happen to grab unless you have a topped out machine, or more aptly, a topped out maching at that point of the year.

The woman on the right is not wearing a bra.

is there any xbox 360 that lasted for 4 years???

I think the fact that the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii still don't look long in the tooth is largely due to diminishing returns in things such as game development ingenuity and graphics capability. These days games are having to become less about how good they look and more about how fun they are - the Wii has proved that. A new console based on current generation PC tech wouldn't look that much better than what the PS3 and Xbox can put out - at least not to most consumers. The jump from Xbox or PS2 to Xbox 360 or PS3 is far greater graphics wise than the jump to PC game graphics now. PC games that have also concentrated solely on graphics such as Crysis have turned out to suffer in terms of gameplay.
If the Wii hadn't of come along then maybe things might have been different - Microsoft and Sony would likely be pumping out new consoles around now that have better graphics and more processor power. The success of the Wii due to its innovative input method and types of games has forced MS and Sony back to the drawing board for a while longer, as is evident by things such as Microsoft's Project Natal. Graphics just don't woo people over as much as they used to these days, which is a plus for the consumer since it forces game makers to concentrate more on gameplay.
It will be interesting to see where Microsoft and Sony go from here. Even though I own a PS3, I don't use it very much since the kind of games available for PS3 and XBox are generally also available on PC and I prefer to play games on my PC. I do use my Wii a fair bit though. I do sometimes wish Nintendo would release a Wii HD with support for all the existing Wii catalogue but with 1080p (maybe even a download service to download HD packs for existing games) but lack of HD doesn't really bother me too much. I wouldn't really need all kinds of fancy graphics in my Wii games - I would just like them to run at the native res of my TV.

mine. i have had it since launch. the secret? let it breathe.

What people don't understand is that enhancing the graphics of games USED to be the best way to make a game more realistic. I love awesome visuals as much as the next person, but the market has moved farther towards innovative controls in hope of better immersing a gamer in his game. This is why the wii has seen so much success among casual gamers, and this is why both sony and microsoft are developing their own motion controls.

I still think the new motion technologies are aimed at casual gamers, but I have to respect the fact that microsoft, sony, and nintendo are gonna go where the money is.

and showing its age, at least it would be if it and money hungry lazy developers weren't holding the whole industry - especially PC - back at its level!

just take a look outside, look at everything, let alone the 'resolution'
game devs have just lost their imagination, and are too caught up in the bureaucracy of multi-platform, engines, middle-ware, trying to optimize and streamline the current ideas as much as possible never stopping to come up with new ones.

We are still along way from,
"You need to get out and see the real world."
"But this is HDTV. It's got better resolution than the real world!"

things don't look old until the next thing comes out.

It also doesn't help that PC games have been purposely held back in the graphics department because developers are more concerned with their product reaching the broadest audience possible(the people with crappy computers that can't handle good graphics) instead of pushing the limits of the hardware. PC hardware is capable of much better graphics than the games that are being made for it have.

Imagine that. Developers are trying to reach the broadest audience possible. Hmmmm do you expect anything different? Game devs don't make games to please any certain part of the market. They make games to turn a profit. If you want devs to develop more graphically intensive games, you have to increase the number of high-performance computers in the market.

You guys are hopeless. You think game devs are holding back pc gaming by not developing graphically intensive games? The only objective of a developer (or any business) is to make money. Pc gaming is holding itself back by not being the "popular" option among consumers.

So ...?

No,its terrible that this genenration will lagg on. Means It will be holding PC graphics in the majority of games back another couple years.

Anyone who thinks PC gaming will die is retarded. There will always be PC gaming. It might be a console port, but it will exist. It's not like computers will cease to exist. There are more computers in households than consoles. Computers can do things that consoles never will. At worst, consoles will become more like computers, and the line will be blurred to the point that consoles will be considered dead as they continue to evolve into something more than just a machine that plays games.

I'll take a console ( Yes even a 360 ) over a PC when it comes to gameing any day of the week. Pc's stink when it comes to games, you always have driver issues and memory crashes and Hard Drive pauses durring game play. You have to configure every game you buy and sometimes you end up with $ 50.00 games that you can't get to work on your system. Pc's are great for surfin the web and doing office work but that's as far as it goes. Plus everytime you buy a game for your PC you have to go online and register it and enter the code on the sleeve. Yadda yadda yadda, get real.

The reason its so popular is cost folks. Any Joe blow or 12 year old with piggy bank money saved up can go buy a crapbox for $199. Even though its 4 generations behind the PC or 5 in case of mine. Its still the cheapest way for the mainstream people to get their kids the games that are popular and marketing to them. I have a PS3 yet my high end quad core beast with 2 x 5870 DX11 cards eats it for breakfast all day long. Its still a kick ass console does what it does. But the 720p games its plays even upconverted games at 1080 doesnt compare to my beast of a PC running on a 30 inch panel at 2560 x 1600 res all high settings its beyond full HD. Its cost and marketing. Not everyone can pay $400- $600 for one part to game on the PC. I kind of like that, I dont want something everyone has or is capable of putting together or even can afford. Bottom line is the Crapbox sucks so let the kiddies have their fun, they dont know any better.

= Moron...knows nothing of PC gaming ignore!

only a real man would notice that well done!

i hope you did that on purpose...

Good for gamers? Have you looked at the latest games man? Crappy overpriced games, PC games being nothing more than console ports. What the hell is good for gaming?
If it wasn't for Blizzard I would have given up gaming...