As a gamer I recently bit the bullet and bought a PS3. It was only 4 years ago you could hear me say that gaming on the PC will always be superior to any console. Well I was wrong, or perhaps my tastes have changed. Consoles now a days are so superior to PC gaming in so many ways. Comfort (couch), Graphics (HD TV's), Sound (7.1 surround sound), and cost ($500 for the most expensive console on the market) all seriously out weigh anything you can do with a PC. When you look at it the console is the cheapest way to get a very descent gaming system in your home. So it was after opening my eyes and seeing this I decided instead of continueing to upgrade my computer so I could play the latest and greatest games i'd rather get a PS3 and benefit from having a blueray player.
Well one of the most successful software backends for games (Unreal Engine) recently stated that they were going to focus their efforts exculsively on consoles before considering PC's. This is big news in the gaming community because Epic (the makers of Unreal and its Unreal Engine) has had a huge presence in the PC market thanks to its lisceseing of the engine out to quite literally hundreds of game developers that then use it to make games for the PC market (as well as consoles). However from now on their engine will be optimized for console use.
This move is most likely due to the development cycle for a console system is shorter. The PS3's hardware is set in stone it doesnt change, same with an Xbox 360 or a Wii. A PC however, has lots of different hardware in it. Not 2 PC's are a like, this means that developers have to program for these slight changes in expected harware, as they make the software more suitable for a larget audience it is less efficient and thus graphics are not as refined, physics are lacking, etc.
One could argue there is a lot wrong in gaming in general and PC gaming specifically. People have been saying PC gaming is dead for years, however this might just be the first nail in the coffin.
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