That is one of the better articles I've read in a while. Couple of points stood out:
"In the fight over who can have the most egregious updates, the shoddiest business practices, and the biggest “f**k yous” communicated to paying customers, it seems consoles may end this generation as the winners by a mile."
"PC gaming has gotten more convenient. With a number of digital distributors, we can get games delivered to our machines at a cheaper cost, and with a number of tantalizingly, ridiculously cheap discounts that pop up with astounding regularity."
"I cannot help but start to see the Xbox 360 and PS3 as less powerful, less flexible, increasingly less reliable computers. You have all the hassle of PC gaming, without the superior graphics, efficient digital distribution, cheaper prices and extended modification options."
I can understand some of the reasons people like consoles. PCs are more expensive, even on the low-end (though I do feel that given console games cost so much more, that would even out). PCs are not as convenient. Need to deal with the OS install, all the patches, blah blah. Consoles you can for the most part sit down and play (with exceptions as the article points out). There's also exclusives. Halo in itself is a game that's powerful enough to keep people to supporting their Xbox 360.
To me the biggest reason people stick to consoles is because that's mostly what their friends use. When you have a group of friends that all play games online on their console, the draw of going to the PC is not going to be that great.
What bugs me most about consoles is that their game prices have never changed. The last Madden and FIFA I purchased was in 2007, so since it's been a while, I purchased Madden 12 and planned to purchase FIFA 12. No more. The graphics in Madden 12 are so poor that I haven't been able to play it more than a handful of times. That's a purchase I regret. After seeing what it offered, I was never going to go and get FIFA 12.
In my mind, the graphics on launch consoles were better than what I saw with Madden 12. I guess this is what happens when you play the PC pretty well exclusively for years and then try to get back into a console game. The poor graphics are going to hit you in the face like a baseball bat.
