Comparing the two

For some reason the console vs PC debate has flared itself again. I've found myself reading articles, mostly from PC sources, going on about how consoles are threatening the livelihood of PC gaming, and honestly it's all fluff.

There's a market for that

PC gaming is on a high nowadays, driven by digital sales mostly, with no refunds. Retailers like Steam, Direct to Drive and Games for Windows sell upcoming, current and older titles for the same cost as brick and mortar stores with no refund policy. Most PC magazines fail to mention that fact. For the determined game publisher, there is a ton of markets to get your games into paying customer's hands. Sure consoles, offer digital download, but honestly you can trade in console games in exchange for other console games. I don't know a place that takes a PC trade anymore.

There's a pirate for that

The one primary downfall however of most PC games, is their ability to easily be pirated by experienced PC users. Digital download is great for honest users, but you can look at the raoid theft of Crysis and see that when left to their own devices, there is a large amount of people who would rather steal a product than support a developer. If PC magazines want to be serious about the state of PC titles, then they also need to be serious about their support of anti-piracy and the development of effective DRM. Sure people can crack a PS3 now, but it's not as easy or common as stealing a PC game online. The easy of use for buying and trading a console title gives it a great benefit.

2 separate markets

Honestly, for most PC gamers it boils down to a past when console gaming and PC gaming were 2 different markets. Though that past was a mere half a decade ago, PC gamers cling to it like it was going to be forever. No one thought the day would come when consoles were powerful enough to play titles like PC games. No one except the developers that is.

The real "problem" is that top tier developers are making games for console first and PC second. People forget that consoles offer an form of stability, the console itself is more than likely identical to the next, or at least to the majority, and they can create a title for a specific hardware set. Unlike the PC market, which has to support as many configurations (of Windows alone) as you can think of, dual graphic, single core, quad core, min-max ram, OS bit type. All of these are variables that PC gamers will take to their forums and complain when they aren't included.

It's a shame that the more mature market doesn't want to honestly support it's maturity though. I can't say I've ever seen a console publication mention the PC market, unless the game was a PC port, let alone call for it's demise like PC gamers do.