I've already bought consoles. PS2, PS3, Wii, DS, 3DS and PSP.

Don't underestimate the ability of newer generation to wrap their head around the 20% that doesn't fit, if a device fulfills 80% of their needs.

Many teens and folks in their early twenties can text almost as fast as I type and I type pretty fast.

Overall though, a modern tablet is essentially a very portable laptop with a smaller screen and diverging methods of inputs.

Not that gloomy for PC gaming.

That is a good argument to advocate laptop gaming.

For desktops however, many people hookup their desktop to their TV screen much like they do with consoles.

Many of my friends do that. I think it's a good move, at least for those who don't have to share, because it eliminates one redundant screen.

I'm all for that.

I came to a similar understanding and now that I think of it, it was my first reason for ditching consoles.

At first, I had my NES. Then, I had an SNES, but some of the games I knew of where on Sega Genesis so I got that too. I was mildly annoyed that I had to have to consoles that fulfill the same function to play all the games I wanted to play.

Then, there was Nintendo 64, Playstation and one Sega platform.

At that point, I gave consoles the finger and started playing PC games exclusively as I needed a PC for other things anyways.

What do you mean? That you want to be able to copy the console game from dvd/blue-ray to hdd? If so, that is too much asked.

I've never owned a console and doubt I ever will.

There's three major advantages to PC-gaming:

1. first of all, a PC does all kinds of things, you don't need separate hardware for just playing games, better for your wallet and far more important, it's better environmentally.

2. PC games are much cheaper, wether on DVD or digital download, the majority of games I own I played less than €5,- for when they're on sale, only some I paid €20,- for as I really really wanted to have them. For console games, €25,- is considered discount and sale, more than I ever paid for a full-price PC-game.

3. Moddability: I never did research into modding console games, as it's not relevant for me, but I expect tasks like adding mods, tweaking ini's as well as backing up your saves on an offline HDD are much easier done than on a console (if they can even be done at all on a console?).

Finally, I have such a backlog of games yet to play, there's no reason for a game that's only available on console to pay for a console just for one game. If there was, that one game would be Battlefield 1943, I'm very dissapointed in EA for not fulfilling their promise to produce it as a PC game. The announcement is still online on their site, but never materialized: http://www.ea.com/nl/battlefield-1943 "Platform: PlayStation Network, PC, Xbox Live".

But I won't pay €400,- to €500,- euro just to play an modern version of Bf1942, even though I very much would like to play a graphically more good-looking version of it.

*edit: as for Bf1943, there's more that's disappointing (I just looked up the Wikipedia page): "Battlefield 1943 is an online multiplayer shooter video game", "Unlike Battlefield 1942, this game takes place only in the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II." So even if I had it on console, there would be no enjoying myself on my own fighting bots in Normandy or Holland on medium hard difficulty settings (multiplayer for me always ends in instant-kill after a few seconds on the map).

The leg**kof kof kof*end of zel*kof kof*da... Nough said.

I don't plan to ever buy another console. My last was PS2, and I only had 6 games for it.
I might make an exception for the hypothetical scenario in which I accidentally have kids one day.

As for "the death of PC gaming"... Nope. It's not dying. But it (as well as the rest of the gaming industry,) is dead to me.
I recently posted in some other thread that I don't really plan to buy any new games again, with the exception of indie games and anything that says "CD Projekt" on it.

Hey, I do that with my laptop too (occasionally, when I can hog the TV)! Just yesterday I was talking via Skype with my gf, as she is at the moment visiting her friend. I routed the Skype video picture from the laptop to the HDTV via HDMI. I don't need no stinking XBone to Skype on my TV! :)

Well, now with a desktop tower plugged on a HDTV and a X360 controller you can enjoy the same on your couch with usually better technical work..

Good thing with consoles are "plug and play", with games optimized as one and the same experience and the physical market, with "real deal" artwork boxes, printed manuals and dics..

Lastly a matter of being faithful to an endearing brand of choice, for me i'm a SONY fan, they are innovative and take much risks in business, constant price offers on their store, reliable company so yeah.. :)

Odd coincidence. Just an hour ago, I was contacted by one relative, as I am used as the IT expert in buying new technology to others. I was asked to check what kind of tablet to buy to one teenager.

She has a Windows laptop already, and when I asked why she wants a tablet: "Instagram". The name sounded familiar, but I wasn't quite sure which kind of service it is. I was at first "Surely it works on your laptop too? Why would you need a tablet for that?", but when I checked it online, apparently Instagram is strictly an iOS/Android app/service???

I was genuinely surprised that an apparently popular internet service wouldn't have a client for Windows PCs, but would actually require one to have a tablet or a smartphone? It sounds the same to me as if Facebook or Twitter suddenly declared that their service doesn't support Windows (anymore), but from now on you need a tablet or a smartphone in order to use it.

Hmm, who knows, maybe using a PC (for other than work) will start to look more like for dinosaurs, and there will be more and more tablet-only services... :( I guess I'll be looking for some cheapo Android phone or tablet for her then, just for that god damn Instagram.

EDIT: Now that I educated myself more about Instagram... apparently it uses location services quite much? That would explain better why it doesn't necessarily make that much sense to try to use it on PCs.

Is upgrading her computer to Windows 8 a viable solution? Many of these mobile services that lack regular desktop access have Windows Store apps available; there is no official Instragram app yet but a full-featured third-party app is due for release.

as long as there are some good games available only on consoles, I'll probably own at least one of them, while still using the pc as my main gaming platform all the same.

edit. sorry, realized this was a question for pc only gamers

PC games were "dying" when the Nintendo launched... (and probably before that).

I'm not worried. Laptops still haven't replaced desktops even though they were "supposed to".
Cell phones still haven't replaced desktops even though they were "supposed to".
Tablets aren't replacing desktops even though they are "supposed to".

Its the same type of "prediction" and somewhat related.
consoles have been around for at least 40 years and we still have desktops and pc gaming...

As for the question, no single game will cause me to buy a console. It has to have multiple features that are appealing without expecting me to agree to functionality that I don't want. Unless I win the lottery or get that 50% raise I keep asking for.. I won't buy any console at launch. After that, I'll have to see what they offer, what they expect, and what their pricing is.

Well for me at least this one has come true. In the last 5 years I haven't had/used a desktop at all. Not for work, not at home. But I have a "desktop replacement" laptop :D

Who ever told this "PC games are dying" thing?

We have a Rennaissance of the Indie gaming industry.
We have a booming market of good old games and we have sooooo many PC-Exclusive titles that nobody cares to mentioned them because it would simply embarass the sh*t out of the console market.

And some of the best games (arguably the best) are moddable.
Take a look at gog and the oldest games they provide for a Windows 8 64bit environment. Granted this does not work 100% but how many PS One games can be played on the PS4?

Now people are saying that maybe tablets will bring down the PC as a gaming system but let's just wait for that. Consoles will die out like dinosaurs while the PC will endure.

[edit]
Forgot to mention:
I'm not going to buy a new console, probably never again...

It's usually tighter with consoles.

For starters, DRM is the way to go with them because of the way they are specialized. DRM is far less potent on the PC, because people can play a reverse engineered version without cracking their hardware.

Also, gaming solutions on consoles are far more centralized. You use their hardware and software all the way. It's Microsoft on steroids.

And in a way, the exclusivity deals they broken is the equivalent of legal DRM for the devs. They only get to put their games on one console thus forcing people to buy it if they want to play the game. Selling hardware with software is not a healthy business model.

Yeah, but with a laptop, you always have an extra screen anyways (the one that is integrated with the laptop).

For desktop, you have the possibility of making the regular TV screen your only screen, much like consoles.

In terms of app compatibility, I think it will converge.

That's what is happening with the OSes: most smartphones don't have their own custom kernel anymore, they use a generic one like Android. And I think those OS will likely converge with their PC counterparts as the smartphones shed their hardware limitations.

And that is what will be happening for web apps (with responsive web design).

The only obstacles to this are device-specific app stores, but I guess it's only a matter of time before customers demand that the hundreds of dollars they sank in apps for one device be transferable to another device, pehaps including a PC.

There will be a divide along OS lines, but it's not unfeasible that you might eventually be able to run the same app on your iOS device and you Mac (isn't that happening already actually?), the same app on your Windows phone and Windows desktop and the same app on your Android device and your PC.

If worst comes to worst, web apps will become the defacto standard for a lot of applications as all device have a browser which follows 1 standard.