PC/Console Hybrid

[Lemur]

I'm putting all my money down on the Infinium Phantom. Finally, a true PC on a console. Just waiting for my pre-order to get filled, don't know what's taking them so durn long ...

[Phatose]

Really, all you'd need to do to kill off the last of PC gaming these days is to start shipping keyboard and mouse along with a PS3 or X360. Both machines already can output HDTV via DVI or HDMI, which means it's pretty much video compatible with any monitor you can find, assuming you put in some resolution tweaking. USB already exists on both consoles, if I'm not mistaken.

The reason PC gaming still exists is the keyboard/mouse combo, and though you can buy usb keyboard/mice cheaply and use them on either, developers are loathe to target input devices that a great majority of users don't have.

[Husar]

Well, it seems that as consoles actually move closer to being such hybrids, their price also increases a lot.

PCs are very customizable and enable you to do a lot of things, I can play a game, make a screenshot, edit that screenshot and then print it and send a copy to my friend over the net. And given the right drivers I can connect almost any piece of Hardware to a PC and I guess it's this ability that usually costs a lot, in comparison, consoles are communism.

I once played some Lara croft game on the PS2 IIRC and had tried the demo on my not really new PC before. Well, the gameplay was a lot more fluent on the PC whereas the standard settings on the console made the game feel like it was running in slow-motion all the time. The best guess I have is that they wanted to have good graphics and had to slow down most calculations to enable enough power to calculate the graphics without making it stutter on the console or it's something to do with the controls, but it definitely was more fun on the PC even if it didn't look as good.

The problem with this sort of hybrid could easily be that you have to buy the next newer version of the hybrid every half a year because game developers want to show off some graphics and thus games won't run on your hybrid anymore. And similar to the console market, there could be different hybrids from different companies which aren't cross compatible, compatibility is what PCs are for, too much standardization can lead to less standardization when competing companies are involved. I think if what you want was possible some company would have done it already.

[Bootsiuv]

I've often found games like Lara Croft's Tomb Raider(currently enjoying Angel of Darkness), somewhat difficult using mouse/keyboard, and as for PC controllers, while I love my Saitek P2500 Rumble Force Pad, it is often somewhat "clunky" as well.

While games like Resident Evil 4 (a fantastic game btw, I recommend it to all of those who loved the RE series back in the PS1 days) play well enough, some real classics such as GTA:San Andreas are all but unplayable. Some buttons don't work right, and there isn't eveb an option to change every control....some things have to be controlled by the keyboard, which makes play awkward, especially during missions which require precise button/analog combinations.

I've also never had one game rumble with the damn thing....I've actually been thinking of picking up an Xbox 360 controller to use with my PC....I'm a loyal follower of PC GAMER, and they strongly recommended it, so I figured I might give it a whirl.