God I hope they're not full of shit.
Hey Microsoft, pro tip: port a buncha the 360 exclusives to PC, AT LEAST your first party shit, and get on that live anywhere 360 vs. PC shit for fuck's sake.

PC vs Consoles? Why yes, I do believe I smell some Internet all up in here.

Yeah, as fps_ted and others have said, nVidia + AMD/ATI just seems weird, almost "Sonic and Mario in the same game?! WTF?" weird.

Why are people claiming that PC gaming is worse because of the need for patches? If I recall correctly, ALL the modern consoles get patches now. And then people are ASKING for patches for the 360 TF2. Patches in themselves are not bad, especially if they add new content and features.

My only hope is that this "alliance" focuses on encouraging developers to write more efficient games that require less hardware. People look at Assassin's Creed and go "See? See? PC gaming is expensive," conveniently forgetting that you can run the Orange box on a toaster. RAM is cheap enough to give out at Halloween (You can get a GOOD 2GB kit for $40). AMD dominates the budget processor realm with great deals right now, and both nVidia and ATI have cards that run games decently for cheap. There is no good card for Crysis yet, but most games aren't Crysis.

Its good that MS are looking to address the pc problem, but PC is as much its own enemy as it is its best friend. One one hand its the hub of pro/indie game development, gaming and web surfing, and on the other its the route of piracy, keeping up with the Jones' annoying hardware/software problems etc.

I get that keyboard and mouse are good for some games, but those games are but a small portion of genres that consoles can do easily, and more besides. I've enjoyed a lot of PC gaming in the past, but the likes of hardware developers rule its castle, have killed it for me. This leaves them building a lofty hardware race that many of us can't bother with.

Consoles will always trump PCs, because their priority is games. Not hardware or software etc, games.

Hey PC gamers, come back and tell me how SSF2THD is on PC. Oh year, you guys aren't getting it (let alone any beat em ups). The reason behind this is PCs lack of solid 360 control pad support, something MS should be pushing more on PC, next to this alliance (I'll be watching to see if they do). Only then will PC gaming begging to thrive more next to consoles.

YESSSS!!!!

Oh boy, I love reading comments like this (not really).

It's like console fans have to constantly convince themselves that they have the superior platform every time an article about PC gaming shows up. Hey, if you like your console, why don't you just play it and stop throwing out 15-year old myths around? I mean, that's what PC gamers do. Play games. But from time to time we have to debunk the FUD that gets spread over the tubes.

What kind of FUD?

PC gaming is expensive: Yes and no. I've seen the good ol' "OMFG YOU NEED A $2000 MACHINE TO PLAY CRYSIS ON MEDIUM!" rant thrown out a lot. I just built a $800 machine (with some mild OC) a few weeks ago that runs Crysis on high with 40+ FPS, and that's not counting with the fabricated ingame benchmark. Obviously the cost is more than todays consoles, but it also a far cry (yay puns) from the $2000, or even $1000 (if you know where to luck) figure people throw out. Don't want to build it yourself? Add +$50-$75 for a local/small computer shop to make it for you.

PC gaming requires patches: Xbox Dashboard and game updates, Wii firmware updates, PS3 system software updates. WTF DO YOU THINK THESE ARE?! Newsflash: OSes and games are not pristine and perfect out of the box on any platform, including consoles. To slam PCs alone for this reason is petty. Installing patches and drivers on PC is a rather painless endeavour.

PC gaming is just shooters and WoW: I'm guessing the people who spew this out are regulars at GameStop that don't bother to give the time to look at "the other shelf". I would list all the non-shooter and non-MMO games I've played this year, but I know someone would throw a "but there's still more shooters!" line regardless. Let's just say that the FUD in question is false, especially when you add non-retail games into the equation.

My ran may seem a bit aggressive. But I just woke up and this was the first thing that popped up from my feed reader, and obviously my blood boils a bit when people spread misinformed "facts" about one of my hobbies around.

Oh, happy Valentine's Day! Remember to shower your console with chocolates, flowers and kisses.

Devastator will destroy Voltron.

Dryvby and MrElusive FTW

Seriously, a gaming PC costs about 1000 and a Xbox360 cost around 500+ when released. For 500 dollars more you get so much more power how is that a bad deal? And my PC isn't ever going to RROD on me and if something does go wrong with it I can just fix it myself. Can any of you open your Xbox360 and fix it?

So many comments... what forms blazing sword?!

Glorious Graphics

GOD FUCKING BLESS VOLTRON!

"And I'll form the head!" Oh, my head's formed alright...

Sorry i cant ever Spell right..... I meant Cash....not catch

Iam so Retarded...Duh!!!

Microsoft needs to stop using gaming as a way to force people to switch to vista. This alliance could mean better games to come to the pc, but if the gamers don't buy them (like what's happening now) the publishers will not invest in pc gaming.

I bet they're only gonna say something like "we are working together and have some strategies" and it will all be the same.

lol... microsoft has been working it's very hardest to destroy pc gaming :)

xbl brought online gaming en masse to consoles with things like universal friendslists...

it brought consoles into the high def era, directly competing with pc's.

it released dx10, which looks the exact same as dx 9 and is vista only, even though crysis in dx10 will action run on xp?

it released windows vista, which sucks performance wise for gaming...

It stole halo, bioshock, etc, that would have been pc exclusive games that were neutered to run on consoles.

seriously =) we'll see what happens, but all that really needs to happen is for the price of pc components to drop 75%, making it cost the same to build a console as build a new pc, given you have to build a new fucking pc every year just to keep up with the planned obsolescence strategy held by nvidia, amd, microsoft and intel themselves.

Ok, first of all most of you need to think of what a console really is and what it striving to be. Basically a console is nothing more than a basic computer, not allowing you to do anything other than play games. Secondly no matter what eventually a console will be a pc, sure it may not have different programs like word and exel, but it will be just a gaming pc. I don't know about most but i like being able to get on my pc and do what ever i want to it change what i want and make games or anything else i want. Can your console do that? NO! Besides pc gaming will never die because of 2 things. PC's will always be around. And 2 how the F! do you think you get your console games? thats right big shocker they are made and tested on a PC first so naturally why not go ahead and make them for both? besides anyone who likes having more brains and freedom in a game knows that consoles are promoting the down fall in children today.