Oh sure, they have the software aspect covered, but imagine if they monopolised hardware. High prices, low quality and barrels of fun… or did I mean bugs? I’ve been thinking however, it would not be such a hard thing for MS to do. They already have the 360, which is basically a computer without the failware that is Windows. Why don’t they release a gaming PC? When thinking about this in depth there would be major advantages and disadvantages to such a plan for gamers.


Is this the future of PC gaming?

If MS released a PC, which, like the 360, had all the hardware needed for the next 4/5 years of gaming in it, there would be no need to buy new graphics cards, more RAM, better processors. You would go down to your local shop (Gamestation, Game or whatever the American equivalents are), open the box, plug in a couple of cables and done - your very own shiny new PC without all the building and constant upgrading. It would mean that all the games would run. No need for checking the specs and looking for the latest drivers. Like a console, you would get it, put in a disc, and play. However, you’d still have all the functions and extravagant comforts of the PC, such as being able to type and point where you want to.

You could go on the interwebz, read the latest gaming news, check your email or visit an inappropriate website or five, all whilst being on what is basically your console. It could be hooked up to a monitor or TV, have a controller or mouse and keyboard, and be all in one machine.

These machines would come in 2 flavours - standard (for your fail people i.e. non-gamers who only need it for stupid non-gaming needs) and gaming (for non-fail people i.e. gamers). Developers would develop their games to run on the gaming versions. They “could” make them like Crysis which doesn’t run on anything, ever (if you claim it can run on your computer you’re a dirty liar! Games don’t run… they have no feet), but simply not enough people would have machines that could run them.


Forgive me, I had to.

But this isn’t just speculation (well it is, but justified speculation) - after all, you can get keyboards for your 360, go on Facebook, send each other messages over the Enternet (this new system could be called “E”-post). Could we possibly see our consoles turn into PCs in the next generation? If this one carries on till 2012/2013 or even 2014 as some people claim it might, who knows what could happen in the next 4 years? People thought the Wii would stop selling after a year or so when people realised it was a gimmick - it didn’t, and it still hasn’t.

But do we actually want a world where MS rules the PC hardware world as well? I certainly would like to be able to play all the PC games that are going to come out in 4 years time on the machine I am writing at now, but were that to happen, other consoles would have to have their own operating systems (or something similar) to keep up, and would they be any good? Would this spark a new dawn where the new, Sony-developed operating system, Doors (pardon the obvious clichéd pun), ruled all software? Or would Apple take the semi-anticipated step into gaming consoles? This is now unanswerable territory, but to be honest, as long as it doesn’t lead to one company dominating the market, I would not mind one device for all my electronic needs - in fact I would welcome it.