http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/6014-Xbox-360-and-PS3-Are-Just-Very-Crap-PCs Nathan Boyes - P.C. And consoles made a baby... and it's UGLY

For quite some time a topic that has come up between my circle of friends is on the existence of consoles. Often I'm the one arguing against their existence, I saw no reason for them to exist, and this vlog up above explains why I believe this, their practically crappy versions of P.C.'s. Recently, however, I have been convinced otherwise.

Consoles have their place in the market; they have just been filling the wrong role. Consoles are great devices for pop in and go action to play some games in the comfort of the living room with your friends. Their quick and convenient, no fuss.  It's a lot like some of the games on the market as well, they try to fill the role of more things than they can handle. Metal Gear Solid's franchise has become a half video half game type of deal, while trying to fill the role of both things it fails at both. The people who want to play a good game get stuck watching a movie, and the people who want to watch a movie get stuck playing a game! Consoles have become that middle point between a good console and a good P.C.

People argue that consoles are still important because not everyone can afford a P.C. This is true not everyone can, but even this falls into the mix. If consoles focused on just being consoles, their prices would drop, making them more accessible to those who need a gaming console. Cheap P.C's can handle everything non game related. The concept of keeping everything focused on its primary purpose ensures that nothing sacrifices its primary purpose for that of a secondary.

The biggest problem with consoles of today is not even their trying to be what they are not; it's poor preparation for their releases. It used to be that when you made a game, you would release it, and that was that. You could no longer modify the game after its release.  Now games are finding bugs within the first 24 hours of its launch, after buying a game you need to wait for your new console to patch so you can wait for your game to patch, a lot of waiting time to fix small bugs. PC ends up with better support in the long run because it also allows for users to get rid of errors through user made patches that are optional.

Hopefully consoles will realize what they have done wrong and go back to their roots. We already have innovations like the steam box coming into play that will take the middle ground between computer and console without the losses of previous consoles, but let's see if we can get something going to the very core of consoles.