First off, let me say this. I am not a console gamer, but I do play on my Xbox a lot more than my PC now-a-days. I prefer PC gaming, but the advancements in the way games are visualized takes it's toll on the gameplay.

In order to keep this fair, these few things will be left out:
1. The Wii - It is not modern and doesn't apply to the way we define a Next Generation Console and will not be applied to the console wars.
2. Project Cafe - Nothing official about the specs has been released, so please don't argue how Nintendo's next console will blow the socks off of everyone.
3. The PS3 - Blu-Ray is not something I care about and it does not effect gaming (Most of the games you buy require you to install it to the hard drive anyway).
4. Mac OS - It is not a real gaming platform, but to be more fair... It will be combined with PC gaming.
5. Anything Handheld - They do not constitute as a console. The Nintendo 3DS is a handheld. The NGP is a handheld. Get over it.

Part 1 - The main problem between Console Gaming and PC Gaming

What is a gaming console? It's a piece of hardware that allows gamers to connect it straight to their TV and play video games right out of the box. Console gamers use controllers and have a set UI (Xbox 360 Dashboard and PS3 XMB). Game consoles are also set to one set of specifications. Having one set of specifications means that game developers don't have to use more resources to configure the game for multiple hardware configurations.

But what does this have to do with PC gaming? The answer: A lot. Every game that is made in today's gaming industry is based on consoles. The reason being is that game developers only have to set their development on two hardware configurations: The Xbox 360 and the PS3. PC gaming has dwindled down to the fact that games on a PC are now ports from consoles, and to think that almost a decade ago that this wasn't the case... it was the other way around.

Remember Doom? It was a PC game (MS-DOS). It was so popular that it was ported over to the SNES and Sega Genesis. Remember Duke Nukem? It was a PC game. It was so popular that it was ported over to multiple consoles (Mainly Duke Nukem 3D). These ports weren't bad and usually were flawless, with the exception of lack of content, but it was playable without any problems.

Fast forward to today, games are now being ported from the console to PC. You would expect it to be great, but that is not the case. For an example: Assassin's Creed. Every AC game ported over to the PC, which are usually released months after the initial console release, has had so many bugs and issues that the consoles never experienced. PC gamers are mad about the lack of support. The issue has fled to even Crysis 2 (A game developed by a company that was founded on PC GAMING)! Is it really to the point that Crysis 2 was unplayable on the PC? No, but there were so many remnants from consoles.

But let's take a further look at Crysis 2. Many PC gamers are complaining to Crytek that there wasn't DirectX 11 support (DirectX is a graphics API that is available on Microsoft's operating systems) included with the game. Do I see it as a problem? No. It's stuck at using DirectX 9, an API developed way back when Windows XP was around, and the gamers are quite angry about it. What's the reason why it is stuck at DirectX 9? The Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 is not using DirectX 10 or 11, but rather DirectX 9 (The PS3 uses OpenGL).

Now you may be wondering "Wait, so why is Microsoft's console lagging behind on graphics?" The answer is simple: The hardware. The hardware is not refined enough to run games at DirectX 10 or 11. In turn, this affects PC gaming. Developers are on a set timeline and they rush everything when it comes to releasing games on the PC.

We are in a time of gaming where graphics (and gameplay) are being ruined by the old hardware in the PS3 and Xbox 360 (The PS3 and Xbox 360 are almost exactly the same in hardware). The Xbox 360 is from 2005 and the PS3 is from 2006, and the fact we won't see a new console in another 3-5 years is going to really affect PC gaming and the overall gaming community's goal for innovation.

(The next blog about Console Gaming and PC Gaming will deal with support, which will also include the fiasco of the PSN Network)

As a side note:
I am a Valve fan. Valve is a game developer who created Steam (The content platform for PC gaming), Half Life, Portal, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, and Counter Strike. Do you really think Gabe Newell cares about the PS3? No, he hates it. The company that publishes their games (EA) has a terrible partnership with Sony, which led to the creation of Steam and Portal 2 on PS3. Gabe Newell trashed the PS3 and Xbox 360 back in 2006.

Gabe Newell hates consoles to say the least.