Is The Computer Gaming Industry Finished?

[Katchoo]

Everything revolves around the almighty dollar, so Atrocities' prophecy of doom doesn't sound all that implausible

Why exactly are console games cheaper to produce than on PCs? The only thing I can think of that would reduce cost would be the lack of responsibility console game makers have after they release a game. On the PC a game maker could spend the next 5 years patching and resolving problems with their inital design (multiply this time by 50 to get an idea of how long it could take to fix MOO3). But if you put your game on a console, there's little to no updating or patching required (ok, it's required just as much on the PC side, but console game makers have the excuse that they can't update their software as easily as they could on the PC). Granted that Online capabilities & the inclusion of hard drives in newer consoles (ie: X-Box, and the upcomming PS3 or whatever it'll be called) are making this "post-release quality control" easier, but I don't see console game makers ever fretting over their product the way the way they do when it's developed on the PC ('cause us PC people are picky & savvy, deservedly so).

Anyways, I don't think the hardware vendors on the PC side will sit idly by and watch their support structre vanish like a fart in the wind. Video card manufactures make money hand over fist by cranking out a new video card every 2 months, and they aren't going to let that money just dry up.

And I don't think we would have optical mice this soon had PC games not been around, so i'm sure there are other technologies out there on the cusp of production that are strongly driven by the existance of PC gaming.

Would we realize the existance of a great game right away if there wasen't a glut of garbage games to compare it to? That could be worrisome...