With all the buzz surrounding the console wars and everyone's collective eye on the new generation game consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, the fourth competitor in the fray is often overlooked, the Windows PC.

Neither consumers nor the games industry itself normally regards the ubiquitous personal computer as a console competitor, but they should.

When you think about it, the PC has been around the longest and has collectively sold a bazillion units at least, unlike the mere millions of consoles sold collectively. It's simply the most pervasive piece of high technology out there, save maybe for the pocket calculator or digital watch.

The problem, of course, is that the PC, specifically one powered by a Microsoft operating system, is not really known for its stability. Games made for it, meanwhile have always been known to suffer the ignominious foible of rank instability; crashes and conflicts abound while software ships with bugs and glitches that must be fixed or "patched" almost immediately with still more potentially buggy software.

The reason for this, of course, is that new technology comes available almost daily; the various components of a PC can be swapped out or upgraded by anybody while the operating system and other software added to it can differ greatly from user to user to billionth user. The exponentially ridiculous number of PC configurations possible is exactly why they're all notoriously unstable. As such, it's been nearly impossible for a game developer to truly design a bug free game - if they even bother to try, and many don't, because there's little point and likely even less money in the production budget to make it expected.

This is also why videogame consoles of any vintage always succeed where the PC can not; consoles offer a singular platform with and un-alterable architecture and the primary purpose of playing game software written specifically for it. That and they plug into a TV set in the living room, a more familial environment and more conducive to leisure entertainment.

But the Windows PC platform is changing. In fact, it's been evolving for some time. Recent advances in processing and video capabilities - not to mention the emergence of broadband internet and all the quick fix and remote trouble-shooting that enables - make even a modestly equipped, sub-$1000 PC frightfully powerful by console standards, even the new-generation ones, which has also given game developers much more breathing room in developing PC games that are more stable, because they don't need to max out the architecture, just make thing look good and play smooth. Designing for the middle-of-the-road is safer and still yields comparatively better result. Or can, anyway.

The PC is the platform of choice for first-person shooter (FPS) fans and players of massively multi-player online games (MMOGs) for both the vastly more elaborate control offered by a keyboard and mouse and the instant community built around each game (which, to date, only Xbox Live has been able to loosely emulate). MMOGs in particular - Warcraft, Guild Wars, EverQuest and the like -, enjoy huge followings with a single game purchase plus a monthly subscription to the game's many persistent-world servers costing another $10 - $15 a month. This model allows developers to continually enhance and expand such games (and make a lot of money) without the need to build and market a brand new game from scratch - a business model the consoles couldn't even think about entertaining until just now.

Furthermore, with Microsoft's new Vista operating system, gamers - and more importantly, game developers - will have a PC that can be righteously touted as a viable game platform thanks to Vista's unified games-programming technology called DirectX 10.

Too, Microsoft has also just launched the new "Games for Windows" brand, which uses Vista to moderator all components and rank each PC it's running on, thereby allowing games to show threshold requirements as a single numeric value (as opposed to the minimum spec technobabble usually found on the packaging). Games for Windows will also serve as a certification program in which games thus labeled will go toe-to-toe with console titles as far as stability is concerned, probably match or exceed them in terms of graphics and potentially in gameplay, too.

PC games published without this "Games for" brand are considered "uncertified" and therefore potentially unstable. Needless to say, the big game publishers and many of the smaller ones are on board with this branding/certification scheme, because it makes them all look good and their games look elite.

Which leaves only the "where" of PC gameplay in question.

The thing is, modern PCs -especially ones running Windows "Media Center Edition" - are just as effective in the living room as the office, basement or den, probably more so.

Though two of three new generation consoles are pushing high definition like so many HDTV salesmen, most PC's have been doing high-def for years, albeit on relatively small but nevertheless high resolution PC monitors. But a PC can just as easily jack into a big fat widescreen HDTV while wireless keyboards other input devices are readily available. Thus situated, a PC in the living room does everything a PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 can do without breaking a sweat - including playing top tier console games like Call of Duty 3 or Halo as well as famously exclusive titles like the aforementioned Warcraft et al. Plus there's all that digital photo editing, movie making, web surfing - free casual games sites, anyone? -, emailing, digital audio ripping... you get the idea.

Windows PC in Bullet Time

The Goods

• You probably already own a PC or are about to crawl out of your cave to go buy one


• Window Vista and Games for Windows certification process looks create a unified, stable game platform


• Anything consoles can do a PC can do better (PC's dad can beat up console's dad)


• More productivity and multimedia functions than you can shake a controller at and free casual games galore


The Grief

• A PC powerful enough to compete with new-gen consoles can be just as pricey or more so; an HDTV is required for living room play (PCs don't do "standard" definition)


• PC components and software (other than games) are the very definition of "planned obsolescence" (upgrade or die)


• Multi-player games are usually internet based only, no couch buddy play available


• Now matter how secure and stable Windows Vista is, someone will hack it and then maybe go hack you


Should you buy it?

• Newsflash, you probably already did. Good for you. Now just consider adding some wireless peripherals and maybe a big fat plasma TV to jack it in to and you're good to go.

Also see:

• Console Wars '06 - Historically Speaking


• Console Wars '06 - Exhibit A: The Xbox 360


• Console Wars '06 - Exhibit B: The PlayStation 3


• Console Wars '06 - Exhibit C: The Nintendo Wii


• Console Wars '06 - Exhibit D: The Windows PC