Way back when, I went from a sega genesis to a 386. For me it was because games for PCs were different, and the control scheme was, and still is, far superior.

The games were generally more mature and covered far more topics and settings. Since consoles have become so popular, that line is now blurred. Many "adult themed" games are now available on the console, and this is to be expected given that gamers are aging and there are a number of different platforms on the market now. I have to say I am really disappointed and worried about the trend to "consolize" and make poor ports to the PC that I've experienced over the past couple of years. It simply doesn't take advantage of all the platform has to offer and is a deliberate decision on the part of the publisher to maximize profits and minimize costs. Back in the 386 days, PC versions had more features, not less. Why has this changed?

There are still games that I love that are, for now at least, only on PC. Every non-arcade flight sim for example. Which brings me back to controls. I can plug in a variety of controls and gamepads into my PC. How am I supposed to connect a programmable stick, throttle, and rudder pedals into a console? So let's make a console that accepts keyboard, mouse, and other peripherals. Let's see, it now has all this, a hard-drive, system memory, CPU, and GPU. Sounds like a PC to me.... a non-upgradeable, proprietary machine that is good for only a few specific things.

The PC as a platform is amazingly flexible and versatile, which is why it will likely remain my platform of choice. Contrary to popular belief (if it is), it does not cost a lot of money to maintain a decent rig. It will if you want a Ferrari, but you know, I think a Corvette is damn fine.

I remember spending a number of hours trying to free up 600kb of memory by fiddling with config.sys and autoexec.bat before successfully running Aces over Europe. I remember rebuilding Windows95 every 2-3 months. I waited a year before u/g to XP. I haven't had to rebuild the o/s once, even through a couple of u/g's. I can't remember it ever being this easy to play games on the PC as a platform. I waited to hear what Vista is like before taking the plunge. Glad I did, and so much for swimming Is there buggy software? Yep, there was back then too, even on the consoles (game breaking crash near the end of Sega's Outlander for eg.), but that's not the fault of the platform, that's the fault of the people making the software for it. Maybe it's a lack of tighter standards. If so, hopefully this group will address that.

I also recall way back when overhearing conversations about people d/l cracked games from BBS'. That, sadly, has not changed either, and still remains a poor argument for abandoning the PC as a platform.

So ends my stream-of-conciousness ramblings.