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PC Developers, Gamers Ditching Platform for Consoles

The bad press for PC gaming continued today as id Software's Steve Nix said the growing console fan base was too enticing a prospect for PC developers to ignore anymore.

"I know that I have friends who are considered core gamers, who years ago were just keyboard and mouse guys--now, when a game ships on all platforms, they buy the console version, even though the PC version is sitting there and they have a PC that would run it perfectly well. It's just their preference," Nix told Eurogamer.net.

Piling on was Greg Stone, designer for Nerve Software (Xbox 360 version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars), who said he was exactly the kind of developer that Nix was describing - a guy that used to play on PCs, but was now completely smitten with consoles.

"It's so much money to keep up with the bleeding edge of technology on the PC, and it really just is easier to take a console and say, well, this is good enough," he said.

Nix did concede that PC gamers still have a leg up in the graphics department over their console cousins. "Right now, if you have the highest of high-end PCs, you're generally going to get a better visual experience. There's no console out there that's as powerful as a God machine right now, with a Quad-Core and a GeForce 8800 - it's very hard for any console to compete with that."

For more computer gaming news, visit GamePro. Story copyright © 2007 IDG Entertainment. All rights reserved.