Standardized hardware means *not* playing to the lowest common denominator.
Quite the opposite in fact. Buying a console locks you in to whatever hardware the game corporation decides is good enough for the mass market.
PC gaming *is* more expensive, it's tolerated because PC's have other uses (like bragging on-line and hentai).
Again, this is by choice. Instead of being locked in to whatever hardware the game corporation picks for the current generation, you can buy better parts. If you are on a budget, you can get used parts for cheaper than consoles and still be able to play modern games at console level quality.
And, finally, designing a game to use a controller is not the same as band-aiding a game to use a controller. There is a lot more to play out there than games with a gun bobbing around in your PoV.
Again, as a PC gamer you have a choice in which type of control you want to use rather than being locked to whichever designs have been licensed out by the game corporation. There are plenty of games that can't be played well with a controller, like Civ V for example.
"Just think, with VLSI we can have 100 ENIACS on a chip!" -- Alan Perlis