And it's not like people with an apparent ax to grind against PCs don't twist the numbers also. In my not to unusual circumstances Console gaming is not really much cheaper than PC gaming. In 5 years I will probably end up replacing the 360 and/or upgrading the hard drive (at 4-5x normal retail price) and possibly a Natal add-on ($100??). On the PC side I'll probably be spending $700-800 or so for a major upgrade (MB, CPU, RAM, GFX) in a year or so.

Never played Crisis, it seemed to be mostly a tech demo than a real game, mostly suitable for benchmarks. I will agree that there are a couple games that *require* the latest and gratest and then still won't play decent when released.

It's not always easier, I've had DLC break games on the 360 and the consoles generally seem to take longer to get patches than the PC version of major titles because each patch has to be "certified" and even then the patches add new bugs and exploits like "infinite ammo" exploit in MW2 on the 360 which is funny as it apparently acts like a worm and anybody that joins a game with the hack get the hack also and can pass it on to other matches, or so I've read. Now gearbox has been a bit better patching Borderlands on the consoles than the PC and the same probably can be said for other games.

I will agree that it varies alot depending on what you play ... I frankly only buy 2-3 PC games a year and so far the DLC for them has all been free. On the console side I'm buying 5-6 games (2-3 are new releases) plus another $20-30 for DLC for the games. Some may be fine with using their main TV for a display, myself it does not so that comes into the calculation. Some have stated here that they don't use Live Gold so it's possible for them that $300 + Games is all it costs for them. They apparently are on one end of the spectrum and I'm and some of my friends are on the other side. We both have friends that use MSN, but don't have Xboxes that we like chatting with and the chatpad is much better than the OSK. My daughter and myself have our own favorite controllers and I got tired of having her unsnap the chatpad from mine and snap it on her controller and worrying about the connections wearing that I bought the 12Mo Live, Chatpad, Headset, PGR4 bundle as that was the best deal on two of those items.

Well that's a constant between the two so I did not happen to include them ... I have a solid gold gaming chair for my PC :D

Well I found the text on Resident Evil 5 unreadable and Fable II tended to be half off the top of the screen on my SD TV. On the other hand Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia and probably 80% of the games are OK on a SD TV.

To reply to some others ... no you don't need two chatpads, the total is still over $1300 then assuming buying 15 games in 3 years and 3 years of live. The PC and Console game price difference still seems to sick at $10 even for older releases.

As far as used games, that is one minor console advantage, though it's not hard finding games on steam for half regular retail quite often. Used games I normally see for only $5 less than the new version at Gamestop, I've never sold a game at Gamestop, I just usually give them to somebody else or keep them, hmmm I seem to give more games than I get.

As for a second controller for the PC ... I can't remember any PC games where you can play co-op on the same system other than a few casual games.

As far as using a computer monitor, it's possible, though if multiple people are playing a 32" is pretty much the minimum unless you like being crammed shoulder to shoulder 4' from the screen. A 32" LCD HD TV will run $300-350 new on the bottom end unless you catch a sale on a no-name brand. The 32" size seems to have dropped in price the most, though a 42" plasma or 40" LCD at full HD is good for 2-3 people sitting about 8' away.

Actually since my Daughter plays on live also on her own account I could have added another $50 a year. My son has live also, but that's out of his pocket book.

The costs are similar, for casual games using steam the PC could be cheaper, for somebody that plays more hardcore games it's about the same or somewhat cheaper on the console.

Consoles generally are easier to use, but I've had to wait longer for patches on the 360 than on the PC. Mass Effect Pinnacle station DLC caused issues with some players and it was patched in a couple days on the PC, but took over two weeks for the 360.

Also DLC in the past has been free on the PC, but that seems to be coming to an end.

I doubt that he meant $400 (amount sited by person he replied to).

But he is right, if your upgrading every year, then you are doing it wrong by buying the cheapest components that will just barely play current games right now. I built my gaming system three years ago and spent about $1200 (system, keyboard, mouse, new LCD) and just now starting to feel some performance issues.

A 360 does not cost $300, it costs $300 + $50/year for Live + $10 extra each game over PC + $600 for HD TV + $50 for an additional controller + $30 x 2 for chatpads or about $1300 in three years.

Don't tell me console gaming is any cheaper as I happen to own both.

Don't say "well you can use your regular HD TV" and I say my wife & kids would like to watch their TV programs, or "you don't need a HD TV" and I tell you it sucks as I've had to suffer playing games that the text is unreadably small on a SD TV.

Slight correction ... the shaders are running 30% faster 750 VS 575.

It still is better performing in the benchmarks I've seen than the 4830, and matches the 4850 in many.

First, the 4770 is running GDDR5 at approximatly the same clock rate as the 4830 running GDDR3 so they have the same effective memory bandwidth.

Second, while they both have 640 universal shaders, the shaders on the 4770 are running ~40% faster.

Third, so the 4770 has approximately the same or better performance than a 4850 that costs $130-150.

So I think the 4770 is a deal at $109 ... the price will probably come down after the inital rush and the 4830 will disappear.

Actually the Geode is a dead end processor, AMD already has stated they are disconinuing it.

AMD recently announced a new processor "Conesus" that is intended for netbooks and UMPC.
http://gizmodo.com/5086703/amds-upcoming-conesus-netbook-chip-wont-stoop-to-mid-levels