A PC can emulate other consoles, but that's not a major impact against them. My biggest issue with consoles is that they don't have any CPU to speak of. The PS3, the most powerful of the current-gen consoles, only reserves 11% of its thinking power to a CPU. When done right, consoles can draw. But they can't think. And when I like CPU intensive games like X-Plane 9, consoles are a no go.
A PC is even better for casual games in that you can jump in and out of them much quicker than consoles, which require a free TV, and you need to turn on the TV, console, put the game in... PCs just turn the game on, play a little, quit, and go back to work. (A game called DEFCON even has an office-mode, which runs in the background as you work)
Now many PC games cost $60 when new. This is because consoles did it first. And why did consoles do that? Because when you buy an Xbox for $300, Microsoft loses money that it regains through game sails. Same with the PS3. PCs and the Wii are the only systems that make money on the hardware, which is why games that are made solely for those systems are much cheaper. Starcraft 2 when it came out cost $50. That's the highest you will see for PC only titles.
And for people who say that getting a gaming rig is expensive: Unlike consoles, PC hardware gets cheaper over time. It is true that getting the latest hardware is expensive, but if yo wait a year or two, or simply settle for something that's a bit weaker, it's easy to be on a budget. My rig, which is far from being the best, but is still decent, only costs $300 in parts. This is the cost of an Xbox, but my system is more powerful.
It really comes down to preferences in the end. I am completely biased towards PCs.
I would also like to congratulate you guys. I don't see any flames yet. Better than on other forums.
