Opinions on gaming's paths (PC/Console to Phone/Tablet)

[Ziero]

Comparing the nickle-and-diming of music and songs to that of gaming is really a false comparison. The 99 cent song bit worked for music because music is easily "shared" and spread between large groups of people, but games...ones that aren't DLC...aren't as easy to pirate. Especially when you consider the real future of gaming (or rather current reality) online play, where everyone needs registered accounts to play with friends. These silly mobile games and such might have mass appeal, but they'll never really replace the hardcore backbone of gaming and gamers. While things like the DS and Vita might suffer from these hand held, 5 minute free games, actual console and PC games will still be things that will never be something you can fully appreciate while waitin on a train or sittin on a toilet.

While hand held games seem to getting smaller and more casual, console and PC titles are just getting larger and more complex as time goes on. Ipad gaming will have mass appeal but larger games will still be what the gamer community as a whole focus their attention to, and both game companies and game makers know this and will continue to cater to them.

[BaneTheBrawler]

It's more than that. Console developers don't need to worry about testing compatibility across a wide range of hardware. Look what happens when Japanese console devs try to program for PCs.

That's part of what I mean by accessibility. If Microsoft would make, say, a set of specifications for PCs that, if met, would earn that PC an "Xbox approved!" sticker or something, it would make it easier both for programmers and for consumers. People who don't know what a good computer entails could say "Oh, that one is rated for Xbox. I'll just get that." and have no problems playing games on it. Yes, programmers would still have to (and want to) make games compatible for an array of hardware, but they do that already (since no exclusive stays exclusive forever) and it would narrow the field. They could have opposing stickers on the games, too. "Compatible with Xbox Approved PCs ONLY." then after a while release an update or new edition that increases compatibility to a wider array, if it does well.