The competitive nature of PC gaming is also removing from the picture one of the historical criticisms of PC gaming: that it is difficult compared to playing games on consoles. This includes complaints about installing and patching games, or finding friends to play them with online. Multiple iterations of Microsoft's Windows OS, better drivers for peripherals, graphics cards, motherboards and sound cards, and free services like Xfire have all led to much greater ease of use for gamers than in the past.

At Xfire, we see PC gaming trends in real time. When you have over 4 million registered users each running Xfire an average of 89 hours per month, you pretty much have a good idea of where gaming is going. One of the more common criticisms of PC gaming is that it has become cost prohibitive; many of the latest PC games require a PC costing at least £1,500 to run. Yet, as the trends show on Xfire, the most popular games are not necessarily the ones that have the nicest graphics or the most special effects, but rather the ones that have the best game play. Among the top ten games being played now are World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike, Guild Wars, Call of Duty, and Warcraft III, all of which require only modest hardware to play.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Microsoft factor; Redmond undoubtedly has to defend its operating system dominance. One of the only key areas where Microsoft enjoys a significant advantage is with games using its DirectX architecture. Without DirectX there is no real need to run Windows anymore, as you can do everything just as well on Linux or the Mac. Microsoft knows it cannot give up this lead and will, no doubt, do everything in its power to promote the PC as the future gaming platform of choice.

So does PC gaming have a future? Absolutely, but perhaps not in a form we would recognize today. The flexible and open nature of the PC platform will continue to mean the introduction of ground-breaking new games and models over the next few years. We're excited to see what's next.