With the introduction of the PS3, Xbox 360 and the WII , I believe we may be seeing the last generation of PC gaming as we know it today.
Consider the facts.
The consoles are backed by large corporations which subsidize the price of the consoles to ensure market share. Sony, Microsoft, etc all loose money on every console they sell, but make it up through subsequent sales of games and the sheer number of consoles sold. Sony for instance looses a reported $241.35 for every PS3 they sell while for Microsoft the figure is around 126$.
For a PC one has to source the components separately and none of the hardware manufacturers are as big as the console corporations, . Also they have absolutely nothing to gain by subsidizing their products. Hence their is no way a PC gamer can get the same value as that of console. Add to the fact that the life-cycle of a console is at least 5 years as compared to a maximum of 3 years for the PC. So, there is absolutely no way a PC can compete with a console on the price factor.
I think the main hurdles for a console manufacturer were the lack of connectivity, poor resolution of TV's, and poor gaming interfaces. The emergence of LCD and plasma screens and integration of internet gaming in consoles has to a large extent solved the first two.
Why consoles, do not provide a keyboard and a mouse as standard or at least as an official accessories and allow 3rd party manufacturers I cannot understand. Entire genres of games like FPS(like counterstrike) or RTS(Warcraft) cannot even use a console.
On one hand these people spend millions trying to get an accurate motion sensing mechanisms and the 'perfectly' shaped controllers but on the other they are not bothering to incorporate and market, proven and existing technologies like a mouse and a keyboard. A few consoles have options to attach a mouse, but tracking/quality is poor or they havent been marketed well. What does a console manufacturer have to loose ?
The argument against having a keyboard and a mouse is that it doesn't suit the 'image' or its cumbersome to control a mouse sitting on a sofa 5 feet away. But surely, for a huge market share these problems can be overcome.Also, And the argument that hardcore fps and rts users don't want to use a console doesn't add up to me. If they had an option to play the same game the same way on a console, wouldn't they at-least consider it?
As a casual gamer myself, I would love to have the option to play all of FIFA , Counterstrike and Warcraft on the console properly and leave my PC free for doing other stuff!