About year ago I wrote up this post that summed up why consoles will die out as PCs begin to take over. Many console peasants did not want to believe their fate. Now that the Xbone and PS4 have been out for a bit, we have seen what they really are. They are anemic low end PCs that don't stand a chance against PCs, and definitely won't last as long as this gen.

When the Xbox 360 came out, there was more or less nothing to match its power for the price. Microsoft was actually losing money off of every 360 sold! Now things have changed. A PC can be built [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] that will outperform this gens consoles. This build is capable of playing [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] . Compare that with the Xbone which can only put out medium settings at 720p.

These "next-gen" consoles would have been next gen material 5 years ago. In fact, the GTX 480 (a 4-year old graphics card) easily outperforms the PS4. And this is not like last gen where games were optimized for consoles. Consoles and PCs now share the exact same architecture (x86), a game can just as easily be compiled for PS4/Xbone as it can on a PC. With the Steam OS launching in the near future, and Big Picture mode making PCs into controller friendly living room systems, how are consoles expected to compete with lower game prices through insane Steam sales, free online play, better game performance, and PC hardware which just gets more and more affordable?

TL;DR Don't buy an Xbone/PS4, wait a year or so until Steam Machines become available / build your own.