THE WARZONE
By Staff Writer - CEVO|DeShong

Throughout the past years, upgrades have been released to both the PC and Console gaming systems. Ranging from the releases of the nVidia 7800 to the release of the Xbox 360, both sides of the spectrum are fighting their hardest to stay on top. Some may disagree, some may say that PC is far ahead, and though that is technically true, companies like Microsoft and Sony are striving to new heights in the console gaming era.

Allow me to take you into both worlds, and do a detailed comparison between the Console and PC communities.

In 2000, the Xbox was released by Microsoft, and was the "it" gift of the Holiday year. Millions of children were asking their mommy's and daddy's for this "top-notch" system. This system was one of the first console systems to allow a local area networked game environment, and also was one of the first systems to have a full-fledged integrated multiplayer database, where players from all around the world could connect and play online via a broadband connection.

When Xbox was announced, PC gamers laughed. The PC gaming world had increased from the 1990's a whopping 2.2 million players each year. In the early 90's, when Doom was first released for PC, it was one of the first few games to release the ability of LAN. But console gamers everywhere were crazed about this new direct linking ability.

In 2005, Valve reported that PC gamers were playing over 50 billion minutes. Of course, one person wasn't doing this, the figure was a combined number of all players "game-time" since the beginning of the year (2005). Though, if you don't think that means anything, a later figure pointed out that it would take a single person over 2.28 million years to accomplish this.

In that same year, Microsoft reported that their original Xbox's Online Live! system had decreased from a 7 digit figure to a simple 5 digit figure. Rumors stated that Microsoft pushed their new Xbox 360's release date earlier because of this "great depression."

When Xbox 360 was first released in the holidays of 2005, immediately millions upon millions of kids asked and were given this hot item. Weirdly enough, less than one month later, Microsoft announces a possible recall and end ups receiving hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360's which were said to have problems ranging from blurred screens, to actual smoke coming from ventilation from the Xbox 360 itself.

With the Xbox 360's release, console gaming seems to have somewhat of a chance for now. The main reason why people aren't switching from console games to PC games is primarily due to money. Money is the 'make-or-break' in gaming. And one major reason why people go to console gaming is because it is a one-time purchase. Basically meaning that there are no hardware upgrades required over so many years.

The Xbox 360 truly broke barriers for the console gaming scene, mainly because of the triple processors and brand new Xbox Live system. The graphics, for console gamers, are revolutionary. There is nothing in their way.

Nothing except...PC gamers.

The computer gaming revolution expands each year with groundbreaking graphics from games such as Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. The main advantage to the computer gaming scene is the fact that companies can keep updating their games. It's not a "hit-or-miss" idea as it is with console games.

Many things attract people to the computer gaming environment, and the primary things are the communities and competition.

Right now, the PC competitive scene is increasing yearly, with millions of new players, and thousands of tournaments taking place around the world. With cash prizes of over $300,000, very few people can say that they're not interested in the scene.

Newly released games, updates, and graphical environments, the world of PC gamers is made up of things that console gamers won't be able to experience for years to come.

Companies such as Microsoft and Sony are trying their hardest to almost, as it seems, convert to more of a PC gaming idea. In 2002, Microsoft announced an optical mouse, and a keyboard for those who don't enjoy using controllers. Ironically, two months after the announcement, Microsoft stated that they decided against the idea of introducing the two products, as they believed it would compromise the feel of a true console game.

With new advances each year, both console and PC gamers alike are introduced to new environments, styles, and in-game abilities.

The question you should be asking yourself is, "Where is your comfort zone?