Everyone else has already covered most of what I would say in response to St John's arguments - I don't think consoles are going anywhere. Two things I would add though.

First, St John might have a point that hasn't been well-covered here: the advent of cloud computing raises possibilities for videogames that aren't well-understood yet. If a company can get a game running on servers in an online cloud that anyone can access over the internet, then it won't matter what box you use to play the game on: the console/computer essentially just functions as an internet terminal, and the quality of your graphics will be determined by your connection bandwidth, not your local hardware. You could end up (probably in 5-10 years time, mind) with a $40 console that's little more than a commodity, like today's DVD players. Single-player FPS and RTS games can work on this model just as easily as multiplayer games. This future scenario is totally plausible once bandwidth gets to an appropriate level, but is by no means inevitable.

Second, to the point that consumers in East Asia get by without console boxes, this has less to do with whether they like consoles or not than it has to do with what's practical for them. If you can only afford to play videogames 50 cents at a time in an internet cafe then naturally the sorts of games that can be accessed over the internet (i.e. Flash games) or that come pre-installed on the computers in cafes (Lineage, Starcraft) will be the ones that get the most playtime. As people in those countries get richer, more of them will be able to afford home console gaming, and generally speaking economic consumption habits in developing countries tend to converge with habits in rich countries as levels of income converge. Just as we see the Chinese swapping their bicycles for cars as they get richer, they may swap their net-focused gameplay habits for home consoles as their incomes increase.

I don't buy a console, especially a sony or microsoft one, for the online value, or the things that I can do on my PC. I buy one with the idea that I can get with my friends and play in a single room. I don't want to connect with them online. I want to LAN together. I want to be able to take a console to a friends house, LAN the consoles, and have a party with everyone in one room. The death of the console kills the social aspect of gaming. You can make the argument for MMO's being social gaming, but it's just so impersonal.

Consoles are the reason most people game; only hardcore gamers use their PC exclusively, and if Sony moves to MMO's for the PS3, there's practically no reason for me to even use my PC for games.

Last console generation LOL!!!!!

So it IS true that everybody thinks there platform is the best. Although I’m not going to deny that consoles are catching up and fast. PS3 is about a close as you going to get to pc gaming experience and saving about £700 in the process and what I’ve seen of it Xbox360 does a pretty decent job of it too. what none of those guys deem worthy of mentioning the reason why console gaming is so popular, is that the hardware provided work so well. There is so much baggage that goes along with the PC that a casual gamer would simple not enjoy.

I'm going to play devil's advocate because I have both PS3 and PC and I see benefits of both.I think in term of logical progression consoles are just getting going, you can stuff paying a thousand pounds and getting a machine that still might be in date in a years time, or you can get a next-gen consoles, for the price of one Top End PC gfx card, which for the money offers a stunning alternative..

You won't have a bloated operating system. You don't have to mess about with drivers and you can literally plug and play. You won’t get other application taking preference at integral moments of gameplay. You won’t have those annoying moment as you ALT+TAB in mid battle. What you will get is a working hardware solution straight out of the box. You could, if so desired put a Linux build on the PS3 and use it’s as a PC.

The DLC with consoles is getting really good now with more and more software houses embracing the direct to drive technology. Playstation network a excellent easy to use service. And most importantly with Sony, you don’t have to pay that all important subscription fee that comes with XboxLive.

PC’s are great if your an enthusiast and want to spend more time tweaking this thing or that, to get your games running better, they have a very prescribed use for the most part, even with the sector become more popular with gamers. PC are difficult to use, troublesome in terms of hardware reliability and effectiveness. The market is saturated with third part equipment which at best is bewildering. They do offer some advantage though. PC games by and large supersede consoles on image quality in game and it term of general use thee is a lot more functionality with a windows based OS.

I run the PS3 through a second hand Hitachi cpx990 projector at 1080i with games that support it, although the vast majority of PS3 at the moment are 720p. PS3 falls down on image quality and that's always were the PC is at an advantage. You can really pile on the AA and AF on pc, with consoles you don’t really get that, hence all the jangley lines, but I can handle that when there is no lag and everything run’s smooth at 60fps, shame similar can’t be said of my Desktop PC running Vista running on a Over clocked Quad with 2x Over clocked 8800GT (SLI) gfx and as much DRR2 ram as I could get on the board (8GB as I have 680i Striker). I still have trouble getting good frame rates out of games like crysis and far cry 2 if running at resolutions like 1680x1050 (or similar). I realise that even though I have spent the best part of this year building the machine and slowly realising that it shortly be happening again.

About march time this year, encourage by GTA4 bundle and was have been seriously impressed. It’s really was the right time to buy the PS3 there has been loads of top releases over the last couple of months. I’m have currently sated my appetite for games this, but still look forward to what Q12009 will bring. One slight niggle with the PS3 was the initial Hard drive size. considering I have a Terrabyte in my PC on mirrored raid it was disappointment that there were no advantage to using a higher rpm hard drive. Plus the initial capacity was used up in a few months with games. I was also disappointed initially with the lack of PS2 backward compatibility, but I soon got over this.

In terms of post processing, the PS3 really shines, if you compare Devil May Cry on all three formats for me PS3 version is the best. PC is almost too crisp and clear and the models look like there superimposed on the background, very decent gfx and good amount of AA/AF but no post processing you get with the PS3 version.. But with the PS3 version, they’ve really gone to town, the textures are smooth foreground as background have nice depth of field so the models look at home within the environment. These are just a few quick examples. there are others, don’t even get me started on Grid.

I believe if anything, as much as PC gamers like to comment to contrary. Consoles are becoming more like PC and vice versa and in the end they'll meet on some new common ground, maybe where everything has the almost Identical hardware and you just buy whatever system you like based on the brand you want to be associated with (MS, Sony or Nintendo, perhaps Sega)

I just think as gamers we should ALL be on a level playing field, who give's a shit who's got the most powerful system just get some decent games on the go. I would like to see the day when we can game cross format. and everyone uses the same control method, to do away with this Keyboard and mouse is better than Joypad argument. But none of that will ever happen never going to happen without somebody having a serious look at the hardware issues. And at least set a benchmark we can all follow for the next 5years or so. I don't, nor need an upgrade ever year, but that damn sure what Nvidia or ATI would have you believe, same with CPU manufacturers.

Last week werent' we discussing whether PC gaming was dead in light of how good consoles were becoming, I guess that this is just the PC backlash. Because while either formats have merits in there own right.. None of them should be single out, as “the best” or “the future of gaming” because we gamers are getting wise to the industries hyperbolic claims about it’s hardware.

I've never played an MMO on PC or console (the time commitment and monthly fees put me off), but I enjoy solitary gaming, local multiplayer, and non-MMO multiplayer online gaming through consoles and PC. I don't want to see an end to either platform - I like gaming on the PC because of the mouse/keyboard controls and free online multiplayer modes where you don't have to subscribe; I like console gaming because it's often more enjoyable sitting infront of a TV (be it a HD set in the living room, or an SD set in the bedroom) to play games, rather than sitting at my desk, and because of the streamlined experience - just turn it on and you're quickly into the game.

The article raises good points about the failings in console business models should online become the be all and end all, but I don't think that it will, not for console gamers. The revenues from console gaming may be lower than online monsters like WOW, but that doesn't mean it's still not profitable and worthwhile for consoles to not focus entirely on connectivity.

I don't understand the comments about server-side gaming being the future, because surely there will always be people who want solitary, disconnected gaming experiences? Server-side gaming is just one of many applications of gaming tech.

The comment that there is no reason to connect your console because there are no "large scale, massively-multiplayer persistent, dynamic content applications" also doesn't ring true for me (for a start, I thought there were MMOs on console, like Final Fantasy XI). As I said, I've never played an MMO on console or PC, but I have many reasons to connect my 360 or my Wii: I like playing Halo and Mario Kart Wii online against more human opponents than you could ever get around one TV; I like the ability to download demos and films, and receive news and weather reports. I have to unravel a 30m Ethernet cable to connect my consoles, which might seem like a chore, but I always have a reason to do so.

I think that there are more than enough people who aren't that bothered about online gaming, and who like playing games on their TVs, to warrant the continuation of consoles. Sure, consoles may be scarce in China and Korea, or Eastern Europe, but what about places like Western Europe, Japan, North America, and Australia, where consoles are popular? I'm from one of these places, and I do want a console, not just a PC.

@OmegaVader - I like your points. There are already programs that support resolutions higher than 1080p, I believe its around 1900 or so. Nonetheless, consoles are very dominant. Graphical limitations of these systems are becoming very clear but other technical and software-enable opportunities are yet to be discovered.

I foresee a Wii HD by 2010, early 2011, A new MS console in 2012, released in 2013 and a Sony will hang on to the PS3 as long as possible in hopes of eventually breaking even. It's clear that the Wii has created a new market for console gaming and I think that point is largely overlooked by the these online execs. Simply put, consoles will be around for some time because they are a diffraction point of development costs.