The PC is the most widely known gaming platform in the world today. Almost anyone who has been in contact with a PC has played some form of entertainment software on it, be it Solitaire or The Sims.

While the history of the PC's origin is highly debatable, the first freely programmable computer was the Z1, invented in 1936. It wasn’t until 1962 when Steve Russell invented the first ever video game designed for a computer which he titled SpaceWar!, that the PC and video games started to become hand-in-hand partners.

Since then, the PC has seen the birth of many different genres of gaming, from role-playing games to first person shooters. Countless new game genres and titles are played on them every year.

Graphics

• The PC has a huge advantage over the Xbox 360 since it is an upgradeable platform with new components launching yearly, such as processors and video cards.
• The PC has several applications running in its background that can bottleneck system resources, which isn’t a problem on the Xbox 360.
• The PC hardware has a disadvantage of being more costly to upgrade and maintain over time, whereas the Xbox 360 price will fall in time, but will also become less powerful compared to newer technology.

Winner: While the PC is generally always considered the platform with the best graphics, at the moment the Xbox 360 is a couple of years ahead of the PC platform in graphical power.

Sound

• The PC has another huge advantage over the Xbox 360 in that its sound cards and drivers are always being upgraded to feature the newest technologies.
• The PC will also let you burn music onto its hard drive ala the Xbox 360, yet most games will not automatically cut the game music and replace it with custom tracks.

Winner: The PC currently enjoys the same level of technology on a general basis as the Xbox 360 does. Soon the PC will be upgraded to feature newer tech which is not an option with the 360.

Capabilities

• The Xbox 360 is the first console to display HD resolutions that equal the graphical sharpness on PC titles.
• The Xbox 360 supports wireless controllers, but as of this writing does not support mouse use and has very limited keyboard support.
• The Xbox 360 is home to a professionally maintained online premium gaming service, whereas the PC gaming scene is more developer centered.
• The Xbox 360 does not support web browsing, word processing, photoshopping, etc, and is more of a dedicated game machine than the PC.

Winner: The Xbox 360 is not without a detailed feature list, yet it does not support the vast array of features you can experience with a PC.

Games

• The PC games market has been in a slump in recent years, relying almost solely on mmos, simulations, and first person shooters.
• The PC does feature the largest library of titles on any platform, ranging back all the way to the Windows 95 platform.
• The PC games market is almost dominated by online multiplayer experiences and does not feature the single player gaming experiences found on consoles like the Xbox 360.
• The PC gaming price scheme is far cheaper than that of the Xbox 360.

Winner: While the PC does have the largest library of titles of any platform, the titles tend to be more single genre centered and cannot compare to the diversity offered in console gaming.

Overall winner
The PC will always have an advantage over consoles in the fashion of it being an upgradeable platform that will always have the latest technology available. The problem with the PC, from a gamer’s point of view, is that there is not a large amount of variety in the titles being released currently and therefore as a gaming platform the Xbox 360 is a winner.

See also

• X360 vs. Atari 2600
• X360 vs. PS2
• X360 vs. PS3
• X360 vs. Xbox