Switch said:I know two negatives with console gaming:
Lack of Piracy
Lack of K/b & Mouse Support
I wouldnt term Lack of Piracy as a negative or at least from the POV of a game developer
IMO Lack of Piracy is the most important reason for developers to prefer consoles. This is not just becasue lower piracy means better sales, but also becasue of higher prices. Lack of Piracy automatically means they can charge 4 to 8 times the cost they charge for the same game on the PC. A game like Hitman costs 250/- on the PC and 1800/- on the XBOX 360. It simply means that they make more money on the console and more so especially if the developer is confident that they have a good game and keep it exclusive to the console(s).
The second thing is making the game multi-platform. Multi-platform games mean that the developer is going to get some revenue from every platfrom thus increasing their overall earnings.
All other reasons (technical or otherwise like fixed hardware in consoles, development tools etc) that are not directly linked to the business are just trival criteria when it comes to commercial game development. The business part is more important.
This does not mean that PC gaming is taking the backseat. PC is still the best platform for games due to multiple reasons. Consoles are for casual gamers, gamers who do not have a tech background or for the hardcore gamers who do not wish to miss out on any good game what ever platform it is on. I have both PS3 and XBOX 360 Elite, but most of the time, I find that if a game is available on multiple platforms, the PC version would be the best to play unless the game is a crappy console port in the first place.