NullPointer said:Some of us don't want to put in the effort. We don't want to do research on what games support what, or whether disabling shadows will double the framerate. Maybe we'd rather spend time reading reviews of the gameplay than figuring out whether we should enable 2x or 4x anti-aliasing or just what the hell trilinear filtering is. Those are advanced settings yes, but that's standard for the hardcore PC gamer, on GAF and elsewhere. Whether you want to or need to do this depends upon the game and your hardware - there are no one size fits all solutions in the PC world.
Right, again, you're essentially touting the ease of use of consoles. And I agree, they are easier to use. And I agree, this is a perfectly valid reason for preferring them.
But that strikes me as a clearly and obviously "casual" value. It's precisely why the Wii is so popular, for example: it's even easier to use than the PS3/360 are. If the terms "casual" and "hardcore" have any meaning whatsoever, then one of the first things we'd have to say is that casuals prefer things which are easier to use (iPhones, Wiis, portables) while "hardcore" gamers are willing to put up with slightly more expensive and complex machines to afford them better technology and flexibility.