I paid $800 for a gaming PC in 2008 because I needed a new PC anyway and spending the extra $300 for a proper video card and slightly better processor and RAM than I had intended to seemed to make sense.
From 2008-2010 or 2011, I mostly still bought console games. Because I'm not a day one purchaser, most of the time I paid $20-40 for used games a little while after release. I started noticing that the same games on PC were cheaper, typically looked and ran better, and I could still use my console controller. Also Steam had these full-published packs where you could pay $50 and get like 25 or so games from a publisher, amazing. Indie games really exploded starting around 2008. I remember earlier stuff from that period like World of Goo, Braid, and Aquaria, but as more and more stuff came out on XBLA and to a lesser extent PSN, it became clear that independent games were a big part of gaming.
As years went by, consoles got more PC-like; increasing use of patching, more emphasis on digital downloading and full retail games available digitally starting with Warhawk but ramping up pretty aggressively as MS moved into Games on Demand.
By 2010-2011, most of the independent games were on PC first, or at the same time. Most of the released console games also got PC releases. So basically I could get a better playing, cheaper version of the same game in most cases. I still bought a lot on console, but typically rebought on PC later for cheaper. Indies were starting to have trouble finding their place on XBLA or PSN so a lot of lower-end indies were now either PC-focused or mobile-focused. XBLA got a lot of late ports from PC, but typically these were games being sold for $10-15 that had been available for $2.50 or less on PC, and that continued to get put on sale.
Around this period, indie bundles started. Slow, at first, with the first few Humble Indie Bundles. But then with competitors like IndieRoyale, IndieGala, Groupees, and Humble themselves branching out with publisher-centered bundles and then weekly bundles and daily bundles. Along with this, competition like Amazon, GreenManGaming, Gamersgate, and Humble started selling games directly that came with Steam keys. Since developers can generate unlimited Steam keys for free and give them to resellers, resellers can also discount some of their percentage on the sale and pass the savings along to consumers.
Mods, always a strength of PC games, have gotten easier and easier with better mod management frameworks, including Steam Workshop on Steam. Meanwhile, free to play games have risen in prominence, primarily on mobile and PC--although consoles have made some interesting inroads. The Windows 8 store ended up sucking, so the kind of splintering effect I was worried about didn't happen; you can avoid the W8 store and miss nothing. There has been some splintering effect with EA's Origin and Ubisoft's UPlay--both cases of companies choosing their own bottom line over ensuring that their customers have smooth and high quality experiences. Thankfully, neither EA nor Ubisoft make interesting games so there's no real temptation to have to deal with their services.
Video cards increasingly had HDMI outs as monitors switched to HDMI. I still have a DVI-out video card, but wonderful GAFfer kennah hooked me up with a little dongle that lets me convert DVI to HDMI. So I just run an HDMI cable and voila, my PC is on my TV.
Steam rolled out Steamplay. For me, this is handy. I don't really game on my Mac, but I do use my Mac as my primary computing device. And it's nice for me to know that I can open Steam and play some--certainly not all, but some--of the games I play on PC. Especially the quick 5 minute diversion style games, which actually works very well for me.
By 2012-2013, the consoles had slowed down. Note that at this point, my 2008 PC still played most of the games coming out at better framerates, resolution, or both than the consoles. Some earlier stuff started getting late PC ports or PC re-releases on Steam--Enslaved, Bioshock 2 Minerva's Den, Condemned, Viking. This is a trend that continues today with stuff like MG Rising, Gurumin, and Final Fantasy XIII. The new console announcements confirmed that neither would have backwards compatibility, and suddenly my old 60GB fat PS3 seemed more like a ticking timebomb. GFWL was being patched out of earlier crummy PC ports. Virtual Console on Wii U has been pretty anemic, and Sega put all of their previous VC releases from Wii in cheap, easily accessible emulation packs on PC. Steam cards now give me a $0.50-1.00 rebate on many of the games I buy, which is pretty swell considering I'm paying about $0.50-1.00 for most of those games.
I still bought and still buy the exclusives on consoles. That's why I have a Wii U with some great Nintendo games, and it's why I have a PS3 with some great Sony games, and it's why I have an Xbox 360 with some great MS games and some great PS3/360 multiplats with no PC versions. But this is a shrinking component of my total gaming time.
PC on TV got better as PC devs, pubs, and Valve with Steam started taking PC-on-TV navigation more seriously. Steam Big Picture isn't perfect, and I don't use it all the time, but it's super handy for quickly pulling up a PC game on my TV. As fast or faster than it'd take me to boot a console game, in part because my PC is already on.
Kickstarter and Early Access both became a big thing. Early Access grew out of iterative design, from hits like Minecraft, Garry's Mod, and others. As more and more devs--especially independent devs--wanted to reduce their risk and quit their day-job while working on their game, Humble and then Steam gave them a place. Kickstarter obviously everyone is aware of. I actually don't support stuff on Kickstarter anymore (long story, not because I think it's a SCAM or anything) but it's impossible not to see the kind of creative dividends it's played on game making.
Edit: Also, as Bookoo's avatar above reminds me, holy shit the Oculus Rift. I was lucky enough to try it thanks to TheExodu5, and it really is cool. I can't say that it's changed gaming yet or that it ever will, but just as a party trick, as a neat experience, I'm very grateful for that.
So the new consoles have launched--but with relatively little exclusive content and certainly little must-own exclusive content. Resogun was cool as hell, of course. But ultimately the first years have been hallmarked with remixes, remasters, and multi-platform titles. My 2008 PC can't keep up with this stuff. Note that I haven't upgraded any of the components at all. but at this point if my choice was to spend $500+ on a new console (when you factor in tax... not typically charged on PC/internet orders... and a year of online membership... another PC strength) or spend $500+ upgrading my PC, the choice is pretty obvious to me.
In 2014, I've purchased hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of PC games for well under a buck a game, averaged out. By contrast, I've purchased a dozen or so PSN games, a small handful of XBLA, and a few Wii U, Xbox 360, and PS3 retail games. You can't necessarily compare the scope, since obviously buying Fuse on Xbox 360 is a bigger purchase than buying a dozen 30 minute indie games on PC.
But to me when I look back, it was a no brainer. From the beginning, PC saved me money, got me a better quality product, and I'll be able to play all those games in the years to come. My PC also doubles as a file server which runs my home media operation, and it's where I code, and it's where I edit photos, and it has backups of everything I've ever done. I mean, how handy is that.
I don't see myself as a "PC gamer". I see myself as pretty flexible and pragmatic. The PC works out better for me, and I think with a little research and upfront outlay, it'd work better for a lot of people. But if consoles suddenly started representing a better value or a smoother, easier setup, I'd be on-board there as well. Hell, I don't really see myself as a "gamer" at all. I play games. But I also watch TV and movies, read books, write, whatever else--it's not really a core of my identity. I don't think arguing about the identity politics of kids on reddit and watercooling and meme images is really productive. Buy the hardware you want that enables you to play the games you want, labels are for cans.
