The PC has fallen from it’s once glorious position as the platform from which all innovation sprung. The PC was the home of the first curved surfaces (Quake 3), the place where all console FPS now get their “cutting edge features”, no more. The PC has largely been reduced to a port platform save the occasional mainstay title such as Sims, StarCraft 2, and WoW. A multitude of legitimate reasons have brought the PC low. Piracy, cost, and the popularity of consoles being the three biggest. However the latest console “innovation” DLC may unwittingly bring the PC back as the platform of choice for gamers.

While many gamers are embroiled in the pointless console flame war, unnoticed in the background is the developer/publishers DLC behavior is getting increasingly ridiculous. It is crystal clear that they are developing DLC while also creating a game. This nullifies the “free will” argument. The price of a game was suppose to cover developing costs and a tidy profit provided the game sold well. Now this initial price is also covering the cost of developing DLC. The latest titles to show this behavior is Street Fighter IV and Skate 2. Screens showing the alternative costumes in SF4 were released weeks before the game. The Skate 2 video editing features were released days after the title. Clearly these features were a part of normal development cycle and then shaved off for DLC. When this happens you do not have a choice to “Not buy” the DLC, you’ve already paid for it. The only option you have is to not pay for it twice.

If you are a Warhawk fan and have downloaded all the expansions the game has now cost you $100. Same can be said for LittleBiGPlanet. With PCs it’s a little different. You have the same DLC as the Xbox on most multiplatform titles and they cost the same, but you get 10 times the value with PC gaming. Mods, skins, new quests, etc, all created by tech savvy PC gaming fans. The best examples of this is Oblivion and Fallout. Oblivion’s mod community has become so well organized that you can literally rebuild it into a whole new game. Change the landscape, change the difficulty, improve the look. The options are virtually endless. Fallout 3 is undergoing the exact same change by many of the same people.

With the DLC fiasco gamers are become increasingly frustrated seeing their dollar value evaporating. This makes the PC platform look increasingly attractive. A decent gaming PC can be had for as low as $800 and remains current for years instead of months, as in the past. Throw in the fact that PC games are $10 cheaper and PC gaming matches the cost of a console over the span of it’s life time. The question remains that as money gets tighter and people can afford less will they spend what little disposable income they have on a closed systems or move into the value of the PC. Tell us your thoughts in the comments.