Yup. It's been happily dying every once in a while.

that which is not dead can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die?

whats "slowly undying" anyways? :D

The NES (and the PlayStation 2) is a pretty special case, enjoying a lifespan much longer than the vast majority of consoles. Would be more interesting to compare e.g. PS3 / X360 / Wii no. of titles compared to PC games during the same era.

I've long since stopped taking the "PC gaming is dying" refrain seriously. I first heard it in elementary school when I was one of the few gamers who didn't have either a Sega or Nintendo system, and every time games came up in discussion someone was sure to mention some variation on that old refrain. The exact reasons changed from one year to the next, but the predictions were always present and dire. People just seem to like a good doomsday prophet and the fact that the predicted catastrophe never comes to pass doesn't deter the speculation.

The market will have its ups and downs, developers and services will come and go, but so long as there are PC's there will be PC gaming.

Well yes, if you compare the actual eras and average PCs at that time.

NES -> PS2 time was the golden time of consoles i think. Especially PS1.

Modern consoles are only extremely closed down PCs.
My main concern is the "depth of PC gaming" and that it's closed down more and more too via online activation DRM and so forth (Steamworks, etc..).
PC gaming will never die and thanks to the regular DRM-free releases, open gaming is advancing again.
Actually, I had more DRM on my games before I discovered GoG and HB. My old game discs are full of this stuff.

Indies are restoring the good old times for PC gaming and add new flavours to it.

I think Pink Floyd made a song about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPvtUjTbV_A

Anyway, dying or not, I intend to play PC games as long as there's any life left there. If some other gaming platform comes out that seems more lucrative to me, great, I'll jump ship then. But so far nothing in vicinity. Consoles I don't like for their walled garden design, Android devices share many same things I like in PCs (semi-open platforms) but the games just aren't that interesting yet on it overall.

After all, I've switched gaming platforms several times in the past. Maybe I believed at some point that Amiga will last forever, but it didn't. And frankly I don't feel bad, it was great back then but I think better platforms came afterwards (mainly PC for me). PC has been quite long-living though.

*makes a bonfire for the console manuals*

To come to think of it, as long as one can code, there will be games on PC.

However the likely threats:

Damaging:
-Bad (simplifying) game design example from consoles / mobile gaming.
-Micropayment hell from mobile gaming.

"Destroying:"
-Change of x86 architecture to say ARM might cause alot of trouble?
-New Windows "whatever" does something stupid again.

Console gamer: PC gaming is dead!
PC gamer: It is. We're ready for the Zombie apocalypse. And you?

Could be, but I still think that when people want to do serious work, they will want a keyboard and input device other than a touchscreen. I use my phone when it's convenient to do so, but it doesn't replace my PC because a touchscreen is too frustrating and inefficient for me to work with for a very long duration. It drains me. Plus many people will still want a proper work station for ergonomics. I still notice many friends doing the same, at least for now, especially people who own their own business or do some of their own work on the side.

So I guess the question I wonder is just how many people still need an efficient and ergonomic workstation at their home for things like accounting or typing business letters or replying to hundreds of emails a week or maintaining a website or editing audio/video, etc., that they will still use for gaming? A lot of these people I know just buy a console for gaming instead or don't game at all anymore even though they have a PC. Some of them might play some time-wasting games on their phone every once in a while, but I doubt that that is a loss for traditional PC gaming. Maybe the market could follow the younger generation of gamers though that only have a tablet/phone..

I suppose tablets and phones could continue becoming a bigger threat as they keep getting faster and can use more traditional desktop software more seamlessly with peripherals like external keyboard, mouse, and bigger monitor that are left on a desk to be plugged into the device whenever a workstation is needed. Still, I think there are many people who will opt for a more powerful workstation than that if the work is that vital to them.

I couldn't live without my tablet.

*pats his and awaits the [url=http://www.pyra-handheld.com]Pyra*