[jljljl]

This is more of a justification for why First Person Shooters and RTS games (specifically, Starcraft clones) will remain on the PC, and it's not all that great of a justification. FPS games on consoles have been extremely popular, and a lot of really innovative independent games have launched with touch-first or controller-first mechanics.

I'm not sure I follow your statement about exciting new genres being impossible on console or iOS...can you give an example about one such genre that is PC only?

[lmm]

Look at the rise of Dwarf Fortress leading to Minecraft and its various imitators. Once you get to the polished, simplified level of Minecraft then it can be (and has been) ported to consoles and phones, but the experience doesn't start that polished. You need to be able to experiment with something clunkier, something with many more possibilities - and something like Dwarf Fortress couldn't possibly happen on anything other than the PC.

I think, anyway. Maybe that's got nothing to do with it, and we see innovation on the PC solely because it's a more indie-friendly development environment. But I think it's telling that the dev versions of consoles come with keyboards.

[freehunter]

Well, I can give an example of a genre that is console- and mobile-only: rolling ball games. The k+m layout is great for FPS games, but sensitive analog input isn't something it's great at. Analog sticks and accelerometers are much better. I'm talking Super Monkey Ball or Katamari Damacy.

Another genre many people shy away from on PC unless they're hardcore and money-rich: racing simulators. A controller, a wheel, or an accelerometer is a much more realistic input method for controlling both a steering wheel and feathering a throttle/brake.

Obviously both of those genres exist on PC, but they're quite a small marketshare of an already small marketshare.