Dear Future Gamer,

I've just realised something (and yes, I know it's about time) but PCs and consoles should be kept away from one another. I sent you a letter ranting and raving about how the PC is ultimately superior to consoles and how Mr. J. Nash was absolutely wrong for his commentary and criticism of the PC gaming platform (which is still my view) but now I realise that my views will differ from those of console owners.

The PC might seem expensive and extremely complicated but once you understand it and realise its power you really begin to appreciate it. It is a superior platform. Consoles aren't competing with PCs directly, only on the gaming front. From a purely gamer point of view the consoles do compete well with the PC, being so simple. But, and this is a big but, the consoles are simple because they are nothing more than toys.

I'll use model trains as an example of the relationship twixt the PC and console (silly, yes). The console is that train set that you took out of the box, put together and played. The PC is that monster set with 20 different types of track, no set standard layout, and more than 3,000 engines and rollingstock to collect. Lay the two trains side by side, the toy versus that monstrosity that you have tweaked right down to the engine compartment heat dissipater. Watch as the monstrosity completes its 20th lap just as the toy begins its second.

If you don't mind the cost and time and you are willing to learn all about the inner workings of a PC, you end up with a machine that is not only your "world's best train set" but also your office desk, your school desk, your physics simulator or whatever you wish.

Consoles perform only one of the PC's many abilities. J. Nash (whoever he really is) doesn't accept the PC for what it is and most definitely doesn't like it.

Ronan Patrick Delaney

FG: Mr Nash was simply pointing out, albeit vociferously, that the PC was not designed to be a games machine. People have turned it into one but the fact remains, consoles were designed specifically to play games on and PCs weren't, as you seem to acknowledge. Mr Nash doesn't like the PC because, in comparison to consoles, it's terribly unreliable and not very user-friendly. Again, a fact you acknowledge. Mr Nash is entitled to his opinion, as are you.