A coworker of mine plays FPSes in some pro console league. He told me, you're not allowed to use keyboard and mouse controls there... well... and that is NOT because they are subpar
Also the keypress limitation seems to be a driver thing, and it's not a hard limit. A friend of mine wrote a driver that reads out a whole shitload of keypresses (I think it was the whole board at once?) without problems. I guess there has to be a hardware limit somewhere, but it aint all that bad. Most major titles seem to include some sort of keyboard driver or memory hook or however that works (too much computer knowledge required for my taste...) but I have been playing quite some PC FPS that havent have me hit that keypress limit. Only the crappo games dont work around this.
And btw... on a keyboard you CAN at least reach more than 4 buttons, without hitting the PHYSICAL limitations you have. On a gamepad it's 5 TOPS and that's with giving up stick control
Seriously. Recent consoles are nice toys. I like toys. But if id be hard pressed for cash i couldnt think of a single niche where I'd prefer a console that isnt labeled "PEBCAK"
Unless you're one of the scientists that abuses PS3 CPUs. I hear they are nice for building huge "computing arrays"...
And a proper gaming PC easily costs 4-5x that of a PS3.
Maybe if you buy a PS3 now, I believe they dropped in price really good.
But when the PS3 was new I was able to build a PC that easily beats the ps performance for about 700 bucks tops. Reusing most periphals, which is fair in that comparison.
Also you shouldnt forget how PC games drop in price over time. That's something console games need a much bigger timeframe for.
PC needs some time to catch up with bang/buck ratio. But it DOES catch up and then it will just soar off. You really have to buy the wrong stuff at the wrong time to lose that race.
Especially since consoles tend to have a shorter lifespan. And when it craps out on you after warranty ran out, its DEFINETLY more expensive to repair. Well, unless youre really good with the soldering tool and know what youre doing.