I agree with smooth groove that there are other reasons to like PC gaming besides superior visuals and performance. Maybe not performance. I'd gladly make games uglier than console versions to run smoother. And that's the strength of pc gaming, imo. It's all the options it allows for. I can customize my controls, in some cases increase fov, disabled those start up movies, mod my games, play mod that're entirely new levels or games, and all that stuff. There's also a huge library of games that never ends and constantly grows and actually gets better with time. That's why I prefer PC gaming, at least.
And while I was negative (or critical/realistic/whateveR) on the last page, I'm interested in what this Valve htpc will be. I'm still interested in external graphics cards and stuff like that too. I wouldn't mind a time when I can have a compact laptop as my main computer, and then still enjoy the benefits of PC gaming when I come home.