When recently asked how he thinks the PC platform is holding its own as more and more quality first person shooters are released for the new generation of consoles, Epic Games’ VP Mark Rein said that consoles are indeed stealing a lot of hardcore gamers away from the PC.

In an interview with Guardian Unlimited, Rein said: I’m a real fan of the PC, but yes, consoles are definitely stealing a lot of hardcore gamers from the PC. When Call of Duty 4 came out, I heard some of our guys sitting around talking about the great game they’d had last night and I’m like, ‘Hey guys, what server are you playing on? I’d love to come and join you,’ and they said, ‘Just send us a friends request,’ It was at that point I realized they were all playing it on console. Plus, the sales of the console versions are something like ten times the sales of the PC versions.

And with consoles these days offering more variety and that at an higher visual quality than the majority of PC games — I dare someone to find a boxing game that looks as good as Fight Night Round 3 or a racing game as good looking as Project Gotham Racing 4 on the PC — why shouldn’t harcore PC gamers, often proudly known as graphic whores, look towards Xbox 360 and PS3? Especially as PS3 also offers mouse and keyboard support.