By Zach Walton

There are those gamers who grew up playing games on consoles, and those who grew up playing games on the PC. I was the former.

There were times that I would dabble in PC gaming, but I never had the machine to stay current with all the new releases.

Over the years, there seems to have been a growing divide between console and PC gamers. There are those who play both and enjoy both.

Unfortunately, there are also those who play games on only one platform and mock players who don’t game on their platform of choice.

Recently, I built a gaming PC to get back into that side of gaming. It was definitely different at first, but as time went on, I came to realize a few things about games in general.

Not all games play well on all platforms. There are some games that are built specifically for PCs or consoles.

While hardcore PC elitists claim that the first-person shooter can only be played on the PC, console players have been enjoying the same level of FPS-style games since Halo on the Xbox.

Even then, some shooters require a controller to play well because they were built around it. Some developers like Ubisoft are notorious for their PC support and seem to port the console version straight to the PC. This is most evident with “Splinter Cell: Conviction,” which plays fine with the keyboard and mouse setup, but definitely plays better with a controller.

Some genres like the platformer were born on consoles and have since migrated to PCs. Recent hits like “Super Meat Boy” can be played with a keyboard, but it’s much better on a controller.

The migration of genres to platforms they are not normally on has been a slippery slope for many developers. The Xbox 360 has seen some success in porting real-time strategy games to the console with a control scheme adapted specifically for the controller.

The wonderful thing is that many developers are adding in support for controllers to PC games that play better with them. Alongside that, a few accessory manufacturers are creating gaming mice that will work on consoles for first-person shooter or real-time strategy games.

It’s only a matter of time before consoles are just specially manufactured PCs.

There will be no more console gamer or PC gamer. There will once again just be the term “gamer” which went out of style in the 90s in favor of the feeling of elitism for a specific platform.

A future where all gamers can stand under one banner will probably never come. Outside of the differences between console and PC gamers, there are even conflicts between “fanboys” of various console manufacturers.

I’ll take whatever victory I can get, though. If PC gamers and console gamers can get along and just enjoy games together, it will be worth it. I know I still enjoy gaming on my consoles as well as my PC. They both offer great experiences that should not be missed.