Video games: There are pluses to PC gaming

I used to think PC gaming was dead. But since I just bought a new computer, I've decided to change my mind.

Long live PC gaming!

Now let's see if I can scrounge up some facts to back up my newfound faith in the old workhorse.

Well, despite the fact that PC game sales have been plummeting for years as gamers migrate to consoles, and a growing share of the surviving computer gamers opt for pirated software, there are still hopeful signs.

One, the PC-only role-playing game "World of Warcraft" long ago achieved juggernaut status and has more than 10 million subscribers.

So PC game developers must be itching to release cool, competitive titles to dethrone the king, right? Maybe not.

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, which merged with "Warcraft" owner Vivendi, recently said building a credible competitor to "WoW" would cost $500 million to $1 billion. Those numbers might be exaggerated for effect, but probably not much, given how dominant that franchise has become.

But if online role-playing games don't have much of a future on the PC, surely other genres will.

Microsoft, for example, recently announced the formation of the PC Gaming Alliance, a consortium of companies dedicated to revitalizing the moribund computer-game sector.

That's great, and PC gamers will surely appreciate the attention after years of neglect. But I'm not sure what exactly this group will be able to do, other than issue news releases saying how great PC gaming is.

Actually, I think there are things PC game companies could do to improve the experience of playing games on a PC, but these have been bandied about for years to no effect.

Namely, I'd like to see the end of having to install a game on your hard drive before you can play it. You should be able to stick the disc in your PC's drive and start playing. Or, if game companies do want to stick with the standard installation process, don't force gamers to insert the disc every time they want to play the game.

Finally, the piracy problem needs to be settled once and for all.

The easiest way -- and again, it's not as if I'm the first to propose this -- is to make game players log in to a server that authenticates their software before they can play.

If the company that made the game goes out of business and turns off its servers, it should be required to release a patch to its game that deletes the server authentication requirement. The move would help developers stay in business as long as their products are popular, but allow gamers to continue to play old games long after a developer folds.