Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley has talked with GameDaily here about the state of the PC gaming industry to add to a debate that seems to be getting ever more intense as the weeks go on.

Smedley is decidedly of the view that the PC is a strong platform and the growth of the MOG is a key factor in this. He is also critical of the NPD for not covering MOG subscriptions and digital distribution methods.

“It’s ridiculous and foolish to say that PC gaming [is in decline]. I’ve seen some of the dumbest quotes out there about the business [falling apart]. It’s just not true. The simple truth is the online business is picking up in a huge way. If you’re able to add in – and NPD is beginning to track this stuff – the digital sales and regular sales and subscription money and all that stuff, the PC gaming industry is at its strongest point in its history period.”

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In a very frank interview with Gamasutra Valve’s Doug Lombardi takes the time to talk about the success of AudioSurf, continued indie game support, Steamworks and on how he views the PC market as overtaking the console market.

Recalls Lombardi, “I can remember this story coming around in the mid ’90s… and then 3D accelerator came out, and Carmack released that patch for GL Quake, and everybody shut up, because all of a sudden PlayStation looked like crap. There’s a big shift about to come in the post-GPU space… all of a sudden PC will leapfrog what’s going on on the consoles, in many other ways besides graphics.”

In fact, continues Lombardi, the question mark might be floating squarely in the console’s future, as their prices continue climbing and more post-purchase purchases are becoming necessary. “How much longer will that story still have credibility?” He posits.

“Somebody go back and look at next-gen console install base numbers since launch time, and compare it to PSone and PS2. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we saw these guys stuttering out at 25,000 — nobody’s going to get to 100 million, which we saw from Sony on the last 2 [console generations]. I don’t think anybody’s even thinking of this.”

This is a very in-depth interview and it presents a fantastic insight into how Doug views the PC gaming market and the future of the console industry. Check it out here.

I love Steam, I really do. I think it is a great thing for Valve, for all the people using it to sell their games, for all 15 million users and it is a great thing for the PC. Back in December last year I wrote an article ‘Steampunked.’ What you will read now is a totally new revamped version of that article. This goes into more depth in some areas and hopefully is a better read. Hit the jump below to read about Steam and the PC.

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In an interview The Guardian newspaper Mark Rein, Epic co-founder talks about lots of stuff, mainly console focused. However he does talk about the PC..and he hates the fact that consoles are becoming the ‘go-to’ place for games nowadays.

Traditionally the FPS was very much a strong point for PC, but now do you think consoles are catching up?
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.

I feel the pain Mark…I feel it!

Mark Rein interview.

The past few days have seen a large number of updates and new things for the Command and Conquer community, the following is what I had to say on it from cncnation.net

- CnC3 Pro has been updated to version 4 bringing with it a new install interface, new gameplay tweaks and much more!

- CnC All Stars has also been updated and is now on version 1.2 featuring a nice list of gameplay changes.

- Project Perfect Mod has undergone a very sexy transformation inspired by C&C3

- CnCNZ has just had another mega roundtable discussion, well worth a look!

Finally check out the CnC Communications Centre for all the tools to play your favourite classic C&C games!

I must say it is very good to see continued support from the C&C Community for the older games, they are classics and people do still play them. Thumbs up to the C&C Community as a whole.