A little while ago Dell decided to make its sister company Alienware its sole gaming PC subsidiary (its own gaming PC line under the XPS brand has been changed to be more of a high end consumer brand than a gaming PC brand). Gamasutra decided to chat with Alienware's president Arthur Lewis and senior VP Frank Azor on their views of gaming PC hardware and PC gaming in general.

One topic in the interview is if a gaming PC needs to truly be super-expensive theses days. Even a few years ago it was thought that a high-end gaming PC could cost $4,000 or $5,000. Lewis states, "I do think that there's been a shift in price bands, but I still think that there is a very important space for that enthusiast and hardcore gamer. Do I think that person needs to spend $4,000 now? No. Probably somewhere between $1,500 and $2,500, would be my guess."

They also talk about their support of the PC Gaming Alliance and how their reports, which show that PC gaming is still growing overall, may be changing some people's minds about the state of the industry. Azor states, "I think already you see some of the perceptions shifting. Some of the companies are reinvesting into PC gaming, where we felt some abandonment a few years ago."