I can't really comment on your own experience. But in the UK and London, most people do their 'high-end' gaming via consoles, whereas AAA level PC gaming is like some kind of "hidden, underground way to game".
Some people I know who work in various high street stores, such as PC World, can also confirm the general lack of public awareness about PC gaming.
Of course, everyone already knows about popular PC casual games like Solitaire, MSN games, and Facebook games. So in that sense, everyone does know about PC gaming. But very casual gaming.
AAA level PC gaming has almost zero advertizing for the general public and relies mostly on word of mouth.
When it comes to AAA level gaming, people may walk into a PC World store looking to buy what they see 24/7 on TV: XBOX or PS3.
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Every time a new multiplatform game is coming out, I always have someone ask me if I am going to get this new game. If I say yes, the next question they ask is whether I am getting the XBOX 360 version or Playstation 3 version. If I say I'll be getting the PC version, 9 out of 10 of them did not know there was a PC version. These people watch the same TV commercials, but don't notice a PC version. These console gamers are also the very same people who also own PCs at home.
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I have also recently started to hear console-only gamers talk to me about Crysis, only now after they read about the multiplatform Crysis 2 in a console game mag.
I have never seen the PC-exclusive original Crysis advertized anywhere that the general public can be notified about its existence.
But everyone has seen TV commercials for the XBOX-exclusive FORZA.
I also see the same multi-platform commercials you are talking about as well:
In terms of the commercials promoting the PC version, it usually means nothing more than: showing you the PC version's game cover with the other platform versions at the very end of the commercial.
Most people watching these commercials don't sit there thinking "Why would I play an exact XBOX port on a PC?" - even if they managed to properly notice that crucial one second moment in time when the PC game cover was displayed.
In terms of certain multiplatform game commercials directly 'pushing' people to buy one platform version over another, there are more than plenty of those.
At the end of the multiplatform commercial, you may witness an aggressively styled voice telling you to get the game now on XBOX 360. They will even show you the XBOX 360 console and its retail price, 'pushing' the viewer to walk into a high street store and buy a new XBOX 360 to play this game.
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In TV advertizing, there is a big difference between the audience seeing something and actually acknowledging it. This is how certain multiplatform ads fail to properly get through to the masses about hardcore PC gaming. In the split second that the PC box may be displayed on the screen, most people will take that time to look for the box / icon / logo that relates to the platforms that they already expect to get the game on. Maybe there's another explanation. However, on a general public gamers level, somehow, the ignorance continues. Which could be further explained by the fact that many ads for multiplatform games. Yes the multiplatform games, end the ad by showing the viewer one of the consoles and telling them to get the game now on that platform.
There are no such direct PC supporting ads for hardcore games. So psychologically, this increases public ignorance further, and would explain why the same viewer will walk into a PC World store the next day looking for the same console for their hardcore gaming needs. They are told that hardcore gaming = XBOX or PS3. This is why people who have noticed PC versions of certain hardcore games like GTA will usually mentally skip past it. Because they are constantly being recommended to get the consoles by TV ads that broadcast on main channels primetime nationwide to an audience of 20 million or so viewers.
From my own direct experince, once a lot of these graphics-hungry hardcore console gamers see a hardcore PC rig playing their favorite games with better graphics, that's when I can confirm how ignorant they previously were, and how quickly they become interested in hardcore PC gaming.
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You want to know why I keep on mentioning Crysis?
It's to remind you that it's not 'universally' classed as a 'casual' game, just like 'Call Of Duty' and many other 'hardcore' games that push XBOX and Playstation sales.
Killzone 2 (sold 2 million) - an over-hyped PS3 exclusive game that advertized 24/7 on national TV. Not bad.
Crysis (sold 1.5 million) - Considering the PC hardware specs required, and the fact that PC gaming is a kind of "hidden, underground way to game", Crysis (the PC exclusive with almost zero advertizing) sold extremely well.
Now imagine if Crysis was advertized like Killzone 2.
This is the type of thing that YOU fear, and this is the type of thing that MICROSOFT also fears.
