Hardware wise yes.
Its a computer vs a game console.
But when it comes to compatibility with video games, consoles win.
Why? because thats what they were made for.
Nothing else but game.
Lots of console games have framerate dips that make them borderline playable , because they are horrible limited due to vRam (particularly PS3). That's why GTA4, Skyrim and so on have horrible framerates once stuff start heating up.
What consoles are, are budget friendly gaming entries. A real gaming PC that will run you 2560x1600 high fidelity gaming is an investment of 1000-15000 dollars, and much more if you go for buying a dedicated botique brand like Eurocom, Alienware, Maingear, and so on.
A console is a 200-500 dollars compromise, that runs on it's legs due to - as you said - having games tuned specifically for that hardware.
But what does that really mean? settings you can't alter, closed platforms, developers who have to run through heaps and loops to just have a patch released.
Take a game like Skyrim, Team Fortress 2(completely free on PC!), Battlefield 3 or something like that, and watch the difference in quality. To me the console experience is horrondous due excessive hardware compromises.
This is not just modern games. Even a game like Oblivion (2005) showed extreme fatigue due to visual compromise, crappy loading times and so on. Console peasants like to talk a tough game, but it's really just complete and utter ignorance.
It's fine to play console games if you dig the styles of experiences they can bring, like local multiplayer, sports, party, racing, fighting, obscure japanese and so on. But to claim that they are somehow superior to a gaming pc, with a 250-350 dollars graphics card is absurd.
This is devils advocate talk, but if you take Crysis, a game released in 2007, there is nothing on consoles that can replicate it. It's not just the visuals, but the seamless size of the levels. Crysis is massive, and it's amazing for having an engine that can handle so much AI, geometry, amount of objects and render all this with impressive filters, motion blur and advanced lighting effects.
So if a 5 year old PC game can not be imagined on consoles without compromises, you got your answer.
WITH THAT SAID, Consoles have beautiful games. Uncharted, and Gears of War are series with impressive visuals, but even these come with compromises like small-medium sized levels followed by encounters with few enemies. For these machines with such limited vRam and underpowered GPUs (particularly PS3, that splits in Vram in two) having "good graphics" means toning down the content in other areas.
This might be why AI has not advanced in a long time.
TL;DR - You buy a console for the games, not the hardware. they are incredible inferior, closed platforms that gain revenue from people why don't know any better (like paying for a p2p service...). Consoles are great for their games, not their hardware.