DailyTech - PC Gaming Alliance Offically Announced

Submit News

Software PC Gaming Alliance Offically Announced
Marcus Yam (Blog) - February 20, 2008 8:42 AM

E-mail

del.icio.us

62 comment(s) - last by landeel.. on Feb 24 at 2:57 PM

PC Gaming Alliance: Activision, AMD, Dell, Epic Games, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA and others

As first reported last week, leaders in the PC industry are banding together in an effort to maintain and advance PC gaming. Announced today, the PC Gaming Alliance is a non-profit organization that unites hardware and software creators, game developers and publishers to keep the PC as a viable and attractive platform for developers.

The PC Gaming Alliance will also attempt to stay competitive with the console gaming industry by coordinated marketing, developing and promoting guidelines and recommendations, such as for hardware requirements and anti-piracy measures, and foster information sharing between members to accelerate the PC gaming industry.

In light of the recent NPD report that the PC gaming industry only accounted for 14 percent of retail game sales in 2007, the PC Gaming Alliance will also encourage consistent and accurate reporting of PC gaming market sizing and research, including online sales.

It will focus on driving coordinated marketing and promotion of PC gaming, consistent and accurate reporting of PC gaming market sizing and research, and creating forums for member companies to cooperate on solutions to challenges facing the PC gaming industry, such as hardware requirements, anti-piracy, and more. PCGA will develop and promote guidelines and recommendations and foster information sharing between members to accelerate the PC gaming industry.

Members of the PC Gaming Alliance are Acer Inc./Gateway Inc., Activision Publishing Inc., AMD, Dell/Alienware, Epic Games, Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., NVIDIA Corp. and Razer USA Ltd.

"PCGA members believe that we are stronger and more effective together than any member company is alone, and that our shared vision and group effort will improve PC gaming worldwide," said Randy Stude, director of the Gaming Program Office at Intel. "Industry forums have proven to foster competition and innovation among member companies and grow markets while improving user experiences."

"Microsoft is a strong believer in the PC as a platform for gaming, and the formation of PCGA is a major step forward for our industry and for PC gamers," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows at Microsoft. "Working together, we have an exponentially greater opportunity to propel the PC gaming experience to new heights."

While the console market may be stealing some gamers away from the PC, the PC Gaming Alliance has great faith in the future of its segment. Research firm DFC Intelligence projected that the PC game business will grow more than 80 percent over the next five years, with digital distribution as a leading factor.

"This collaboration will provide developers and publishers with a champion for consistent demographics, hardware adoption, and revenue measurement and reporting," said David Cole, an analyst with DFC Intelligence. "An authoritative source of information on the PC as a gaming platform will serve as an invaluable catalyst for growing the market and improving the consumers' PC gaming experience."

Comments

Threshold

Username
Password
remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

This sounds good.....

By eye smite on 2/20/2008 8:58:27 AM , Rating: 3

I'd like to see pc games make a revival. I haven't played anything but 2 mmo's for the last 3 yrs. Guild Wars and Wow. I'd like to see games that have definitive goals in them that aren't mmo's but have goals similar to and complex like an mmo. Don't get me wrong, there have been great games in the past, but once you've played the original Age of Empires, any strategy game like that really starts to feel the same for me at least and I lose interest. I'm sure they'll come out with some newer things and make it more appealing, at least I hope they do. All in all this sounds good to me though, it certainly can't hurt.

RE: This sounds good.....

By Spivonious on 2/20/2008 9:11:18 AM , Rating: 3

Please excuse my ignorance, as I've never played an MMORPG, but how are their goals complex? Isn't it just "raid this dungeon"?

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By eye smite on 2/20/2008 9:25:53 AM , Rating: 4

Well having to progress through to lvl 70 for your char opens up alot of things to accomplish. Gear or armor for one. Cooking and using food that boosts your stats. My professions are mining and skinning so I make a bundle on the auction house selling leather and ore that I've smelted which all leads back to paying for the mounts you can get starting at lvl 40. Standard and Epic riding mounts then standard and epic flying mounts. Gear you can only get from 25 man raids that will never be on the auction house. There's always something to drive towards with the goals you can set and it's always been limited in a game local to your machine. I know alot of that sounds silly, but it keeps interest in the game going.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By SavagePotato on 2/20/2008 9:41:05 AM , Rating: 4

Basically all of that filters down to raid this dungeon 1000 times to get the equipment to raid the next dungeon 1000 times, to get the equipment to..... yeah thats how it works.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By eye smite on 2/20/2008 9:43:48 AM , Rating: 4

No not exactly. I guess you'd have to play one to see what I'm saying and understand. I for one don't raid or do instances and have plenty of goals that have nothing to do with raiding or doing instances. Again, you'll just have to play one to see.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By xsilver on 2/20/2008 10:12:01 AM , Rating: 1

maybe I'll inject some heroin straight into my eyeball...
just to see =P

wow: hugely interesting for those that play, but if you're not playing it by now, its probably not for u.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By Arribajuan on 2/20/2008 4:58:30 PM , Rating: 2

"maybe I'll inject some heroin straight into my eyeball...
just to see =P"

you will not be seeing much after that man!!!

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By SavagePotato on 2/20/2008 10:23:15 AM , Rating: 2

Played WoW before the expansion. With the expansion theres a bit less raid focus but it's still there big as ever.

Before the expansion it was insanely monotonous over and over and over raiding to get your crap to do the next raid while fighting 40 other people all pretending to like each other to get what they needed out of the situation.

In fact played wow, swg, anarchy online, city of heroes, city of villains, lineage2, lord of the rings online, and tabula rasa.

Considering it's been a mad dash to emulate wow (lord of the rings online aka WoW of the rings online) theres probably much more repetitive raiding on the mmog horizon.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By 306maxi on 2/20/2008 10:42:21 AM , Rating: 2

I'm sorry but that's exactly what it's like. Just presented a different way. I never could quite understand Diablo and such other games. Hack demon, hack skeleton, hack this, hack that. hack boss, hack more demons, hack uber boss and then hack the super duper boss to finish the game. Just sooo repetitive and boring. Not to mention you have to pay a monthly subscription! What a crock! I bought Team Fortress 2 back when it was released and haven't paid anything other than for electricity to play it since.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By christojojo on 2/20/2008 1:54:36 PM , Rating: 3

Actually slash and gather is pretty much MMorpgs description. My son and brother (two different people) play WoWcrack. They love it; I am bored with it. I love playing RTS (Company of Heroes), Sandbox (GTA), Fallout 1&2, and shooters (BF2, COD4, TF2).

Each of those can be shrunk down into their basic formulas.

RTS - Gather, build, kill
GTA - Steal, collect, kill, and hookers
Fallout - Gather, gain, kill
Shooters - kill (BF2 and COD4 kill to get better killing tools)

My point are...

The basic formula is only truly annoying if you're not drawn into the experience.

Rehashing successful games eventually kills/ weakens that genre.

Another thought that might be hurting PC gaming is the longevity of MMorpgs. They take forever, never to complete and a wad of cash). That's the actual reason I don't like WOW; money and time for just about nothing but killing level 70 rats.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By johnsonx on 2/20/2008 7:11:06 PM , Rating: 5

quote:
(two different people)

I'm glad you clarified that, otherwise we would have all naturally assumed you had impregnanted your own mother.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By christojojo on 2/20/2008 10:55:26 PM , Rating: 2

I proof read it a couple of times before I finally decided that I shouldn't take the risk of leaving the interpretation to fellow wiseguys. ;)

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By MrBlastman on 2/20/2008 2:15:02 PM , Rating: 2

Don't forget to mention that ever since TF 2 has been released, there practically has been a new map released EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 4 1/2 months :) :)

How is that for consistent, new, and fresh content? Best part is - it is free. Sure, they aren't official valve maps - but who cares? Many of them are as good, if not significantly better than the stock maps. QWTF (Team Fortress 1) had a huge number of maps, all user made.

I'm very happy with my one time purchase of the Orange Box. Best money I've spent in a while.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By djc208 on 2/20/2008 3:07:07 PM , Rating: 3

I think that is a strength the PC group needs to exploit. Like the HL2 episodes. Periodic content provided more frequently. More money for them, more play time for us, more immersive story line. Everyone wins.

Some of the consoles will let you download extras but the custom maps/add ons/extras are easier on a computer.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By ice456789 on 2/20/2008 11:16:06 AM , Rating: 2

I agree. I played WoW for a while, getting a guy up to level 40 and a couple others to level 30. Then I realized I wasn't playing a game, I was WORKING. Hours in the auction house buying ingredients to merge into items to sell for more money. "Kill 8 of this", "Kill 12 of this". I got so sick of the quests requiring you to kill a number of monsters. Killing them was easy, finding 8 of them is the hard (and boring) part. And you go into raids and there's always some jerk that goes all 'Leeroy' on you and screws the whole thing up. $15 a month for that abuse? No thanks. There are plenty of good games that don't have monthly charges.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By steelincable on 2/20/2008 1:35:24 PM , Rating: 2

Is it like 'Heroin Hero' where you have to catch the dragon?

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By Proteusza on 2/20/2008 10:54:36 AM , Rating: 2

I tried WoW for a month, found it incredibly boring.

if you like story, interesting characters, exciting quests and changing landscapes, dont play WoW. if you like grinding and getting high level items, play WoW.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By ShadowZERO on 2/20/2008 6:18:52 PM , Rating: 2

They are complex because they are non-linear. In a lot of MMORPGs, you raid, solo, group, do instances as the previous, quest as the previous, trade with other players, etc. Not to mention there's a level of social interaction, in the form of virtual economies, that most other generes of games don't have. How you improve your character and have fun is totally up to you, there's dozens of ways to do it.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By MrBlastman on 2/20/2008 10:09:29 AM , Rating: 2

I might not like MMO's at all (never play them), but I agree with your main point.

I'd love to see more work put into the PC gaming industry. PC's are my primary gaming platform (Wii/PS2 is secondary) and for what I play - Military Flight Simulators (IL-2/Falcon 4/EECH/LOMAC etc.), FPS, and RTS games - consoles can not cut it... period.

Especially for simulators. No way a console any time soon is going to come close to being able to do what my PC can do for simulation. The sheer number of control inputs alone are impossible on a console for your typical console gamer. I'd love to see a console with a real HOTAS (the pseudo-fake one for the 360's Ace Combat does not count - it isn't programmable and is missing several axes and hats) that couples together with rudder pedals. No, I'm talking a programmable one with its own microprocessor in it along with flash memory, hall-effect sensors (no pots) etc.

I'd also love to see a console add the above + head tracking. Not going to happen any time soon. I'd love to see that be taken even further with the ability to export aircraft systems (HUD, MFD's, Instruments) from your PC to a second or third machine which runs hosting software to output those exported systems on individual displays/panels. I'd love to see that. I'd love to see them take that one step further on a console and do what the guys here do:

http://www.viperpit.org

Good luck.

RTS/FPS - consoles have no hope here at least yet. Not without the mouse being standardized input on a console. I think the Wii has the closest shot for now at either of these titles given its input device. RTS might actually be playable on the system - but not at a competitive level that you see on a PC. At least not yet. Until they have mouse standardized as an input scheme for Console games, they will forever contain optimizations for gamepads/sticks etc. which limit the mousing potential.

So, as you see, there are a few things that PC's still excel over consoles with. Unfortunately our market share is shrinking due to the dumbification of the gaming industry. The masses are flocking to consoles. No suprise here. The PC gaming market has always been niche and I think will always be a niche market.

This is a good thing. The more niche it is the more likely we are to continue to get the innovative and unique titles that PC's have always been able to provide. They provide higher-order relief to the "Hollywood" gaming environment that consoles provide. Kind of like Independent vs. Hollywood movies. Hollywood is good for cheap thrills, but Indie films are good in a way that can be savored like a finer wine wrought with depth and development.

I think we'll continue to see original PC titles, just not in the same quantity as before. At least for now. I hope this movement really spurs some life into the PC. We need it.

Until that happens I think user content will reign supreme between new releases. It is very abundant - It keeps the flight sim community alive.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By LordanSS on 2/20/2008 10:44:05 AM , Rating: 2

Indeed, consoles are nowhere near PCs when it comes to certain game genres... no Aces High on a console for example. =)

Even though consoles can do some MMOing, there are several limitations to that. For example, FFXI... which was initially developed for the PS2. Nowadays, it is multi-platform, but the game is severely limited by the console hardware it runs on. There pretty much can be no more graphical/gimmicks optimizations due to the limitations of the PS2.

Everquest, on the other hand, launched as a PC MMO. There have been several updates to the game's graphics engine over the years, thanks to the improvements that PC hardware has seen. Improved models, textures, and later on support for shader effects. Even though there are limits to how much an engine can be tweaked, it doesn't have the same constraints on the PC, since hardware can be more easily uppgraded.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By Symmetriad on 2/20/2008 12:17:27 PM , Rating: 2

As a corollary of the flight sim argument, the mostly-dead genre of space sims couldn't be properly done on a console either. They may not be as complex as flight sims, but they still take a fairly robust control scheme to operate and feel right, and most console systems just aren't up to the task.

Personally, I think PC gaming really needs to get out of this FPS/MMORPG rut it's cut for itself in order to regain some market share. With a few exceptions, it's been stagnant for long enough that people are starting to lose interest, and who wants to blow a grand every year or two just to play what are essentially the same games over and over?

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By MrBlastman on 2/20/2008 1:27:00 PM , Rating: 3

I'd love to see MMO's go the way of the dodo as they've been detracting from FPS games for a while now.

All they've led to is dumbing down the control scheme and the actions you can make to cater more to the general hardcore mmo gamer.

Unfortunately, I don't think they will since they make so much money. Also, there are many people who play them who wouldn't otherwise play an FPS. That is fine :) They can have their games, we can have ours and be happy... Provided companies don't get greedy and try to cater to all of them.

If they don't - modders will fill the gap :) I for one enjoy old school doom/quake/duke3d fps gameplay where skill reigns supreme.

Space Sims? I hear you man. Freespace 2 + Independence War 2 - both awesome sims (and Freespace 2 has a tremendous modding community), but both have enough commands to easily be used with a HOTAS. I beat FS 2 for the heck of it a year or two ago using my HOTAS and it was nice to play through it again with something that required 0 keyboard input vs. Stick + keyboard years ago. I shudder thinking of how they'd have to dumb these games down for a console. IWar 2 - I think, did come out on a console hence the unique input system. FS 2 just couldn't be done efficiently - It is too fast-paced.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By Symmetriad on 2/20/2008 3:45:17 PM , Rating: 2

Hear hear. I'm still an avid Doom player, especially since the modding community is still so huge and varied. Doom is really a simple, effective template upon which to build all sorts of "playgrounds" for engrossing FPS gameplay.

And Freespace 2 is exactly what I was thinking of, as it's another older game that I still play (in part thanks to the SCP project and mods). As for the control scheme, somebody used the giant, ridiculous specialized controller made for that one XBox game - Steel Commander 2, I think? - that never really took off, as a Freespace 2 controller. Proof enough that it'd be prohibitively difficult to play with a normal console controller.

I personally hate MMORPGs (partially because I've seen friends throw away artistic pursuits and jobs to play WOW), but I respect that people enjoy them and that they're a large portion of the PC gamer market these days. However, there's a lot more variety within the console system world that just isn't being passed over to PC gaming, and some of the genres that used to define PC gaming are slowly (or quickly) dying. There was a time when the PC was the center of innovation and daring ventures in gaming, and consoles were nothing but identical platformers over and over; unfortunately, now it's the other way around. Developers can make incredibly fun, innovative games like Katamari Damacy for console systems, and the best they can eke out for the PC is another FPS or WOW expansion pack? Portal was a notable exception to the trend, but I for one want the variety that used to define PC gaming to return to it. Indie gaming seems to be the only arena that isn't being dominated by MMORPG dollar signs.

Parent

RE: This sounds good.....

By gumbi18 on 2/22/2008 6:10:47 AM , Rating: 2

I totally agree that PC gaming is in an FPS/MMORPG rut. I just don't understand why it's claimed that MMO's are the be all and end all of PC gaming.

I love the RTS genre. This is the area where PC's clearly punish consoles. Simulations on consoles are next to non-existent and are kind of an underground thing in PC gaming. I think that these two genres need to be fully explored as the RTS genre hasn't really advanced since C&C Red Alert. While Simulations also haven't changed too much. Microsoft churns out Flight Simulator year in and year out, sure its good but not revolutionary.

On a side note Spore should be a shot in the arm for PC and Mac gaming.

Parent

Too expensive

By Urbanmech on 2/20/2008 11:23:47 AM , Rating: 5

None of these gaming companies understand the problems with PC gaming. It's begining to cost way too much.

Stop trynig to sell 600$ video cards, and convincing us that we need 2-3 (dedicated physics after all) of them.

Intel Extreme CPU's for 1300$?? really, who buys that! Dual Skulltrail, where I can put two of those in a PC. Yeah, I'll have sell my car for that luxury.

Make PC gaming affordable, and simple!

RE: Too expensive

By napalmjack on 2/20/2008 11:28:47 AM , Rating: 3

Funny thing about being on the bleeding edge: it's expensive. Always has been, always will be.

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By DeathSniper on 2/20/2008 12:00:52 PM , Rating: 2

That's why they give you options to turn down the graphics... UT3 fyi is perfectly playable on an AthlonXP 2600+ w/ GF6800GT.

It's not costing much for PC Gaming. It's costing alot if you want to game and have the full "experience" (ie graphics, sound, blah blah...)

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By elegault on 2/20/2008 3:37:28 PM , Rating: 2

The 6800GT is respectively quite powerful.

Lets look at people with x600's and other older midrange cards. Low settings won't cut it.

They can upgrade, but for that price they might as well buy a Wii.

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By RamarC on 2/20/2008 12:17:16 PM , Rating: 3

this $450 pc can play most all modern games.

gf6100 mobo: $50
x2 5000+ black cpu: $95
8600gt video: $70
2gb ram: $40
dvd burner: $35
160gb hd: $50
coolermaster case&ps: $75
keybd/mouse: $35
total: $450

os: $100 if you don't have already

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By saiga6360 on 2/20/2008 1:49:37 PM , Rating: 4

Can play but not very well. That setup is GPU limited. If you are ok with playing 'modern' games at below 30fps then this rig for you.

For that price you might as well get a current gen console. It will last you longer.

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By SlyNine on 2/20/2008 7:43:32 PM , Rating: 2

BS you could play games on that at decent settings above 30FPS, you jsut have to turn certian things down , Like Pixel shader Quality , shadows, post processing. witch in the end still leave the game looking pretty dam compariable to the FULL setting.

Dont use Crysis as your comparision.

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By saiga6360 on 2/21/2008 8:59:12 AM , Rating: 2

Uh, everyone knows that GPU sucks for gaming so deal with it. If you have to turn off stuff then clearly, you are wasting what these 'modern' games can offer.

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By Squilliam on 2/20/2008 7:23:44 PM , Rating: 2

If you already have a decent older pc.

keep the case/psu/dvd burner/os/hdd/keyboard/mouse. Everyone who posts here has these pretty much.

your ram/mobo/cpu= $215
MSI 8800gt-$220 or 200 after rebate
If you don't have a decent PSU $50 should get you a fairly good one that will last you many years.

$415-$485 for a system thats faster than any console by a good margin. Even the PS3's untapped powers. Seriously should call it the Gohan system, get angry Gohan, Get angry.

Not only this, but if you think that the Blu-ray makes the PS3 much better value, consider the whole range of things you can do on a powerful pc.

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By Squilliam on 2/20/2008 7:33:17 PM , Rating: 2

Why is this post uprated? LOl

Why do people attack the cost of pc gaming by quoting the most rediculous examples? If I wanted to attack the costs of owning a car, I wouldn't start by saying "Owning a car is expensive, look at how much a Mercedes costs compared to riding a bike."

Furthermore, have you heard of market segmentation, console head? Even the Xbox has Arcade, Pro, and Elite models. There are people who value performance and are willing to pay for it. Heck, if there weren't the PS3 and the Xbox wouldn't exist.

PC gaming IS affordable, it is simple, afterall you managed to sign up to post in this forum didn't you? So that means you could figure out how to play a pc game.

Parent

RE: Too expensive

By SlyNine on 2/20/2008 7:41:49 PM , Rating: 2

Just built a 670$ PC with a 3850, 2Gigs of ram, 430watt PS, 4200X2, Motherboard that can upgrade to phenom, 250gig harddrive, Coolmaster case , Sata DVD dual layer burner, and Windows XP. Thats a ground up PC. one that will be able to upgrade in a year and a half if needed. Say to a quad core/ 150$video card. So lets say the Phenom is around in 2 years, they upgrade to the fastest Phenom CPU out and a $250 video card. that should do them for around 2 1/2 years at least.

However it wont be needed, I just installed Gears of war on a 9700pro w/ 3000 A64, 1gig ram. And it runs fine at 800x600 with a few meduim settings. But it looks good.

The thing is older computers can run these newer games. The question is why do people think you need to upgrade every 6 months and need to have the best of every thing.

Parent

At the right time

By crystal clear on 2/20/2008 9:08:24 AM , Rating: 1

Intels gets it out-

Intel Delivers 'Hard-Core' Eight-Core Platform for PC Performance Aficionados
'Skulltrail'-Based Desktop PCs Lead to 3-D, Hi-Definition Media and Gaming Bliss

GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE, San Francisco, Feb. 19, 2008 – For those who crave more performance than what four processing cores and a single graphics card can deliver today, Intel Corporation has introduced the Intel® Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform. Formerly codenamed "Skulltrail," this is one of the first enthusiast desktop platforms to support two Intel quad core processors for a total of eight processing engines and a choice of multi-card graphics solutions from either ATI* or NVIDIA*.

"For the team creating world-class games here at id, time is one of our most valuable assets," said Robert A. Duffy, Programming Director, id Software. "Having eight powerful Intel cores in a single machine helps our team create and test our latest titles at record speed. We have seen one of our most time-consuming asset generation processes cut from over 4 hours to under 20 minutes by utilizing all eight cores and threading the generation code. Long term this translates to better games on the market faster than previously possible."

As high-definition video becomes more prevalent than ever, encoding and editing is a task that more power users are looking to their PC to do for them. Such workloads are handled with ease by this new platform, and video developers such as DivX* are excited about the possibilities.

"By optimizing our codec to take advantage of these eight cores, we're seeing very impressive performance gains in our labs," said Jerome Vashisht-Rota, co-founder of DivX Inc. "Natively supporting eight core technology allows us to significantly accelerate codec performance for processor intensive applications like the encoding of high-definition video on the PC so that we can continue to offer our users the high-quality digital video experience they have come to expect."

Pricing and Availability

The Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX9775 is available now at an MSRP of $1,499 each. Estimated street pricing for the Intel Desktop Board D5400XS is $649. Platform components are sold separately. Several enthusiast PC manufacturers plan to offer systems based on this new platform starting today and over the next 30 days, including Armari*, Boxx Tech*, Digital Storm*, Falcon Northwest*, Maingear*, Puget Systems*, Scan*, Velocity Micro*, Vigor Gaming*, Voodoo*, @Xi Computers* and others.

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20...

Intel Desktop Board D5400XS .....

RE: At the right time

By eye smite on 2/20/2008 9:19:04 AM , Rating: 2

That does look very promising, I'm just a bit confused though. Wouldn't dual core opterons with core count 8 in a 2U rack server be just as effective at rendering their code. Not to take the fire away from intel at all, I'm just thinking back to how long dual core 4cpu 2u rack server opterons have been available since like 2k5. I guess I'm missing something, it just seems like a publicity stunt for intel. Just speculating though here, don't get sideways on me.

Parent

RE: At the right time

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 2/20/2008 10:10:27 AM , Rating: 2

Skulltrail is a desktop workstation platform, not a server.

Parent

RE: At the right time

By zsouthboy on 2/20/2008 10:21:40 AM , Rating: 2

Not with those required FBDIMMs it's not! :)

Damn, they're expensive.

Parent

RE: At the right time

By The Jedi on 2/20/2008 10:52:57 AM , Rating: 2

Same difference in this case.

Parent

RE: At the right time

By eye smite on 2/20/2008 11:05:00 AM , Rating: 3

I realize that ones a workstation platform and one is a rackmount server, kinda thought that would be apparent as I mentioned 2u rackmount servers. I'm still not understanding why a server with 8 cores couldn't have been used in the same way before skulltrail was implemented. That was my question.

Parent

RE: At the right time

By darkangelism on 2/20/2008 11:57:57 AM , Rating: 2

Skulltrail supports SLI and crossfire, servers don't

Parent

RE: At the right time

By eye smite on 2/20/2008 12:22:51 PM , Rating: 4

Ok that makes sense and I hadn't thought of that. I was just looking at processing power and I guess you would need some graphic power in that mix.Yeah that definitely makes sense.

Parent

Devil's Advocate...

By eyebeeemmpawn on 2/20/2008 9:20:16 AM , Rating: 2

How long before the the PCGA starts acting like the MPAA and RIAA?

I really hope they don't go this route, I just want to see predictions :)

RE: Devil's Advocate...

By saiga6360 on 2/20/2008 9:59:49 AM , Rating: 2

Not too long. It is in their best interest to curb the rampant piracy anyway.

Parent

RE: Devil's Advocate...

By SavagePotato on 2/20/2008 10:25:59 AM , Rating: 2

Eventually pc games will be coming out on blu ray disk when drives become affordable and all pc's start shipping with them.

I'm sure they will be bd+ ing it up hardcore when that happens.

Parent

RE: Devil's Advocate...

By saiga6360 on 2/20/2008 11:10:53 AM , Rating: 2

Maybe, but that is not nearly enough. Before they can achieve, if they can ever achieve, the elimination of PC gaming piracy they will need to do a lot more and spend a lot more on re-standardizing hardware and software to the point that the PC is almost just another console or a Mac. I am sure this is their goal. It will take a lot of money and bullying. If anyone can achieve this, it would be this so-called Alliance.

And/Or just do what the RIAA and MPAA have been doing: pressure the ISPs into a brave new, filtered world.

Parent

RE: Devil's Advocate...

By clovell on 2/20/2008 12:56:45 PM , Rating: 2

Why would that be their goal? I would think Nvidia and AYi would want to continue doing business in discrete graphics cards.

Parent

RE: Devil's Advocate...

By saiga6360 on 2/20/2008 1:56:54 PM , Rating: 2

Nobody is saying they can't. They just have to conform to all the DRM specs they agree on. How the hardware will shape up is anyone's guess. I'm guessing it will all start with making Display Port standard.

Parent

RE: Devil's Advocate...

By napalmjack on 2/20/2008 11:25:29 AM , Rating: 2

Yeah, I wondering about when that might happen. How long did it take for DVD-ROM-based games to become the norm? Maybe 2-3 years ago? I seem to remember hearing around 1999 or so that all PC games (and most software) would be on DVD in the immediate future. I guess the cost did not come down as soon as they hoped.

My guess: it will be at least 5 years before we see it become the norm.

Parent

RE: Devil's Advocate...

By elegault on 2/20/2008 3:33:59 PM , Rating: 3

It's in their interest to stop promoting games with exponentially increasing hardware requirements for each new release.

This is why the consoles are gaining ground. Or, PC's are losing ground, how ever you look at it.

Parent

Huh...

By Hieyeck on 2/20/2008 10:59:29 AM , Rating: 3

quote:
"Microsoft is a strong believer in the PC as a platform for gaming, and the formation of PCGA is a major step forward for our industry and for PC gamers," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows at Microsoft. "Working together, we have an exponentially greater opportunity to propel the PC gaming experience to new heights."

Funny. Why does HALO take 5 years to port to PC?

RE: Huh...

By BladeVenom on 2/20/2008 4:03:37 PM , Rating: 2

And making DX9 games only work in Vista.

Microsoft is a PC gamers worst enemy. Buying PC game studios, getting other PC game developers to make Xbox exclusives, and forcing companies to leave out content on the PC version so things like co-operative play can be Xbox exclusives.

Parent

RE: Huh...

By Emryse on 2/20/2008 5:10:07 PM , Rating: 2

Here, here!!!

Parent

RE: Huh...

By SlyNine on 2/20/2008 7:51:14 PM , Rating: 2

Microsoft doesn't really offer us anything, We need to have a Linux gaming platform, something built by the OTHER members of this board. Something that will work well with the hardware and software and be around the 60$ price.

MS just wants to be the layer you have to have, and charge you out the ass for it. DX10 anyone. I know DX10 has benefits, but so far games like Crysis run better unlocking most of the "DX10 only" features on windows XP.

The sooner we move away from MS the better.

Parent

One troubling sign

By killerroach on 2/20/2008 9:51:04 AM , Rating: 2

Only two game makers are in that list, Epic and Activision, and the latter tends to just shovel half-baked ports on the PC market (assigning the port jobs to minor studios in the process). You would think that a "PC Gaming Alliance" would have more people making actual games, but maybe I'm just being cynical.

RE: One troubling sign

By wushuktl on 2/20/2008 10:27:09 AM , Rating: 2

yeah i'm surprised to see that Crytek isn't a part of this. So far the PC has come first for both of their games

Parent

RE: One troubling sign

By Shoal07 on 2/20/2008 10:53:17 AM , Rating: 2

No valve? Steam is a major market leader in the PC Industry and the likely future of digital content. With MS in the PCGA it means the likely push of the Window's Live platform which is a failure and not free like Steam. No Vavle is a nail in the coffin of this "alliance". The software developers have more power over the future of PC gaming than the hardware manufactures.

Parent

Good!

By Squilliam on 2/20/2008 8:56:44 AM , Rating: 2

This could be really good for P.C. gaming if it means a few more game releases and a general improvement in how games are developed and marketed can only be a good thing.

Thumbs up from me.

Nice to see them cooperating....

By rudolphna on 2/20/2008 5:07:19 PM , Rating: 2

Its nice to see all these hardware competitors cooperating on something finally. Hopefully this will somehow help pull AMD out of the pit its in, and be able to challenge intel and Nvidia again. It boggles the mind how the PC Gaming market has slowed down so much lately. There are more games available than PC then ever. PCs are getting more affordable too. But the allure of playing Halo 3 on their 60+ inch Hi-def Tv is too much. Bah. I survive just fine on my 17" LCD monitor, standard Def TV, and Pentium 4 computer.

Smells like Vaporware

By edborden on 2/21/2008 8:01:59 AM , Rating: 2

It's a good idea, but I don't see it working. When you've got so many huge companies with competing interests involved, I think what you create is an impotent corporate quagmire, and that's assuming they are all truly committed, which I just really see as hard to believe. In the end, I don't see anything like this able to do more than collectively raise awareness about whatever it is they deem important through sheer PR might. But actually do something? I don't see it.

http://edborden.blogspot.com/2008/02/pc-gaming-all...