Get 'Gaming' with AMD

It took until my first PC got really outdated for me to realise why people preferred playing games on consoles. My arguments were that 'I can play loads of different games on my PC' and 'The graphics are much crisper' etc etc. Now these are valid, apart from when you get slightly, behind the times. The first experience I had was when attempt to install Knights of the Old Republic on it. 'Why isn't it working?' then discovering my PC was greatly behind what it needed to be.

At that point, my PC gaming wavered massively and I began to look on in envy at those people who could play 'The Sims 2' on full graphics settings, and to this day, I still ain't properly played KoTOR, much to my dismay. At the time, PCs were beginning to lose their appeal as a gaming machine, compared to the early 90s, mainly down to the success of the PS1 and 2. Although the general quality of PC games was always above consoles, developers found it increasingly easier to port PC games onto their console counterparts.

Then, apart from the ever improving hardware out pacing consumers, the increasing costs of making games began to take their toll. For consoles, it was much more difficult to copy games and play them, requiring consoles to be chipped etc, but with the advent of broadband etc, the use of torrents shot up, and it got to the point where almost any game you could think of for PC, as well as movies, music etc, could be downloaded and run without you spending a thing.

PC developers couldn't compete with console ones anymore, as they simply began to lose so much money, projects that were destined for greatness either ended up on consoles or as a steaming pile of dung. This is still going on, but with developers such as EA and 'Battlefield Heroes' attempting to pay for games depending on people playing them and Valve using Steam and attempting to protect developers from pirates.

Now on the hardware side, its still going faster than ever, but now AMD have released 'AMD Game!' a program that attempts to make it easier for people to judge what spec etc their system is running at, and hence the games for it. It designed for more mainstream gamers, to educate them. The program has already had a lot of support from hardware makers and retailers. With around 80% of PCs being sold every day not capable of playing games, this program attempts to label those capable as being capable, making them also classed as consoles rather than PCs.

At the moment, it is still all geared towards AMD and ATI hardware, simply because 'If hardware was involved that we did not have control over, it would be out of control' (Brent Barry, AMD gaming strategist). At the moment, it seems that overall to be labelled either AMD Game! or AMD Game! Ultra, the PCs must meet a required standard, of quite a high spec.

Overall, I believe this is a step in the right direction to try and revive PC gaming, as it will allow people, who are not hardcore gamers, to have some idea of the capability of their system, if it also links up with game developers and publishers, it could become as simply as buying for a console.