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GDC '08: PC Gaming Alliance founded
Activision, AMD, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, and Nvidia cofound nonprofit dedicated to "advancing the PC as a worldwide gaming platform."
By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Feb 19, 2008 10:12 pm PT
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SAN FRANCISCO--With consoles now increasingly intruding on such hallowed ground as the real-time strategy genre, many PC gamers have adopted something of a siege mentality. This defensive attitude is also apparently afflicting a consortium of hardware manufacturers and software publishers, who today announced the formation of the PC Gaming Alliance.

The first body ever formed solely to promote the PC gaming industry, the PCGA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "driving coordinated marketing and promotion of PC gaming...and creating forums for member companies to cooperate on solutions to challenges facing the PC gaming industry, such as hardware requirements and anti-piracy."

Said member companies include PC hardware manufacturers Acer Inc./Gateway Inc., Dell/Alienware, Intel Corp, and AMD. AMD also owns ATI, a leading manufacturer of PC graphics cards, whose chief rival, Nvidia, is also on the PCGA board along with PC game peripheral Razer USA. Rounding out the list are game developer Epic Games and the biggest third-party publisher on the planet, Activision.

Ironically, the maker of one of the consoles being blamed for cutting into the PC's market share is also on the PCGA's board. After spending billions on launching and promoting the Xbox 360, Microsoft has joined the board as part of its reinvigorated PC gaming initiative, Games for Windows.

The formation of the PCGA is drawing praise from analysts covering the PC gaming market, which took in $911 million at US retailers last year--a decline of 6 percent. "This collaboration will provide developers and publishers with a champion for consistent demographics, hardware adoption, and revenue measurement and reporting," DFC Intelligence David Cole said in a statement. "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."

The announcement of the PCGA's formation was timed to coincide with the ongoing Game Developers Conference, where many of its member companies are touting their wares. The nonprofit also launched its official Web site, www.pcgamingalliance.org.

CoNnOr

Feb 20 2008, 08:29 PM

Hmm
i not sure what their exact goal is..

GosoxJ

Feb 20 2008, 11:22 PM

CoNnOr

Feb 20 2008, 08:29 PM

Hmm
i not sure what their exact goal is..

I would think they're planning to work together. As in the computer manufacturers working together with the parts manufactures so you get like specially designed computers as opposed to them just throwing parts in and hooking them together.

CoNnOr

Feb 21 2008, 12:31 AM

GosoxJ

Feb 20 2008, 11:22 PM

CoNnOr

Feb 20 2008, 08:29 PM

Hmm
i not sure what their exact goal is..

I would think they're planning to work together. As in the computer manufacturers working together with the parts manufactures so you get like specially designed computers as opposed to them just throwing parts in and hooking them together.

i see
this could make things a lot less of a hassle

CoNnOr

Feb 22 2008, 01:36 AM

Well i don't see how this would work since games are constantly upgrading which means people still need a nice PC to run games.

GosoxJ

Feb 22 2008, 01:23 PM

CoNnOr

Feb 22 2008, 01:36 AM

Well i don't see how this would work since games are constantly upgrading which means people still need a nice PC to run games.

It's more of a theoretical thing on my part that an actual thing. I'm thinking that with this alliance and all hopefully I should be able to go out and by a top-of-the-line gaming computer for a more reasonable price than it's been in the past, and with it be able to play any game for a while. So for like 3 years I'd never have to worry about that stuff.

Also I'm thinking have auto system set up. Have it go through and monitor the graphics and such with the average FPS until it achieves a set up that reaches the minimum average FPS (possibly put in by the user), that still allows for it to not look choppy and such, which I'd say would be about 16 - 18 while providing the best graphic output/experience (settings/environment) possible. Instead of the Low, Med, High things they like to do. Obviously there should be more involved things like maximum stress on RAM, CPU %, ect... But that's the basics of it.

CoNnOr

Feb 23 2008, 07:41 PM

GosoxJ

Feb 22 2008, 01:23 PM

CoNnOr

Feb 22 2008, 01:36 AM

Well i don't see how this would work since games are constantly upgrading which means people still need a nice PC to run games.

It's more of a theoretical thing on my part that an actual thing. I'm thinking that with this alliance and all hopefully I should be able to go out and by a top-of-the-line gaming computer for a more reasonable price than it's been in the past, and with it be able to play any game for a while. So for like 3 years I'd never have to worry about that stuff.

Also I'm thinking have auto system set up. Have it go through and monitor the graphics and such with the average FPS until it achieves a set up that reaches the minimum average FPS (possibly put in by the user), that still allows for it to not look choppy and such, which I'd say would be about 16 - 18 while providing the best graphic output/experience (settings/environment) possible. Instead of the Low, Med, High things they like to do. Obviously there should be more involved things like maximum stress on RAM, CPU %, ect... But that's the basics of it.

Not a bad idea then...
I wouldn't mind prices going down