AMD Announces GAME!: Raising the Bar for Mainstream Gaming PCs
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 19, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Final Words
Ever since the introduction of Intel's Centrino brand, manufacturers have attempted to duplicate its success by pushing the importance of a platform. Today AMD has come the closest I've seen since then by, at least with its AMD GAME Ultra specification, putting together a list of components that can actually guarantee a good experience.
The initial goal of Centrino was that users could go out and purchase a notebook with the Centrino logo and know that they were getting a decent machine, regardless of who made it. It would have wireless, good performance and good battery life, all things that are very important to notebook users. The AMD GAME! program has similarly lofty goals; AMD wants anyone who purchases a GAME! PC or a GAME! Ready peripheral to have a good overall gaming experience.
These are the only logos AMD was allowed to use in support of AMD GAME! but we're told to expect retail avability of GAME! PCs in the second half of 2008. Online system builders like Alienware and Velocity Micro should be shipping GAME! PCs immediately.
However, Centrino was successful not only because of good hardware choices, but a multi-billion dollar marketing campaign by Intel. The concern is that AMD won't have what is necessary to make AMD GAME! a success. The logo program is a good starting point, but I can't help but wonder if something like this won't truly take off until Intel tries its hand at it. Wait for Larrabee and we may see just that.
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ap90033 - Monday, May 19, 2008 - link
I think more OC than you think. My Q6600 is at 3.2 right now and runs great!Griswold - Monday, May 19, 2008 - link
And how many out of the (estimated) 250 million casual and mainstream gamers are overclocking? Much more than the total of the (estimated) 13 odd million enthusiast gamers? I dont think so.Overclocking is mainly a thing of those who see more in their computer than just another electronic device. The rest turns it on to do what they want to do and then turn it off again, not caring about the "what" and "how". And thats why I think AMD got a little marketing jewel there. Now, they just need to make it shine instead of losing it as per usual.
fitten - Monday, May 19, 2008 - link
So your Phenom X3, which was launched a couple months ago, compares similar to the first processor in a line launched well over a year ago on (most likely) single-threaded code? I used AMD exclusively on the desktop for about 7 years but bailed when they hosed me over on two sockets longevity (Athlon64 platforms) and the fact that Intel got their act together and made a better product. But yes, processors are fast enough now that people don't notice the increase fro 90fps to 100fps or whatever.Anyway, I hate these 'system spec classification names'. As another poster already said, new games come out all the time that push the machine's capabilities... what's a GAME!Ultra today will be below just GAME! in 1.5 years. So you'll see people selling GAME!Ultra on Ebay and confusing people all along. Other than that, these names just sound stupid, to me, but I'm not in the audience that AMD is trying to woo with these 'make things easier' names.
FITCamaro - Monday, May 19, 2008 - link
Exactly. This is a mainstream platform. It's not meant to win any benchmarking awards. Fact is most desktop PCs come with integrated graphics. Even a C2D system with integrated graphics won't play games well. Phenom X3 and X4 processors and ATI graphics cards are more than capable of playing todays games. Are they necessarily the fastest out there? No. But they don't have to be.Yes Intel's processors are faster. Nvidia's GPUs normally are faster. But the real world difference typically isn't that much. Even the 3650 is capable of playing modern games on the typical 1280x1024 resolution of today.
Harkonnen - Monday, May 19, 2008 - link
....but I do not think that it goes far enough. I believe the games themselves should have a certification to go along with the hardware.Like 'Game A' is certified for Extreme or something and the computer has the matching certification. Which means 'Game A' would need an 'Extreme' certified PC to run at the game's maximum settings. So the game could be labeled 'Extreme' for resolution 1920x1200 and up with maximum game settings and for smaller resolution, say 1600x1200 it would only need a 'Mainstream' Certification.
I hope you guys are getting what I mean. It is kind of hard to explain.
retrospooty - Monday, May 19, 2008 - link
Also what about as time goes by?Today the Game Ultra requires a minimum of a 3870. Next year that wont be as powerful, and the year after it will be weak. Are they going to date it? Game ultra 2009, 2010? Or just call it Game ultra and up the specs, thus creating even more confusion?
anandtech02148 - Monday, May 19, 2008 - link
Amd can have my slogan, I will sell you "Game On Baby!" for a Zeelleon dollars.They exclude gaming on small electronic devices why? I've seen people in traffic playing cellphone games.
Does this mean Pc gaming is still alive? Pc game development seems to die.