Shack: Does the responsibility lie somewhat with the hardware manufacturers to market their products in a reasonable way, or is it up to the developers to set sane requirements?

Doug Lombardi: Oh I think it’s totally the fault of the developers. Totally the fault of the developers. I mean the graphics guys, their job to keep pushing the envelope, and as they push the envelope, move the lower-end cards down to a nice price point, so that there’s always this evolution that’s happening. If you’re a hot rod type of guy, and you want to spend $400 on the latest thing, you want to have a smoking machine, and when Left 4 Dead comes out you want to run it at its highest resolution with killer framerates, and call your buddies over for a beer and make them all drool over your system, awesome. But if you’re just a guy who wants a decent PC for less than a thousand bucks, and wants to be able to run games on it, there should be a card out there that runs games at a decent famerate and decent fluidity. Then it’s on us to write for both of those guys.

Go read the rest of it here.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier told GamesIndustry.biz the following.

“Now that NPD can estimate the value of the subscription market, it’s clear that there is a sizable chunk of revenue being generated by PC gaming beyond what is reflected in retail sales,”

“The variety of content available to play games on the PC clearly can draw a diverse audience.”

This shows that those people claiming that PC gaming is dying are short sighted individuals who cannot see the true potential of the PC as a gaming machine. $1 billion is not a figure to be scoffed at and is a clear example the the online gaming industry for the PC is a massive business.

GamesIndustry.biz also reports that NPD research showed that women over 35 are the main users of gaming websites while males under 35 are the largest MMO users.

World of Warcraft unsurprisingly is the top MMO in the US with RuneScape, Lord of the Rings Online, Final Fantasy XI and City of Heroes following in that order.

PC Gaming Alliance will be the Authoritative Voice of PC Gaming World Wide. We will make data that highlights and promotes the PC platform to analysts, press and the public.

We will promote the PC Gaming Industry and the PC as a gaming platform, provide web and event based forums to discuss, debate and influence all aspects of PC development for gaming for all regions of the world, and guidance to help resolve industry-wide challenges such as: Piracy, Cheating, Security, Consumer experience.

PC Gaming Alliance will also provide guidelines to simplify hardware specifications and speed the introduction of new technologies, as well as improve Consumer PC Gaming Experience by working with developers and publishers and PCGA members to maximize the PC gaming experience in all ways possible.

Before I give my thoughts, I highly recommend this article by Jim over on Rock, Paper, Shotgun. He provides some good analysis and a brief rundown on what happened at the official announcement of the PCGA.

The presentation ended with a mixed feeling of anticipation and validation. PC gaming is huge, and growing, and the big boys know that they have to get a handle on it, and that they can’t leave it up to the single-entity consoles to lead the charge into the future of gaming. I really hope the PCGA can settle some problems and do some things to change the landscape of gaming in a positive way. I really hoped it doesn’t just fizzle out and quietly disappear. While I’d argue that it’s people like Valve and the Runescape boys that are really doing the most for the PC, it’d be good to know that the commercial magnates are actually paying enough attention to realise they have to work together. That alone, I suspect, could be enough to make PC gaming a far stronger, safer place for development.

I am somewhat sceptical I must say, especially following the recent announcement about a new 8-core motherboard from Intel (more info) which seems to just hurt the goals of the PCGA to help improve and further the PC as a leading games platform. I really can’t see how adding more random crap to mix of PC hardware is going to help anyone.

However if their intentions are true and they do aim to, and will continue to, improve the PC as a gaming platform by making things much better and easier for gamers to understand then all well and good. However I just fear that with so many big companies involved and the apparent nature at times of them that they will just try to make a quick buck out of this movement. For me, it is Valve and more specifically Steam that are the future and the way forward for the PC.

If the PCGA really wants to help push the PC forward and make it a more accessible, profitable, innovative platform then they need to focus on the indie games, distribution methods like Steam and by streamlining, now confusing the hardware picture.

Interesting times ahead.

As I write this introduction I do not know how long it will take for me to get everything down that I want to. I know that I will talk about my own gaming experience, where I started, why I became a console gamer, why I moved to the PC, games that had a profound effect on me and probably more. During this series of articles (which I will eventually put together as a full feature somewhere) I intend to talk about piracy, digital distribution, hardware, the media effect on the industry, and maybe some other pieces.

Right now I want everyone who reads this to know that I won’t be putting up a section a week, there may be length gaps between postings on this feature or there may be very short gaps. I may have some articles cross over with one another, tie two topics into one article; I am really not sure at the moment.

This will be a journey, and I hope you who read my blog will join me on this journey and provide me with feedback and ideas on what to talk about. If any of you have something you really want me to discuss just leave me a comment and I will do my best to address it. Onwards then I go.