S
o is PC gaming hosed? That seems to be
the case for games that a) are not mas-
sively multiplayer, b) don’t have “Sims” in
the title, or c) aren’t played by your mom.
But it’s not really as dire as all that. Mass
Effect actually made it to number 2, and Sins of
a Solar Empire to number 9, on the current NPD
PC sales charts.
Those numbers, however, don’t refl ect
where PC owners are really gettin’ their game
on: with casual games. Remember when you
would say you were a PC gamer and people
would say, “Yeah, me too,” and you’d ask what
they played, and they’d say, “Minesweeper and
Solitaire.” And you’d chuckle. Good times!
I still laugh to think about it, but now it’s a
painful, strangled (nay, rueful) laugh, because
the Sons of Minesweeper are now dominating
the PC gaming industry. I actually like casual
games, since they load fast, fill a few minutes
that might otherwise be spent strangling edi-
tors, and go away quickly.
If game manufacturers are wondering why
their once-loyal PC gamer hardcore fan base is
fi nally throwing up their hands and/or certain
fi ngers in disgust and frustration, they need only
read their own boxes. Remember Crysis, the
game that would knock your PC to the ground
and pound its chips till it cried for mommy? Well,
Crysis was a PC-only game, and its minimum
specs were a Pentium 4 2.8GHz or comparable,
1GB RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce 6800 GT or
better (Vista specs are higher). And that was
for people who liked to watch slide shows. The
system capable of playing Crysis at full-res with
solid frame rates is currently busy running the
new supercollider.
Now along toddles the PC version of As-
sassin’s Creed, which Xbox 360 owners finished
and sold back to GameStop about a year ago,
and the minimum system specs make Crysis
seem like a girly-game: Pentium dual-core
2.6GHz, 2GB RAM, 256MB DirectX 10.0 card.
Recommended specs for people who want to,
you know, actually interact with the game in real
time? About twice that.
Screw that. Where’s the link for Bejeweled?GAME THEORYSons of Minesweeper
THOMAS MCDONALDThomas L. McDonald has been covering games
for 17 years. He is an editor at large for Games
magazine.10 | MAXIMUMPC | SEP 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
QUICKSTART^
THE BEGINNING OF THE MAGAZINE, WHERE ARTICLES ARE SMALLWindows XP Gone, Sort Of
Manufacturers say MS is turning the
screws on OS availabilityA
s of June 30, Microsoft has pulled the plug on the retail
life of the Windows XP operating system, but like a
zombie that just refuses to go quietly, XP will still be
off ered to OEM manufacturers through January 31, 2009.
According to Dell, Microsoft is mandating that XP
downgrades occur only on enterprise, business, and gaming
machines—for the privi-
lege, Dell will tack on an
additional $20 fee to the
price of the system.
Microsoft denies the
allegations, insisting that
anyone with Windows Vis-
ta Business or Ultimate is
eligible for the downgrade.
MS also maintains that it
is not forcing retailers to
limit consumers’ options
for downgrading based on
system builds. –D MThe OS’s retail days are over, but it lives on amid bickering.Neural Impulse
Actuator
O
CZ’s Neural Impulse Actuator translates patterns of
electrical activity in your head into keyboard com-
mands. The shocking twist? It works. Using a traditional
mouse to control what you see and the NIA to control
movement and fi ring in Unreal Tournament 3, we scored
our fi rst fumbly but nonetheless breathtaking kill within
fi ve minutes of snapping the carbon-nanofi ber strap to
our forehead. It’s a complicated, fi rst-generation prod-
uct that requires a Jedi’s patience to master, but you
want to kill Predator-style, don’t you? –L DThe Federal Trade
Commission’s informal
investigation into Intel’s
business practices is
heating up. The FTC
has subpoenaed Intel’s
customers, seeking more
information on the chip-
maker’s business prac-
tices. The government
agency is particularly
interested in the pricing
discounts Intel off ers
its customers. AMD has
long alleged that Intel
has illegally used deep
pricing discounts to
discourage computer
makers from off ering
PCs using AMD CPUs.
Intel said in a state-
ment that it has been
cooperating with the
FTC probe since 2006
and the subpoenas
simply give the agency
access to information
from other parties.
Intel pointed to the
fi erce price declines for
CPUs—about 42 percent
from 2000 to 2007—as
a sign that there is
competition. The com-
pany also took a dig at
AMD by saying, “When
competitors perform
and execute, the market
rewards them. When
they falter and under-
perform, the market
responds accordingly.”
Still, the widening
probe comes at a bad
time. South Korea’s ver-
sion of the FTC recently
fi ned Intel $25 million
for similar transgres-
sions, and the European
Union last year accused
Intel of antitrust viola-
tions, as well. AMD itself
is continuing with its
own antitrust case
against Intel. –G UIntel
Customers
Subpoenaed
TESTED &GEEK