Guest Scoundrel67 Posted March 8, 2001 Share Posted March 8, 2001 I have no connection to the video game industry other than my role as occasional consumer, so perhaps some of you might be able to answer the following questions: Do the developers and publishers belong to any sort of trade association or organization? If they do, does this group have any real influence over how they do business? I ask the preceding questions because I'd very much like to see a great deal more honesty regarding system requirements for PC video games. Yes, I realize that every single combination of processor, RAM, and video card cannot be tested and the game code perfectly debugged before release. That's a given and most of them do a fine job of making sure the game is ready to hit the ground running. There are other issues that do come to mind. Too many companies are less than honest when they list system requirements on the box. Their listed minimums are a cruel joke on consumers. Yes, the game might run on such a system, but it'll be choppy to the point of ruining the experience. I'd like to see some sort of petition demanding the following information under system requirements: 1. Minimum specs to run the ENTIRE game smoothly (no choppy frame rates) with all options and resolutions turned all the way down. 2. Minimum specs to run the ENTIRE game smoothly (no choppy frame rates) with all options and resolutions turned all the way up. Such a listing on each and every PC video game would be a great boon to the millions of consumers for whom buying a maxed out Alienware PC ( http://www.alienware.com/ )every 2 or 3 years is not an option. If this petition were presented at a major trade convention, it just might shame/prod the industry into doing something about this disgraceful situation. Let's have your opinions! ------------------ They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thrawn Posted March 8, 2001 Share Posted March 8, 2001 Well, the only thing tht all games have in common through an organization is the rating system. The requirements are what is needed to get the game to run period, not run smoothly. This sounds like something for the governemnt to set regulations for. Take Raver for example. On the Elite Force game, they don't even support ATI cards, and my game has never run correctly. I cant' even get it to install right now. ------------------ "Noobies Suck" ThRaWn90,RAL_Thrawn,SOB_Thrawn Rogue 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jabba The Hunt Posted March 8, 2001 Share Posted March 8, 2001 hey i ran Grand prix 3 with out any problems - it said on the box - 266 mhz and 64 meg ram my machine - 233 mhz 32 meg ram and i ran it with a few graphics options turned up and the frame rate was fine. ------------------ If I Was any more laid back i would be horizontal jabbathehunt@hotmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue Nine Posted March 8, 2001 Share Posted March 8, 2001 Yeesh, put that thing in a museum already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmdr. Cracken Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 Use this equation. x=sys req. on Box. r=real life sys. req. r=x*2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thrawn Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 that's too hard. too many numbers! ------------------ "Noobies Suck" ThRaWn90,RAL_Thrawn,SOB_Thrawn Rogue 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rogue 9 Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 minium Reqs. - 1997-1998 Pentuim 200 1998-1999 Pentium 266 2000-2001 P2 333 2001-2002 P3 600 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycho Tycho Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 Not really, Rogue. In the years 2001-2002, now they're going to start making Pentium 4. *drool..*. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rogue 9 Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 Yes, I was Posting Minimum Requirements, Of Curse some of Us (ME, ME, ME) Will buy a P4 pretty soon but most people don't like bleeding edge technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmdr. Cracken Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 P4!? I just got a PIII!!!!!!!!! YEESH!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rogue 9 Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 Your behind Cracken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fondas Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 Try to change ayour point of view a bit... HW and SW companies are in for the money, thay do not care about the consumers' needs. Intel and AMD are the to manufacturers. They keep shipping out new processors every six months. Do you really believe that it's coincidential that in the same period SW requirements are going up ? We MUST get convinced, one way or another that we DO need a faster CPU or a brand new VGA. Another factor are sloppy programmers. When they were restricted to 640 k they payed double attention to use technics in order to preserve RAM. Now they just don't care about RAM. There is plenty out there ! ------------------ "No matter how pretty the bait, a hook is still a hook !" TZG+7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rogue 9 Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 I'm a Tech its my Job to get people intersested in new Technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jabba The Hunt Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 hey do you reckon you can get them to slow down a bit!!! and the minium processer specs at the moment are about 300mhz!! 64 meg ram ------------------ If I Was any more laid back i would be horizontal jabbathehunt@hotmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K_Kinnison Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 A few years ago the HD requirements were under 500 MB, now you typciall need 500+ MB or more. THAT is what narfs me off the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue Nine Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 Five hundred? A few years ago? Where you been? Five hundred was acceptable back in 1995. Nowadays you need at least 10 Gigs. Yeesh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scoundrel67 Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 When he says 500Mb, I believe he's referring to the requirement for installation, not the capacity of your hard drive. Getting back on topic, I'm not all that upset about the war between software designers and hardware engineers. It's no great secret that software is designed to push the hardware to its limits. Build it and they will come, right? Build capable hardware and someone will take advantage of its speed/capacity and often push the envelope a bit to get an advantage over other software on high-end systems. Whatever the hardware requirements of a particular piece of software might be, I want them honestly and clearly stated on the box. That viewpoint is not open to negotiation or adjustment. On numerous occasions I've left a game on the store shelf because I didn't believe the system requirements on the box were telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It is said that PC games aren't selling as well as they used to a few years ago. Gee, I wonder why? ------------------ They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jabba The Hunt Posted March 10, 2001 Share Posted March 10, 2001 hey ive been playing all sorts of games on my 233 and i really havnt had too many problems ------------------ If I Was any more laid back i would be horizontal jabbathehunt@hotmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycho Tycho Posted March 10, 2001 Share Posted March 10, 2001 Well, a couple of days ago, I got a new hard drive, more memory and a new disk drive for my compy. My old comp. was scrap metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scoundrel67 Posted March 11, 2001 Share Posted March 11, 2001 Hey, Rogue 9! The Pentium 4s are already out. I believe that they require a different motherboard because of their connecting pins and I know that they use DDR RAM that has to be paired up like the old SIMM chips from the mid-90s. Translation: upgrading from a P3 to a P4 will be very expensive. It's a pity you didn't hold out for a P4 because that would've been the best way to stretch your computing dollars. The fastest P3 is a 1.2Ghz, so that's the best your machine will be able to do in it's current configuration. Buying a 1.3Ghz P4 and then upgrading it in 18-24 months probably would've saved you money in the long haul. Oh well, a P3 still beats my machine hands down... ------------------ They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scoundrel67 Posted March 11, 2001 Share Posted March 11, 2001 My mistake! The previous post was intended for Commander Cracken. A thousand pardons. ------------------ They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rogue 9 Posted March 11, 2001 Share Posted March 11, 2001 It may not upgarde past 1.3 GHZ but I will Scrap it in Favour of a Completely new system in a year or so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scoundrel67 Posted March 29, 2001 Share Posted March 29, 2001 You lucky dog! With a student loan busting my wallet, it'll be a while before I can upgrade. ------------------ They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmdr. Cracken Posted March 30, 2001 Share Posted March 30, 2001 Use this equation. x=sys req. on Box. r=real life sys. req. r=x*2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rogue 9 Posted March 30, 2001 Share Posted March 30, 2001 I got my new computer at work, It's a P3 933 with 256 Megs of RAM a Nvidia TNT2 AGP with 16 megs, and 60 gigs of hard drive space. , and all I am expected to do on it is email and some memo's ------------------ "With only two parents and a handful of siblings, Is it any wonder that humans are so obsessed with finding love?" -- Fragment of a Than-Thre-Kull anthropology text Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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