Microsoft hosts PC gaming event

By Ellie Gibson Published 26 June, 2008

"These are exciting times," says Schappert.

Microsoft is hosting a big old showcase to prove that PC gaming is not dead just having a bit of a sit down.

The event is titled Windows Presents: The Big Picture and is taking place today in San Francisco.

Games on show will include Bionic Commando, Call of Duty: World of War, Fevil May Cry 4, Ghostbusters and Kung Fu Panda. Microsoft will confirm the release of 16 more titles under the Games for Windows label, including Quantum of Solace, Mafia II, Battlestations Midway, Battlestations: Pacific and Saints Row 2. AMD and NVIDIA will also be there to show off their latest graphics technology.

"These are exciting times for the PC gaming industry," said bigwig John Schappert. "Every major region will see PC gaming continue to grow in audience, game revenue and hardware purchases for the foreseeable future.

"While the challenges we face as an industry are many PC gaming has never been stronger, and we’re confident this trend will continue in the years to come."

Schappert went on to point out that Crysis and Age of Conan have now shipped more than 1 million copies, while Hellgate: London has over a million active subscribers.

"The Windows-based PC is the most connected gaming platform on the planet," Schappert said. "Microsoft’s continued investments will enable game publishers to take advantage of that connectivity while delivering to consumers the kinds of gaming experiences they will love."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (61) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 4 years ago

    Fevil May Cry?

    Awesome.

    Also, I cannot believe 1 million people actually pay for Hellgate each month.
    Edited by 1 at 26/06/08 @ 11:48

  • mossychops001 #2 4 years ago

    CTRL ALT DELETE.

  • bad09 #3 4 years ago

    @ Eraysor

    I thought that to, apparently Fevil may cry is about a swedish model with the hump.....

    http://ww w.nocturnalmodels.com/Modellbes...
    Edited by 2 at 26/06/08 @ 11:53

  • groovychainsaw #4 4 years ago

    SO which one of the exciting new games isnt on a console? I love my PC, but the state of commercial games is depressing. Good job there's lots of indie/russian games to keep things interesting.

  • SBfistfun #5 4 years ago

    ^ I agree, an even more annoyingly, the odd console game I want for my PC (Battlefield Bad Company) isn't coming out, grrrrr. Finding it hard to justify spending the money to upgrade these days.

  • NewbieZilla #6 4 years ago

    Lol, Ellie is drunk. Bit early, isn't it?

  • aldo_14 #7 4 years ago

    No Roccoco McSpuffers game?

  • oceanmotion #8 4 years ago

    Wow, that's it. Showing off some PC games. Where is your Steam equivalent ? They really need to get their arse in gear.

  • HolyJebus #9 4 years ago

    I predict that PC gaming will have a resurgence after this generation of consoles as MS and Sony ditch the high end expensive games market to go for family friendly games ala Nintendo. Mark my words. MARK THEM....

  • bdc #10 4 years ago

    Hey guys! PC gaming isn't dead! Just look at these games that are also out on the consoles!

  • Xerx3s #11 4 years ago

    You might be on the money there. Don't know about the rest but I most certainly will move back to the pc again if there is no highend console that focusses on the hardcore.

  • Katsumoto #12 4 years ago

    The thing about these "LOL YOU CAN GET THAT ON A CONSOLE TOO LOL" arguments is that they work exactly the same the other way around. Why the hell would I want to buy a 360 when I get (often, though not always) superior versions on the PC I already own?

    The 360 has about 7 or 8 games i'm interested in that are exclusive to that console, but that's it. So don't go around shouting pc gaming is dead just because it has a lot of cross-platform games..

  • symmetry #13 4 years ago

    ^^ Because I do not want to spend the price of a 360 every 6 months to keep upgrading my fecking PC.

    Because I want a game that has been developed for 1 chipset - minimizing crashes, lock-ups etc.

    Because I want an online service that already has all my friends on it and makes it easy for me to hook up with them.

    Because I don't want to shut down everything that's running on my PC just to play a game.

    Etc etc.
    Edited by 1 at 26/06/08 @ 13:10

  • Katsumoto #14 4 years ago

    Okay, good job you don't need to unless you're smacking the side of your pc with a crowbar then?

    Seriously, where the hell does this "every 6 months" myth come from? Also, what the hell are you buying that costs the same as a 360?

    If you spend 600 quid on a PC brand new right now you won't need to upgrade it for at least 2 years. Grr.

  • symmetry #15 4 years ago

    A 360 is about £150 now?

    I easily spent more than about every 6 months just trying to keep up.

  • Katsumoto #16 4 years ago

    Lol, well if you insist on having an absolute top of the range ultimate uber PC then that's hardly the fault of PC gaming. I have a 8800 2gb dual core etc generic mid-range to high-end computer, would cost about 550-600 quid if bought now, and this plays everything that is out now great on high settings (with the exception of crysis, which needs medium-high settings) and will play everything that comes out this year great on high settings too. I haven't spent a penny on it in almost a year (and, by the way, I haven't spent 40 quid a year for the privilege of playing online, nor have I spent 30-40 quid RRP on every game I've bought, which is at least 3 or 4 a month usually).

    I'm not trying to argue console gaming isn't cheaper, i'm just saying pc gaming isn't ANYWHERE NEAR as expensive as people love to say it is on these threads.

    The most i'm thinking of splashing out on in the next 12 months is 2gb extra ram for about 40 quid.

  • Plughead #17 4 years ago

    Why? You patently don't need to

    (This is to symmetry, btw)
    Edited by 1 at 26/06/08 @ 13:17

  • IronCladChicken #18 4 years ago

    @ symmetry
    > A 360 is about £150 now?
    > I easily spent more than about every 6 months just trying to keep up.

    Then you're an idiot

  • Katsumoto #19 4 years ago

    P.s. in response to "it costs about 150 quid now":

    I know! But 8800 GTs, Core2Duos and RAM all cost less than 100 quid. And if you're trying to say you would possibly EVER need to upgrade more than one component at a time within the space of a year then you're mental! MENTAL I SAY!

  • symmetry #20 4 years ago

    I admit that PC requirements have got a bit saner these days, and I haven't been a proper PC gamer for about 2 years, but I'm not lying about how much I used to spend, and I didn't have an uber PC either.

    At the time it just seemed that every AAA title that came out required more memory, or faster CPU, or better graphics card.

    Also, monitors were a big money sink if you wanted a good gaming one, these days they're ten a penny.

  • groovychainsaw #21 4 years ago

    Ok, but us pc types must at least concede that the pc costs, say £6-900 over 5 years, whereas a console costs about £300 (lets assume you're a bit hardcore and buy at launch). And frankly, most of the PC ports are just higher resolution, which is ok, but if you want to play on a 32" screen, you're unlikely to run them at higher resolution anyway (unless you have a ridiculously expensive monitor, and I'm not counting those guys ;-). So the PC benefits are minimal.
    And I get fed up with the contant cycle of patching, maintaining and generally looking after my PC. And frankly, if the best 'exclusive' they can give us is Crysis, I don't feel like I'm missing much by turning to the console 'dark side'. It just easier. And as I get older, I get lazier i guess. I still love the random stuff that the PC throws up that we don't see on consoles, things like stalker, peggle (although there's no real reason why either of those couldn't be on a console), but it does get increasingly hard to defend PC gaming as a sensible, rational choice. It's not, and thats why PC owners can get so touchy ;-).

  • jellyhead #22 4 years ago

    I think that as more and more mainstream devs and pubs go to console heavy development the PC will have a resurgence as smaller devs spot a chance to make money in a market the big boys have left in favour of selling javascript games to your mum on £400 consoles.
    I also like the fact i'm going home tonight to start messing about making my own game again with a minimum of fuss.

    I like consoles but PCs are more flexible.

  • UncleLou #23 4 years ago

    Consoles rule. They are quick and easy to use. They dont need constant cuddling and reassurance that they are as not as old as they look, they dont need weekly maintenance (viruses, drivers, patches).

    I just want to put a game disc in my gaming machine and play it. But best of all, I can invite friends round and we can all play together on the same machine! Imagine that, being in the company of good friends rather than being an angry lonely internet voice!


    On the other hand, their cheapness is a scam because games are much more expensive and you pay off your subsidised hardware with every game you buy, you pay through the nose for peripherals, the controls are limited, they're locked down systems where the platform holder has the final say, and a lot of the high profile stuff has been focus-group tested to death. Not to mention loading times, framerate problems, and vsync issues.

    And I don't spend time with my friends sitting in front of the TV. So there. :-)

  • Katsumoto #24 4 years ago

    "I just want to put a game disc in my gaming machine and play it. But best of all, I can invite friends round and we can all play together on the same machine! Imagine that, being in the company of good friends rather than being an angry lonely internet voice!"

    Ironically when I want to play a game I put the disc in and then play it! It's MENTAL. With mass effect, I don't even put a disc in, I just click an icoN! FUCK!

    Also, considering the threads on the forums about "xbox live twats", it seems that it is the console types who are most affected by "angry internet voice".
    Edited by 1 at 26/06/08 @ 13:50

  • UncleLou #25 4 years ago

    Ironically when I want to play a game I put the disc in and then play it! It's MENTAL. With mass effect, I don't even put a disc in, I just click an icoN! FUCK!

    Hehe, yes, nothing shows me more clearly that I live in a different universe than console-only gamers then when I read a lack of installation on a hdd as something positive. It's like people saying they prefer mules to cars to get around quickly because they don't need to search for the keys. :)

  • FooAtari #26 4 years ago

    /sigh

    The retardness of what seems like 80% of EG readers is unbelievable.

    Either way, both consoles and PC's have their place. Pick whichever suits your needs best. Is it really that hard?

    Some of the urban myths surrounding PC gaming are both amusing and depressing at the same time. Don't you just love ignorance...

    /hasn't upgraded PC in bout 20months now still plays the latest games, cant remember the last time it crashed, doesn't have to disable much, although the fact that you do is down to MS and the stuff they leave running which is next to pointless for your average home user.

    "fuck about for a good long while getting the right balance between framerate and detail

    That's a good thing IMO. sick of playing consoles games with shoddy framerates cause devs refuse to cut back on the eye candy a little. Unacceptable that very very few games have achieve a stable 60fps, Christ, most still run at 30.
    Edited by 1 at 26/06/08 @ 14:05

  • groovychainsaw #27 4 years ago

    To be fair, the best console games hide their disc-based roots very well (eg somthing like GTA4). And you can't say that PCs didn't originate the 1 minute long loading screens (they are better now, but you need the upgrades to make them quick). But yeah, I've never had a problem with installations. Although of course, that does lead you towards the (relatively) expensive hard drive upgrades (less so for PS3, but still there...)

  • symmetry #28 4 years ago

    OK, you're making a lot of sense and I concede the point about peripheral costs and locked-in hardware, however, without consoles there would be no Rock Band. :)

  • UncleLou #29 4 years ago

    That's after you have checked you have the required minimum specs, double checked that the required specs are actually what you need to play at more than 2FPS, checked the game works with your video card, checked it works with your revision of the drivers, updated the drivers if necessary, and then actually installed the game. After that, yes it's pretty straightforward. Oh hold on, no it isnt. You need to check your input peripherals are supported, fuck about for a good long while getting the right balance between framerate and detail, choosing the resolution you should run at... *yawn*...


    :D

    Spot the guy who has never ever owned a PC game in his life.

  • Katsumoto #30 4 years ago

    Lollercaust. Yeah, that's definitely what I did to play Mass Effect. I certainly didn't just buy it, put it in the drive, click install, wait 5 minutes, then play it. That didn't happen. I thought it did, but it clearly didn't. Maybe it was a dream?

  • bad09 #31 4 years ago

    Cost is an issue with PC gaming, but for me two main thing drew me away from PC more than the cost.

    To be honest games I want seems to come to consoles now or PC and console. It wasn't always the case I remember longing for games like Tie Fighter/X-wing, Jedi Knight, Avp 1+2. Also PC always had the best versions of many games like Mafia (only version to own), Quake, Doom, HL etc. From this gen you can get the same version if not better from a cheaper console. OF course the FPS now has a new home on consoles which used to be PC ground which affected it as well.

    Also for me online PC gaming was never really fun. For me, from my own experience, it seemed PC gamers took things a little to seriously. I remember being told off and booted from SW Battlefront games for flying x-wings without choosing pilot class - oh no!!! Sure we have the idiots on live but that's only a minority and in general people are nice and more importantly play for fun and don't take it seriously (well unless it's a American teen playing H3!)

  • symmetry #32 4 years ago

    @Katsumoto - actually what you did was wait 6 months, put it in the drive, click install, wait 5 minutes, then play it. :)

  • Katsumoto #33 4 years ago

    Touche (don't know how to do accents on this stupid mac keyboard)!

    Of course, you lot are still waiting for Stalker ;)

  • Xerx3s #34 4 years ago

    Oke, this clusterfuck needs to be nuked from orbit. If you don't like PC gaming, why did you enter a thread about pc gaming just to say that pc gaming is lame? Are you really THAT insecure?

  • HolyJebus #35 4 years ago

    I'd just like to say I hate everyone here. Except FooAtari, you seem relatively normal. Everyone else have some biscuits and calm the fup down.

  • Katsumoto #36 4 years ago

    I'm pretty sure I don't know a single pc gamer (and I know many) who goes through that list you just presented before playing a game. Also, console gaming is -currently- more popular, and even then only in the UK and US. Are you saying PC gaming only become a hassle in the last few years, and if not then why were PC games selling equally well or better than PS1 games in the late 90s? PCs were much MORE hassle back then, if anything.

    Also, why is pc gaming more popular in, say, Germany, than console gaming? Is it because all Germans are tech-wizards? Maybe!

    edit: In any event, even if I'm completely wrong, why do you people feel the need to come into every PC related thread and spew this sort of thing? I don't go into every 360 thread and moan about how mine broke within a week ;)
    Edited by 2 at 26/06/08 @ 14:35

  • jellyhead #37 4 years ago

    Given the general IT literacy levels in the UK that i have to deal with on a daily basis i half expect Tibet or Nepal to have higher IT technical skills in it's citizens than here. So no wonder the UK is the console island in Europe's PC centric market.

  • Killerbee #38 4 years ago

    PC gaming is great. It certainly isn't as difficult as its reputation would have some people believe. Driver upgrading is required once in a blue moon and for the vast, vast majority of new PC games all you need to do is put the disk in the drive, click install, have a cup of tea whilst it does its thing and then before you know it you're off and playing. Not that different from having a PS3 from what I hear. A lot of the tweaking people do in PC gaming circles is done by choice, not out of necessity - some people actually like tinkering, you know?

    And am I alone in thinking that the PC has one of the more exciting gaming line-ups for the next few months? Crysis: Warhead; STALKER: Clear Sky and Far Cry 2 (you just know the PC version will be the one to get) are all looking very nice indeed. About the only game on the horizon that I really feel I'll be missing out on due to owning a PC and not a 360/PS3 is Resident Evil 5.

    I spent £830 on a new Vista PC (Q6600, 2x8800GT in SLI, 3GB RAM) back in March and I'm pretty sure I won't need to upgrade it for a good few years. It plays Crysis very well on "Very High" settings at 1280x1024 and everything else I just put up to the maximum settings available and it just works. Yes that £830 would have bought me two consoles, but I can also use it for internet, work, email, photos, media centre stuff - not all of which is available or as convenient on a console.

    Maybe I'm lucky to be able to afford £830 in one go, but I've no regrets and I fully expect to stay PC gaming well into the future.

  • UncleLou #39 4 years ago

    Noone says console gaming isn't a tad easier to set up. But the woes of PC gaming are over-dramatised and exaggerated like not much else on gaming forums. As aptly demonstrated by your posts on this very page.

  • symmetry #40 4 years ago

    In any event, even if I'm completely wrong, why do you people feel the need to come into every PC related thread and spew this sort of thing? I don't go into every 360 thread and moan about how mine broke within a week ;)

    All I was doing when we sparked this whole thing off was responding to a question - Why the hell would I want to buy a 360 when I get (often, though not always) superior versions on the PC I already own?

  • jellyhead #41 4 years ago

    I'm desperate to upgrade my PC and have been for a few months as mine's about 4 years old now and starting to creak but i can't as i have to save for a new deposit on a flat and there's a whole slew of PC games on the horizon that i have my beady eyes on.
    I've needed a new rig since Silent Hunter 4 made my machine cry and i can't see that going to consoles anytime soon so i'm staying a PC gamer who happens to have a lot of consoles too.

    / wants to be home playing God Hand

  • Xerx3s #42 4 years ago

    Try to think outside your own limited frame of reference. If PC gaming was as easy as you profess, then it would be more popular. It isnt, so it isnt.

    I'm pretty sure that the pc gaming market dwarfs or at least rivals the console market in Europe and worldwide. There was a list of European sales a while back and the fact that consoles are only available in a tiny selection of countries...
    All we hear is console manufacturers who boast about their (questionable) sales and one central counter for the Americans.

    PC games sell a lot less because there is a far greater lineup to compete with than the tiny selection consoles put forth every year. The PC games market is one of the busiest and most competitive markets out there. No big console manufacturer to spend millions on marketing for you or give you time slots so there is no competition.

  • Dynamize #43 4 years ago

    I'll add this thread to the many others like it to memory for the next time console owners are bitching and whining that the PC crowd are getting some crappy DLC for free. "Waaaaah! Waaaaaah! I had to pay! I knowingly bought into a totally closed and locked system and now I'm whinging about it!"; or the next time someone complains that their console up and died on them, and they can't just buy a more reliable part :)

    Seriously though, what does it matter to you what games people play on what machines? So farticusmaximus (...), you didn't have a great time when you played on PCs. So you got a console. Good for you. Why are you here telling PC gamers they must be idiots for enjoying their PCs? Why are you (badly) explaining everything that is wrong and bad about PCs, to people who have no idea what you're talking about?

    This gaming machine tribalism is the weirdest shit, but since I haven't bought a console since the N64/Dreamcast, it hasn't affected me. Until it becomes clear that, strange people that they are, console gamers seem to declare a truce amongst themselves so they can all point the finger at PC gamers. Aces. I guess it's kind of sweet that the only thing you can agree on is your bizarre resentment towards PCs. "Those people are enjoying their PCs. Outrageous! Unglaublich! They must be mentally destitute, socially maladjusted and possibly sexually perverted! Needs must I go and explain to them that they're wrong."

    On to the actual topic at hand: Heh, that game lineup looks shit; with the exception of Ghostbusters and possible Mafia 2. You're not going to "save" PC gaming with crap like that, MS.

  • pauleyc #44 4 years ago

    Ah, screw this.

    Yes, you're right. PC gaming is dead. We are all losers and [insert favourite insult here]. You are great, your [insert favourite console here] is the best thing since [insert previous generation of favourite console here] and easily beats the [insert most hated console here].

    Happy now?

  • Katsumoto #45 4 years ago

    @ Symmetry - sorry, that comment wasn't aimed at you, and now you've pointed it out I am aware of being vaguely hypocritical on that point. But if you look at other similar threads you will see this happens a lot :)

  • Haloboy #46 4 years ago

    @ symmetry

    "^^ Because I do not want to spend the price of a 360 every 6 months to keep upgrading my fecking PC. "

    Oh yeah? just so happens this is exactly what I thought when I abandoned PC gaming early on last year, only for the "new lease of untroubled gaming hope" I bought to lay down and die on me after just 2 months. Went back to PC gaming after investing in a slight upgrade (by trading in all my none used 360 games) and have not looked back since.

    Microsoft should be ashamed of that machine, there's nothing much else that can be said about it. So if we are going to celebrate the coming of games on different platforms I sure as hell would now rather it be played on the PC, and only on the PC. This includes recent releases such as Grid, Mass Effect and Alone in the Dark which all run swimmingly, in short I couldn't be happier with PC gaming at present and the best titles of this year are still yet to come. Bring it I say, my PC is ready and willing.

  • Feanor #47 4 years ago

    I'm very excited about Devil May Cry 4 on the PC since I already have a wired 360 pad. The benchmark Capcom released a little while ago ran very well on my PC, which is already a year old and only cost 600 quid back then.

  • Haloboy #48 4 years ago

    Capcom are really starting to get their shit together though when it comes to PC gaming. Ever since they released Lost Planet the way they rework PC versions has really took a significant leap forward for the better. DMC4 as you said ran at an almost constant 60fps on my machine so I'm now glad the game took longer than expected as the demo/benchmark convinced me it's now a must have PC title. And like you I played it entirely on a 360 windows pad and loved every second of it, so who the hell needs a 360 anyhow I say?

  • Katsumoto #49 4 years ago

    Shame they won't port Dead Rising, the one Capcom game I reallllly want to play

  • Haloboy #50 4 years ago

    There was a rumour last year that DR was set to come to PC, sadly nothing was ever officially announced after that. It's obvious Capcom have now found the sweet porting spot for making new PC versions, so as with the current RE5 PC rumour, never say never I reckon.

  • Katsumoto #51 4 years ago

    Well, I really hope so! Got a bit of a thing for zombies you see.. ;)

  • zoidberg #52 4 years ago

    I wanna play FEVIL MAY CRY!!!!

  • Haloboy #53 4 years ago

    Of course there's still bad PC ports on the loose, take Turok for example. It took them a good few months to nail a solid release date and when it finally arrived it's easily one of the shoddiest looking PC games I've ever had the displeasure of running on my machine. I mean, nothing I do to this game can make it look even remotely decent, then again I hear it wasn't so hot on the consoles either.

    The only real upside was that Play are selling the PC version I now own for just £15 brand new, which really says it all I guess but then I never was one for not giving things a go.

    Mass Effect on the other hand is a real belter, sure it doesn't look anywhere near as good as I was expecting (and not in a Turok way either) it just seems a little, empty level design wise. Maybe one day the days of bad PC ports will be completely behind us, I wouldn't bet good money on that ever happening though.

  • Feanor #54 4 years ago

    At least the PC vesion of Mass Effect doesn't have all the texture pop-in and endless loading of the 360 version. I think Bioware tried to push that console too far.

  • Nithron #55 4 years ago

    Most of the stuff that people complain about when it comes to PC gaming aint been a problem for about ten years now.

    Because of DirectX, and unified drivers, games pretty much never fail to work due to "hardware incompatibility". They don't interact directly with the hardware. Ever. That's what Windows is for. You might have problems if you're trying to run them on something made out of vaccuum tubes.

    Upgrading only has to be done once every two, three years or so, and costs half the price of a console, because usually.. You only need a new graphics card.

    This is because you don't need to run games at 1920x1080, because, you know, games on consoles don't run at that res either. They run at something ridiculously crap half the time, like 720x540, which is barely above SD resolution.

    Also, it doesn't really work out any more expensive, as you get much cheaper games, and the online multiplayer is free. Not only free, but quite often, just plain better. UT3 with 16 players maximum? You're having a laugh, right? It aint been that low on PC since 1999. This is 2008, and we have 64 bloody players per match, with no lag.

  • Haloboy #56 4 years ago

    What was that game called that had 150 man servers again? Joint Operations?

    Graphics cards are not only becoming more powerful but now you are getting more bang for your buck too, the new 4870's can be snapped up in the UK for just £180. That's just insane by older standards when new cards would never be below the £300+ mark.

    Upgrading is nice and all, but it's not the much needed necessity it's always made out to be. Unless it's for Crysis, but even then Warhead is said to be running much better on the same hardware and now you can even have Ultra quality without the need for a Dx10 card. Which I guess is cool.

  • Xerx3s #57 4 years ago

    "At least the PC vesion of Mass Effect doesn't have all the texture pop-in and endless loading of the 360 version. I think Bioware tried to push that console too far."

    Yeah but then my pc has 8 gig ram running at 1066 (and faster when overclocked) and has all kinds of trinkets that won't be in consoles for another 10 years or so.

  • Feanor #58 4 years ago

    Fair point. I just wish makers of console games would go for slightly less complex graphics, rather than try and get the 360 and PS3 to do more than they can and gouge our eyes with tearing, low frame rates, pop-in, etc.

  • Haloboy #59 4 years ago

    Another reason why Far Cry 2 on the PC will be the one to own.

  • Xerx3s #60 4 years ago

    Dunno about that. As a social gamer, I buy it on whatever platform my mates buy it so it doesn't matter to me if that's a 360 or pc.

  • Nithron #61 4 years ago

    @farticus: Actually... Yeah, I can see that happening. Just don't buy ATI products, mkay? The last ATI card I got was a heap of crap as well.

    I suppose the fact that you should choose one graphics card vendor over the other kind of backs up the claims that you need to know what you're doing to be a PC gamer. Maybe so. But it still aint as bad as everyone makes out.