Intel sign up for gaming

Damaged chip monstrosity Intel is starting to accept the importance of gaming as a revenue stream, according to this interesting report at The Inquirer. The author, Nicholas Knupffer, points out that among price-conscious teenage gamers the Athlon and Duron processors are far more popular, mostly because of shear economics and the recent run on P4 negativity. Intel have just laid down some green to sponsor the American CPL, and already sponsor the Roweb series of LAN Parties here in the UK with switches, servers and Pentium 4-based machines. The company already has designs on a similar move in Europe, says the article. The thing that impressionable young gamers need to see with their own eyes though is improved performance. You can't market a chip that performs worse for more. Granted, SSE2-optimised processes are a little thin on the ground, but perhaps a concentration on the power of Pentium in gaming circles would shift boxes. At last month's i7 LAN Party, it was estimated that over 75% of computers were running on Athlon platforms, and The Inquirer has a similar story to tell about a recent LAN. The presence of the Pentium III, let alone 4 was negligible. Related Feature - Pentium 4 Review

Source - The Inquirer