AMD have had a genius brainwave, followed by what some could call a spasm of stupidity. Basically AMD will slap a PC with their new AMD Game! sticker letting the hardware uneducated know the machine can handle 30FPS + at a resolution of 1280 x 1024. That sounds great, what could possibly be wrong with that? The AMD Game! program will require big-name titles being retested every 6 months, which means the minimum requirement classifications will shift over time. Okay well that's only natural for the PC market isn't it? Yes it is, and therein lays the uber-flaw. A PC that sits on a shelf for over 6 months now has a redundant sticker if the classification changes. To make things even juicer the program also comes with an AMD Game! Ultra sticker for 30FPS + at 1600 x 1200. No time stamp or version number included, meaning this well intentioned idea will now be duping people into buying out-of-date machines. Eventually a whole wave of PC's will get their happy little AMD Game! sticker only for it to mean bupkis, just a sticker which I'm sure will look pretty and all but still just a sticker. While the tech elite of us get to heartily scoff at such a ludicrous idea - innocent technology 'virgins' will easily fall prey to sticker, meaning increased headaches for PC retailers. |
AMD Game!, a novel but flawed logo iniative with 6 months to party
19 May 2008 | By Jamie Davey