Will the PC Gaming Alliance Save PC Gaming?
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Enter the PC Gaming Alliance, a new attempt to unify the PC platform as a viable alternative to console gaming. What this alliance will do is so far unknown, but looking at the list of players makes it obvious that there will be an attempt to concoct uniform specifications for PCs, most likely denoted by a fancy logo on the faceplate of a tower case. This logo will assure you that any game approved by the Alliance will work well on your machine.
Sounds good in theory. Unfortunately, such a thing already exists and we call it Apple, a platform that has made numerous attempts to make an impact in the gaming market, only to fail every time. PC gamers love opening up their machines and upgrading stuff. In some sick sense, we actually enjoy upgrading drivers and trying new video-cards. An Alliance could spell the end to tinkering and may even hinder upgrading, if new computers are created in such a way as to make upgrades next to impossible, much like an Apple.
The PC Gaming Alliance may help improve performance across the board, at least until people start installing all the various doodads and software they enjoy. Let's face it, just about ever new PC runs pretty well until you start loading it up with software, background tasks, virus protectors, etc. In this regard the Alliance will be powerless. The hardware may run well, but it's the activities of your average user, junking up their machines with programs that eat performance that is beyond repair. Add the chunky Vista to the mix and the Alliance is facing a battle it probably can't win.
In the end, the PC Gaming Alliance may only succeed in one thing: creating an Xbox disguised as a PC.
