Shack News - AMD Creates Branding Program for Gaming PCs
ShackNews has an interview up with Brent Barry of computer hardware company AMD on their new marketing initiative, AMD Game!, a branding program that seeks to streamline the gaming PC selection process:
The plan behind AMD Game!, as Barry puts it, is to help the not-so-tech-savvy walk into a retailer and walk out with a system that they know can run today's games. "Basically, to bring a little bit of that console-like simplicity to the mainstream gamers," he noted...
"All of our solution requirements are really informed by real-world gameplay," he explained. "We don't use benchmarks, we're not being arbitrary, we're not trying just to sell-up to higher-end SKUs. We're really looking at what do people need to have the experiences that they expect."...
SN asks how system-intensive games like Assassin's Creed and Crysis will play on the AMD Game! branded PC's, and about auto-configuration options:
Brent Barry:...Our product line, top to bottom, is able to deliver a pretty capable gaming experience. You can play Crysis on our integrated graphics. It might not be the absolute best experience, but it works.
If you add in the HD 3450 card and you're running in Hybrid Crossfire mode, all of a sudden you can have a pretty good experience. You know, running at lower resolutions, you can have a pretty good gaming experience...
Shack: You've mentioned something about a program that would optimize the system for gameplay with the press of a button? How does that work? Will it auto-configure a game's settings?
Brent Barry: It's not about the game configuration, it's about the PC. It's all about what you can do within the PC and the OS, lots of low-level options, high-level options, and such. Things that you can set that the really high-end enthusiast already knows about, different ways you can tweak your PC.
What we're trying to do is take something that is a pain in the butt and takes forever to do manually and turn it into a real quick easy process. It's even the kind of tool that, as we're designing it for the mainstream, it's also something that's going to be very valuable to the enthusiast."
Finally, SN asks about how all this fits into the PC Gaming Alliance:
Shack: How does this tie into the PC Gaming Alliance?
Brent Barry: We're very proud founding members of the PC Gaming Alliance, very proud to be a part of it. This is along the same philosophy as the PC Gaming Alliance, we always wish that the industry could move faster than sometimes it does to the benefit of customers.
What we we feel like we have is an opportunity, because we deliver all of these components and we have support from so many members of the PC Gaming Alliance, that we're able to step up and...be the innovative leader in getting it done.