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.

Shacknews editors Aaron Linde and Nick Breckon have a joint article up arguing the pros and cons of game demos. 

Recent data out of the MI6 video game conference appears to show that demos may actually hurt sales of games across the board....

Potentially deceptive evidence aside, plenty of developers have passed on a demo release recently, for reasons ranging from cost of production to unrepresentative gameplay. What would happen if publishers began to cut down even more on demos? Would that be a good thing--from either the consumer standpoint, or that of the industry?

Breckon takes the pro argument, arguing cost of games makes a demo necessary to increase consumer involvement and satisfaction:

If the industry were to generally phase out demos, it would be a slap in the face--not in a nostalgic sense, but purely from the standpoint of a consumer...

If you haven't noticed, a game is $60 these days--$60 goddamned dollars. This isn't a movie, where a decent trailer is enough to warrant a $10 investment. We're talking 60 trips to the dollar store here...For the gaming industry to strong-arm consumers into making blind purchases seems counter-productive to me. Are they trying to encourage rentals or resales? Are they looking to prop up piracy even more? How does that help their business?

Of course you can make the argument that great games don't need demos to sell, and terrible games are hurt by them. This ignores the fact that most games released today don't fall into either of those extreme categories.

Linde argues that most games have enough information available before release that fans shouldn't need a demo to make up their minds, and that it takes money away from game development:

I'm not going to suggest that demos aren't useful, because they are. ... But industry-wide delirium notwithstanding, there's so much coverage and so much information out there that you have to make a significant effort to buy a game knowing virtually nothing about it.     A lot of big name titles like Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 won't be featuring demos, and I'm okay with that. It takes a shitload of time, effort and money to craft a demo, and often requires extensive tweaking to make it work in a standalone setting, and that's work that I'd rather go towards polishing the game. Dumping budget into a demo rather than development proper is like dumping budget into expanded marketing, which is something I could do without.

There are some additional points about how reviews and industry coverage factor in, so for the whole 3 page article, check out the link above.

ShackNews  has posted an article featuring some less hyped games to consider for the Holiday wish list with a brief synopsis of each. Some of you who play over a variety of platforms and genres may find it of interest.

Though the majority are not PC or rpg titles, they do include The Witcher:

Polish developer CD Projekt has made one of the most impressive PC RPGs to come along in some time, with The Witcher's mature themes and decidedly European overtones straddling the line between awesome and absurd through its entire 60-80 hour storyline. The game's gorgeous visuals enhance the immersiveness of the title's overly violent and sex-filled quests. Players take the role of the game's titular immortal--a hardass if there ever was one--who differs from Highlander's Duncan MacLeod in that he's figured out what living forever and being sterile is all about...The title actually follows through on integrating long-term ramifications of in-game choices, reminding you of the decisions leading up to a consequence with a quick flashback sequence. You won't find stuff like this in any of the much-hyped PC releases coming up, guaranteed.

In an article called Warning: No Instructions Included, Nick Breckon of Shack News takes a look at a condition familiar to us all these days: the lack of a substantial and informative game manual, and cites a few games from the past that had exemplary ones:

 In addition to actually providing instruction, manuals used to be an important part of a game's presentation--and presentation is everything. Before you play the game, the manual is there, serving as your introduction to the world. It sets the mood and the expectation for the experience to come. It provides the very best in bathroom reading material.

The following is a look at a few stand-out manuals from games of yester-year, selections that reflect the one-time importance of this waning format, and illustrate the current drought of quality booklets.

Fallout 1997

Mixing humor with a dark, post-apocalyptic setting, Interplay's masterpiece RPG Fallout stands the test of time--and its manual is no different. Titled "Vault Dweller's Survival Guide," the book begins with extraneous statistics of the underground vault your character has inhabited since the nuclear holocaust, listing everything from budgetary sums to typical power requirements. This is followed by a detailed, multi-page synopsis of the effects of a nuclear blast. These cold facts effectively introduce the heavy, lead-laden atmosphere that pervades Fallout....