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"Levels" of Computers the Future?
RabidMoose writes "Gamespot has an article up talking about a recent interview with Microsofts's Dean Lester about the future of PC gaming (as well as Xbox 2 tidbits). Basically, they're in contact with the big hardare producers about transitioning to a system of tagging pre-made computers with "levels". He provided a hypothetical example that a PC with a "level 5" designation might have a medium processor speed, amount of RAM, and mid-range video card, while a "level 7" PC might have a faster processor, more RAM, and a higher-end video card."
In other words, they're trying to bring the "MPC" standards from the early 90's back?
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/MPC.html
Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away. -Rob Malda
Everybody seems to either be telling D&D jokes or flaming the idea. Keep in mind that most people that use computers are dumb as dirt on the topic. I worked at ChimpUSA in college, and it really opened my eyes. A very common question would involve someone shoving a new game at me and saying, 'I have a dell. Will this run?'.
While several people have pointed out that a L8 video card will not make a L3 system into a L8 system, at least you have a baseline language to work with.
I suspect they want this so software vendors can slap a sticker on a box that says 'Level 8' system required. It's not a perfect system, but it beats having ignorant sales people try to explain video card ram and HD seek times to Ma and Pa Kettle.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Welcome to the automobile industry. The amount of time and money is a lot different but direct parallels can be drawn. Autos were toys for hobbyists at first and then everybody wanted one and they became 'dumbed down' and hobbyists resented it.
Can you rebuild your own transmission? That's the auto equivalent of rolling a kernel, or maybe fixing driver corruption in Windows without a complete reinstall (aka chucking a car and getting a new one) Do you want to get out and crank your engine manually to start it? No? Well, then thank the person that bitched about it in 1912 or whenever it was that they got rid of that. Just like some people don't want to spend their evenings running virus scanners and debugging the alpha source for the latest foozle on sf.net.
GAMES. For what most people do with their PCS, "extra power" just isn't necessary. Five year old computers that were mid range when they were created are sufficient. They may be sluggish sometimes, but it's tolerable.
But if you're a gamer, performance is very important to the whole experience of the game. It's not like waiting for a program to load or encoding an mp3, where patience is all you need to deal with poor performance. In games, bad performance translates into poor frame rates, which can translate into an unplayable game.
Game developers will always find new ways to utilize improvements in PC performance. More detailed models and textures, more animations, better physics, better lighting and particle effects, better AI, ect.
Game developers will continue to push the envelope and as a result, hardware developers will always have a reason to do the same, and there will always be a demand for an improved product. Until the technical limitations imposed by real physics make it infeasible to continue to make significant improvements in PC performance at a price point that is affordable to most gamers.