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PC game creators set minimum system requirements to low?

PC games are, unlike console games, much more customizable when it comes to the display of graphics. This is of course because everyone has a different PC configuration and everyone has different priorities. Some prefer nice water effects in 3D games, while others don’t mind turning of fancy water effects and turn up clipping (how far you can see in the distance). However what always bothered me were the minimum system requirements specified on software. In my opinion, if you have a PC that meets the given system requirements, the game should be playable, and I mean at least 15-20 fps (frames per second, the higher of course the better).
Reality shows this is a little different, because game creators and publishers want to make money. Nothing wrong with that, but printing minimum system requirements on the back of the box so people will buy it, come home, try to play it and finding out that indeed the game ‘runs ok’ with all graphical settings to low and 5fps, which is hardly playable in my opinion.
For example, I recently bought  The Sims 2 expansion pack  “The Sims 2 Seasons”, now this might not be the greatest example since it’s an expansion and I should’ve known how “The Sims 2″ ran on my computer, but still “Seasons” expansions uses a different rendering method to render weather aspects in the game. So technically ‘I don’t know’ how this game is going to run on my computer right? I assume the creators / publishers of the game (in this case EA) can inform me everything I need to know about how this game really is going to run. I don’t have the latest and greatest computer (is a few years old)
I flip the box to the side where the system requirements are shown and what do I see?

• 1300 MHz processor 

no problem! I have 2.4 GhZ!

• 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM is recommended for Windows Vista or if you are running with a few expansion packs installed)

nah,.. I don’t have Vista, I have XP! Not that much of a memory hogger compared to Vista, and besides I have 768 MB of RAM memory!

• Windows(R) Vista, Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Operating System.

you got it! I have XP!

• 8x or faster CD/DVD drive

cake!

• At least 1.5 GB of additional hard drive space (5.0 GB total is required if installing both The Sims 2 and The Sims 2 Seasons Expansion Pack at the same time.)

Great! I have still over 30GB left!

• A T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM.

OMG! This game is going to run smoother then ever, because I have an Nvidia Geforce 128MB video card! That’s 4x more memory then they say!!

Installing The Sims 2 “Seasons” was no problem, just follow the instructions and off you go. Like I said before I don’t have new machine so I have most graphical settings on low or medium, but hey according to the system requirements I should have no problem right?
Well the game runs… on a small lot, with about 8 to 13 fps.. wait? 13 fps? Wasn’t I suppose to almost run this game like it was on a console so smooth? Well, I do still play the game occasionally, and I guess it’s playable in that way but sometimes the frame rate goes under 5 fps. And then I always start to wonder why the system requirements are always given out that low! This was one example.. but there are many many more..
World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 3, City Life, Doom 3… etc
I mean, I don’t mind that I can run a game a little slower then it originally was designed for but TELL ME THAT in the system requirements. And yes you’ve seen it right, this is one of my fewer posts that doesn’t contain a picture.

Tragedy strikes Greece! Wildfires taking lifes and destroying monuments.

When I turned on the news this morning I saw Greece on fire! At time of this writing at least 57 people were killed in the blaze. Not only that but historical sites (nearly 2800 years old!) are destroyed or are in danger! So far the police has arrested 2 men involved with the fires, it could have been arson but nothing is for sure yet. In my opinion it’s arson! The Greek law prohibits construction in forest areas, so people burn in down in order to claim it’s not a forest anymore and say it’s clear for construction. However, the idiot that set this fire probably never thought of the consequences that came along with his ‘brilliant’ plan. Rescue and fire helicopters are trying to detain the site.
A prosecutor is currently investigating if the fire in the 64,000 acre Mount Parnitha National Park was in the plans for development after a dangerous device was found on the site. A big mess, all of it, but all the historical value that went up in flames just seems unreal to me! That’s an historic peace of humanity that can never be brought back, not by any amount of money. Hopefully the fire will be under control soon and they will catch the people responsible for this!

Spore, not just some other video game

Another gaming update! I know! But this one is certainly worth talking about! The game is called Spore and is currently under development for PC, to be released Q2 2008. So we have to wait a little while for it still but the already released screenshots and videos is true eye candy and certainly promises PC gamers to play this game for days, if not months. The first screenshots, look and feel kinda reminded me of “Black & White” the famous game by Lionhead studios where the player was able to play God! A closer look into “Spore” and we’re seeing that it’s like all that and a lot more! There are several stages in the game, from “Cell” to “Space” as I like to call it which means you start off as a single cell in the water or wherever you wanna be and evolve that cell into a creature. This whole process you are able to customize pretty much anything you want!

then off you go in the world, actually I was going to post alot more pictures but a video about this game having Will Wright (the creator of Simcity) and his ‘interesting’ staff describing it is worth more then a 1000 images! If you’re a Sim fan you will get very excited about this upcoming game!

One of my favorite images:

SimCity Societies, a preview!

 

And here comes the moment we have all been waiting for! (Well at least for the Simcity fans!) The next SIMCITY!! What would it look like and what would it be called? Simcity 5? No? Simcity societies,… alright.. interesting name, let’s have a look.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I stumbled upon a copy of “Games for Windows” magazine displaying ‘The Next Simcity’ on the front cover! Anxiously browsing through the pages to catch the first look of some of the pictures that were claimed to be NOT on the internet I saw a fairly disappointing view of the upcoming game, to be released Q4. But hey the game is still in the making right? Maybe it’ll get better, then I started reading the few words printed below the pictures..

Simcity Societies is unlike what I hoped for, a realistic city simulator, and focuses more what it seems like on a much younger generation where kiddies have to learn about different societies in real life. Also the graphics are hideous and seem very cartoonish, so far all the roads in the screenshots have been squares, no freeways, nothing.. same old, and it doesn’t look even playable past a day…

So going from our dreams that looked like this:

to ‘reality’:

we’ll see how it develops, so far the previews have been very very disappointing and make it seems like a City Life rip off..

so more ‘eye candy’

some comments on YouTube:

…18 years I have played Simcity averaging on at least a weekly basis (there were a few months off here and there)but more like a daily basis. And as a hardcore fan of the series, I’m very disappointed by what I’m seeing. I want a realistic urban simulator, not a fantasy city builder. EA shows just how much they care about their loyal fans. Nadda!

baertooth
…Omg, they’ve turned it into SimCity4!! :O There is no way in hell that I’m gonna buy this..

xXVeranXx

we wanted bigger maps and cooler features (like tunnel highways, etc..) not a city life competition, and not plopping the whole city, that was much of the charm of SC series, that u saw your city develope itself

pepx
More to come on this subject…