Well, it’s not exactly standardization, it’s more a simplification of all the insane model numbers, product lines, and motherboard configurations that go into a serious gaming PC. Since gaming is getting more and more traction among non-gamers, it follows that many technically inexperienced people will be looking at a lot of kit and trying to figure out what it all means. Imagine being a mom trying to surprise your kids with a nice new rig and seeing this on the tag: “MSI NX8800GTS 320M OC GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP SLI”
Now I know what all that means (kind of), but she doesn’t, and she’d probably rather see something that says “Yes. This plays all the games out there pretty decently.” AMD is aiming to make this happen by standardizing a few setups and creating a straightforward badging system that even a n00b can understand. There will be “GAME!” and “GAME! Ultra,” both aiming to keep a steady 30fps in most games on the market at autodetect settings. Click below for more details.
The plan is to refresh the product lines every six months or so. At the moment, the specs look as follows:
They are working with e-tailers, resellers, and brick-and-mortars to get this badge in the aisles. I think it’s a good idea; they’re doing what Nvidia said they were thinking about, and although AMD and ATI are lagging right now in the performance sector (which these tags are not meant for), they’re on the right track for taking advantage of the explosion in the gamer population that’s been happening the last couple years.