Ultra high-end graphics are "a terrible mistake" [News]

News Reader · Post by **News Reader** » March 11th, 2008, 11:00

Ultra high-end graphics are "a terrible mistake" [News]
In a recent interview, Tim Sweeney has blasted the hardware industry on a number of fronts. He thinks gamers are being shortchanged.

Author: Tim Smalley
Category: News
Publish Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:02:48 +0000
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Source: bit-tech.net feed
Description: Computer hardware, games and technology reviews and news

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » March 11th, 2008, 11:20

See chicken, see how you ruin it for the rest of us!

However, this is why Valve's hardware survey is a great idea since they can plan for what people actually have, not what they guess people would want if they could afford it.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 11th, 2008, 11:50

Lateralus wrote:See chicken, see how you ruin it for the rest of us!

However, this is why Valve's hardware survey is a great idea since they can plan for what people actually have, not what they guess people would want if they could afford it.

narf, chicken's machine is just in the realm of reasonable, decent graphics performance boost and not spending too much probably.

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 11th, 2008, 12:07

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Tiger" target="_blank">Exercise Tiger</a> was a terrible mistake. Aiming your products at top-end graphics cards is just marketing.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 11th, 2008, 13:16

Dog Pants wrote:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Tiger" target="_blank">Exercise Tiger</a> was a terrible mistake.

That was interesting.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » March 11th, 2008, 13:44

This a "modern companies favour graphics over gameplay" thingie again?

I'll pass, my stance should already be known due to my preference for older games.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » March 11th, 2008, 13:45

Going for the treble!

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 11th, 2008, 13:53

buzzmong wrote:Going for the treble!

DENIED!

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » March 11th, 2008, 14:22

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » March 11th, 2008, 16:41

He has a strong point, and it's hard to argue against it, but if people are still willing to chuck money away on temporary hardware, then I cannot see much changing in the future.

PC hardware prices seem to go up and up as the technology gets better, instead of coming down like things such as HD telly's and SatNav.

This is the main reason I am swapping to the 360, purely on a cost basis.

Post by **deject** » March 11th, 2008, 16:59

Well for about a decade the prices in general just kept falling and falling until maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I remember looking at some PC Magazine issues from like 1992 and they had some PC's that weren't anything special for like $6000-8000. Nowdays, nothing special means you're spending more like $500. Even a good gaming PC will only cost $1500 or so, a far cry from the old days.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 11th, 2008, 17:03

deject wrote:Well for about a decade the prices in general just kept falling and falling until maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I remember looking at some PC Magazine issues from like 1992 and they had some PC's that weren't anything special for like $6000-8000. Nowdays, nothing special means you're spending more like $500. Even a good gaming PC will only cost $1500 or so, a far cry from the old days.

I suspect the extreme high end is getting more pricey, normal high end is about as it was 2-3 years ago and mid/low end stuff is obscenely cheap now.

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 11th, 2008, 17:40

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:

I suspect the extreme high end is getting more pricey, normal high end is about as it was 2-3 years ago and mid/low end stuff is obscenely cheap now.

I haven't bought a new PC in about 10 years, but the laptop I bought the other week cost £100 less than the last one, and can run pretty much any game in one form or another whereas the old one never had a hope of running a shooter even when brand new.

bomberesque · Post by **bomberesque** » March 11th, 2008, 18:46

Woo Elephant Yeah wrote:He has a strong point, and it's hard to argue against it, but if people are still willing to chuck money away on temporary hardware, then I cannot see much changing in the future.

PC hardware prices seem to go up and up as the technology gets better, instead of coming down like things such as HD telly's and SatNav.

This is the main reason I am swapping to the 360, purely on a cost basis.

at risk of sheepage but I agree with the others.

I buy a new PC every 4-5 years and generally go "middle of the market" as far as kit's concerned. Thus, every time I buy a new PC I'm getting one roughly 4 times as fast, large and capable as the one before ... one thing that hasn't changed is the price. I have paid around 700 pounds for each desktop that I have ever bought. Admittedly that's only ... 3.

When I finally wrestle the budget out of bubble, I may spend a little more this time, but it will mostly be going into some of that high end stuffs that the report doesn't like. Why? coz it's my money and I want SHINEYS.

Final note, I recall one G. Lucas saying something like "great, I spend 100M with ILM to make the same effects that Sony just put in a black box and marketed for 500 bucks" God knows what he thought of the PS3 when that finally came along