It’s a great idea that, in my opinion, can only help the PC gaming industry - and I’m talking about system vendors, component manufacturers, developers, publishers and gamers here - the whole enchilada. Yes, it would have been ideal if the AMD Game! constellation of components included Nvidia products, but I guess things over at the fledgling PC Gaming Alliance aren’t that friendly yet, and of course AMD wants to sell AMD and ATI products which, luckily for us gamers, are still pretty luscious even if they’ve lost a bit of luster in the past couple of years.

So, unlike other promotional schemes that tend to be as vague and ethereal as the average Cocteau Twins song, AMD Game! and AMD Game! Ultra are backed up with some fairly concrete promises.

The partner list is encouraging as well, including system builders such as Alienware, Velocity Micro, and iBuypower. Component and peripheral manufacturers are also getting into the swing of things, including Enermax, Antec, Corsair, Microsoft and OCZ Technology. A badge on third-party components will indicate that products have been tested with one or both AMD Game! configurations.

In fact, the worst thing I can say about the program is that the badges themselves are ugly beyond belief, with a segmented, crowded, haphazard, designed-by-blind-committee layout. Ten years from now, I think AMD will look back on it as most of us look back on our high school yearbook photographs.

May 19, 2008