14 DAY TRIAL // Activision, Microsoft, Acer/Gateway, Dell through Alienware, Intel, AMD and ATI, NVIDIA, Razer and Epic Games are now officially part of the PC Gaming Alliance, unveiled at GDC. Or PCGA. Not the sexiest of acronyms for these guys, but the PCGA may just be the savior of PC gaming.
Ever since consoles started to roam the Earth, things have never been the same for the poor old PC. Like the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period, slow and cold blooded, they are day by day assaulted by the rise of the warm-blooded, quick-moving mammals. Starring in the role of the mammals are the consoles, be they the Xbox360, the Wii or the PlayStation. They vary in shapes, prices and colors, and they tend to attract a lot of people with their ease of use and innovative controllers. They bring Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft copious amounts of revenue. And lately, they get those annoying little exclusive releases that are "next gen consoles only" or "Xbox 360 exclusive" and only hit PC's a year later, with the added "benefit" of shabby porting. Frankly, all of the above tend to make PC gamers a bit nervous around the edges. Oh, and let's not forget the continuous stream of news and analysis in the gaming media raving on about the declining sales of both and PC games and PC hardware.
The PCGA brings together a lot of big names, a lot of financial power and a lot of prestige. Activision was last year's top publisher, Microsoft needs no presentation, all the hardware superpowers are there. And their aim is to "promote the PC Gaming Industry and the PC as a gaming platform, provide web and event based forums to discuss, debate and influence all aspects of PC development for gaming for all regions of the world, and guidance to help resolve industry-wide challenges such as: Piracy, Cheating, Security, Consumer experience," as their website says. While the details on how all of this will be exactly accomplished are not public yet, it is still a great thing to see that the powers still care for the PC and are ready to put some money and some proper lobbying where their mouths are.
While this seems like an impressive initiative, one cannot fail to wonder whether the PCGA is just a publicity stunt or a serious attempt at breathing life into PC gaming. I guess time will tell.