PC Gaming Alliance: “Fourth Console”

Well, it seems the cat is out of the bag. Officially it’ll be announced at GDC’08, but I suppose Dean Takahashi couldn’t wait.

The combined effort of Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia, and AMD aims to make PC gaming more uniform and, subsequently, easier to measure. Sure enough, NPD has been keeping track of retail sales, but that’s barely the only way to buy games. Digital distribution and game portals go largely unattended and form an increasing part of the game industry’s business.

Beyond keeping track of sales, there are some other interesting things on the horizon. For one, Intel’s been working on a chip to “help end cheating by online gamers.” [link, sign in req.] Of course, one shudders at the thought of M$ possibly stepping up its efforts to make gaming on other platforms (Apple, Linux) increasingly impossible. But of course, that would imply that their own OS doesn’t suck first.

Anyway, in the next week or so watch for more announcements emerging from the immensely overpriced and inaccessible GDC’08.