The Future Of Gaming May Already Be Sitting On Your Desk Saturday, March 1, 2008 h h The Future Of Gaming MayAlready BeSitting On Your Desk (NAPSA)—These days, video games are an increasingly popular Games ? for Windows a form of entertainment, and if a video-gaming console has been at the top of your wishlist, you have lots of company. Interestingly, people often forget that there’s a good chance they already have the most popular gaming machine in the world sitting on their desk at home. According to DFC Intelligence, an independent market-research firm, there are more than 260 mil- lion PC gamers worldwide. To put this in perspective, that figure is nearly equal to every man, woman andchild in America. Gaming MarketStill Growing In terms of revenue, the PC wasalso the largest gaming platform in 2007, earning $8.2 billion in both online and retail sales worldwide. Despite this already incredible figure, analysts predict the market will grow by more than 80 percentin the next five years, with significant increases in revenue from digital distribution and hardwaresales. Popular Titles Available This kind of momentumis hard to ignore, and major companies have begun to throw their weight behind the PC-gaming movement. In 2006, Microsoft Corp. launched its Games for Windowsinitiative, which is now hometo someof the most popular PC titles available, including top-selling strategy game“Sins of a Solar Empire” and “LEGO Indiana Jones™: The Original Adventures,” the latest addition to the popular LEGO gaming franchise. The program ensures that all Games for Windowstitles have met a set of 25 technical guidelines, such as sup- Highly anticipated is the multi- player online game “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.” port for Parental Controls in Windows Vista and wide-screen displays, to ensure quality and consistency across all of its games. “The PC is truly first-class gaming platform, but we also need to ensure that people know how PC as a gaming platform. The PCGA members hope to work together to improve the quality of gaming and address some of the challenges facing the industry, such as softwarepiracy. “Organizations like Games for Windows and the PCGA will really help to reinvigorate PC gaming,” said Jgrgen Tharaldsen, product director of Funcom’s upcoming “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.” “It’s reassuring that the companies behind the technology we showcase in ‘Age of Conan’ have also shown such a commitment to promoting the platform as a whole.” Coming Attractions “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures” is a highly anticipated, massively multiplayer online game that some industry insiders predict will rival the popularity of “World of Warcraft,” which has 10 million active subscribers and earned $1.2 billion in revenue last year. “Age of Conan” also uses cutting-edge Microsoft DirectX 10 graphics, which deliver a cinematic quality. Casual Games What’s more, the PC has accessible it is,” said Kevin another ace up its sleeve—the growing casual games market. tainment and Devices Division at “Sudoku” and the popular “Bejeweled” franchise, represented a Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windowsin the EnterMicrosoft. “Our goal is to make PC gaming the best possible experience for consumers.” However, Microsoft isn’t alone in championing the PC gaming space. Several of the industry’s most influential companies, including Dell Inc., Intel Corporation, NVIDIA Corp. and Microsoft, recently formed the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA), a nonprofit consortium designed to advance the Casual, Web-based games, such as $2.25 billion industry in 2007, according to a report from the Casual Games Association. The demographic for casual games includes everyone from soccer momsand career women to teens and Fortune 500 jet-setters. After all, while some of us crave the most-advanced technology available, there’s nothing wrong with a nice gameof “Solitaire,” is there? --- PHOTOS --- File: 20190816-133109-20190816-133107-74519.pdf.jpg --- FILES --- File: 20190816-133107-74519.pdf