Gaming is in like never before. It?s a common sight, watching everyone from a six-year old to the 60-year old twiddling their thumbs vigorously and expertly across a touchscreen to dispatch a bird through the air, or as curious explorers attempt to steal an idol from a temple while being chased by demonic monkeys, the gaming bug has engulfed everyone.
Nowadays teenagers can be seen running against each other hard trying to score that elusive goal as their favourite player for their favourite team in a football match using the controls of their gaming console and living their fantasies through the FIFA 13. And fighting wars, winning races or being the Indian batsman they always wanted to be and whack the fearsome Aussie bowler for six! All in a day?s work from comforts of their home.
Even my mother-in-law considers playing Solitaire and FreeCell on the home desktop religiously integral to her daily chores. India is a country where youth not only form a significant chunk of the population, but are also a force to reckon with as purchase influencers in households.
Welcome to the latest rage in the tech world?gaming! It?s here and it?s growing. As it gets mainstream and available on multiple platforms like mobiles, tablets, consoles, desktops etc, the question arises which of them is most suited to gaming. When I see around, I see pre-dominantly three types of gamers?the casual gamers, regular gamers and the die-hard enthusiasts.
Casual gamers, spread across all age profiles are the ones who usually play ?free to use? games mainly on networking sites, smartphones, PCs and tablets. Typically, these guys use gaming for indulging in relaxation during their free time, during travel or simply when browsing online.
The second category is usually teenage, students and youngsters, generally from the metros who ?have invested? in a gaming console at home to complete their arsenal of gadgets at home! They are pretty good gamers, usually well-off enough to afford the expensive R2,500 gaming titles. They are also active online because of availability of good broadband and great online gaming services from the console manufacturers. The biggest advantage of consoles is standardised and optimised specifications, out of the box usage and of course a great ecosystem.
The final category is of the extreme gaming enthusiasts. And they are the ones that are propelling the gaming industry. Hardcore gamers swear by a desktop for the complete gaming experience. They live and die for gaming. They will play the most complex and competitive games, participate in gaming competitions etc. Chances are you will never catch them on their phone in the morning hours. They would be catching up on their sleep. These gamers have customised desktops specially configured to their needs, and usually form cult groups with fellow gamers.
They choose every component that goes in to the PC?especially the processor, display and the discrete graphic card which is the soul of the gaming rig. These people are a rapidly growing tribe, making desktop PC the ultimate platform of choice for gaming.
Let me try and make this simple. A discrete graphic card comes with a powerful dedicated graphics processor (commonly known as GPU) as powerful as the main CPU in the PC. What this does is to directly take control of visual applications like ?games software? and run it smoothly and display it real time on your screen in HD. There are various types of graphic cards with different GPUs depending on the power and speed.
As said before, consoles are standard and usually have life cycles. Similarly, mobile phones too have limitation of OS, convergence, compatibility etc. However, a desktop offers the elasticity in terms of configurations which can be adapted to different requirements. Dedicated graphics cards on their desktops deliver far superior video experience like full high definition, Direct X 11 for best experience on Windows, 3D ready. These graphics cards also enable connecting up to six large TFT screens to one desktop and make all the screens behave like one large screen for a theatre like experience. Every time a better graphics card is launched, they can just simply remove the existing card and swap with a new card. Advantage with a desktop is that it is upgradeable and configurable. Also the costs of acquisition of gaming titles are far cheaper.
At the same time, the desktop need not lose its primary function of computing, which is the main reason why people buy desktops. Interestingly, this legion of extreme gamers is now no longer restricted to metros, they are also propping up from smaller cities. Considering the current attach rates of dedicated graphics cards in India to that of markets like China or Korea, it is safe to say that PC gaming is likely to explode multiple times over next few years as it will finally boil down to user experience which is unmatched.
I feel many people who end up buying a console instead of PCs for gaming is because, they are hesitant when it comes to getting the configuration right. Lot of training and awareness is required both from a seller?s side and from buyer?s side. However if one wants to enjoy gaming in its most unrestrained form, desktop PC gaming is far ahead of other types of gaming. Edutainment is the key.
The writer is director, transaction business, AMD India
