EA wants to sell you a PC
[Update: For the full scoop on this story, including final price and specs, check out this update.]
At Electronic Arts’ Comic-Con booth today, an EA rep mentioned that the company plans to market pre-built PCs in conjunction with the release of Crytek’s upcoming PC-exclusive shooter Crysis Warhead. The idea seems to be to try and circumvent some of the intimidation that exists for gamers who are either new to high-end PC gaming, or have been out of the scene for some time, and reassure them that it is not prohibitively expensive to acquire a machine that can tame something like Crysis and its followup.
Apparently, the rigs will come in various configurations, which will correspond to Crysis Warhead’s levels of graphical detail, with a likely price range being $600-$800 (I doubt EA will want to market a machine that meets only the game’s minimum spec), and they will probably be named accordingly–the Crysis Warhead Performance PC, and so on.
I like the idea of Electronic Arts looking for ways to make the PC platform more approachable, and this idea is sound–buy this PC that says Crysis on it; it’s designed to run Crysis, and you know that if it plays Crysis it’ll play anything else on the market. I was also impressed that EA had no less than three PC exclusives–Crysis Warhead, BattleForge, and Warhammer Online, and other games on display like Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space are in development for PC as well–in its booth at Comic-Con, a mainstream show if there ever was one.
As the rep also mentioned to me, EA’s own internal analysis indicates the PC market is growing–publishers just have to learn how to capitalize on it.
Tags: comic-con, crysis, crytek, electronic arts, pc gaming
July 28th, 2008 at 4:00 am
[...] and they will probably be named accordingly
July 28th, 2008 at 6:16 am
That sounds interesting, though I’m still a little bit skeptical - are there no strings attached? Like hardware support only if solely EA games installed?
To me this sounds like the beginning as with the mobile phones: you pay 0$ on this cool new mobile phone 300$ worth, but with it comes a two year exclusive contract for this mobile company…
I know, I’m probably thinking far too negative.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
[...] PCs, each tailored to make the most of the games that they have in their lineup. According to this source, each will be in the price range of roughly $600 to $800 and the first will be out in time for the [...]
July 28th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
i’m actually not opposed to that idea. it’s not a bad price, and as long as it doesn’t look hideous (and i can get it without vista) then why not? it’s not like you can’t build your own, or tweak that one to whatever you want.
as long as there is an actual demand for that, go for it.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Oh yes, HAVE to one anti-vista remark otherwise you won’t cool….
July 29th, 2008 at 10:07 am
[...] its EA” folder. According to a rep at the EA Comic-Con booth, the monolithic publisher has now decided to move into the pre-built PC market. This is going to be based around the release of the upcoming [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 10:13 am
[...] its EA” folder. According to a rep at the EA Comic-Con booth, the monolithic publisher has now decided to move into the pre-built Computer market. This is going to be based around the release of the [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
[...] Fonte: Chris Remo Blog [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
[...] The computers will come in several configurations, and will be released alongside Crytek’s upcoming stand-alone expansion Crysis Warhead, according to some blogger. [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Vista really isn’t that bad when you have the hardware to back it. My laptop runs it fine. As for the system.. I’m skeptical, 6-800 for a full PC that will run Crysis at a “high end” level?
Not seeing it.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Really appreciate the heads-up on this one.
We blogged about all the market signs pointing to the PC Gaming market being alive and well even though people have been waving their hands in the air for years saying it’s *dead*.
If PC gaming wasn’t largely profitable all these companies wouldn’t be making these decisions to either stay in, or expand their influence in this market.
I don’t know if it’s the RPGs or Valve games that’s doing it, but it seems to be doing just fine.
Console gaming is growing like wildfire, but I don’t think the PC and Console markets overlap 1:1, I think these are just mostly new gamers that the publishers are getting their hands on now.
I know historically back in the PS2 timeframe, there were plenty of friends of mine that were gamers only because they could buy a PS2 and play it; they had never gamed on a computer before.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
[...] that seems to erupt around the internet. Straight from Comic-Con comes the eyewitness report: EA wants to sell you a PC | Remowned Will it play Crysis: Warhead? It damn well better. Personally, I welcome anyone to the party for [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Judging by th “EA experience” of most online gamers I talk to, the mere fact that EA are involved would put me off buying one these rigs right from the off.
Coupled with the fact that CRYTEK gave a marvelous demonstration of how to effectively kill, what could have been a pretty good multiplayer game after they released CRYSIS hardly bodes well for this upcoming venture.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I belive that the Crysis PC sales were down because the system needs to much to run. Piracy also is a problem but not here.
Congratulations to the guys that did it. The game is awesome.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:04 am
[...] to Chris Remo (of Gamastura fame) was at the Comic-Con at over these past few days and has revealed some [...]
July 30th, 2008 at 5:17 am
Yeah, the game will run on it, but with all details? I doubt it.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:59 am
[...] more at Remowned, found via [...]
July 30th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
[...] EA is dong package deals with PCs. You’ll see more and more of this soup-to-nuts marketing solutions - as profit pressures force companies to both consolidate and offer solutions - across the entire stack. That’s what HP is doing and Cisco - for sure. Even Intel has been getting into this game. [...]
July 31st, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I think that it is great that EA will be selling PC and I personally think that this will only help the PC Game market. I would think that non-PC Gamers would feel comfortable buying an EA branded PC that is marketed as a Crysis WARHEAD playing machine. If you have read anything about Crysis Warhead you will know that the system requirements for full graphic settings are much lower for Warhead than Crysis. The engine has been better optimized for Warhead and should also improve performance for Crysis if you have both games installed. To think EA would only provide support to PC with only EA games installed is absured.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Hmm, a computer built specifically for playing games on. Why hasn’t anyone else thought of that idea before. Oh, hang on….
Has the cart now finally overtaken the horse?
August 5th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Probably something of a “Console” type PC, not something you’re going to fire up MS Office and do your homework on. Perhaps with a very small solid state drive big enough for virtual space.
In the 600-800 dollar range, I definately don’t see it coming as a “classic” PC. However, PC is a rather vague term when one considers all the availablity of hardware options out there nowadays, doesn’t it?
Looking forward to seeing what this “system” is.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Haxsys,
Honestly I’m pretty sure it’s just a regular PC.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
[...] Oyun satmanın en iyi yöntemlerinden bir tanesi, ekran kartı veya bilgisayar satın alanlara oyun “hediye” etmek. Üst düzey ekran kartlarının amacı sadece ve sadece en zorlu oyunları akıcı çalıştırabilmek. Bu yüzden pahalılar ve pahalı olmalarını sağlayan en önemli etmenlerden birisi de beraberinde getirdikleri oyunlardır. Dünyanın en büyük oyun yayıncılarından EA işi biraz daha ileri götürecek gibi görünüyor. Şirket, fiyatları 600 ila 800 USD arasında değişen oyun bilgisayarları satacak ve bilgisayarın kutu içeriğine bir tane de Crysis Warhead ekleyecekmiş. [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
[...] Chris Remo reported yesterday on a chat he had with a representative from Electronic Arts during Comic-Con. The news [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[...] Chris Remo reported yesterday on a chat he had with a representative from Electronic Arts during Comic-Con. The news [...]
September 5th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
[...] About a month ago, I reported that EA was planning to market a Crysis Warhead-ready PC. I have now learned that the machine—which, at least among the Crytek staff that specced it out, is called the “Warhead PC”—will be officially announced next week. [...]
September 7th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
[...] About a month ago, I reported that EA was planning to market a Crysis Warhead-ready PC. I have now learned that the machine—which, at least among the Crytek staff that specced it out, is called the “Warhead PC”—will be officially announced next week. [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
[...] Gotta admit that I didn’t see this one coming. Apparently in anticipation of Crysis Warhead, Electronic Arts will be getting into the hardware business with some gaming PCs made to “correspond to Crysis Warhead’s levels of graphical detail, with a likely price range being $600-$800,” according to Remowned. [...]