Just a minute Davidelmo....
I'm not starting a debate.....Competition is great, and the more there is, the better for you or me. However, the possible negative side is that the industry moves very quickly, forcing you to upgrade etc to keep up.. however, like I said, that's the price you willingly, knowingly pay.
I'd say the debate is maturing quite nicely...and for the better!
David...I'd say you have forgotten something very simple. Game developers are in business to make MONEY....as much as possible no doubt. On this idea we all can agree.
Another idea we can all agree on, is that the MAJOR share of the money made by Game developers does not come from Hardware manufacturers like nVidia or AMD. This is also very true!!! The MAJOR money comes from you and me...aka the gaming customer base.
When a Game Developer places roadblocks between their new game and their customer base, they are committing FINANCIAL SUICIDE. Those roadblocks include "only runs on XP" or "runs best on 8800", or "requires 2GB of ram", or "requires SSE2 or SSE3", etc.
I want to buy GRAW2 or the PC, but it "only runs on XP". I want to play the CRYSIS demo, but it "only runs on XP". Remember that a happy gaming customer base will keep buying future game releases as long as they are backward compatible. An unhappy customer base quickly abandons the foolish Game Developer and clings to those that understand who REALLY pays the bills!
Regards,
jtleon