EA is of course the proverbial 800-lb gorilla of the video games industry, but it may be that somewhere deep in the monolith that is Electronic Arts there is as much brain as there is brawn.

According to unconfirmed reports that seeped out of last week's Comic-Con, EA is hoping to market PCs branded/bundled with the next iteration in their Crysis IP, Crysis Warhead. I refer to these reports as unconfirmed because that's what they are. Although Warhead is slated for a September '08 release, EA has yet to confirm anywhere on its news site plans to link the game to a hardware system. Yet if the report is to be believed the PCs will come in several different configurations and go for something in the 0-0 range.

I gotta say that although I have my doubts that this will actually happen, I REALLY hope it does. So much of the beating that the PC games segment of the industry has taken over the last few years has to do with the perception--my own included--that owning a box capable of running high-end games is an expensive and losing proposition as system requirements continue to rise and the ongoing competition with console gaming proceeds. A quick search of the Web and it looks like you might already be able to get a PC in the 0-0 range that can handle the job, but again because of the perception and maybe the fact that it would be in addition to your laptop, more expensive than any available console and the doubt remains and will remain until driven out.

Personally I don't have much interest in Warhead, but its success bundled to a PC could open a whole new marketing strategy for PCs and in the process aid in curing what has been ailing PC gaming. Just think of all the the junk software that comes with a new PC and what a true gaming PC might look like in their absence. How about a whole series of games instead of some lame freeware? A PC with an EA sports library instead of AOL? All Sims all the time?...Sure it may just end up as a way for EA to make a few extra dollars off its back catalog, but it could also open the door to other options industry-wide especially if deals could be struck to built specific configurations into the customizing functionality of say, the Dell website. Either way it would certainly get me to pay more attention to PC gaming.

I don't find myself thinking this often, but "Way to go EA!"

--Hobson's Choice

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