When Crysis was released last year on the PC platform it merely reinforced a fact that was becoming more evident game release after game release, shooter after shooter. Pushing the graphics envelope should no longer be the target at large for a new 3d shooter title.
There were the Dooms, the Quakes, the Half-Lifes and the Unreals, all of them blockbusters for outdoing their rivals in terms of gameplay, but never doing without breathtaking visuals that at the time represented a major investment from PC gamers to get the latest hardware to run the titles comfortably.
Crysis still ended up a pretty popular game, and its success was further proven this year by its well regarded successor Crysis Warhead. Nevertheless, it has now become a generalized consensus that for future releases developers will have to play nice with gamers and not just think about the hardcore fan base. Last year many preferred to skip over Crysis and play some of the other great new titles like The Orange Box and Call of Duty 4, both of which carried great visuals - though not quite up there with Crysis - but were much more hardware friendly.
With consoles being such a threat to PC gaming nowadays, more than a one initiative has been spurred, yet clear results have not come forward as of today. But that's not to say we are not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Some of this season's PC game releases like Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3 have backed down considerably in terms of hardware requirements, so odds are that if you've upgraded over the last year or two, you should be well covered already.
But will that be enough to keep the PC alive as a true gaming platform? Have you noticed a trend of developers becoming more conscious about hardware requirements as of late? What other games you believe are perfect examples of this positive trend? (Not limited to FPS games) Have you become frustrated in the past for not being able to run PC titles well using your still decent computer setup?
Discuss.