With a reference system of 900 MHz and a GeForce 2, HTC has set their standards well below the median system to attempt and accomodate a broader player base. I feel this move my in fact hurt the company in the long run. Firstly, existing players may become disappointed by the lack of upgrades suitable for their machines. Many of the existing base is driving a >1GHz machine with a GeForce3 or above.
The competition in the MMPG WWII flight sim market is thankfully very small. For now. The competition in the video card market was very small, too, when 3dfx was king. Suddenly, a little upstart called nVidia came and in the course of a couple years bankrupted the once-king. This analogy can be applied to Aces High. Currently, AH sits on the throne, ruling all the WWII flight sims. It balances graphics, playability, range of aircraft/vehicles and community very well. Sure, IL2 may have FAR better graphics, but their multiplayer code will not allow the 700+ players the servers at HTC do.
Imagine an Aces High on the IL2 graphics engine. How far off is that? What will happen to HTC's customer base if this theoretical game is released? I contend that a lot of veteran players will move on.
The second area I see making a game accomdating a 900MHz/GeForce2 hurting HTC's business is in the recruitment of new customers. People will hear of this great game, Aces High II: Tour of Duty and want to check it out. Heck, free download, free 2 weeks of unlimited online play, updated graphics engine. They download it, install it and get ready to run it. When it boots up, they think, wow, great flight modeling, nice ballistics, but...um...is this 1999? Why should I stick it out here, when I've got Joe Blow's WWII simulator that looks stunning, and sounds fabulous?
My suggestion is to utilize a system that many other games have done for years: adjustable detail levels. You have a P4 3.06GHz with a Radeon 9800? Excellent. Max this puppy out. Turn on smoke, particle effects, photorealistic landscapes. You'll still be pushing 80 fps. On the other end, you're running a 1GHz machine with a GeForce2. Ok, unless you want to be watching a slide show, turn off some of those effects and turn down the detail. Now, you, too can be playing this game with great framerates.
This would be a win-win situation for HTC. Not only would they attract new business -- on both ends of the hardware spectrum -- but they would also keep current players' dollars.
Of course, this may already be on the way
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