The higher the system requirements on a game, the less people will be able to buy it. It alienates gamers and reduces the number of a game's potential buyers. Creating graphically beautiful games that require powerful systems also takes away from a game's gameplay. This leads to an inferior game, but also a game that less people will be able to play.

Wha? Well anyways we are entering an interesting time. For the past many years applications, OS's, and all kinds of other things were pushing the envelope of PC performance making people want to upgrade. That time is changing now though as many people arent as inclined to upgrade anymore since Outlook and Word run snappy fast on their 700mhz machine. Why upgrade anymore? Is the game market powerful enough to keep pushing people to upgrade? Or will "gamer" PCs begin to really separate from the rest of the market more so than ever?