Here below is the slideshow presented at the press conference announcing the formation of the PCGA, a diverse group of companies all united by the common cause of advancing PC gaming through the sheer force of unrelenting press releases.

I still have no idea what these guys stand for. Is this some kind of corporate prayer group? Whereas something like Steamworks seems a proactive solution to platform unification--or at least an aggressive one--this just comes off as a painfully pointless and uninspiring gesture.

Do we really need a new acronym-branded board to serve as a giant affirmation of Games for Windows?

If Epic wants consumers to have a smooth ride all the way from Best Buy to Raam, I would think reducing the Gears of War PC install time from 45 minutes would be an easier place to start.

Talk is cheap. Yes, consumers are surely confused about minimum system requirements--one of the major points that the PCGA has touched on so far. Of course, one easy way to reduce these problems is to stop pushing the bloody specs up so fast. World of Warcraft and The Sims--the current death-of-PC gaming scapegoats--are games that were designed to hit a wide demographic and work on a wide range of computers. Surprise, they're successful.

If Activision wants more people playing Guitar Hero III on their PCs, I would estimate that porting the game well enough so that it doesn't take a beastly 2 gigabyte RAM sandwich to run would be an easier way to go.

On an ever-shifting platform, shooting for a common requirement denominator should be a goal for anyone looking to make money. Small PC developers like Ironclad (Sins of a Solar Empire) know this well already. Big PC developers like Blizzard have known it for years. And as we head into digital distribution and web-based PC gaming, a lot of this stuff is likely to work itself out naturally.

I do look forward to finding out just what the PCGA will bring to the table. Some well-funded, well-reasoned statistics on the actual health of the PC gaming industry would certainly be welcome. If that is all that comes of the PCGA, I suppose it's a worthwhile organization--if ultimately an impotent, inconclusive body.

In the meantime, I also look forward to playing StarCraft II on my IBM Aptiva.

Note: When they say "WW" revenue, just wedge an "o" in the middle for a more accurate game-by-game breakdown of PC gaming sales.