AMD's Game! looks like a decent attempt to help buyers
AMD HAS DONE the seemingly impossible andmade a logo campaign that looks like it means something instead of being a marketing/advertising scheme. Let's take a look at the new AMD Game programme.
The programme is meant to address the soft middle of the gaming market, people between the hardcore techie (aka most everyone reading this) and people that make your brain hurt when you overhear them talk at the store (Does that CPU come in different colors? Oooh, blue lights!). AMD commissioned a survey asking what percentage of people "plan to use their new PC to play video games" ?
Sixty-one of the US, 49 per cent of Europeans and 48 per cent of Chinese respondents said they would play games on their shiny new box. More numbers, presented in pie-chart format this time, show that enthusiasts (us) make up five per cent of the market, the 'Yes' responders above make up about 20 per cent more of the market. They however lack the technical abilities of the enthusiasts.
This means there are about 50 million people out there that want to game on a PC but don't really have a clue about how to do it or what to buy. If they walk into a Best Buy, more often than not they get shafted and walk out with an Intel $599 i945 based machine with a $999 extended warranty that skips on the solitaire win screen. Stores preying on the stupid, imagine that!
The goal that AMD is aiming for with the AMD Game program is simple, put logos on machines that are capable of playing games well. Problems come in when you try to nail down the definition of game, play, capable and well.
If you read Intel white papers, a 965G is the perfect DX10 solution even if it will never have drivers for that API. If you ask Nvidia, they will say that Intel sucks, CPUs are unnecessary and beg you not to dig into their mobile market share. You won't get a straight answer out of anyone mainly because they all have vested interests and no one makes all the key components. Except AMD.
The AMD Game logo has two levels, AMD Game and AMD Game Ultra. Both have game capitalised with an exclamation point after it, but we will spare you that. The surprising part is that they made realistic choices for sensible reasons in selecting the hardware for both. Even more shocking, they recommend a competitor's part! The logos look like this, with Ultra having the word 'Ultra' at the bottom.
Imagine an Ultra bar at the bottom
The AMD Game requirements are an X2 5600+ (2.8GHz), HD3650 GPU and either an AMD 770 or NV 500 series chipset. Adding Ultra to the logo requires a Phenom X4 9650 (2.3GHz), HD3750 and an AMD 770 chipset. Both need a minimum of 2GB RAM.
You can quibble about a lot of details, but both specs will make a decent gaming box and are likely better than what most readers have on their desktops. The hardware seems decently specced, but what is it meant to do? That is where things get a little hazy.
AMD takes a selection of games in four categories, FPS/Action, MMORPG, RTS, and Family, and measures frame rates in FRAPS. All games are measured with default options and must maintain 30FPS average during 'normal game play'. AMD Game is measured at 1280*1024 and Ultra is 1600*1200, but otherwise everything is the same.
The hazy part involves 'average game play', but the rest is solid. The resolutions picked are quite fair for the intended markets, the hardware adequate to do a decent job with the games picked, and the frame rate bar is set decently. I think they hit the target of getting the non-techie a decent tool to shop with.
There is one more part of this, the AMD Game Ready logo certification. This is for things that are not core to the PC but will be decent gaming parts, think keyboards, mice, joypads, PSUs and RAM, but anything could fit under this. It is basically a stamp that says the part will work with the systems that bear the other two logos.
All of the programs and logos don't have any cost, they are not there to expensively enforce fealty like SLI or give kickbacks like VIIV, you either qualify or you don't. Every six months, the programs will be updated to reflect the latest games on the market and available hardware. Specs will be going up, not down, on a regular basis.
As long as AMD puts a little more transparency in the testing process, something that is very likely to happen, the firm has a winner here. The program is clearly intended to provide hardware capable of the task at hand, not to sell specific components or exclude competition. If that remains the operating methodology and things are updated on a regular basis, AMD Game will be a very useful buying tool. µ
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I don't agree with the Ultra moniker being capped at 1600x1200, when people having the money to buy the best parts are very likely to be playiing on a Widescreen monitor.

And yes, put these logos on laptops and see them selling like hot cakes. It's pretty amazing how many people prefer laptops to desktops, even when they're paying more money for less specs.
It is an interesting move for AMD. I hope this can boost up the market share on both CPU and GPU of the company. Additionally, I think AMD should make up this program for laptop (I know laptops are not the best case scenario for gaming -- but many of us do it anyway, right?). Because laptop segment is getting larger every year and with the upcoming "Puma" plus the "GAME!" program, I think it will has a great chance to smash that poor centrino into dust. And it also make sense in every perspectives.
the forger's printing presses will be working overtime to knock out nice shiny stickers for fleebay as we speak, other than that, nice one AMD :O)
it's funny how hard they are trying to push the quads (when most games don't use more then 2 cores anyway and when they do the gpu is the bottleneck.
but the reason this can only fail is because ppl will buy this only to end up dissapointed 2 weeks later when they buy a new game and the PC is not good enough anymore,also the fact that there are 2 types of AMD Game just smells like windows vista certified fiasco.
they should stick a year on the ratings like AMD! GAME!! ULTRA!!! 2008!!!! so that the specs can be re written once in a while. 
PC gaming needs a simplfied preformance rating system as it is so difficult for the average man on the street to figure out what will work and what won't. You can imagine that someone who buys a shiny new computer with integrated graphics and then buys Crysis won't be considering buying a PC game ever again.
they push quads because it is the most logical step up. there is a bit more bandwidth and who knows, maybe everyday people use a lot of crap nowadays. just because games aren't too multithreaded now doesn't mean people will just go out and buy new computers when they are. in a way, this is more future proof and the graphics card for ultra is better anyway so there will be a difference.

the windows vista certified fiasco was dumb from the start. everyone knows that aero doesn't work with all the laptops but microsoft and pc makers concealed this fact. 

on the other hand, amd is only saying it will play all the pc games of today and the past. standards will have to be raised but even then, whats the chance you won't be able to play any games? a 6600GT can still probably run UT3 at lower settings. It's still playable. 

AMD will grab a huge chunk of the market with this one. nvidia doesn't have the ability without a cpu. intel can't package nvidia as part of a "package" and everyone knows that buying an intel igp for gaming is a joke.
Thank you AMD for reverifying that you are the only honest hardware company out there. You started it by challenging the MHz=performance craze with your model numbers and TPI. You debunked the "gotta have Itanium or your server is crap" craze. Now you have a good shot at demystifying a good gaming experience...... if Intel and Nvidia don't try to stand in your way.
AMD can deliver a VERY solid GamePC, for a very low price. And most user should aim at buying cheap and often. Wasting a lot of money on a single machine have never made sense. It's the same thing if it's a game laptop or desktop machine.

I'm a graphics developer, so NVIDIA is my pick of the GPU's. But if anyone is cash strapped then a AMD machine is the best deal. And it's been like this for more than 5 years.

Even if their graphics drivers have flaws, their GPU's are actually a lot more flexible and may have a much longer life than NVIDIA's.
Since Intel has the fastest processors for gaming and NVidia has the fastest GPUs, this logo will serve the purpose of telling the hard core gamer what NOT to buy. If AMD can get back in the GPU game this summer with their new GPU they still are going to lag Intel's best chips for the forseeable future. This would have a LOT more meaning if this gaming "standard" was actually a standard instead of an AMD marketing sticker. Anyone remember Viiv?
"You won't get a straight answer out of anyone mainly because they all have vested interests and no one makes all the key components. Except AMD."

WOW MR DAAMIT salesman! What a bold attempt at licking the Hector's ASS'et-light scheme wholly!

Lots of details indeed... coming from a true DAAMIT salesman!

What if intel/nvidia releases a similar scheme first? You'll just diss it out i betcha. Ignore the details as if nothing happened right?

"As long as AMD puts a little more transparency in the testing process, something that is very likely to happen, the firm has a winner here."
For you i guess... well i guess everyone's entitled at his own BIASED opinion...

"not to sell specific components or exclude competition"
but where's the competition's specs if this move proves to be a sincere move?

let me repeat the steps, taking from your (bleep) tounge that just licked Hector's ASS'et light wholly.

"The AMD Game requirements are an X2 5600+ (2.8GHz), HD3650 GPU and either an AMD 770 or NV 500 series chipset. Adding Ultra to the logo requires a Phenom X4 9650 (2.3GHz), HD3750 and an AMD 770 chipset. Both need a minimum of 2GB RAM."

i see no intel nor nv part here? does that mean both aren't qualified because they simply aren't AMD parts? i thought this is about performance mr DAAMIT salesman?

just a friendly reminder, i guess you need to take a break once in a while from licking Hector's ASS'et light schme wholly, your judgement is confusing you again... and again... and again... and again...
You can always expect the best platform to come from that ever receding mirage on the horizon. Go ahead and ask why punters get shot in the foot? "That's the way it's meant to be ployed, and besides, it's Narnia bizness!"
This seems to be a winner for AMD. Good Job!!!!
There is only one thing that they might want to address. If the specs will be changing, they might want to also include a date on the sticker also. So if someone wants to buy a GAME! option system for the Extreme, they can see that the hardware they are about to by was tested with HL2 - Team Fortress and not Crysis 6 months later.
All in all, I think this is a very big win for AMD, I just hope they can stay in business for this to take off.
~ExIntel Employee
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drashek von 
drashek REDBarronNestor.
Wow some people takes their computers real seriously, Tommy you burst a blood vessel in your forehead there mate?

Anyhow I hope this helps get AMD more market share back, a competitive market is best for the consumer.
I think that some of the more negative posters are missing one valid point made suggested by the article here: AMD's new marketing ploy MAY increase the size of the gaming market, resulting in an INCREASE in the quantity and perhaps quality of the PC Gaming market. I think that this is a very good thing however you look at it considering the ever shrinking size of the market for PC Games vs. the continuing rise of the console market.
"I don't agree with the Ultra moniker being capped at 1600x1200, when people having the money to buy the best parts are very likely to be playiing on a Widescreen monitor."

UXGA = 1600 x 1200 = 1.92 MPixels.

versus

WXGA+ = 1440 x 900 = 1.296 MPixels

WSXGA = 1680 x 1050 = 1.764 MPixels

Full-HD = 1920 x 1080 = 2.0736 MPixels

WUXGA = 1920 x 1200 = 2.304 MPixels

While it's true that UXGA is not the ultimate gaming resolution anymore for most people, in terms of pixel count it is actually larger than the most common widescreen resolutions, WXGA+ (common for 19") and WSXGA+ (common for 22"). So, a machine that can push 30fps on UXGA will perform even better on typical widescreen monitors. Full-HD is fairly close to UXGA but there will be a small performance hit.

With a WUXGA or higher-res monitor you will of course see a big drop-off.