It's for laptop users

Why did we put so much effort for low end systems?

Published on February 19, 2006 By Draginol In GalCiv Journals

Some of my friends who work in the game industry (you know who you are) have been teasing me about why we put so much effort into low end hardware support. That is, GalCiv II supports kind of ridiculously low end hardware.

I mean after all, who has an 800Mhz computer? What gamer has a really low end graphics card? Those people don't play games. They won't buy games. So why support them?

Our view is that it's not low end desktop users that we're targeting. Sure, they benefit from the work but it's LAPTOP users who play it. Our company's IP attorney, who is in his mid 50s, plays strategy games on his laptop when he travels (which he does considerably). His home machine is plenty powerful but his laptop isn't quite as powerful. And we think there are a lot of people out there who do this kind of thing.

Tell us what you think? Does laptop playability matter to you?

Comments (Page 2)

IAmGory

on Feb 19, 2006

Im a laptop gamer. Granted, It's an alienware laptop, but it's STILL a laptop. It's not higher end however but it does far exceed 800mhz (2.2ghz/6800Go) in this case. But my old old laptop is a 1.2ghz centrino with an intel chipset. And much higher battery life. So yes, i'm quite happy to see that

Bingjack

on Feb 19, 2006

I dont know from Laptops. I did kind of wonder though, why you guys exerted any effort to support Win98. Does anyone who would be interested in playing Galciv2, or any contemporary game really going to be operating on a win 98 machine?

I know there are loads of win 98 systems still out there, but the ones in North America are covered with grease, running some sort of shop management software in the back of a garage, or in rows side by side as word processing machines in a school or library lab.

There are more win 98 machines outside of NA, then there are within, to be certain. But these are also going to be in countries where its almost total piracy.... again, not really a viable market.

Oh , laptops though...yeah, Im all about that. Strategy games are good laptop games. If I ever used one for gaming, Id be happy GC2 ran on it.

doublethink

on Feb 19, 2006

I own a decent gaming rig, but I plan on buying a laptop for work. It will probably run linux, however, so I'll have an interesting time getting GalCiv2 to be emulated via wine/cedega!

But if I stick winxp on it, GalCiv2 will be straight on there.

tinplated

on Feb 19, 2006

the ability to play games while sitting out on my deck on a nice summer evening more than makes up for that.

Thats a pretty convincing argument really. I never really thought about the ability to simply sit outside with a laptop. While it wont make me run out and buy one, I have to say I love the sound of it.

Sitting out on the deck... with a *beverage* ... now THAT is a convincing argument, eh?

Graviton

on Feb 19, 2006

I only have a laptop. So naturally laptop playability is very important to me.

RichVR

on Feb 19, 2006

An unqualified yes to you, sir. My laptop is a sanity saver on any kind of long trip or long wait. Thank you for your support of us laptop users.

You are a gooood man, a very gooood man.

muopos84

on Feb 19, 2006

I'm abroad with only a laptop. Thank you. Civ4 is a great game but it has no right to be as demanding as it is, I could only play on smaller maps and the farther you get the longer the turns take to generate. I felt really bad paying for that game, like they decided to ignore part of their audience (a major part from what I've heard) to write Ghandi's diologue. Thank you Stardock, and if you see Sid, kick him in the nuts please.

muopos84

on Feb 19, 2006

KidCharming

on Feb 19, 2006

Sitting out on the deck... with a *beverage* ... now THAT is a convincing argument, eh?

Makes me think I'd really rather have a deck than a laptop...

Evil Roy

on Feb 19, 2006

i'm obviously very happy to have GC2 on me laptop - the missus has taken to the idea that as long as i sit next to her while playing, we're bonding..........

purefx

on Feb 19, 2006

I've always had GalCiv and Total Gaming on my laptop

Mike C

on Feb 19, 2006

laptop user here, i enjoy being able to play games where ever

brigiton

on Feb 19, 2006

You better believe I care. The only PC I have is my laptop. I almost didnt by Civ 4 because of its requirements. You can be assured that your extra work was worth at least my 45 dollars.

Voltaire042

on Feb 19, 2006

I'm very happy the game will run on laptops. Like many here, I have a powerful desktop machine, but I take my laptop with me everywhere. Being able to run GalCiv2 on that will be so nice! I can't stand to play Civ4 on it, even though its a bit above the system requirements, since it runs soooo slowly. Hopefully GalCiv2 will run nice and smooth (even if I have to turn detail settings down!).

noctl

on Feb 19, 2006

All I have is a laptop, so yes

And being able to run on 800Mhz laptops is great even if you have a better one: Battery life. GalCiv2 is one of the few games I can play on my laptop without being plugged in (unlike, oh, I don't know... Civ4)

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