Is AMD GAME! anything more than another marketing stunt?

Let me introduce you to AMD's latest plan to grab back some market share from Intel and NVIDIA - AMD GAME.

So what is AMD GAME? Well, guess what, it's another badging scheme designed to direct consumers "to solutions that are specifically validated for gaming," according to Brent Berry, product marketing manager for AMD.

"Consumers are not getting a great gaming experience with IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor)," Berry added.

"In North America, about 60 percent of consumers say they plan on using their PCs for video games," said Berry. "But when you do a check on what people actually did on their PCs, you find out that 80 percent actually played games on their PCs."

There will be two categories of AMD GAME PC:

AMD GAME!

Minimum system requirements:

• AMD Athlon X2 5600+ processor
• ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics card
• AMD 770 or NVIDIA nForce 500 chipset

AMD GAME! Ultra

Minimum system requirements:

• AMD Phenom X4 9650 processor
• ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics card
• AMD 770 chipset

But is AMD GAME! anything more than another marketing stunt? I find it hard to look at it as anything else. I like the idea of some system to help make gaming easier for the consumer (although maybe we have that already in the shape of games consoles) but another branding system isn't going to help. Intel's Viiv and Microsoft's WEI haven't done much to lift the fog surrounding consumers, and I doubt that AMD GAME will achieve much either.

Thoughts?