PC gaming alliance formed?

Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia, AMD and other companies with a vested interested in keeping the PC alive as a gaming platform may be announcing a consortium dubbed the "PC Gaming Alliance."

According to Dean Takahashi, writing for the San Jose Mercury News, the companies are preparing the announcement in advance of next week's GDC in San Francisco.

The PC game industry has trailed behind consoles in recent years, with the NPD Group reporting declining sales. However, their numbers don't include ad revenue associated with "casual" online gaming sites, nor digital distribution of games via platforms such as Valve's Steam.

The NPD Group has begun tracking MMO subscriptions, however.

"We believe that the PC gaming industry is strong when you look at everything together," Blizzard president Mike Morhaime said at the D.I.C.E. Summit last week.

As Takahashi notes, the PC industry delivers new gaming technologies to the market at a faster rate than consoles, which are only "refreshed" every five years or so. He believes that the PC industry needs gaming to keep it as a leading technology platform for the future.

The consortium will focus on fixing problems - such as compatibility issues - that have made the PC a less desirable gaming platform than consoles for some gamers.