Believe it or not, I used to be at the forefront of PC gaming. My Starcraft / Diablo II rig was bumpin', and it saw many, many sleepless nights of continuous use. Yet as the years pass and mercilessly ravage my older consoles, they are the least kind to my PC. I could be wrong, but I think there is actually still a GeForce 3 (or maybe even 2) collecting cobwebs inside my computer tower, ready to spasm with flashes of mediocre framerates at a moments notice. For most of the PC games I play or used to play, I never met the minimum system requirements for video card, and have not for years.

It has been equally long since I have stopped by a Best Buy or Circuit City with the intent of 'tricking out' my computer, and I am not even sure if CompUSA is still in business. Hell, I don't even know my way around my motherboard anymore, a former companion of the utmost intimacy. All that looks to change soon, however, with the announcement of heirs to such PC gaming staples as C&C: Red Alert, Starcraft, and Diablo, I simply cannot come up with any more excuses not to buy a new video card. The specs for Red Alert 3 are not even that impressive, but after a brief segment of gameplay footage, I am positive that I want the full experience as powered by a proper video card. It looks absolutely fantastic, as does the gameplay from both Starcraft II and Diablo III; the flow is so smooth and fluid that any sort of glitches brought about by sub-par hardware will be made that much more jarring.

Time to go shopping.