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Archives
Posts from Matt Ployhar (Intel) 
 |
I joined Intel April of 2008. I currently work in the Visual Computing Software Division with a focus on Graphics, Multimedia, and Gaming. Prior to Intel I worked at Microsoft for over 12 years. First in the Microsoft SideWinder Gaming Devices group as a Tech Evangelist. Later in Microsoft Game Studios as a Lead Program Manager in the test/tools group. The last job was in the Windows division working with the DirectX & Windows 7 Planning teams. My passions are around graphics and gaming. Enjoying the Great outdoors, & reading. |
2011 Game Piracy Observations – Have Consoles Failed the Piracy Litmus Test?
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on January 31, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Comments (0)
So I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions; but I’ve been mulling over a few articles released earlier this month around the piracy statistics released via TorrentFreak. The first article I read was Tom’s article on Gamasutra titled “Report: Crysis 2 named most-pirated game of 2011”. That article led me to the link he [...]
Category: Academic, Android, Events, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Manageability & Security, Uncategorized
Matt’s Top 10+ Technology Predictions for 2012
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on December 5, 2011 at 11:12 am
Comments (1)
Hi everyone – It’s that time of year again where I speculate on what the big technology announcements and impacts are going to be for next year 2012. The lens I use for this are those things that will in some way have a profound short or long term impact, or implications, for the various [...]
Category: Academic, Android, Events, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Uncategorized
The Real Platform is now the Cloud - and has shifted away from devices
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on November 7, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Comments (0)
Am I stating the blatantly obvious here? (Probably). However; one my most recent assertions is that the devices (e.g. Consoles, PCs, Macs, etc) which used to historically be considered a “Platform” are far less so today. The real platform has become the Cloud and the Clouds associated services. As a result.. I’m going to be [...]
Category: Academic, Art, Music, & Animation, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Open Source, Uncategorized
Forget the Console, buy a Gaming PC!
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on November 3, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Comments (1)
This will be my tongue-in-cheek response to a ZDNET blog posting that can be found here: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/forget-the-gaming-pc-buy-a-console/15969#comments While the author brings up a few interesting discussion points; I’m not entirely convinced that it’s a fair assessment and here’s why. 1) Pricing: When the Xbox 360, and PS3 first released their real street price was no [...]
Category: Academic, Android, Embedded Computing, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Uncategorized
PC Gaming Alliance unveiling its Cross Platform Gaming Spec next week!
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on October 31, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Comments (1)
Next week the PC Gaming Alliance will be unveiling a set of proposals for a cross platform gaming specification; and game feature sets in a Webinar. This will be a historic event for PC Gaming, the PC Gaming Alliance, and an industry first to articulate a type of ‘metric’ system for gaming that spans multiple [...]
Category: Academic, Android, Embedded Computing, Events, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Open Source, Uncategorized
Reflecting on the transformative and empowering impact Steve Jobs had on my life
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on October 6, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Comments (0)
(alt title: Steve Jobs: the ultimate disrupting force in technology) I'm sure most of us have heard or read the news. I'm sure there are likely a million blogs or more talking about Steve Jobs passing. However; I'd like to add to them and make it just one more. Even if I am number 1,000,001. [...]
Category: Academic, Art, Music, & Animation, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Uncategorized
Piracy, Secondary Sales, Account/Identity Theft: What’s the real story?
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on October 3, 2011 at 2:15 pm
Comments (1)
Honestly; I’m not sure anyone truly has a holistic picture of what the ‘real story’ is here. However; every once in awhile I’ll really stick my neck out and go out on a limb to air my opinions on the trends or impacts of Piracy, DRM, Secondary Sales, Account & or Identity theft issues in [...]
Category: Academic, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Open Source, Uncategorized
Build Conf - Win 8 & PC Gaming? Stay tuned….
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on September 13, 2011 at 8:07 am
Comments (2)
Blogs tend to be rife with speculation & mine is often no exception! However; to be fair, a lot of what I know as an insider, and working from my previous employer, inhibits me from going all out. So advance apologies if anything I say seems ‘couched’ or ‘safe’. Let me start out by saying [...]
Category: Academic, Events, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Open Source, Performance and Optimization, Site News & Announcements, Uncategorized
[Opinion] The sunk cost fallacy of Consoles and why they’ll likely die out as we know them today
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on August 24, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Comments (2)
Most people who know me know why I’m not a fan of Consoles; but I figured I should probably explain myself more fully to those who don’t. I’ll pitch my ‘metric-system’ concept for Gaming in a future post. Suffice it to say that my approach is based on the following line of thinking. First; imagine [...]
Category: Academic, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Open Source, Uncategorized
Opinion: The Post-PC era Myth
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on July 29, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Comments (4)
I see these kinds of phrases crop up from time to time and have to sit back for a moment in ‘shock and awe’. I read all kinds of slogans like this while driving, or cruising the internet; but as of late this particular one has been gnawing at me for awhile. The problem with [...]
Category: Academic, Art, Music, & Animation, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Uncategorized
Gaming in Transition and Revolution: Pt 4 of 4
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on July 1, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Comments (2)
Part 4 of 4 (Innovation Changers) This will be my final installment on this blog topic titled: Gaming - in transition and revolution. To briefly recap the previous topics I first talked about the impact of Mobile. In my second installment I covered the changes and evolutions occurring in both formats and business models. In [...]
Category: Academic, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Open Source, Power Efficiency, Uncategorized
Gaming in Transition and Revolution: Pt 3 of 4
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on June 21, 2011 at 10:39 am
Comments (2)
PART 3 of 4 (Globalization) Over the past few blogs I touched on two of the biggest four game changers I’m seeing hitting the gaming ecosystem simultaneously. First we covered the trends and impact of Mobile. Second we covered the trends and impacts occurring at the Format and Business levels. For this discussion we’ll discuss [...]
Category: Academic, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Uncategorized
Gaming in Transition and Revolution: Pt 2 of 4
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on June 5, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Comments (1)
Part Two of Four (Format and Business Model Evolution Factors) A few weeks ago I was talking about some of the biggest factors impacting the gaming ecosystems today. In part one I discussed the impacts of mobile form factors; this week I'll discuss the biggest implications occuring in the formats and business models. Format and [...]
Category: Academic, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Mobility, Open Source, Uncategorized
Gaming – In transition and revolution
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on May 20, 2011 at 10:28 am
Comments (0)
Part One of Four (Mobile) I’ve been meaning to put pen to paper for awhile on this topic. In my last blog I was talking about a ‘Spring cleaning’ exercise I did on my contacts database; and made an observation on the volume of companies that have either gone defunct, or underwent massive layoffs since [...]
Category: Academic, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Open Source, Performance and Optimization, Software Tools, Uncategorized
Economic Climate still bumpy for Game Studios?
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on April 26, 2011 at 9:58 am
Comments (1)
Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some spring cleaning on my contacts database. This is something I’ve been dreading for a long time since the database currently has something like a little over sixteen thousand contacts in it. That’s right.. 16,000. Frankly it was getting a bit wieldy and difficult to find active [...]
Category: Academic, Embedded Computing, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Open Source, Uncategorized
Could PC Gaming be critical to our Nation’s future?
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on April 11, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Comments (3)
Sounds like a pretty bold declaration at first doesn’t it? However; there are several things that have occurred over the past few years that have led up to my position here that I’d like to share with everyone. You can then draw your own conclusions. I almost titled this: Why – we need you for [...]
Category: Academic, Art, Music, & Animation, Embedded Computing, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Parallel Programming, Performance and Optimization, Software Tools, Uncategorized
What's in the future for Slates, Tablets, iPads?
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on April 3, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Comments (7)
I’ve been following these PC form factors for quite awhile now. They’ve actually been around for a very long time when one comes to think of it; at least a decade from what I can tell. There also definitely seems to be a ton of hype on them all of a sudden too since Apple [...]
Category: Academic, Embedded Computing, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Performance and Optimization, Power Efficiency, Uncategorized
Expanding and Updating the definition of a PC
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on March 2, 2011 at 12:50 am
Comments (0)
Personally I believe the current definition of what constitutes a PC (Personal Computer) may be a bit overdue and outdated. For those that might be uncomfortable with that statement; maybe the PC is possibly even misunderstood; or possibly lost in translation? So let’s parse out what I mean by all this. Where should we draw [...]
Category: Academic, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility
Please join me at GDC for my lecture on “PC Gaming’s Global Value Propositions”
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on February 18, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Comments (2)
Hello Everyone – I’ll be presenting my session topic “PC Gaming’s Global Value Propositions” on Friday March 4th from 2-2:25pm. Location: Room 3002, West Hall 3rd Fl. Would be fantastic if all my PC Gaming supporters are able to show up for this! I’m very excited about this presentation. In more detail: Title: PC Gaming’s [...]
Category: Academic, Events, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Intel® AppUp Developer Program
Tags: GDC, GDC 2011
PC Gaming Alliance – My first 3 months
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on February 16, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Comments (2)
I took the helm of the PC Gaming Alliance on Oct 27th 2010. Going into November and December I started taking stock of what the PCGA has been doing over its nearly three year history as I was getting ready to prepare my ‘State of the Gaming Alliance’ message for this year’s CES. Amazing how [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Uncategorized
The Future of PC Gaming? A Personal Viewpoint
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on December 9, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Comments (6)
Very recently I was featured in a prominent publication in an article about PC Gaming. What I’m reminded of is how easy it is to be taken out of context – for right or wrong. I’m sure that wasn’t the intention. The article was well written and I stand by most of what I’m quoted [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Uncategorized
Laptop’s are here to stay and my #1 Go-To Gaming Platform
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on November 8, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Comments (3)
Hello everyone – Over the past couple of decades I've done a ton of gaming on PCs (Laptops & Desktops), Consoles, Handhelds (e.g. PSP, etc), and SmartPhones. When I first got my start working in the industry in a professional capacity back in '97 I was working for Microsoft in the SideWinder™ gaming devices group. [...]
Category: Game Development, Mobility, Performance and Optimization
My favorite PC accessory of 2010 is my Lap Desk!
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on September 2, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Comments (3)
So this may sound a little odd but my favorite PC accessory purchase this year has to be my Lap Desk. (See below Pic). To make a very long story short I used to use a rigid Art Board for years. However; after many years it started getting pretty worn out. Several months’ back I [...]
Category: Game Development, Mobility, Uncategorized
Smart/iPhones – a convergence hub device? I believe so.
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on August 26, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Comments (0)
A few days ago I received my iPhone 4 and I absolutely love it! The setup was pretty straightforward and easy to navigate. So far the only thing that took any length of time was the necessary step of downloading iTunes for the device which is primarily used for syncing contacts, email, and the like [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Mobility, Software Tools, Uncategorized
Accurately portraying the PC & Console Install base
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on July 22, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Comments (1)
There probably hasn’t been a month that’s gone by in the last decade where I haven’t been asked a question about the various PC or Console Game platforms. One of the biggest issues I’ve had to contend with in that time is what is the most accurate way of portraying & sizing the PC vs. [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Intel SW Partner Program, Intel® AppUp Developer Program, Uncategorized
Expanding my definition of a PC
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on July 8, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Comments (0)
So perhaps I’m stating one of the most painfully obvious things in the world. However; I’ll come out and say it anyway. The definition of a PC as we know it is changing and evolving rapidly and I’m altering my own preconceptions of how to define it. The PC (Personal Computer) is typically defined as [...]
Category: Academic, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Software Tools, Uncategorized
E3 2010 Impressions
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on June 17, 2010 at 7:26 am
Comments (1)
I’m currently at the 2010 E3 Expo here in sunny, and smoggy, Los Angles. I’ve been attending these now since ’97 or so. This might be #12 or #13 for me! However; as always they’re a ton of fun. It’s good to see E3 striking a better balance as being an event for the retailers, [...]
Category: Events, Game Development, Graphics & Media
The Beauty of Digital Distribution - What it means for PC Gaming
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on May 3, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Comments (3)
One of the most important developments over the past decade that I’ve been keeping close tabs on is the impact of Digital Distribution on all forms of Multimedia content and delivery. In my definition of the word the biggest forms of Multimedia are: Music, Movies (Video, etc) and of course Games. Admittedly there are other [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Uncategorized
Dude! Who killed my 1st Person Shooter?
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on March 5, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Comments (5)
[Disclaimer] So bear with me because this post is intentionally aimed at being both whimsical and controversial at the same time. Not to mention point out some huge biases I have around gaming. Some… might even think I’m a purist or worse… a snob! Phooey. Approximately twelve years ago, when some of today’s gamers were [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media
Musing and Reflecting on CES 2010
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on February 7, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Comments (1)
Hard to believe that CES was already a month ago. Since then the iPad has been officially announced and the New Orleans Saints have won a Super Bowl! However; I’m still trying to digest everything I saw and ponder over the gadgets and trends that stood out the most for me. So while most of [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Uncategorized
PC Gaming not hit as hard as some estimate
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on December 6, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Comments (12)
I’m always bemused by articles like this touting the demise of PC Gaming and ‘how hard the PC games industry was hit’. For starters we have to first wonder where this information comes from. There are of course several sources that I won’t name here but it does make me pause why so much of [...]
Category: Game Development, Uncategorized
A Story about Black Friday, a Playstation 3, High-Definition, and my Home Theater!
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on November 30, 2009 at 12:26 am
Comments (4)
Nearly five years ago I shelled out a few thousand dollars of my “allowance money” on a Sanyo PLV Z3 Projector and an 82” Stewart Screen for a DIY Home Theater Project I started. My reasoning for going the Projector route really came down to total cost. After all it would have been significantly more [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Uncategorized
Consumers deserve better than Proprietary Game Systems
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on November 2, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Comments (5)
I’ve been immersed in the Gaming Industry now for nearly fifteen years. In that length of time I’ve played countless games on at least ten or more key gaming systems. (e.g. PC, Xbox/360, Wii, PS/2-3, NinDS, etc). I’ve attended well over sixty tradeshows and met with a few thousand great people representing well over three [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Software Tools, Uncategorized
How the Incredible Shrinking Hard Drive will shape our Industry
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on August 1, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Comments (5)
What I’m going to cover here certainly isn’t new or revolutionary thinking by any stretch of the imagination. This particular blog is going to be some of my observations about hard drives, what the past ten years have looked like, where we are today, and what might the next decade hold in store? I’ll of [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility, Software Tools, Uncategorized
How PC Gaming helps shape the future of computing
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on April 20, 2009 at 8:46 am
Comments (2)
How PC Gaming helps shape the future of computing One of the reasons I enjoy working in the Games industry so much is due to the rapid pace at which innovation occurs. It’s not uncommon to learn about and be surprised by some new development on a daily basis. I’m going to focus specifically on [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media
Tags: Level Up 2009
Game Developers Conference® 2009 Impressions
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on March 29, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Comments (2)
I’ve attended every GDC since 1996 and must say that I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one. For starters I expected the economic climate would have had much more of an impact but thankfully not as much as I predicted. Attendance seemed to be down; however spirits were high. The GDC snapshot for me [...]
Category: Events, Game Development, Graphics & Media, Uncategorized
Just how many PC Gamers are there?
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on March 3, 2009 at 12:46 am
Comments (6)
This is a loaded question I get asked all the time. So I’ll do my best to explain the ball park ranges I’ve arrived at. Typically my first question back is what is your definition of a PC gamer? Should I count every consumer that’s ever played a casual free game on their PC? Should [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media
How Mobile technologies changed the way I game
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on February 18, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Comments (17)
From about 1995 to 2005 I was pretty much all about the fastest Desktop I could afford to build to satisfy my gaming habit. Faster Processors, bigger power supplies, bigger fans, some overclocking here and there, you name it. I had roughly four to seven gaming systems between work and home at any one time. [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media, Mobility
Paying tribute to Microsoft Flight Simulator - R.I.P.
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on January 26, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Comments (0)
Monday - January 26th 2009 will go down as one of the saddest days in Gaming history from my perspective. Just a few of the articles I'm referring to can be found here and here. While not necessarily a game by most people's standards I still lump most sims-apps in the gaming bucket primarily due [...]
Category: Game Development, Uncategorized
Taking the 64-bit plunge with Win7 for Gaming
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on January 12, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Comments (9)
There comes a time when you have to start eating your own dogfood. In my case It'll be making the leap to the 64-bit install version of Windows 7 as my primary OS. There are many reasons for this and I'll articulate what they are for me. For starters I think we hit the limits [...]
Category: Game Development, Graphics & Media
3 Key Misconceptions in the PC vs. Console debate
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on January 7, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Comments (42)
I'd like to address what I believe are some key misconceptions in the PC vs. Console debate. Since about 2000 I've been tracking PC and Console Hardware and Software sales. I first started doing this to project Minimum System Configurations for PC titles when I worked at Microsoft Game Studios. I never thought I'd still [...]
Category: Game Development
Matt Ployhar: Introductions (Gaming and Graphics)
By Matt Ployhar (Intel) (42 posts) on December 9, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Comments (6)
Hi there, I joined Intel in April of 2008 in the Visual Compute Software Division as a Senior Technical Evangelist. Before joining Intel, I worked for Microsoft for over twelve years. Primarily in SideWinder Game Devices, Microsoft Game Studios, and most recently in the Windows DirectX and OS Planning teams. I'm very excited about the [...]