News - AMD to bundle SimCity with select A8 and A10 APUs

[HEXUS]

Another month, another bundle.

Read more.

[Biscuit]

Probably partly to help get old stock out the way ready for Richland aswell perhaps?
I think 'free' is about the only circumstance I would give Sim City a bosh, but with Richland rumoured to give slightly more performance at a lower TDP, and me only really fancying a go rather than desperately wanting to play it. My media centre can wait a little longer!

[Jimbo75]

Good move by AMD.

Btw I wouldn't call the 5600K and i3 3225 "price-equivalent" exactly...

[Chadders87]

So [we] are left wondering what kind of impact this is likely to have on the bottom line.

This "promotion giveaway culture" is much more than simply trying to sell hardware, so the bottomline is expected to take a hit. AMD are trying to make their hardware the market dominator while reducing the market share for Intel / nVidia This will have far greater benefits in the long term than a reduced profit today.

Since the Never Settled bundle swayed my decision to use an AMD GPU in my new build last month I have been pretty impressed with stock performance and would probably get another AMD when I upgrade in a few years. This coming from an ex nVidia "fanboy".

Still, being that it's SimCity being given away I wonder how that will effect uptake given the games recent issues and reviews. I'd take them up on it as I think "free" is the max I'd pay for SimCity, but sadly I went for Intel with my CPU and can't afford a full mobo / cpu upgrade atm.

[cpthooker]

I am getting the A6 series for a media center, not worth forking out extra £35-40 for a average game with always online rubbish

[davesom555]

I am getting the A6 series for a media center, not worth forking out extra £35-40 for a average game with always online rubbish

You'd be getting a better APU also, and you could always sell the code for the game.

[Lee H]

People should not base their purchases on what is being given away with it as that's a crazy way to do things in my opinion. Instead they should look at the features and functions of the hardware and if it meets all their criteria, purchase it and the game given is a bonus

[Macadee]

People should not base their purchases on what is being given away with it as that's a crazy way to do things in my opinion. Instead they should look at the features and functions of the hardware and if it meets all their criteria, purchase it and the game given is a bonus

I agree, especially as some suppliers don't send out games as advertised.

[shaithis]

People should not base their purchases on what is being given away with it as that's a crazy way to do things in my opinion. Instead they should look at the features and functions of the hardware and if it meets all their criteria, purchase it and the game given is a bonus

When comparing hardware, one criteria is value for money. If your planning on purchasing a game that can be had for free with a piece of hardware you are also considering, then you would be foolish not to take that into account.

[Jimbo75]

It's just smart marketing by AMD (how often have you heard that said?). They are drawing attention to their IGP superiority and in fact rubbing it in by showing the slower, cheaper 5600K is still far superior to intel's best i3.

In one fell swoop AMD has rendered intels entire i3 lineup completely and utterly devoid of value, much in the same way that they've done with Nvidia's gpu's over the last 6 months or so. I'd be surprised if they are paying more than $10-$15 per game bundled, which although is a lot on such low priced chips, helps them to retain their price in the same way that the 7800 and 7900 gpu's have - if you remember there was a rumour less than 2 weeks ago that AMD would be dropping the price on the 5600K, and that has probably been cancelled in favour of the game bundle.

[Smudger]

It's just smart marketing by AMD (how often have you heard that said?). They are drawing attention to their IGP superiority and in fact rubbing it in by showing the slower, cheaper 5600K is still far superior to intel's best i3.

In one fell swoop AMD has rendered intels entire i3 lineup completely and utterly devoid of value, much in the same way that they've done with Nvidia's gpu's over the last 6 months or so. I'd be surprised if they are paying more than $10-$15 per game bundled, which although is a lot on such low priced chips, helps them to retain their price in the same way that the 7800 and 7900 gpu's have - if you remember there was a rumour less than 2 weeks ago that AMD would be dropping the price on the 5600K, and that has probably been cancelled in favour of the game bundle.

I wonder if they're actually paying anything. AMD shifts a small number of chips, so not much cost to EA, those that install the game then get enticed by the in-game selling, Fanny is your dad's brother...

[watercooled]

I wonder if they're actually paying anything. AMD shifts a small number of chips, so not much cost to EA, those that install the game then get enticed by the in-game selling, Fanny is your dad's brother...

Wait, what?

[benegerton1985]

I wonder if they're actually paying anything. AMD shifts a small number of chips, so not much cost to EA, those that install the game then get enticed by the in-game selling, Fanny is your dad's brother...

Wait, what?

I seriously just LOL'ed at that!

[iamlorro]

.... not much cost to EA, those that install the game then get enticed by the in-game selling....

indeed - wonder how many of the games 'limitations' will be removed with an add on pack (s)
SimCity "Expansion"
SimCity "Offline"

or something.

[Ragga]

guess it would be nice to see other low graphical games for the APU promotion :/

[Neostar]

Meh no Steam option