With the way PC gamers are made nowadays, chances are even if your gaming PC is a few years old, you've been used to setting almost every graphical setting to the max when a new game comes out. However chances are you won't be able to do that in the upcoming Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, as it requires a whopping 6GB of VRAM on your graphics card to load in all of the "ultra" resolution textures.
Even though GPU development has been pushing the memory envelope for some time now, even some of the most powerful cards don't come with enough RAM to handle that. If you're not running a pair of GTX 780s, have a GTX Titan or a 295X from AMD, then you're not going to be able to push this game to its max.
The game doesn't stop there though, as to run it at one notch under Ultra, "High," you'll need 3GB of VRAM, which means at least a single GTX 780 or 290X. Not cheap by any means.
Of course this is the type of thing PC's should have, since it means in a few years time the game still should look fantastic, as average gaming PCs will suddenly be able to play it maxed out. Much like Crysis was back in the day.
However you could also argue that it's poorly optimised, as while pretty, Shadow of Mordor is hardly ground breaking visually.
What do you guys think? Lazy programming or a genuine PC stress-tester?
