Actually that was at the high quality setting, so you'd get even higher fps if you lowered the detail.

Hopefully by the time Doom3 and Quake4 come out there will be more high end chips coming out so the prices of the older ones will drop.

Yes, yes - the in-game quality settings were high, but it was without AA or AF.  

Forgive me if think poorly of paying $500 for a graphics card so I can almost reach playable framerates if I turn the in-game quality options down!

well I am sure that those who payed 700 dollars for a voodo 2 sli are dissapointed that doom 3 won't run at playable fps on their cards, times change. buying hardware now for games in the future tends to be a bad move.

VooDoo2 SLI is old - what, six or seven years old.  When Doom3 and Quake4 come out, R350/360 and NV3x will be one product cycle old, maybe one cycle plus a refresh... there is no parallel there.

The upshot of my bringing performance up in the first place was not to knock the cards or the engine, but to point out that the low player count may be related as much to the demanding nature of the game as anything else.

Given that fact, we should view this as a good reason for including coop in Quake4 - it is perenially strong MP mode with a lot of fans and the potential, given the immersive engine Q4 will use - to really be a unique and remarkable playing experience.  The style of coop games can also cater to the performance demands of the game without making it feel like anything is missing.

I was just pointing out that just because you spend a ton of money now doesn't mean that you have to be able to turn the settings all the way up in the future. I doubt that will be possible for years, and it is intentional. If you are able to do it then Id did something wrong.

Indeed, they want their engines to last a long time so they can reap all the moolah from the licensing deals.

Well, one upside of scalable netcode and an engine that has hardware mature into making the most of it is that modders and developers will have an expanding pool of possibilities as time goes by.  That could give the MP section some longevity.