The "maximum" requirements you suggested are the "minimum" requirements specified on half the games I own. Take Half Life 2's
minimum requirements for example:
1.2Ghz
256MB RAM
4.5GB
Plus, RAM and harddrive capacity deal with the entire computer's ability to process different programs, different activities (possibly with different users), and so forth. Yes, HL2 might only take up 4.5GB, but when that is coupled with several other high-resource games, you soon get 20GB. Then (as with my computer) perhaps iTunes/WMP has 5GB of music, not to mention the space the OS takes up itself on the advertised HD space.
You are right, people like to have more than they need. However, there is a HUGE difference between having 120GB when you only need 60GB, and having a T3 connection when you only need 3Mbps.
I have a 3MBps connection, and it easily gets me through music/music video downloads, streaming video content (entire TV programs) and a little online gaming (on top of the amount of times I refresh this forum everyday!). Quite simply, it's a matter of supply and demand rather than competing with other countries. Yes, by today's standards a 1Mb connection could be seen as the lower end of the scale for broadband, but that doesn't mean OC connections should be considered for commercial users.
Not every country is the same. Please, feel free to investigate the budget and politics of the United Kingdom and tell me where we have a few billion pounds to spare to fell trees, disturb villages and increase traffic so Joe Bloggs can talk faster on MSN Messenger and make better use of Kazaa
Regards,
