@censurely wrote:
"There have been a dozen games released this year with the exact same message, and all of them worked on dual-cores. "
Well.. then you get in to how you choose define "worked". I'm sure your definition of "worked" is not really the same as everyone else. Does the game start? Probably? Is it playable? Maybe, depends on a lot of variables that won't necessarily fit on a sticker on the back of a box.
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My Pentium g3258 can play all games, 1080p, 30fps, at the very least medium settings (Watch Dogs being the most demanding, and the only game that must be medium) except Dragon Age Inquisition (for now.) So I think almost everybody would explain that as "worked." Here's a list of games which required Quad-Cores released this year, that I can play at medium or above with my G3258 and a r9 280x.
Ryse requires: CPU: Dual core with HyperThreading technology or quad core CPU - Plays at high settings 1080p on my PC.
Watch Dogs requires: CPU: Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66GHz - Can play at medium settings 1080p
Shadow of Mordor requires: CPU: Intel Core i5-750 - Can almost max this game 1080p
The Evil Within requires: CPU: Core-i7 or an equivalent 4+ core processor - Can play this game at High 1080p 45 FPS
Assasin's Creed Unity: CPU: @Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.3 GHz - Can play this at high settings 1080p 30fps.
@Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare: Intel Core i3-530 @ 2.93 GHz - I max this game 60fps.
Far Cry 4: Quad Core requirement - Video shows 30fps med-high settings on my CPU with a worse GPU.
Fifa 15: Quad Core requirement - Runs on two threaded CPU high settings with some stutter.
Lords of the Fallen: Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66GHz - Runs on G3258 at similar settings, from what I've read.
Those are 9 games that I can think of with four-threaded requirements that not only work on my CPU model, but they work great.