Many of us diligently check the system requirements of our PC games before we buy. We check the RAM, recommended video cards, and so on. We're responsible and informed, but there are some hidden requirements that we simply don't account for; changes in technology of which the general public is largely unaware.

One Joystiq reader who bought The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings found an unpublicized requirement the hard way. As it turns out, The Witcher 2 not only requires 16GB of HDD space, but the drive has to be NTFS-formatted.

At this point, you might be thinking, "NT ahuh wha?"

NTFS is a windows-based file architecture system. Think of it as an instruction manual for how information is stored on a hard drive. Unfortunately for that unlucky consumer, The Witcher 2 is not compatible with the older FAT systems. How concerned should you be? Is any part of your computer more than a decade old?

FAT and its offshoot, HPFS, were the predominant formats back when people typed commands into DOS and referred to their computers as IBMs. NTFS has been the dominant format since Windows 2000, so chances are that you're okay.

By know means do I blame CD Projekt for not listing this on the box. Like a mouse, keyboard, and speakers, there are some things that you expect a computer to have these days. Still, it is interesting how you can be left behind without even knowing it.