NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra level card for decent frame rates at 1024x768 resolution.
That's the key right there. How many people have a 6800 Ultra?
Not too many. Sure some of us have upgraded to the 7800 series, some of us are in the process. But budget video card solutions are the majority of cards in PC's today.
Hardcore gamers don't want decent anything. They want the best of the best. Some are willing to spend $750 on a video card and those are the people who will enjoy the game at it's fullest. The rest of us... well we'll have to enjoy decent frames.