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posted in PC Gaming
by Jacob Chapel at 7:52am on Wednesday, Oct 11th, 2006
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Written by Jacob Chapel
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 7:52AM
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Every few years there is a frantic mentality that hits the gaming community, one that tries to out do each other with bigger and better things. No one is holding back this year, with two new "next-generation" consoles being released just before Christmas and a major operating system update from Microsoft, the gloves are off.
It would be one thing if new consoles were coming out, it's a cycle we've been in for years now, what makes this different though, is what is going to effect the PC gaming market. As you all know Microsoft is planning to release Windows Vista, the long awaited descendant of Windows XP which came out in 2001. Well with Vista also comes a major update to DirectX to make it number 10. This is no simple update, not a refresh, or just a few additions, it is a complete restructuring of what DirectX used to be.
DirectX 10 will bring faster gaming with the same level of hardware due to more efficiency and better hardware drivers. Another reason why we can expect speed increases, is due to our new DirectX 10 video cards that we will have to purchase to play new games. That's right, we will need to buy specific video cards to play DirectX 10 games. Now before you boycott Microsoft I think you should check out what games are coming out Christmas 2006 and 2007.
Patched to DirectX10 Games
Unreal Tournament 2007
I remember picking up the classic Unreal Tournament, aka UT99, when it first came out, it opened my eyes to what a fast action FPS could be. I hope that UT2007 can live up to that history as 2003 had a hard time doing.
Flight Simulator X
This looks pretty good. I heard that they plan on really showing off what DirectX 10 can do when it's available. I can't wait to see it, even if I dont play flight sims.
Eve Online
This is an older game, but the development studio has been working on a DirectX 10 rendering engine to replace the existing outdated graphics engine.
Company of Heroes
This game has a huge buzz, I've heard a good buzz. Im not a fan of RTS games, but if I were to play any, this probably would be the one.
DirectX 10 Only Games
Alan Wake
This looks like what I think was intended for DirectX 10. I hope it looks this good on what I can afford for hardware.
Crysis
I hope this game lives up to the hype. It looks fantastic though.
Hellgate: London
If you're a fan of Diablo, then this game is for you. It looks pretty good, I just dont know if it's really DirectX 10 worthy.
BioShock
I really am looking foward to this one now. I think I could spend days playing this game, my eyes dry from not blinking. Yeah, BioShock, the spiritual sequel to System Shock.
Age of Conan
I heard you can decapitate people as easy as swinging a sword, if that's the case, count me in!
Halo 2
I love playing online on my Xbox. I'm not sure if I want to get into the PC version of the game, but I might be playing Halo 3 instead.
Shadowrun
I actually played the tabletop RPG, and well this is no where near it. Hopefully there is something of substance in there.
Excited Yet?
Well I would say I am partially excited. There are a few games that I really want to check out when they are finally released. But I have to say that the list is somewhat lackluster, although that can be said for all games coming out at the moment. This year should have some of the biggest releases, but I think it will not be till fall 2007 that the great games really show up. As far as Vista only games, there are not many, and until Vista is on the majority of gamers PC's, developers will be making DirectX 9 games.
Discuss this in the forums!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 7:52AM )
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http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/halo2/news.html?sid=6166892&mode=previews
"....and a decent DirectX 9 video card. The game will not use DirectX 10, so you won't need the latest video card to play it."
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