DirectX 10 screenshots and comparisions

There’s a lot more to making a good game than the graphics – after, all, two of the best-known and most played games in the world, Tetris and Pong, are simple 2D. No one, though, can deny that, as the power of the desktop grows, games are becoming more lifelike and much closer to cinematic experiences than simple puzzlesolving tasks or tests of players’ reaction speeds.

The next step

Games designers crave the creative freedom that modern PC hardware gives them, and players love the more intense experience of authentic-looking game worlds. Windows Vista introduces the next step towards creating games that are as vivid and detailed as real life, with DirectX 10. It’s a brand new version of the interface that developers can use to control graphics hardware, and it’s only in Windows Vista.

Amazing worlds

A Windows Vista PC with a DirectX 10-capable graphics card is an extremely powerful gaming platform. Not only can existing programming effects be carried out much faster, but it uses graphics cards to their full capability, all of the time.

Older cards had dedicated areas of circuitry for certain effects, and when those weren’t needed, parts of the on-board processor remained idle. DirectX 10 3D hardware means the whole graphics card is in use all the time.

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The results? Imagine water that behaves like the rivers and seas of the world around you. And where virtual oceans used to be a series of unconvincing, often-repeated patterns, they are now whirling masses of waves and white horses. Where all the chairs in a room might, in the past, have looked identical, now they can all be different, each with its own stains and defects, just as in real life.

While this isn’t mandatory for creating a great game (Tetris and Pong are downloadable as Sidebar gadgets, if you don’t believe us) it brings us close to the day when virtual worlds will be as varied and stunning as the one we live in. Take a look at these screenshots to see the difference. Simply hover your mouse pointer over each one for a few seconds to see the effect.

Deep in the Jungle

In a camp?

Adam Oxford is a freelance journalist, and regularly contributes to Windows Vista: The Official Magazine.

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