With console wars heating up the gaming scene today, people have started forgetting about the machine that started it all… the humble computer. Sure PC gaming is expensive and it’s a pain to maintain that expensive PC at times, but there are some who feel that the PC is the most superior gaming platform till date. Once such person who feels pretty strongly about the PC offering the best gaming experience happens to be NVIDIA’s Roy Taylor who gives us the lowdown on DirectX 10 gaming and shows us 'The way it’s meant to be played!'
Working closely with people developing DirectX 10 games must be a pretty awesome experience; any deep dark secrets you’d like to share with us?
Well I am not sure about them being 'deep and dark' but there are plenty of secrets! By this I mean that we are working on a lot of DX10 games that we can’t comment on because we are under NDA. Developers are excited about what can be created with DX10, the more you dig into it the more its clear how big a jump this is over DX9. For example the ability to make really big maps for FPS or MMOG games using instancing and procedurally generated content makes map sizes larger and better looking.
Out of all the DirectX 10 games in development which one is your favorite and why?
I have a number of favorites. On a purely personal basis I am excited about 'World in Conflict' because I like RTS games and this one is just jaw dropping both visually and in terms of game play. I also can’t wait to play Crysis of course, with every build of the game I see it getting better and better. Till now I haven’t been such a fan of the MMOG scene but I definitely intend to play Conan: Hyborian Adventures when that launches too.
If gamers would like to take full advantage of the visuals packed by Crysis or Hellgate London or any DirectX 10 game for that matter, what kind of a rig are we looking at?
We have designed our GPUs so that if they say they are DX10 compatible then they will run and play any DX10 game with all the effects that you would expect to see. Basically with any DX10 GPU from NVIDIA you will be able to play any DX10 game, albeit at lower resolutions for maximum FPS performance. If you want a GPU reference, you can now buy a DX10 card (8500) for around RS. 7,500!
Lost Planet is expected to get the DirectX 10 treatment on PCs as well… what can you tell us about this?
A great question! I was in Japan recently with the Capcom team and we're so excited about this game. Not just because launching it in June means that it will be the world's first for sale DX10 game. But Lost Planet is just awesome fun to play. I’ll let you guys in on a little secret. The game has the biggest and the hugest monsters EVER and the explosion effects are second to none (thanks to DX10)! It will blow your brains out!
what if the volumetric fog was used to hide an enemy bomber, I mean looking up at the sky. You can hear it but you cant see it and then wham it comes down out of the clouds, as it emerges the sun glints into your eyes at the same time? Now you have panic, you know it’s an enemy plane swooping down but the sunlight doesn’t let you fire at it.
