DirectX 10, Vista and Gaming:

Much ado has been made about how Vista offers Microsoft's DirectX 10 API. But so far, the games just aren't ready yet. I was getting impatient, so I called up Nvidia, which debuted its first DirectX 10-capable card last year. In short, you are going to have to wait a while longer, I found out.

According to the spokesman, the first game to be released that will harness DirectX 10's power will be "Company of Heroes," set for launch "early this year," the spokesman said. Crysis is set for launch in early June while Microsoft's very own DirectX 10 version of Flight Simulator won't be out until late in 2007.

So what will DirectX 10 offer?

The Nvidia spokesman referred me to http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_crysis_videos.html, which offers a decent Crysis DirectX 10 clip. According to the spokesman, DirectX 10 "will let game developers create much more life-like environments and characters, enhancing overall realism."

DX 10's features include, he said:

--Richer scenes/more complex environments
--Thicker forests, larger numbers of units/objects/armies
--Greater detail of objects (such as trees) in the distance
--Softer/sharper shadows
--Better particle effects and physics
--Realistic motion blurring
--Volumetric
effects
--Thicker, more realistic smoke/clouds--Realistic reflections/refractions on water/cars/glass--Reduced load on CPU
--Re-routes bulk of graphics processing to GPU.

I remain cautiously optimistic. Need I mention the OpenGL API and the Doom series? Will Direct10 X really be worth the wait?