DirectX 10 for Windows XP - 2008

Topics Hardware, Software, Windows XP on January 1st, 2008

DirectX 10 is the latest version of the DirectX suite of multimedia application programming interfaces that Microsoft has built exclusively into its latest operating system, Windows Vista. Gaming enthusiasts will only be able to access DirectX 10 via a combination of one of the latest video cards and one of the editions of Windows Vista. These libraries allow the use of DirectX 10 games on platforms other than Microsoft Vista, and increase hardware compatibility even on Vista, by compiling Geometry Shaders down to native machine code for execution where hardware isnt capable of running it. No longer will you have to upgrade your OS and video card(s) to play the latest games, revealed Cody Brocious, Lead Engineer on the Alky Project.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft has also overhauled the DirectX driver architecture in the operating system. However, Microsoft does not offer backward compatibility with previous Windows platforms for the new Windows Display Driver Model in Vista.

These libraries allow the use of DirectX 10 games on platforms other than Microsoft Vista and increase hardware compatibility…

The current preview allows you to run a number of examples from the DirectX SDK on Windows XP. They_re not the greatest thing since sliced bread, but we want to whet your appetite. We hope to release builds in the coming months progressing from demos to fully functional games.

Inside this zip is a README.TXT file with complete instructions on where to install the files (dont worry, we’ll have an installer in the near future) and how to get and run the examples from the SDK.

DirectX 10 Games for Windows Titles (some examples):
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Hellgate: London
BioShock
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Acceleration
Crysis
World in Conflict
Gears of War for Windows
…