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This Is Why DiRT 2 PC Was Delayed | Kotaku Australia

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This Is Why DiRT 2 PC Was Delayed
By Mike Fahey on October 23, 2009 at 1:40 AM

Codemasters trotted out the PC version of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 today at the Windows 7 launch in New York, showing off the snazzy DirectX 11 features the game was delayed for.

The DirectX 11 effects actually look rather impressive, though I’m not sure they amount to anything that really warranted the game being delayed on the PC. I guess that’s what comes of forming a strategic alliance with Microsoft to gain early access to the DirectX 11 tech.

“The opportunity to enter into a strategic relationship with Microsoft to fuse key DirectX 11 technologies with Codemasters’ EGO™ Engine and set the new standard in race gaming on home computers was irresistible,” said Bryan Marshall, chief technical officer, Codemasters. “By taking advantage of the DirectX 11 feature set included in Windows 7, including hardware tessellation, multi-threading and Shader Model 5.0, we will deliver the most immersive and realistic off-road racing experience yet and set the technical benchmark in the genre.”

Really, they’re the kind of effects you only notice if you are watching someone else race. Pretty, but ultimately unnecessary.

There is a video showing the enhancements that DirectX 11 will be providing, which include cloth tesselation, crowd tesselation and water tesselation (which looks really nice) and some new lighting features. Overall the game looks very polished and a fair bit nicer than its console brethren (its to be expected afterall) but these DirectX 11 enhancements will not be drastically changing the way the game will play, merely making some of the smaller details all the more appeasing.

So was it worth the extra wait for DirectX 11? For the gaming experience no, but for those who do have the hardware, it should be a fairly decent insight into what we can expect from future titles.

 

[Paratech]

I just wonder if supporting Direct X 11 will up the sales that much...In the long run it will be good as we'll all "eventually" get those cards, but at the moment, I'm unsure it will have an impact...

How many people purchased Halo 2 for the PC?

:evil: