When the latest Windows client hit the shelves at the end of January 2007, Microsoft was under a barrage of criticism from the community of developers and gamers for its decision to make DirectX 10 Vista-exclusive, and not to backport the graphics technology for Windows XP, stuck with DX 9.0x. With the advent of Windows Vista SP1, the Redmond giant introduced DirectX 10.1, and since the RTM of Service Pack 1, the company began to increasingly share details related to DirectX 11. However, even with DirectX 11 on the horizon, the focus is now on DirectX 10.1. An illustrative example in this context is a recent partnership between AMD, Electronic Arts and SEGA to develop DirectX 10.1-tailored gaming titles.

Microsoft's Kevin Unangst, global director, Microsoft Games for Windows, applauded AMD's ATI Radeon HD 3000 series and the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series, as hardware capable of taking full advantage of Vista SP1's DirectX 10.1. In this regard, EA's Battleforge and SEGA's Stormrise, NHN Games, and Cloud 9 will all be developed to leverage DirectX 10.1's added performance, features and enhanced visual rendering capabilities.

"With Battleforge, EA is pushing the boundaries of the real-time strategy genre introducing social and community technologies to deliver a whole new online experience. It only makes sense that we leverage the latest technology such as DirectX 10.1 supported by the new ATI Radeon HD 4800 series of graphics cards from AMD to deliver an amazing experience for gamers. We're working hard to deliver a new fantasy RTS experience never seen before. Using DirectX 10.1 and AMD's graphics technology will enable Battleforge to look its absolute best," promised Dirk Ringe, vice president, EA Phenomic.

The truth is that the largest impediment for end users to take advantage of the new graphics technology integrated in the Windows platform is third-party hardware. DirectX 10.1 is just starting to gain traction with gaming developers at approximately half a year since its introduction. The fact that Vista shipped in excess of 180 million copies by mid-2008, certainly helps create a gaming market sufficiently mature for game builders to look beyond Windows XP.

"SEGA welcomes the chance to deliver one of next year's most technologically advanced titles, Stormrise. AMD's enthusiastic commitment to new standards such as DirectX 10.1 in the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series is helping us develop a game which looks better and runs faster than was possible on previous platforms. SEGA is delighted to team up with AMD on one of our forthcoming games. AMD's firm commitment to cutting-edge technology makes them a natural partner for us on Stormrise," added Chris Southall, CTO Europe, SEGA.

It is expected of Microsoft to not repeat the mistakes it has done with Windows Vista as far as Windows 7 is concerned. At the same time, since DirectX 11 will be backward compatible, working on both Windows 7 and Windows Vista, but not on XP, the Redmond company can ensure that developers and gamers will be able to enjoy the benefits of the graphics technology well beyond the experience offered initially by Vista and DirectX 10. At the same time, the software giant has to focus its evangelism efforts on hardware developers in order to ensure that DirectX 11 capable graphics cards will be available, and problem free, as soon as the technology will hit the market.