14 DAY TRIAL // Avalanche Studios, as the developer, and Square Enix, as the publisher through its Eidos subsidiary, have announced that Just Cause 2, the action title they plan to launch on March 23, will need DirectX 10 to run, which means that those players who are still using Microsoft Windows XP will not be able to run it, as their systems only support DirectX 9. There are two operating systems from Microsoft that support the newest DirectX: Vista and Windows 7.
The problem is that a lot of PC gamers are still running Windows XP, which has long been considered stable enough for high-end games. Steam, the digital distribution service from Valve, is offering a survey saying that more than 40% of its users are still using the old XP, which means just as many will not be interested in picking up Just Cause 2. The game is also coming to the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft.
It will be interesting to see whether other big PC releases of 2010 will take the same route and ditch support for the old XP, pushing users to upgrade to Vista or Windows 7 in order to enjoy their PC gaming.
The minim system specifications needed to run Just Cause 2 are:
Dual-core CPU with SSE3 (Athlon 64 X2 4200 / Pentium D 3GHz) 2GB RAM Nvidia Geforce 8800 Series / ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256MB memory or equivalent DX10 card with 256MB memory 10GB of free drive space Internet connection required for product activation Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows 7.
The recommended specs, which should ensure a smooth gaming experience, are a bit higher:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6GHz or AMD Phenom X3 2.4GHz 3GB RAM Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 Series with 512MB / ATI Radeon HD 5750 Series with 512MB or equivalent DX10 card with 512MB memory 10GB of free drive space 100% DirectX 10 compatible Dolby Digital 5.1 sound card Internet connection required for product activation Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows 7.