Pretty annoying considering I can't update the graphics card on little M11x netbook. Even though it runs Hitman Absolution at a steady 40fps with settings on high...

By 2013 Windows 7 and by extension DX11 cards will be over 4 years old.

Realistically you can keep hardware that long but by then you would wanna think about improvements.

However when DX10 arrived we werre warned everything will go DX10 and DX9 would be finished and it wasn't.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!

Once the next gen Sony and MS consoles hit the scene a lot of games will only use D3D11 (and OpenGL 4).

To make full use of D3D11 properly, the game needs to be made with it's features taken into account from day 1 - and the D3D9 version would look crap compared to a game made for D3D9 (they could also make it fine, but it'd take a lot more man-hours in development from artists and programmers, when using something like Unreal - it's only artists' time that would be taken up). It won't even be worth making games look good in D3D9 because most of the target market can run D3D11 (and OpenGL 4, which I keep mentioning because OpenGL is growing as D3D/DX is just Microsoft vendor locking, smartphones and PS3 have increased the popularity of OpenGL with graphics programmers). Oh, and it's D3D when talking about rendering, DX is other things too which developers don't (or shouldn't) use anymore.

Anyway, when a game is made solely for D3D11/OpenGL 4, a lot of performance can be saved from surface lighting calculations because they don't have to be faked as much - they are actually resultant of the tessellated polygons, this can also decrease video memory bandwidth usage because there are less detail map textures required for rendering, leaving some extra performance for other effects - balancing all this correctly is way easier if the game only supports tessellated rendering. Though, as it stands now - a game would have to be made only for the very top end graphics cards to rely on tessellation that heavily, it will change when Sony and MS get something new to market because they should be able to approach that level of performance for less cost (still talking $500-$600 retail in year 1).

DirectX9 started around 2002.
WinXp was released in 2001.

Both have now lost support in the past two years. That's not a bad stretch.

... are you still using WinXP?

I have Steam on my Linux boot. The beta came out not long ago, it even sports bigger picture - so essentially it's an open source console (this is probably where the steambox rumor started, though I could still see them releasing a machine with their own sleek Linux distribution designed for use on a TV - this would destroy the console market because it would be so much cheaper overall, the only competitive move for MS/Sony would be amazing multiplats... which can only just compete with Valve to be honest)

Anyway, the costs of upgrading my PC were still cheaper than the added price differences for all the PC multiplats I didn't buy on console. And of course no XBL, compared to 360. (I've actually still spent more gaming on my 360 in total than on my PC since 2006 even without buying multiplats on consoles). And I've only needed to replace my mouse once whereas I've been through 5 controllers that died on me (and one had fuzzy headset voice for some reason, the shop refused to replace it because apparently it was fit for purpose)

Hell, I'd need a PC to work on anyway so the price difference between that and one that will run any game is cheaper than a console, especially in earlier years (can pick up a console cheap now).

Yea. Agreed. I hear CODBO3 will support 3DFX.

The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.

Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.

15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.

Let me be clear. This is sarcasm