So does this mean that in time the 360 will make a leap as far as graphics go that was totally unexpected? Also does anyone know if PS3 will be able to compete with this type of technology in the long run? I keep hearing how PS3 will catch up and eventually have games that go beyond 360. After watching the crysis vid comparision from dx9 to dx10 and seeing these photos im really starting to wonder if there is something or some reason why certain people keep downing the 360! I understand they are fans of different consoles but I don't understand what they are afraid of and how anyone isn't excited as to what this may mean for consoles in the future thanks to MS!

The Xbox 360 currently is based around the DirectX 9 programming language for PC, which makes PC ports very easy. Microsoft was able to use DirectX 9 technology with the Xbox 360 because it was already the top-of-the-line standard for PC development when the Xbox 360 was released. Obviously, the Xbox 360 would not be based around DirectX 10 in the same way, because Windows Vista won't be available until sometime in 2007.

Thankfully, Microsoft has designed DirectX 9 so that it can be adjusted and improved very easily in order to remain very similar to adjustments and improvements in the PC development environment. Microsoft will be able to modify the Unified Shader Xbox 360 development environment so that it is the EQUIVALENT of DirectX 10, but would not technically be able to be called DirectX 10, even though its performance would be nearly identical.Xbox 360's gpu meets a lot of requirements for DirectX 10 and even some features that Directx 10 wont have such as MEMEXPORT."The Xbox360 has unique features including memory export that can enable DX10-class functionality such as stream-out. From what we're hearing, Crysis will support DX9 with some sort of use for DX10 features. It's garenteed that those DX10 visuals can be replicated on the Xbox360, but it can't be properly called DX10." All makes sense, doesn't it?.

That's an impressive difference. Probably the best in-game water yet. I bet the hardware requirements are steep.

Too bad the 360 only supports DX9; maybe they should've waited another year. Well, supposedly it's halfway in between due to the unified shader architecture, but still. It'll be interesting what kind of crazy things developers will be able to pull of with Open GL. Apparently it has the same capabilities as DirectX, according to Tim Sweeney from Epic Games. It requires a little more work, but has slightly better performance. I use Lightwave which is OpenGL based, so I can pretty much attest to its abilities.

If they can pull off DX10 functionality in the 360 that'd be pretty sweet though. Same with the OpenGL-equivalent functionality in PS3. Ah, it's great to be a gamer.

Funny how they just changed the lighting (they added HDR and directional lighting, which I'm pretty sure DX9 is capable of) and the skybox on everything but the water and say that it looks amazingly better. I'm guessing you could get DX9 to look much more similar to the DX10 version if you tried, but the shots are all about pushing DX10, so...

Also, if you look at the water while switching between pictures, both versions have the same geometry and reflections (look for the reflection of the mountain and the ripples right inder the trees near the middle), the DX10 just has something like a normal map and a texture overlaid onto it... I'm pretty sure DX9 is capable of that, also.

The DX 10 shot has a completely different (and much better looking) skybox and better lighting. I think i've seen those water effects on an nVidia tech demo before, but yeah.

Reminds me of CES where they had 720p tvs with crappy feeds right next to 1080p tvs with brighter, gorgeous feeds. Didn't even have anything to do with the capabilities of the products, it was just different video feeds. Assholes, lol.

can the 360 be patched to upgrade the DX version?? If it can, then it becomes a whole new game. Don't be surprised if one day you log in to Live and get the new DX sent to your console automatically or if it appears on the latest game discs at some point.

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau