Valve Software to Stick with DirectX 9 for a While.

[Maziar]

http://xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20070827225710.html

This is not the first time when a major game developer indicates lukewarm attitude towards DirectX 10. Earlier this year John Carmack of id Software said he would not "jump" on the DirectX 10 hardware immediately. Other game developers are also not leapfrogging to DirectX 10 mainly because two most advanced game consoles available today – Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 – are equipped with graphics chips which feature-set resembles that of DirectX 9 shader model 3.0, therefore, it is easier to develop new titles with similar graphics features in mind.

“Right now with the flexibility of DX9, we can take advantage of DX10 hardware functionality through DX9. For example, the tesselator in ATI’s [Radeon HD 2000] hardware is super valuable and we can get to it through DX9, so that’s probably a better investment than going after a DX10 API,” Mr. Newell added.

 

[Dr_asik]

Among big upcoming titles, Far Cry 2 and Starcraft 2 do not have any planned DX10 features. It seems that Crysis is pretty much the only game that puts a strong emphasis on its DX10 mode.

EDIT: About Far Cry 2 and DX10: The final specs next spring, however, will be more modest; a fast single-core CPU and a high-end DirectX 9 card will purportedly do the job. The team is weighing the value of adding DirectX 10 features; it's likely those with DX10 support will enjoy a combination of improved performance and some slight visual upgrades. - Gamespot