DirectX 11: A look at what's coming

It doesn't seem all that long ago when Microsoft first started talking about what DirectX 10 would bring to game development. In fact, it was less than two years ago when we described the new pipeline and since then we've had a couple of generations of hardware from both AMD and Nvidia.

With the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Microsoft introduced DirectX 10.1 – we covered this in our RV670 architectural analysis and so far only AMD has adopted the updated API. Nvidia claims that developers wanted other things—like GPU-accelerated game physics—and so it chose to focus on those features in the GT200 architecture.

Some would say it was stifling progression in graphics, while others believe it's the first major shift away from just focusing on just graphics in games. Whichever way you look at it, it was a little controversial given what happened to Assassin's Creed.

And so we arrive at DirectX 11, the next major update to Microsoft's fabled graphics API. Microsoft's DirectX architects haven't been resting on their laurels since DirectX 10's release – in fact, even before DirectX 10.1 shipped with Vista SP1, the company had already started work on what is now known as DirectX 11, but that's certainly not the end of it because developers we've spoken to have even made comments about what they need in DirectX 12!

Microsoft announced the new API at GameFest 2008 in Seattle but it's still a work in progress. Since then we've had the chance to listen to Kevin Gee of Microsoft outline the API at Nvision 2008, and then following that we were able to catch up with a number of developers in order to discuss the new API and its aims. Additionally, we've listened to what was discussed at GameFest as well, since Microsoft has conveniently made all of its presentations—and accompanying audio recordings—available for public consumption.

What follows is the result of all of this information gathering I've done ever since the original announcement was made in July. However, because it's still a work in progress, things may change between now and DirectX 11's RTM date.