Good news for Vista-users! DX11 is probably NOT going to be Windows7-only (Source). Luckily, we will be able to upgrade from Vista to Windows7 flawlessly (unlike all the XP users), but it is still nice to know that we don’t have to upgrade if we don’t want to.  DX11 promotion is quite impressive as usual, but see for yourself. This is especially a hot topic for gamers and and 3D-Guru’s!

There has been quite a race for photo-realism during the last couple of years. Unfortunately a lot of game producers think that a good graphic engine is everything and do not realize how important gameplay is. I want to mention Diablo II here, which is “ugly” by now, but still one of the best games!

Be aware that the following shots are not ingame scenes. Those shots are not rendered in real time; it still takes several hours to render such a scene, yet it is very impressive to see what is already possible!

Thank you Monkeywoman from xtremesystems.org

If you want to see more CG photos, go to EHQ: ”Digital Beauties“.

To illustrate how fast we move forward here is a very nice example that clearly underlines that we will soon be very close to realtime photo-realism.

Thank you ToTTenTranz from xtremesystems.org

(SiN – modified Quake 2 Engine 1998)

(Unreal II – 2003) DirectX 8.1

(FarCry 2 – 2008) DirectX 10

Should you be interested in Windows 7, then go to http://windows7themes.net