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Bill Roper stepped out of the Hellgate of London long enough to talk to Firing Squad about the Flagship Studios/Namco Bandai/Electronic Arts (only in North America) game. Post-CES 2007, it also was the opportunity to drop hints about the game on DX9 and DX10 (or D3D10) - yes, the game will support both the next-gen and the "sorry, but current-gen is all we can afford without starving to death" rigs. Hey, Hellgate is one of Microsoft's enfante terribles in its D3D10 Vista lineup.
Does it look any bloody good on D3D10? You know, they never did tell us if any of the screens we've hand before were DX9 or D3D10-rendered. Roper was quick to point out the benefits of D3D10 in Hellgate: London, though.
DirectX 10 not only means faster hardware and more sophisticated shaders, but a more flexible and generalized pipeline which allows us to use the high-end DX9 artwork as a basis for creating even better graphics for the DX10. We have particle systems that live and operate entirely on the GPU. They spawn off of the actual mesh geometry. We have volumetric fluid smoke that responds to objects that pass through it. We have fancy soft shadows that get softer with distance from the caster.
Yes, it better be bloody good-looking with all those virtues of a D3D10 rig, especially when you're rendering the (blasted by hell) City of London. "London is such a great setting for a game, and to be honest, we were a little surprised it really hadn’t been used more." Not that the good Mayor of the City would expect a demonic invasion, though.
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