BIZ: DirectX is now ten years old. How has it evolved over the years and why did it become such an important part of Windows gaming?
CD: DirectX started off as an underground project, with a bunch of guys hijacking resources, both money and people, and building a set of tools to make it easier to make games for Windows because they knew that Windows was going to be a great platform for games. DirectX has transformed the industry with a common set of APIs (application programming interfaces) that support a wide range of hardware vendors making products with differing features, while making it easy for programmers to write their code for one common platform. DirectX has been adopted by the overwhelming majority of game developers making games for Windows, so this has been an incredibly successful endeavor.
BIZ: Video, sound, and 3D technologies progress at a phenomenal rate. How does DirectX keep up with the pace of innovation?
CD: Well, with a lot of work! Seriously, we have about 200 people helping to define these new technologies, and we send out an updated SDK on a bi-monthly basis, which anyone can download and use for free. This month, we released improvements to the PIX Performance Investigator. This August, we're planning on releasing a final version of the Microsoft Audio Creation Tool (Xact).
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BIZ: We've heard about a communications tool included in Longhorn called Athens that will streamline voice, text, and video chatting. Does MS have any plans to work with game developers to perhaps incorporate Athens and its features into gaming?
CD: We have nothing to announce at this time, but we're constantly working with game developers to help them incorporate the latest Windows features in their games where appropriate.
BIZ: Seeing as how DirectX and XNA are important to both Windows and the Xbox and upcoming Xbox 360, what kinds of interesting crossovers can we expect between the Xbox and the PC?
CD: With XNA, which incorporates both DirectX and the Xbox/Xbox 360 Development Kits, we're making the tools to make it easier to make games for Microsoft's gaming platforms. We're looking to the game development community to surprise gamers with new ideas of what they can do with these tools—and of course, we're helping developers build games that can take advantage of the huge power of the next generation of hardware, both Xbox 360 and Longhorn.
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BIZ: Nowadays all the focus seems to be on console gaming, especially with the next-gen systems fast approaching. What strategies does MS have in mind to further encourage PC game development?
CD: Windows gaming is kind of the Energizer bunny of gaming platforms—it just keeps going and going. And it keeps on innovating. Windows is where new and innovative technology happens first, and it's where new and exciting game genres show up first. Windows is still the place where "garage developers" can develop a game (just look at Crytek and "Far Cry.") Microsoft is encouraging development for Windows with things like XNA, which is making life easier for developers. With Longhorn, we're looking at how we can eliminate pain points for consumers, while opening up other genres through things like Microsoft's universal gaming controller standard, which will give gamers more choices about how to play games on Windows.
and in the months ahead.
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BIZ: The ATI vs. Nvidia battle seems to be heating up again since the PS3 will incorporate NVIDIA's RSX chip and Xbox 360 will use ATI's Xenos chip. Having worked at NVIDIA you probably have a unique perspective on this. What's your take on the respective technologies from these graphic chipset makers?
CD: The competition between ATI and NVIDIA highlights one of the key benefits of Windows. The hardware does not stay the same for the next 5-6 years—you can always take advantage of the latest and greatest technology no matter who the manufacturer is. And don't forget to add the fact that the technologies going into the new console systems migrate from the Windows platform—for example NVIDIA's recently announced 7800 line of cards will be similar to the RSX chip, and we'll see what ATI comes up with next.
