Stormrise will only work with DirectX 10 and Vista

Company
SEGA Studios Australia

In an interview which has caused more headlines than Creative Assembly Australia could possibly care for, it seems the imminent release of Stormrise has been marred just slightly by the news that the PC version of the RTS game developed by the Brisbane studio will only run on DirectX 10 and Vista.

PCgameshardware.com has an interview with Stormrise Lead Designer, Artem Kulakov, on the technical aspects of the game, with the revelation that Stormrise will not fall back on anything older than DirectX 10 and Vista. Time to move on from your seven year old Windows XP operating system, people!

Artem Kulakov: From day one Stormrise has been designed as a new type of RTS for next generation consoles and PCs. Stormrise has been designed for DirectX 10 and Vista only right from the start. Integrating DX10.1 was an opportunity to increase performance and improve visual quality even further.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 06/03/09 - 12:46 PMPermalink

here is how I look at it:

- The majority of people use XP, not Vista.
- Not everyone has a direct X 10 card

now, I understand Stormrise is a console game at heart BUT the Creative Assembly has a PC fanbase...

Basically, Creative Assembly fans may well be unable to play this game and the Vista requirement will likely just put people off...

Furthermore, this game does not carry the Total War brand's strength so that is more lost people in the fanbase that would otherwise grab it because its a Total War game.

That being said, Creative Assembly Australia made Medieval 2 very tight and from what I have seen of Stormrise, it will be no different. Should be a good game but I hope that the previously stated facts do not hurt its sales and put future games into jeopardy.

Submitted by designerwatts on Fri, 06/03/09 - 2:08 PMPermalink

I'm not against the making of vista/dx10 exclusive games. Companies who choose to make it mandatory do so at their own choice. Plus as it's a console orientated title I can only guess the PC is considered a complimentary port and not where Creative Assembly or Sega believes their main profits lay. This is pure b.s. speculation on my part however.

None the less though it would be interesting to know what are the specifics of the game that require the mandatory power of directX10.

It's a fair point to say. "7-8 years with XP time to uprade etc etc." But for many people Vista just doesn't sound like an appealing operating system.

Plus the cost of a new shiny grathics card plus an operating system upgrade is probably more then the cost of buying a 360 + the game anyway.

IMO - Probably best to play the game on what it was designed for. The console. :)

Submitted by souri on Fri, 06/03/09 - 2:45 PMPermalink

The bit about the 7 year old OS was in a bit of tongue and cheek (although not apparently obvious). I was more than happy to stay on XP, but my laptop which I purchased last year came with Vista. On a personal level, Vista gave me no real benefits or advantages over XP.

I would agree about what you said on the complimentary port. RTS's and PC's go perfectly hand in hand however, and I can't fathom playing an RTS on a console with a game pad. We'll have to see how the reviewers respond to the control scheme.

Submitted by designerwatts on Fri, 06/03/09 - 2:59 PMPermalink

Totally Agreed that the classic RTS plays the best with a PC mouse and keyboard. :) Supreme commander is a great game on PC, but almost unbearable to play on the 360 port IMO.

However, if the Sega hype machine is to be believed it sounds like their core design goal to take what we love about RTS games and show us a new way to play them with the ease of a consoles gamepad.

If they can deliver on this then that's fantastic. It means they've taken a standard genre and put their own spin on it. :D

Submitted by souri on Mon, 09/03/09 - 2:44 AMPermalink

I remember playing Krush, Kill 'N' Destroy: Krossfire (by Melbourne House) on the Playstation so many years ago. This was around the time when Starcraft was released and took the world by storm on the PC. After being so used to Starcraft on the PC, KKND2: Krossfire on the game controller was just too damn tedious. It was still a good game though if you could get past the controller (or played the PC version).

I would've liked to try out Supreme Commander, but from all reports, it seemed like you needed a monster rigg to get the most out of that game at the time.

Anyway, for me, it feels like Creative Assembly Australia is carrying the legacy of the Australian-made RTS game (which kicked off with Dark Reign back in 97 and came pretty rapidly thereafter). Dark Reign, Dark Reign2, KKND, KKND: Krossfire... I'm certain there were even more.

...and I just remembered one obscure title. Anyone remember Wartorn by Eyst? http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/review/games/s216929.htm

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 06/03/09 - 3:03 PMPermalink

... because other PC game with no support for XP has sold *really* well.

Also, the 360 is a DX9 derivative, not a DX10 derivative... So the fact that it's a console game doesn't really give any justification.

Submitted by redwyre on Sat, 07/03/09 - 2:30 AMPermalink

According to the steam hardware survey (http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/directx/) XP usage is starting to drop off pretty quick, and Vista is on it's way up. Currently ~25% of their users have DX10+Vista, which is not a small number. And I'd expect a large number of the people who would play this game to be in that percentage.

Maybe it's a perfectly reasonable requirement.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 08/03/09 - 6:43 PMPermalink

Another way to put that is: ~75% of steam users do not have DX10 + vista, which is not a small number. And I'd expect a large number of the people who would play this game to be in that percentage.

;)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 07/03/09 - 2:03 PMPermalink

The Xbox360 uses a modified version of DirectX 9 so it wouldn't have been that hard to get that exact same code running on Windows XP. Believe me I've done it.

All they have done now is cut out a whole lot of customers.

If the steam survey is anything to go by, then they've just lost 3 out of 4 sales.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/03/09 - 11:18 AMPermalink

"Direct X 10 was going to provide better hardware compatibility"
^^ Someone forgot to tell him that 25% is less than 100%!