GS: Tell us about how Crysis will continue to make the most of existing DirectX 9 hardware for users who can't upgrade their computers in time for the game.

CY: If you have a high-end DX9 card with an equal level of CPU and memory--basically today's "gamer rig"--you will enjoy Crysis with close-to-D3D10 fidelity. Don't forget that for a long time, we ran the game only on DX9 hardware, even though people thought it was D3D10. You can be sure your high-end gamer rig will satisfy your expectations--but with D3D10, you will surpass them.

GS: Due to various scheduling and ship-date changes, Crysis is in a rather challenging position of being one of the first next-generation PC games to have to straddle the gulf between DirectX 9 and Direct3D 10 (and implicitly, the gap between Windows XP and Windows Vista). Aside from DirectX compliance, what are some of the other hurdles the team has faced, and how are they being addressed?

CY: That indeed is an annoying burden, but a necessary evil. It's our job to satisfy our gamers. We had similar challenges in the past with DX8, 9, and with 32/64 bit, but this is a much larger step that we have to help bridge. But I am happy to say that we manage to push both to maximum capacity usage; we're pushing quality in both [DirectX platform] directions.