So where is the graphics world. Just as importantly, it is really sad in my opinion that it is only on company (Microsoft) that drives the trends yet to come.

Direct X 10 is on the horizon, and so is the hardware that will be driving it. While the demand for Direct X 9 hardware is not slipping, and more graphics cards are constantly being launched, there is much interest in this new standard and the hardware that will support it. The strongest points of Direct X 10 are the promises of lower overhead per object and the new rendering component called the geometry shader.

What does all of this mean to the layman? In short, the system will be able to render objects faster and more efficiently. This is a good thing, as games will be able to incorporate this feature to give you more frames per second. That is, until the game developers incorporate more objects into a scene, of course, as we have seen in previews of games such as the Age of Conan, where we will finally be able to cut the limbs of an opponent - like the black knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail…. Source: TH