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Age of Conan's
- next patch will include the long awaited DirectX 10 graphics engine upgrades fans have been promised since the game's launch half a year ago, according to creator Funcom.
"We are now preparing to take the DirectX 10 version of the game from our internal testing servers out to the public test servers, so you can see it for yourselves," wrote game director Craig Morrison in his latest community letter.
"The next major game update will include this version of the game and make it available for everyone with the appropriate hardware to enjoy," he added.
Interestingly, Morrison's next few words seem to indicate a focus on not just making the game prettier -- something AoC was never faulted for in the first place -- but making sure that the graphical additions are more than a "gimmick."
"We feel that the version we are preparing now for testing does achieve this and in a way that will find the right balance between visuals and performance. We have also gone to great lengths to try and make virtually all the DirectX10 features customizable so that you can find the right balance between features for the performance level of your hardware. What we did not want to do was push this version out too early and not see the real added benefits this technology can bring," Morrison wrote.
There is, as of yet, no word on when this next major update will hit public servers, nor does Funcom seem to know when the update will be ready for even the test servers.
Still, it's nice to see some progress being made.
Image courtesy Funcom
Letter from the Game Director - November
[Age of Conan Official Site]
