While a lot of us are criticizing DirectX for what it currently is, we have to admit that Microsoft’s API did benefit the PC platform in its early stages (when every manufacturer was introducing its ‘proper’ API that drove developers nuts). And while both DX11.1 and DX11.2 are not groundbreaking, Microsoft revealed that it will unveil the next iteration of this API at this year’s GDC.
According to Microsoft’s blog, DirectX 12 will be unveiled on March 20th at 10:00AM. Although MS did not reveal any further details about it, we hope to see a new trailer for it.
The interesting thing is that both AMD’s and Nvidia’s logos are placed under the DX12 announcement, meaning that both of these companies will strongly support Microsoft in this new step.
Our guess is that this new DX will give developers low-level access, something that was hinted by Microsoft a while back.
Now what will this mean for Mantle? Will it perish? Will DX12 be the ‘next’ multi-vendor Mantle? And will it be able to offer the same performance boost with AMD’s API? Also, will this new API be exclusive to a particular OS?
Let’s hope that Microsoft will answer those questions!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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