DirectX 6.0 Details From MS

The Microsoft-sponsored Meltdown currently under way in Seattle has gathered DirectX multimedia software and hardware developers under one roof. Microsoft today announced some new and some not-so-new news on tricks it expects to pull from its DirectX API and on the future of DirectX, so developers can start planning new titles accordingly.

"The overwhelming turnout at Meltdown '98 is evidence of the incredible support Microsoft's multimedia APIs have from hardware manufacturers and software developers," said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of personal and business systems at Microsoft. "The exciting future of multimedia is truly apparent here today as thousands of vendors prepare to exploit the new features of DirectX 6.0 and beyond."

DirectX 6.0 features include the following:

- DirectMusic will provide musical interactivity through new support for MIDI and customized instrument files.

- DirectMusic will offer substantial support for music software and hardware and allows seamless integration with any Windows-based music technology.

- Faster performance and additional features in the Direct3D API, including single-pass multitexturing, bump mapping, vertex buffers, stencil planes and texture compression, and advanced DVD support through the DirectShow API.

Developer beta SDKs (software development kits) are expected sometime this spring - with the final version of the kits arriving in the fall.

In the keynote address, Allchin discussed the future of multimedia with a focus on Windows NT. Gamers will be interested in what NT is slated to do since NT is destined to become a unified platform in the next few years. Rumors have said that Windows 98 will be the last of the Windows 95-like operating systems and the full 32-bit platform of choice will be NT (Microsoft has denied this rumor).

This will be significant because Microsoft would only need to support one operating system. Since many developers build Windows 95 games on NT systems, troubleshooting a title could be quicker and more stable once those games arrive on gamers' desktops.

The next Meltdown event is scheduled for July 14-16, 1998, in San Francisco, Calif.