Nvidia Introduces DirectX 8 Development Kit

Nvidia has released its DirectX 8 Development Kit for the content and game developer community. Designed to help developers capitalize on the features enabled by Microsoft's DirectX 8.0 API, the DirectX 8 Development Kit will help developers customize content for Nvidia's highly programmable next generation graphics processing unit (GPU). At the heart of the DirectX 8 Development kit is Nvidia's next-generation GPU and the core graphics technology powering Microsoft's Xbox game console. Also included in the DirectX 8 Development kit is Nvidia's newly released DirectX 8 Software Developers Kit (SDK), Nvidia's Unified Driver Architecture certified with industry standard software programs, including 3DS Max, Maya, Alias Wavefront, and SoftImage 3D, and over 500MB of effects, source code, technical papers and development tools. The next generation GPU that forms the heart of the DirectX 8 Development will be the first to be used for both PC and console content creation. This GPU from Nvidia is the basis of the Xbox Prototype Kits (XPK) distributed by Microsoft through their Xbox Independent Developer Program. DirectX 8.0 is Microsoft's latest and most advanced version of its 3D API that enables developers to write software for a wide variety of multimedia hardware, including graphics, audio, video, networking and input devices designed for PCs. Nvidia and Microsoft co-developed many of the key fundamental technologies of DirectX 8.0 API, including programmable vertex shaders, programmable pixel shaders, and high order surfaces. These enabling 3D graphics features were invented by Nvidia and licensed to Microsoft to be proliferated in Windows platforms and Xbox.