In what ways does DirectX 10 enhance and impact the gameplay experience?
Erling Ellingsen: Actually, DirectX 10 offers mostly a visual improvement. The graphics become much more detailed, and we're able to push much more content into each scene that we were ever able to do with DirectX 9. You have improved features like parallax mapping that looks absolutely incredible with DirectX 10. With this technology you can, for instance, see the roots around a tree extrude from the ground. It looks amazing! There are also improved shadows and lightning, sharper textures, more realistic particle effects and a lot of other good stuff. There are also opportunities for better framerates with DirectX 10, something that will, of course, have a positive impact on the user's experience, but other than that the two DirectX versions will be identical in terms of game play.
You recently announced development of an Xbox 360 version of Age of Conan had been green-lighted. What's the status of that version, and when are you expecting to have it released?
Erling Ellingsen: The development of the Xbox 360 is steadily on the way, and we've put together a separate team with a separate Game Director to work on this version. So it's getting all the attention it needs. We have just as high hopes for this version of the game, and we're confident in its success because of how well it sits with the action-oriented audience. Combat in Age of Conan is dynamic, real-time and hands-on - something that will make it work much better on a console than what has been possible with other MMOs. We can't really say anything about the release date of this version yet, but I can confirm that it will be after the release of the PC version.
It's important to note that this is not going to be just a port from the PC, but we're actually going to great lengths to make a tailored version for the Xbox 360.
