The Personal Computer version of the recently released Just Cause 2 is the second DirectX 10 exclusive game which means that the game can only be played on Windows Vista and Windows 7. The first game that made that bold move was Valve's Shattered Horizon back in November of last year. The real question here is this: Why was Just Cause 2 released without XP support when the game is not even a PC exclusive and was released on both the PlayStation 3 and the X-Box 360? Those two consoles currently cannot run the graphical magicks and visual gymnastics that DirectX 10 could muster.
I bet they could sell a lot more of this game if it was XP-compatible.
It is apparent that there are other forces at work here - that Microsoft is perhaps moving in for the kill when it comes to encouraging exclusive DirectX 10 development of PC games. It is a fact that the level of graphical quality that can be accomplished via DirectX 10 is leaps and bounds beyond DirectX 9 but it could have been made possible on the XP if Vista never existed. It's a matter of equipping the latest and supposedly greatest operating system with features that are not available in the past releases. Though I plan to make that jump to Windows 7 in the future, I see no reason for the rush, especially with the disrespect XP users are shown via this kind of DirectX 10 implementation. Though I have seen Vista/Windows 7 owners jumping up and down in joy by this DirectX 10 exclusivity move - people tend to forget that not everyone upgrades to a new OS when the previous OS still works great - I surely hope that this will not be a trend in PC gaming for a long time to come. It doesn't hurt to allow XP gamers to experience a game with limited graphical prowess only to be amazed by what they are missing once they upgrade to Vista and beyond by enabling that game to run on both versions of DirectX because many games have done exactly that - Heck, they can even go as far as adding an option to play the game with Direct X 11 while they are on it.
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