NVIDIA: What are the DX10 features that are being used for Assassin’s Creed?
Charles Beauchemin, Assassin's Creed PC Team Lead: When writing the DX10 renderer, we decided to focus on the performance of the game, without adding any bells and whistles. Since DX10 uses an API which is slightly different from DX9, we were able to rework some parts of the graphic renderer to take advantage from this new technology.

NV: Which of the DX10 features are you most proud of?
Charles: Seeing the game run in 1920x1080 on a NVIDIA 8800GTS on Vista is quite impressive. The details in the scene give you this unbeatable immersion feeling.

NV: Will the DX10 implementation affect the minimum requirements of the game?
Charles: We are using the DX10 API to take full advantage of the graphic hardware. Therefore, running Assassin's Creed on a DX10 card will free up your CPU, making the game run smoother and give more fluidity to the gameplay.

NV: What kind of PC do I need to see all the DX10 features? (Hardware/software)
Charles: You can run the game on any dual-core machine, from Intel Pentium D to Core 2 Duo, or any AMD X2 Athlon 3800+ or better, equipped with a DX10 video card with 256MB or more, and the Microsoft Vista operating system. To run the game with full settings turned on, Ubisoft recommends an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz, or AMD X2 Athlon 4400+, with a NVIDIA 8600GTS or better.



NV: How did you collaborate with NVIDIA regarding DX10?
Charles: NVIDIA engineers helped us tune our application to get the best performance from the DX10 API, and from their boards. They also worked on the drivers to optimize the most costly calls made by the game.

NV: What kind of performance difference can users expect from the DX9 version as compared to the DX10 version?
Charles: Users with DX10 cards on Vista will be able to take advantage from the optimized DX10 graphic engine. The DX9 version will also deliver good performances on a XP system.

NV: How is the PC version of Assassin’s Creed different from the PS3 and XBOX 360 versions?
Charles: We tried to keep the game as close as possible to its console counterpart. New missions were added and AI was tweaked to make the game even more appealing. PC gamers will like the keyboard and mouse controls which give a great responsive feeling to the camera.