Microsofts direct X has been a main stay of mainstream PC gaming since the inception. Its existence hasnt been without its tension. The notable graphics guru John Carmack of id software ignoring it in a favour of Open GL until last week finally he acknowledged the Direct3D has out grown its cross-platform alternative and was now the preferable API for PC game development. But plenty of game developers, Richard Huddy, Head of AMDs developers relation team dont want any API at all. The modern graphics cards can pretty much stomp any console hardware into the dirt in a straight fight and yet fail to show the full extent of their superiority in actual game visuals. He had prefer to see the developers given direct low-level access to the hardware, so they can improve their talents and really push things forward. The beauty of Direct X is that its a standard that every Windows games designer can code to, leading to predictable and more compatible results.