In the next major patch for the game Age of Conan, the developer, Funcom is going to include DirectX 10 upgrades to the graphics engine. this has been planned for a long time, but I don’t see why so much focus is being put on graphical features of the game in this genre. Already, the game has graphics well above those of the industry leader World of Warcraft, so it seems a bit unnecessary to be putting their focus in that area. maybe the developer thinks they can woo gamers with fancy lighting and bump mapping, but it seems that the market has spoken and it’s about a game experience not game graphics.

If MMO RPG developers continue to try and best Blizzard with shinier versions of the same tired, broken experience, they are doomed to fail. Whatever happened to innovation in this industry? The license for this game is fantastic and they could be doing so much for it, but a graphical update for a game that Artie looks fine? It seems like a waste of time and precious resources.

My guess is that gamers will quickly move on to either World of Warcraft, Warhammer, or Fallout 3. That seems to be the trend. Either gamers want a richer experience like they get in Fallout 3, a different experience that solves some of the flaws of World of Warcraft in Warhammer, or maybe they just want more of the same but with new content in the latest expansion of World of Warcraft. either way it’s not good for Age of Conan, that’s for sure.