Age of Empires to support SM 3.0

The series, developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios, is one of the most-loved Real Time Strategy series' currently available. According to an interview at IGN, the latest title will have some graphical features pioneered in the latest generation of first person shooters.

High Dynamic Range lighting, as featured in the latest Far Cry patch, will be used in the game to render the lush landscapes of the colonial age in which the game is set. Whilst Doom 3 had a hidden option to toggle self-shadowing, AOE3 will come with that feature fully built into the engine, meaning that ships and soldiers will be shaded more realistically than ever. We fully expect that this will be the first in a wave of DX9/SM3 announcements this year, as the in-game engines finally catch up to the hardware released last year.

The game will be shipped under the Nvidia The Way It's Meant To Be Played scheme, so even if ATI manages to get its Shader Model 3.0 part out in time, there is every chance that Nvidia's solution will outperform it. µ