Originally Posted by
DilTech
Eh...
First, about that whole A. Creed thing. Did you guys forget that with that path on certain shaders didn't work properly(dust particles and the like) and lights bled THRU walls? The shader path was removed because it didn't work properly, and ATi didn't offer the support to ubisoft to help them make it work.
Also, I can tell you first hand NVidia supports developers with things besides money. Certain people here will tell you about the toy they had in our hands back when the 7800GTX 512mb came out. They give developers hardware that never sees the light of day as far as the consumers know, just to make sure they have a way to test their code that isn't a software renderer. I can tell you right now that ATi has never put a single piece of hardware in our hands... and it's not like we haven't asked for anything to test on.
To those who say "well, NVidia can't possibly give that much help"...They do. They have a test lab with just about every possible configuration when it comes to nvidia hardware to test your application on to make sure it's going to work across a wide spectrum of hardware. You also have to remember that NVidia employ a lot more people than ati. They have people who's sole job IS testing said applications, finding the bugs, verifying if it's the game code or the driver, and giving a list of possible fixes to the developer. If anything, NVidia does more for the game industry than ATi has ever dreamed of doing, and pays for it with the money the consumer spends on their video card... How is that bad for the consumer? If ATi would do the same, perhaps PC gaming would actually move back up in terms of how many game studios are still out there.
The fact that people here still believe TWIMTBP is merely a money hat program makes me laugh. Developers have freely explained exactly how it works time and time again. Also, about the whole AA thing for ATi cards, is anyone anywhere close to sure it never causes an issue? I mean, I could always attempt it myself and strip the securom and tell it my card is an NVidia and play through the entire game again.