Apparently, the big news is in audio. A new technology dubbed XAudio 2 is going to replace DirectSound, and the first look is in here. This is the same technology as is used in Xbox 360, and will enable easier cross-platform development when it comes to audio. The main components of the technology includes sophisticated multi-channel and audio spatialisation support. 5.1 sound has been used well on Xbox and 360 titles, and MS is hoping that it can push PC games in the same direction. Also included is better support for multi-core processors, enabling a sufficiently sophisticated CPU to do a bit of the audio processing legwork.

Also on the cards for DX10.1 is a new revision to the graphics subsystem, which will move to Shader Model 4.1. This adds thrilling features such as a dynamically selective sample pattern for MSAA, better resource handling and TextureCube Arrays.

While the software is available as a free download, Microsoft said that the Direct3D 10.1 preview will require Vista SP1 Beta, which will be available to MSDN subscribers 'once it is publicly released'. The new DSK also comes with XAudio2 Beta, a new cross-platform audio API, supporting cross-platform DSP effects, per-voice filtering, arbitrary submixing, and multi-rate processing. Microsoft said that it will be releasing DirectX updates four times per year. The next updates are planned for November 2007, March 2008, June 2008 and August 2008.