Initially, it will require a 'latest' generation card - eg: GeForce6???/ATI-X???
"Require." As in I won't be able to use it at all with my current card. That neatly solves all my doubts about Max3D. If I can't run it, then there's no need for any players/customers to be able to run it, so I won't be buying it anytime soon. There's no way that I'm going back to Blitz3D from the much-superior BlizMax core language, so I just need to use free Irrlicht (the upcoming 1.1 wrapper looks promising) or some other 3D solution rather than pay for BRL's this year.
Thanks for this info, Mark. Rather than wait until Max3D's expected release at the end of this year for a GL-only solution that won't run on my current hardware, I can pick an existing DX-and-GL-supporting one that runs on what I currently have. I'll just take care to code things somewhat abstractly so that I can shift over to Max3D in a year or so when the hardware that it requires has become mainstream.