Wendel: While I agree that theoretically, a DirectX driver would be great, there is one elemental error in your stat:
Its taken from casual gamers. Most of these "gamers" have low end cards ... low end cards that won't work with the initial Max3D version according Marks worklog. (Over 50% of the systems are on Intel cards which are out for Max3D)
As especially those low end cards don't support OpenGL most problem cases are already away.
I've had myself a 9700Go for over 2 years and all OpenGL stuff (including Doom 3 and Quake 4) ran as good as HL2 and the like so there is no reason to fear that "real graphic cards" will have problems.
And an X1300 isn't faster than your 9600 btw :) And as X800 is in, Shader 3 can't be a req as well so you fit all the needs, don't panic :)
There is no real reason to target Shader 3 min requirement anyway as there is a significant amount of Users with ATI 9600+ or X600+ which are both non Shader 3.
Its taken from casual gamers. Most of these "gamers" have low end cards ... low end cards that won't work with the initial Max3D version according Marks worklog. (Over 50% of the systems are on Intel cards which are out for Max3D)
As especially those low end cards don't support OpenGL most problem cases are already away.
I've had myself a 9700Go for over 2 years and all OpenGL stuff (including Doom 3 and Quake 4) ran as good as HL2 and the like so there is no reason to fear that "real graphic cards" will have problems.
And an X1300 isn't faster than your 9600 btw :) And as X800 is in, Shader 3 can't be a req as well so you fit all the needs, don't panic :)
There is no real reason to target Shader 3 min requirement anyway as there is a significant amount of Users with ATI 9600+ or X600+ which are both non Shader 3.