[Nza]

Xbox uses a variant of DX too - although in actual fact Madden PC was ported from the 2002 PS2 version, but it wasn't until the Xbox version started coming out that the PC version was up to date. Before then, the PC version use to be a year behind the PS2 version.

And despite the fact Madden 06 PC "required" DX9.0C, it doesn't use it. 9.0C brings SM3.0 to PC gaming and I think Madden just barely uses SM2.0, i.e., DX8.0 era Shader Model spec. DX is fully backwards compatible, so a game that requires 9.0C may not use 9.0 technology at all, it could still be using DX7 tech.

Even if Madden 08 PC is the new engine, I doubt it will be DX10. I don't think the 360 supports DX10 which means the current engine is DX9, which is what they'd port to the PC. However, DX9 i.e. SM3.0 is barely being pushed now in the PC market so it will do fine.

I do agree on Crysis though, yowzars, it looks amazing. I expected consoles to hang onto the crown a little longer than a year but it isn't every year PC gaming gets a transformation like Vista/DX10 so it wasn't great timing for next gen consoles in that regard :P