A Q&A Activision have provided with the PC developers working on the PC version of Call of Duty sounds like a bit of a dream come true for PC gamers. The Treyarch team, led by Cesar Stastny (@pcdev on twitter), are answering many of the consistent complaints we have about the Call of Duty series on PC. That includes PC specific controls (lean!), server side anti-cheat, DirectX 11 graphics and more.
First up: the graphics. DirectX 11 support from the Call of Duty team isn’t just about upgrading the look, explains Cesar. “The DirectX 11 API is leaner than DirectX 9 and requires less CPU time to do the same amount of work… This benefits the entire range of supported GPUs, not just DX 11 hardware.” As for new graphical bells and whistles: “We are still evaluating some DX11-specific visual enhancements,” say Treyarch. But it will result in a better overall look than the console version. “Black Ops 2 PC has better lighting, better shadows, better antialiasing and some other goodies that are still in the works. All this will run at higher resolutions on the PC.”
That’s not the only improvement: finally, PC gamers will be able to lean left and right via dedicated controls, and we’ll also be able to change the Field Of Vision via dedicated FOV controls.
All this, plus a renewed focus on banning Call of Dutycheats suggests Treyarch and Activision are thinking more than ever about the PC. What a result. And they’ve answered a number of requests from what we’d like to see in the Black Ops II PC version.