10. New Sound Actor Icons

9. Multiple Sound Slots for AmbientSounds

8. SoundGroups are now called SoundClasses

7. SoundClass Editor

6. Ambient Zones

5. Visual of Min Radius

4. Switch from OpenAL to XAudio2

3. Improved Distance Models

2. Improved Low Pass Filters

1. Content Browser

It look like there is confirmation over on the Crymod forums from Crytek Audio Programmer Thomas Nuemann that the FMOD EX Audio API will be used for development and implementation in the new Crysis engine. The new architecture of DirectX 10 prevents direct access to hardware acceleration through DirectSound3d, and in turn prevents any existing use of EAX enabled sound cards to access DSP processing like reverbs and ambiences. Gaming soundcard manufacturers, the largest of course being Creative Labs will have to shy away from native DirectX mode if it is not going to support all the highly advertised hardware features. Independent audio API’s like OpenAL and FMOD are still supported in Vista and may seem more attractive to game designers if they want to implement EAX processing.

FMOD EX is a sound system for games that includes the programming API and FMOD Designer. It is the audio engine that allows for 3d positioning, mixing, DSP processing, streaming from cd, playing wav, mid, mp3, mod file formats, and is cross-compatible with all gaming platforms. Click here to find out more information about FMOD EX.

For more information about issues with DirectX 10 and Creative Labs cards check out here . This page discusses the bright future of using OpenAL for gaming in Windows Vista.