Originally posted by: chizow
I have to disagree here. EAX and its variants isn't a proprietary API, its proprietary within DirectSound which is available to everyone. No one else has cared enough about PC sound to develop their own proprietary environmental audio, so how is Creative to blame? Creative has been pioneering PC sound since the 8088 when the only other alternative was beeps and buzzes from an internal speaker.Originally posted by: Acanthus
It is kind of ironic that a sound card company named "creative" stifles competition and makes proprietary APIs.
Everyone blames MS for dropping directsound, i think MS stomped out a demon by going to OpenAL. Big shocker, the companies that have been innovating have made the switch, and Creative can barely get sound through the friggin speakers.
Even if Creative were to give out free license to EAX and its variants, most sound solutions wouldn't even be able to use it (afaik, Creative has licensed out EAX to some sound providers). That's where Creative is at fault and running into problems. They designed hardware around their proprietary tech and that hardware leaves a larger footprint that can create conflicts with other hardware. They probably expected other industry players to bend over backwards (Nvidia, MS) to make their products work and that's simply not how things are playing out.
MS is still to blame for dropping DirectSound though, and its definitely not for altruistic reasons as you suggest. They wanted DirectSound out of kernel-space to improve overall stability and reduce support on their end. As a result, PC sound is about where it was 6-7 years ago. Creative was actually the first company to support OpenAL in Vista with the X-Fi and they continue to lead on the development front. If you don't believe me, go to OpenAL's site, click on downloads. Where does it re-direct you?
And thanks for the heads-up on that DVD Evolucion8, I'll have to search around for it.
I believe up to EAX2 is open to other game developers, just the newer versions remain closed to maintain their lead.