Creative Labs: The Microsoft of Sound - Details on EAX
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EAX is a sound engine that allows for multi-channel audio and support things such as reverb and other environmental effects. This is a proprietary engine, hence the need to license it from Creative to allow for support in another party's sound card, as well as any game that makes use of the engine. This in and of itself isn't a huge issue to me. It's a company creating an innovation, and capitalizing upon the investment they made. Especially in some games, this makes it easy to integrate multi-channel audio and effects without creating your own sound engine.
The problem is that it limits the customers who purchase your games to a specific piece of hardware should they want to experience your work to the fullest. That's like a game being made that only allows AA/AF to be turned on using ATI or nVidia's graphics cards, as opposed to using a standard that both can make use of.
Another example is the use of the Pixel Shader standard; both leaders know what is required as far as hardware to run those types of programmable graphics, but whether they choose to implement them is another matter. But the API is available to them, or any other graphics company such as Intel or Matrox.
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