Futuremark is developing a new version of 3DMark, the company's flagship benchmark for gamers. 3DMark for Windows 8 is designed for gaming performance measurement and comparison across all Windows 8 devices from tablets and notebooks to high-end desktop gaming systems. The announcement was accompanied by a concept image for the new benchmark showing an elemental rock warrior brandishing two blazing swords.

"With Windows 8 gamers will be able to enjoy their games on a wide range of devices from lightweight tablets to heavy-duty desktop rigs. Faced with so much choice it will be hard to work out which devices offer the best value for money. Fortunately 3DMark for Windows 8 will be our most wide-reaching 3DMark ever, able to accurately measure and compare gaming performance across all devices and graphical feature sets available with Windows 8," Futurmark said in a statement.

The new benchmark measures and compares gaming performance on all Windows 8 devices. It features a real-time scenes stress test all levels of hardware, it supports both x86 and ARM-based architectures and it Can be used in both Metro UI and 'classic' Windows environments.

Currently in development, the software is expected to be released in 2012