What about playing games on the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition? Are my old games going to work with this release? What about the new upcoming games? Are they going to be different from the Windows XP Professional version?

On the gaming side, some users will be surprised to learn that some games may not work correctly under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. For example, games that are using Starforce copy protection cannot be installed because the driver for the copy protection is present only as a 32-bit version.

But games that will be optimized for the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition are coming fast. The first game has already been released. It is the Shadow Ops: Red Mercury. The changes are going to be a lot because of the benefits of the 64-Bit technology that we discussed at the beginning (vast memory space and advanced multi-media processing capabilities). From AMD.com we see a press release saying that "...With the 64-Bit version of Shadow Ops: Red Mercury, gamers will notice larger and more detailed areas to explore, breakthrough artificial intelligence (AI), and never-before-seen textures that compel players to gawk in amazement". Atari.com has also released this announcement: "The 64-Bit version of the game will be included with the 32-Bit version and will allow for improved textures, better image quality, faster game performance and an enhanced gameplay experience.... Gamers who install the 64-Bit version of Shadow Ops: Red Mercury, get access to the 64-Bit only level of detail, with mind-blowing texture quality, enormous map sizes and amazingly enhanced artificial intelligence, creating an exceptional game play experience." So, you can expect differences in the quality of the textures of the ground, the gun, the shadows of the characters, more objects in the environment or more detailed, differences in lighting and shadow enhacements.We have a photo to compare the changes.

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury 32-Bit version

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury 64-Bit version

You can take a look at some more photos with the changes from the 32-Bit to 64-Bit version that we found on the game homepage here.

Comparing this game with other games like half life 2 and doom 3, we can accept that the 64-Bit version of shadow ops hasn't anything better to present in the graphics department. But don't be misled by the supposed changes from the 32-bit to the 64-bit versions. The result is still poor and not as good as on other successful 32-bit games like half life 2, far cry and doom 3.

Unfortunately, the game does not support any benchmarking tool for now and FRAPS (the program that we use to count frames per second in games that don't support benchmark options) does not work correctly on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with the 64-Bit version of Shadow Ops. As soon as we find a way to run a benchmark test on this game, we will update this review.

Another game that is expected to release a 64-Bit patch is Far Cry. Far cry is a very popular, awesome First Person Shooter (FPS) based on a last generation 3D engine named CryEngine. Real-time editing, bump-mapping, static lights, network system, integrated physics system, shaders, shadows and a dynamic music system are just some of the state of-the-art features that CryEngine offers. According to AMD.com, "AMD64 technology enables Far Cry's next-generation engine to push the threshold of action gaming with unprecedented AI, Polybump™ mapping, advanced environmental physics, destructible terrain, dynamic lighting, motion-capture animation, and total surround sound. Far Cry's unbelievable 800-meter draw distance redefines the idea of long-range gameplay." More information can be found here.