I just saw those videos of the CES footage. The game is looking really good. It looks ready for release to me. I wonder why the game is delayed... :?:
They are tuning the code = optimizing the performance, they are probably doing some finishing touches to the storyline, multiplayer etc.
This is positive:
Surprisingly, the systems at the show weren't too unreasonable. We were told the game was running on a single-core high-end CPU with the latest Nvidia graphics card, and the frame rate was smooth for the most part. Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli told us that the game still has plenty of optimization work to go through.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/crysis/news.html?sid=6163885&tag=topslot;action;1
So if i plan to buy Dx10 card, it should not matter, that i have only AMD X2 4600+, i will be able to enjoy the game (depending on the card i'll choose and resolution i will use / i would love to use 1680x1050 :-)) on full or nearly full details.
PS Dx10 is different to Dx9, it is gonna be optimized, so although it uses Shader Model 4 which would make the game run slower than on XP (SM3), i believe the game will make use of different, performance optimized Dx10 architecture, and you will not notice any negative difference in framerate while running the game with better visuals and superior details on Dx10. I inwardly hope for even better performence on Dx10 with Dx10 card on Vista then on XP. But maybe i am just too otimistic.