It's kinda expected that with new hardware comes new software and new games. Case in point being Company of Heroes. Last years award winning RTS WW2 game has been touted one of the most visually stunning games to grace the screens of PC gamers. And of course, there's a sequel in the works. Set to be released around the third quarter of this year, CoH2 will be even better, if you have Vista.

Thats right, CoH2 is going to be a Windows Vista exclusive game. No versions for XP and probably no versions for any console (besides, playing top down RTS games on with a joy-pad sucks, mouse and keyboard forever). New video cards, like the Nvidia 8800 core and the upcoming ATI 2900 GPU should push the graphics envelope for game designers. Furthermore, DX10 is a Vista exclusive. Shader Model 4.0 will also be DX10 bound, and therefore, a Vista exclusive graphics extension.

Yeah, it ticks me off to! I prefer a slimmed down XP install to the bloated and seemingly schizophrenic Vista OS. I've played with Vista, and I hate it. Honestly, it's nothing new, and nothing that hasn't been done in Apple OSX or Linux for years prior. And I really hate how Vista always wants to double check with me when I run some application or install some program. "Are you sure you want to connect to the Internet, are you sure you want to install this program, are you really sure you want to shut down?"

Unfortunately, the old adage of 'Upgrade or Die!' seems to ring true with Vista. If we want to play those hot new games games, we're going to have to shell out some big bucks for Vista. Halo 2 is going to have a Vista only port, and when Halo 3 comes to life, it will most likely (most defiantly) be a Xbox 360 and Vista only game. Future games, like the highly anticipated Crytek game Crysis, will probably be a Vista game too.

I hate to say it, but this is looking like the end of high-end gaming for XP.