Xbox One Updates on DirectX 12, the Forza Horizon 2 Difference and Thief Demo

An Attendee Uses Her Smartphone In Front Of A Fiant Microsoft Xbox Sign At The 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Known as E3, in Los Angeles — An attendee uses her smartphone in front of a giant Microsoft Xbox sign at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles, California June 11, 2014. Reuters/Kevork Djansezian

DirectX 12 had been touted as the great solution for the Xbox One to catch up to its rival, PS4. But for the past few weeks, there has been quite a dimmed down reaction, as Xbox's Phil Spencer has clarified that there will only be a small change with the Xbox One, instead of the expected big one that would propel the Xbox One ahead of the pack.

His exact words have been, "It will help developers on Xbox One. It's not going to be a massive change but will unlock more capability for devs," as quoted by ExtremeTech.

Now Brad Wardelll, Stardock founder and CEO, is giving his own opinion on what exactly this means for the Xbox One. Replying to a fan query, Wardell had commented that Spencer was talking about development of games for developers.

Gamepur documents the exchange between Wardell and fans, pointing out that, in Wardell's opinion, the difference that DX12 brings is that it's slightly "safer" to use than Mantle, despite similar capabilities.

In addition to this, Wardell also says this about the DirectX 12 on Xbox One: "If my game can have multiple threads talk to the GPU and get jobs going in parallel my game is faster."

'Thief' Demo out for the Xbox one

Some sharp-eyed gamers may have noticed that Microsoft has partnered with Square Enix to bring a "Thief" demo on the Xbox One. According to Mondo Xbox, the demo requires a 2.95GB space size, and will let you go through the "Quarantime" mission

This is just one of the few demos that can be played on the Xbox One, an issue that was brought up way back a few months after the console was released. GameSpot has previously reported about the demo scarcity, and had actually claimed that it was on the developer's side of the decisions.

"It is (and always has been) up to the game developers to do demos for their own games. [There will] be more demos for Xbox One as the platform goes forward," said Major Nelson as quoted by the source.

Despite the promise of more Xbox One demos, however, Microsoft still has to show its dedication to gamers by planning a bit more when it comes to its lineup of demos for games.

'Forza Horizon 2': One Game with 2 Different Versions

During the E3 2014, Microsoft has revealed that "Forza Horizon 2: will be coming to the Xbox One and Xbox 360.

But even with this, the two platforms will bring different experiences of the game, as developer PlayGround Games states that each platform will have a different version.

"It's based in the same world, it's based on the same themes. Rather than thinking of them as the same game on different platforms, they are different games inspired by the same ideas," said Ralph Fulton, creative director for the game, to Digital Spy.

One of the reasons for the difference lies in the fact that the Xbox One version of "Forza Horizon 2" has elements, such as the weather system and Drivatars, which can't be executed in other platforms.