Demonstrating that immersive realism -- as supported by high-powered graphics tech -- is becoming as important to the online experience as it has traditionally been for console gamers, Turbine recently announced that its Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar MMO now supports Microsoft's DirectX 10 API, along with NVIDIA GeForce graphics processors.

Turbine director of game technology Fernando Paiz explained, “Turbine has a history of pushing the graphics envelope so we can deliver state-of-the art immersive virtual worlds. We began working with NVIDIA very early in the development cycle so that we could fully leverage DirectX 10 technology to achieve our goal of creating the most complete and authentic recreation of Middle Earth. The results speak for themselves, as The Lord of the Rings Online has set the bar for what persistent online worlds can be.”

Lord of the Rings Online attempts to deliver as authentic a recreation as possible of Tolkein's Middle Earth for players to visit, and it's interesting to hear Paiz refer to it expressly as a virtual world and not just an MMO. Worlds in Motion recently discussed how it's getting tougher to determine what traits separate virtual worlds from games, and it would seem this goal of creating a persistent world for users and aiming to make it as immersive and lifelike as possible is becoming primary for many online worlds -- beyond creating a game, it seems to be a broader objective of creating a sense of place and experience.