One of the reasons that they looked for another version,is just about the graphics,and the system of the weather.
2008 was and is still a very good version,however it needed some extra's.Look at the water,now the wave are realistic and no more looked like blue colored water.The waves which come from the ships are looking alot better.The change in the weather is realy great,now you start maybe with a sunny morning, to end up in a masif storm.
For me the Extreme version is alot better than the 2008, i have to look throughout the errors and bugs,which i realy can.Remember the 2008 version had also very much troubles in the beginning.
About that 5% of people who can play the game just because of their computers,the minimum capacity of the computers has been announced before the game came out.Most of us know that they have to update their comps,with a new graphic card,and when you send your Dxdiag with an attachment,maybe it is no need to buy some new card at all.
Maybe just an update can solve some of the problems.
Regards
Marc