Slashdot Mirror
More on Grid Computing and Gaming
securitas writes "Sony, IBM and Butterfly.net will announce and demonstrate a new grid computing network for PS2 online gaming at the Game Developers Conference next week. The network is based on Linux and the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) and is designed to support millions of players. This is believed to be the first major consumer application of grid technology. Read the details at the NY Times, CNET and the Washington Post."
It seems to me that the more technology these companies throw at games, the less I feel the desire to play them. Don't get me wrong: I love excellent graphics and sound. I just think the playability suffers when a game developer spends so much effort on the technology. I'm glad we have such a scalable platform for online gaming. I just haven't seen games that are as compelling as they used to be to take advantage of the platform. Am I getting too old for video games?
Another application would be in natural language processors. They require huge databases and computing power to process them. A grid would be a perfect way to build such a system.
Mind you, these applications are equally commercially viable. You could charge say $1000 per game against the world champion chess program, or $100 for 30 minutes of conservation with the most intelligent bot ever, and so on.
However no one I've spoken to has the slightest clue as to how they plan on using this Grid stuff. Does anyone know any details? All I see are people saying 'no bandwidth, latency', etc.... I still can't figure out what it's supposed to do. Which is maybe on purpose.
If you look at the chess pieces on the board, so to speak... MS with Xbox, MSN, flavours of XP with media/TV style abilities... then Sony, aligned with IBM for a new chip and a radical new network... not to mention the Cell sharing some tech with IBM's forthcoming Power derivatives for Apple...
Strange things are afoot at the Circle K...
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
It isn't. Grid computing is the big buzzword of the day these days. I work with, and on, Globus, and this stuff just doesn't work yet. But beyond the fact that it isn't reliable software, what IBM is doing with Butterfly isn't really Grid computing. They're just saying that to get publicity.
Some of the original articles last year attributed features of the "grid" they're setting up to the Globus software, while anyone who has actually installed Globus knows that it can't do (things like accounting, failover services, etc).
Sorry but this is misleading, the CPU's for the PS2 and GC are both specifically designed for games, the xbox is still more powerful but it is a lot closer than those numbers represent.
The xbox is running a x86 intel chip, I'm sure most of us here don't need to be reminded that the current x86 chips we use today are descendants of of chips designed purely to crunch numbers for business applications. Quite a lot of CPU cycles are wasted in current computers, if you were trying to design a CPU for an interactive entertainment system you would not design it like an x86 chip.
Also the fact that the PS2 is 18 months older than the xbox explains why it's spec seems to be unimpressive.