You high-and-mighty scientific code snobs looking down on us game programmers! =)
Actually there is a whole lot to games like DoomIII and HL2 than what can be run on the GPU. First of all, a lot of the graphics-related code is never run on the GPU, it's run on the CPU (for example shadow-processing code), which then passes on the info to the GPU to do the actual rendering.
Secondly multiple core GPUs doesn't make that much sense to me. The nature of graphics processing is completely SIMD (like much of your scientific code probably). Graphics needs parallelism, but it doesn't need different code being run in parallel. It needs so much parallelism because there are millions of vertices and pixel fragments, each of which needs to be handled very much the same way (that is, with the same shader code). The main reason SLI exists is that there is a limit to how much parallelism we can put on one chip because of transistor limits and all that mumbo jumbo. When there comes a point that we could put multiple cores on one GPU... then we might as well have one core with twice the number of pipelines.
Finally, games like D3 and HL2 do a lot more than just graphics and level-loading. Physics are getting more and more realistic and therefore computationally intensive (HL2 has particularly good physics). Also I think we're on the brink of game AI becoming much more advanced than the simple state machines present in current games. Then there are more eccentric tasks like UnrealEngine3's "Seamless World Support" which constantly shuffles in and out resources so you can create huge worlds without loading times.
Just as a slight correction, the majority of CPU work done in games like Doom3 is also graphics-related, despite the existence of the GPU. The CPU has to take care of setting up all the data to be fed to the GPU... for example calculating shadow volumes, applying bone transformations to skin vertices, etc.
imagine a future PC with 32656 CPUs, all running at a measly 40MHz, but each one dedicated to a single object in the game. All they have to do is calc the position of that single object. Might give some interesting results
This would be horrible IMHO. The vast amount of information that would need to be passed among all the processors would dwarf the actual game code.
You're right that the latest generation console CPU architectures reflect the trend of concurrent thread execution. That said, however, there seems to be a parallel trend developing that involves separating the general purpose CPU into independent single-purpose processors.
The most obvious example of this is the GPU, which has been around for a long time. The latest moves toward this trend rumored to be in development are PPUs, Physics Processing Units. How long until game AI evolves enough that we have the need for AIPUs also?
This approach obviously doesn't make too much sense in a general purpose computer because the space of possible applications and types of code to be run are just too large. It makes perfect sense in computers that are built especially to run games though, because we have a very good idea of the different kinds of code most games will have to run. This approach allows each type of code to be run on a processor that is most efficient at that type of code, e.g. graphics code being run on processors that provide a ton of parallel pipelines.
Maybe I'm missing something... what is so revolutionary and innovative about this game? What I've read about it offers almost no details about what makes the game so special. Instead all we get is the same vague promises spewed whenever ANY new MMORPG comes out. Amazing character creation, intriguing quests and adventures, wonderful GM-run NPC events, etc.
Haven't we all heard it all before? I want some details before I buy into the usual hype.
This doesn't make too much sense. The fact that a neuron is more complicated than a bit and can take up component states means nothing. Component states can simply be thought of as single states (something in states A and B is in state A-B), and multiple bits could map to one neuron.
There's nothing that says a computer needs to work on bits. A quantum computer is a different beast all together:)
Actually the WiFi won't be built in, it will be an addon which you'll have to purchase separately.
And MS hasn't said whether it will be backward-compatible with Xbox, but it's not likely. The vastly different platforms means it would be a significant technological achievement for them to put in backward compatibility, and if this capability was in the plans I'm pretty sure they would have announced it.
Aside from the character creation, I don't see much difference from Soul Caliber 2. The graphics don't look particularly good, the arenas look pretty standard, the effects are nothing special, the gameplay looks standard.
Is there much reason to get excited about this game?
Slashdot Mirror
Here's an idea. Get a skill people want.
Actually there is a whole lot to games like DoomIII and HL2 than what can be run on the GPU. First of all, a lot of the graphics-related code is never run on the GPU, it's run on the CPU (for example shadow-processing code), which then passes on the info to the GPU to do the actual rendering.
Secondly multiple core GPUs doesn't make that much sense to me. The nature of graphics processing is completely SIMD (like much of your scientific code probably). Graphics needs parallelism, but it doesn't need different code being run in parallel. It needs so much parallelism because there are millions of vertices and pixel fragments, each of which needs to be handled very much the same way (that is, with the same shader code). The main reason SLI exists is that there is a limit to how much parallelism we can put on one chip because of transistor limits and all that mumbo jumbo. When there comes a point that we could put multiple cores on one GPU... then we might as well have one core with twice the number of pipelines.
Finally, games like D3 and HL2 do a lot more than just graphics and level-loading. Physics are getting more and more realistic and therefore computationally intensive (HL2 has particularly good physics). Also I think we're on the brink of game AI becoming much more advanced than the simple state machines present in current games. Then there are more eccentric tasks like UnrealEngine3's "Seamless World Support" which constantly shuffles in and out resources so you can create huge worlds without loading times.
imagine a future PC with 32656 CPUs, all running at a measly 40MHz, but each one dedicated to a single object in the game. All they have to do is calc the position of that single object. Might give some interesting results
This would be horrible IMHO. The vast amount of information that would need to be passed among all the processors would dwarf the actual game code.
You're right that the latest generation console CPU architectures reflect the trend of concurrent thread execution. That said, however, there seems to be a parallel trend developing that involves separating the general purpose CPU into independent single-purpose processors.
The most obvious example of this is the GPU, which has been around for a long time. The latest moves toward this trend rumored to be in development are PPUs, Physics Processing Units. How long until game AI evolves enough that we have the need for AIPUs also?
This approach obviously doesn't make too much sense in a general purpose computer because the space of possible applications and types of code to be run are just too large. It makes perfect sense in computers that are built especially to run games though, because we have a very good idea of the different kinds of code most games will have to run. This approach allows each type of code to be run on a processor that is most efficient at that type of code, e.g. graphics code being run on processors that provide a ton of parallel pipelines.
Because of the novelty of it... as soon as that wears off, it's back to eating fingernails and boogers all day.
Maybe I'm missing something... what is so revolutionary and innovative about this game? What I've read about it offers almost no details about what makes the game so special. Instead all we get is the same vague promises spewed whenever ANY new MMORPG comes out. Amazing character creation, intriguing quests and adventures, wonderful GM-run NPC events, etc. Haven't we all heard it all before? I want some details before I buy into the usual hype.
This doesn't make too much sense. The fact that a neuron is more complicated than a bit and can take up component states means nothing. Component states can simply be thought of as single states (something in states A and B is in state A-B), and multiple bits could map to one neuron. There's nothing that says a computer needs to work on bits. A quantum computer is a different beast all together :)
Oops... I meant fermionic, of course :)
All atoms are bosonic by definition.
If there was no disagreement about the existence of superstrings, why would these people be trying to find the first proof of them?
Are you implying they're going to rerelease old Xbox games compiled for the Xbox 360? This seems highly unlikely.
Actually the WiFi won't be built in, it will be an addon which you'll have to purchase separately.
And MS hasn't said whether it will be backward-compatible with Xbox, but it's not likely. The vastly different platforms means it would be a significant technological achievement for them to put in backward compatibility, and if this capability was in the plans I'm pretty sure they would have announced it.
Aside from the character creation, I don't see much difference from Soul Caliber 2. The graphics don't look particularly good, the arenas look pretty standard, the effects are nothing special, the gameplay looks standard. Is there much reason to get excited about this game?