PixelVulture » Tech

Thoughts on the Xbox One Reveal

Matthew Arnold — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:10:47 +0000

The new Xbox is here and it has a name, Xbox One. Last night’s unveiling of Microsoft's next generation console left me with mixed emotions. The new console is extremely ambitious trying to tackle the full living room entertainment experience. I loved the TV integration, multitasking and fantasy league live viewing experience, but it’s hard to get excited about this sort of thing when it will more than likely all be exclusive to the US. Microsoft showcased ESPN, NFL and Comcast - at a global launch - basically snubbing the rest of the global market place. Will any of these new features work outside of the US? No confirmation yet, but the general feeling is that they won't. Not a great start. While the TV integration was interesting, the games are what we really care about. Unfortunately Microsoft didn’t show much when it comes to games (to be fair we can expect a strong focus on games at E3 in a few weeks time). They did mention there would be 15 Xbox exclusives within the next year of which 8 will be entirely new franchises. This is great as it was an area that Xbox has lacked recently and with the list of titles that Sony has lined up Microsoft needs some firepower here. They showed snippets of Forza 5, FIFA 14, Call of Duty Ghosts, NFL 14 and Quantum Break - but we didn't get to see much action let alone the Xbox One in action. You can check out all the trailers in HD over here. We expect Microsoft to come to the party at E3 and unveil some of the new IP's and show a lot of gameplay - so we will have to hold on a few more weeks. Onto the hardware. Unlike Sony, Microsoft actually showed us what the console looks like, splitting opinions down the middle with some loving it and others hating it. The new console itself lives up to it’s name with a very box like appearance, square and shiny It gives the impression that it is hiding some impressive hardware underneath, which it is, although Microsoft didn't go into any real detail so its hard to compare with what the PS4 is packing - but don't worry the internet will be covered with comparisons once the data is released. The controller has always been one of Xbox’s best features and the new controller looks to build on that. It’s actually pretty damn gorgeous. The triggers now have feedback built in which should make racing experiences just that much better. Disappointingly there was no mention of the Xbox Live marketplace – discovering content has always been an issue and Microsoft didn't show any mockups of what the marketplace would look like. Presumably the best/popular games will be featured in the trending dashboard. We found this highlights video from the reveal which will give you a good glimpse at what happened:

Microsoft Illumiroom Extended Demo

Matthew Arnold — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:16:31 +0000

Microsoft's Illumiroom is really starting to take shape, this new demo shows all the ways that it can be used to bring a more immersive experience to your living room. I really dig the Borderlands style artwork and distorted effect, this could be a great way to show damage when playing. Take a look at the full demo to see the potential that a system like this has.

The Future of Water in Video Games

Matthew Arnold — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:42:54 +0000

Graphics have come a long way in recent years with textures and lighting improving dramatically. There is one element that developers still struggle with - water. Creating realistic water effects is one of the hardest things to do and because of that, the water scenes tend to shatter the atmosphere and bring us back to reality. Now Nvidia has a new fluid simulation algorithm called "Position Based Fluids" that makes it look easy, with water bouncing off objects in a startlingly realistic fashion.

"In fluid simulation, enforcing incompressibility is crucial for realism; it is also computationally expensive. (...) By formulating and solving a set of positional constraints that enforce constant density, our method allows similar incompressibility and convergence to modern smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) solvers, but inherits the stability of the geometric, position based dynamics method, allowing large time steps suitable for real-time applications," explain NVIDIA's Miles Macklin and Matthias Müller-Fischer.

Alright, enough rambling have a look at the beautiful water effects below and prepare for the next generation of realism:

Mobile Gaming market to triple by 2017

Matthew Arnold — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:26:26 +0000

We thought we would step away from all the awesome trailers and game news for a few minutes and engage your brain... Some new data from Juniper Research has revealed that by 2017 there will be 64.1 billion games downloaded onto smartphones and tablet devices - over 3 times that of 2012, which stood at 21 billion. This high rate of growth is being driven by the increasing number of free-to-play releases, more sophisticated devices, and the global uptake of smartphones. That's a massive number and one that does not seem overly ambitious in my opinion, but lets have a look at how they got there. Mobile – The Primary Screen For Gamers In the report, Mobile & Tablet Games: Discovery, In-App Purchases & Advertising, the Juniper team investigated why this growth in the number of games downloaded would be so staggering. It found that an increase in the number of sophisticated games, which allow for truly multi-platform gameplay through the use of cloud technology, meant that mobile would become the primary screen for gamers. Greater memory on devices would also mean consumers were able to download more games onto their phones and tablets. Accelerated by the Mid-Core Gamer Another key point highlighted by the report is that tablet users are downloading over twice the amount of games onto their devices than smartphone users.

Siân Rowlands, Report author added “tablet games are growing so much because they are such an accessible way for all consumer segments to access games. In particular mid-core gamers, who previously spent a lot of money and time playing games but now have jobs, families or other commitments, are driving this trend. These people are really embracing the tablet form factor, and innovative gameplay devices such as the mobile based OUYA console, really appeal to them”.

In addition, the report analysed the impact made by smartphone and tablet games on the dedicated portable gaming device market. Juniper Research believes that mobile and tablet games will not mark the end of this market, but with players such as Nintendo cutting its sales forecasts by 14% for its 3DS, and 27% for its Wii U, it is hard to deny the challenge by the smartphone and tablet sector. Other Key Findings Include:

Social & Casual Games will remain the most popular genre downloaded, with over half of all smartphone games downloaded fitting this genre.
In 2017, only 7% of games will be paid for at the point of purchase across smartphones and tablets.

The ‘Mobile & Tablet Games ~ Playing & Paying’ whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full report.

Watch the Oculus Rift in Action with an Omnidirectional treadmill

Matthew Arnold — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:53:04 +0000

Yes, you read that correctly, an omni-directional treadmill paired up with the Oculus Rift and Team Fortress 2! This awesome setup was created by Virtuix who have been working on a consumer level omnidirectional treadmill for virtual reality applications, and it has combined its device with the Oculus Rift, and Team Fortress 2. Is this the next dimension in gaming? It looks like a great way to keep a gamer in shape at least... Virtuix has plans for a Kickstarter to help fund its treadmill, the Omni, soon. You can find out more about it here. Check out the video of the treadmill and Oculus Rift in action below:

Ubisoft announce Prince of Persia: The shadow and The Flame

Matthew Arnold — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:51:23 +0000

Ubisoft have just announced a new Prince of Persia game that will be coming to smartphones and tablets. Yeah we are a bit disapointed that its not another full blown Prince of Persia but it is an original PoP game that continues the story across iOS and Android platforms. Prince of Persia The Shadow and The Flame continues the incredible storytelling of the original trilogy while incorporating redesigned controls, graphics and gameplay with the convenience of a mobile device. Fans of the original Prince of Persia series will be thrilled to discover five beautifully rendered environments, each with their own unique mood and landscape. Prince of Persia The Shadow and The Flame was developed by Ubisoft Pune, the same studio that developed Prince of Persia® Classic HD for Android and iOS released in 2012. Featuring a variety of gameplay mechanics that contributed to the success of the beloved series, Prince of Persia The Shadow and The Flame allows players a choice of controls: virtual sticks or tap-to-move. As players progress through 15 different levels, they can choose to use elemental powers, three types of attacks and over 25 weapons with special abilities to defeat brand-new foes in the extensive Prince of Persia universe that fans love so dearly. Available soon for mobile devices, Prince of Persia The Shadow and The Flame continues the age-old saga of a wanderer, born a prince, who returns in search of his unknown past to redefine his future. At the same time Ubisoft also announced a major update to Rayman Jungle Run: Rayman’s journey through the jungle continues with 20 new levels in a free update for iOS and Android; with the Windows 8 version coming soon. The update features two worlds: Pirate Ship and Giant Plant.

Hot games to download on your smartphone today

Matthew Arnold — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:30:11 +0000

The days when the only way to play a good videogame involved plugging a large games console into a household TV are long gone. This is because mobile phones have grown in power to the point where even the most basic of smartphones have the capacity to run brilliant games without breaking a sweat. We’ve picked out some top games from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, these examples which will help even the longest of journeys pass by in next to no time.

The Apple App Store’s juicy treats

The iPhone has quickly become a major rival to such popular handheld consoles as the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita, thanks to its huge selection of games available in its App Store. Of course, not every game on the list is going to be a joy to play. However, Infinity Blade 2 is a title that drops firmly into the must download pile. A follow-up to what IGN has called “the App Store’s first true AAA title”, players will be in awe in as they use their iPhone’s nifty touchscreen controls to dodge enemy attacks, scroll through three distinct weapon categories and unleash powerful counter-attacks. Meanwhile, the zombie apocalypse has been unleashed onto the entertainment world recently, with The Walking Dead gripping television buffs and the re-imagining of the Evil Dead film set to captivate cinema audiences in the weeks to come. Those with an iPhone can jump on the bandwagon with Plants Vs Zombies. The game from Popcap may have been around since 2009 but it is still a popular choice thanks to its unique presentation and quirky sense of humour.

Picking the gems on the Google Play Store

Not looking to let Apple have all the fun, the Google Play Store is jam packed with a collection of excellent games. For a brilliant social game that is perfect to pick up and play, you will not go wrong with Cut the Rope. A physics puzzler from the minds of games developer Zeptolab, each level in the game tasks players to cut a rope – the clue’s in the title after all - that is dangling a piece of candy and feed the protagonist, a cute green monster, without hitting any obstacles. Most levels will only take a few seconds to complete, though players who have just splashed out on a brand-new Samsung Galaxy S4 are wise to invest in a set of Samsung Galaxy S4 covers, such as those available from Mobile Madhouse, to avoid fingerprints building up around that sexy touchscreen. Videogames and motorsport have gone hand in hand ever since arcade racers began to pop up around amusement parks back in the 1980s. Those with a Google Play Store-compatible smartphone will be able to dip into this genre with EA Swiss Sarl’s Real Racing 3. Players can get to grips with virtual versions of superb cars from the likes of Porsche, Bugatti and Lamborghini and compete to pass the finish line in first position around state-of-the-art and authentic race circuits.

What we expect from the next generation of graphics cards by nVidia

Brett Greaves — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:19:32 +0000

nVidia recently released their supercomputer-thoroughbred, adequately designated: the Titan. As the name implies, this single chip monstrosity of a flagship card is redesigned from the ground up with a GK110 at its heart. Built for one purpose: Gaming with maximum settings enabled at the highest resolution across multiple screens. From what we have read, this ‘little’ beast is capable of spitting out some impressive figures at blinding resolutions. What has been unanimously agreed upon by all lucky enough to review the card, is that it is the final word on Crysis 3. Capable of running Crytec’s masterpiece, on the highest possible settings and resolution, at an average FPS of 25. The card does well then to catch one’s attention. It’s not just the cards performance and somewhat pretentious good looks that catches the eye either. The price tag set by nVida will leave you with feelings reminiscent of those you experienced when you were first able to comprehend the price of an Italian thoroughbred sportscar. In fact, POA would be a better expression of the price tag, as nVidia have said, quote: “If you need to ask how much it costs, you cannot afford it.” Yes, $1000 is what one of these will set you back (Around R15000 when it hits our shores) exactly the same as a GTX690 – nVidia’s multi-GPU monster that has been leading the pack for the last 8 months. So what does she have under the hood? We have compared nVidia’s new single GPU giant against their Dual GPU Giant that costs exactly the same. We have also thrown in a mid-high end GTX670 (That will set you back around R3500) to put things into perspective:

	*Nvidia Titan*	*GTX690*	*GTX670*
Graphics Processing clusters	5	8	4
Streaming Multiprocessors	14	16	7
Cuda Cores	2688	3072	1344
ROP units	48	64	32
Base Clock	836MHz	915MHz	915MHz
Boost Clock	876MHz	1019MHz	980MHz
Memory Clock	6008MHz	6008 MHz	6008MHz
Total Video memory	6144MB GDDR5	4096MB GDDR5	2048MB GDDR5
Memory interface	384-bit	2x 256-bit	256-bit
Total Memory bandwidth	288.4 GB/s	384.4 GB/s (192.2 per GPU)	192.2GB/s
Texter filtering rate	187.5 GigaTexels/s	234.2 GigaTexel/s	102.5 GigaTexels/s
Fabrication Process	28nm	28nm	28nm
Transistor Count	7.1 Billion	7.08 Billion	3.54 Billion
Recommended PSU	600-Watts	650-Watts	500-Watts
Length	10.5-inches	11-inches	9.5-inches
Height	Dual-slot	Dual-slot	Dual-slot

On paper, the Titan is outmatched by its dual-GPU counterpart, the GTX690. Moreover, the GTX690’s Crysis 3 figures are higher –if only marginal- at an average of 28.9 FPS. Why then would you fork out R15000 for a card that is for all intents and purposes, inferior? The answer is simple. You can have more of them. Let’s contextualize: If you are going to fork out R15000 for a graphics card, realistically, you are probably going to buy more than one of them, because when you have that much cash at your disposal for a graphics card, chances are you have more of it lying around somewhere…Well, this is nVidia’s philosophy at any rate, and for profitability purposes, it remains a flawless and uncontested approach. So, stack three of these bad-boys into a Tri-Sli capable motherboard, and you are going to desecrate all - including 2 GTX690's, which is about as far as Sli can go. In either instance and if the cards allowed, you’d be playing Crysis 3 on a Cinema-screen equivalent resolution at upwards of 30FPS, but we digress. After having read countless reviews on both the GTX690 and the Titan, as well as being a proud (and content) owner of a GTX670, we need to ask ourselves: Does the price justify the 30-odd percent increase in performance over a mid-high end card? Potentially a card that will be obsolete 2 years from now? For the average man on the street, looking to play the latest games at –with the exception of Crysis- the highest possible settings for 2-3 years, why look any further than the middle to mid-higher end cards like the GTX660 or 670 that will set you back a quarter of the price, and hey, if you just happened to by two of them it will still only set you back half the price of one of these monsters. Granted, it is a great piece of hardware, sexy to look at and about 2 years ahead of its time, realistically though, unless you are a lottery winner looking to build a supercomputer, just because you can, the price doesn't warrant the performance - plain and simple. So what is it we expect from nVidia’s next generation of mid-high end pixel crunchers, given that they need to tick the following boxes:

Affordability. Resist the COD urge if it costs more than R5000.
Longevity. If I am going to fork out in the region of R4k – R5k on a Graphics card, it must last me at least 2 years, and if it is going to last me longer, or I want to “show off”,
The ability to run Sli or Crossfire.
The ability to run Crysis 3 on Very High
Low power consumption requirements
Some overclocking headroom. None of this ‘boost’ nonsense.

This stated, we have put together a little wishlist based on the specs of the Titan, what one of these “Next-Generation” cards could look like under the hood?

	GTX670	GTX770 Theoretical
Graphics Processing clusters	4	6
Cuda Cores	1344	1800+
Base Clock	915mhz	1000mhz
Boost Clock	980mhz	Nobody cares
Memory Clock	6008mhz	7012mhz + GDDR5/6
Total Video memory	2GB	3GB+
Memory interface	256-bit	256-bit
Total Memory bandwidth	192.2Gb/s	240GB/s
Texter filtering rate	102.5 GigaTexels/s	160+ GigaTexels/s
Fabrication Process	28nm	20nm
Transistor Count	3.54 Billion	4.5 Billion +
Recommended PSU	500 Watts	500Watts

In summary we expect the same from next generation of cards by nVidia as what they have promised us with the release of the Titan. A quieter, cooler, faster solution with a hell of a lot more memory. A Titan offspring for lack of a better term, that is built from the same pedigree as the superior for a fraction of the cost. Looks like we are not far off from this pipe dream, as rumor has it that the next generation cards from nVida (the 700-series) will be based on the 20nm Fabrication process, but will not be based on a completely new GPU architecture. Meaning we could still get hit with another wave of Keplar Chips that are based on their Supercomputer superiors, the GK114 and GK116 respectively. Time will tell, when it does, we’ll be here to keep you updated. In the mean time, enjoy these images of the new nVidia Titan. A card that looks as if it was constructed by the gods. One can only hope nVidia's next-gen cards look as sexy. *Supercomputer equivalent of the GK104 – Keplar chip found in the nVidia 6-series graphics cards.

Unreal 4 Engine on the PS4

Matthew Arnold — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:29:39 +0000

At the launch of Sony's new PS4, Epic Games' Tim Sweeny unveiled a tech demo of the new Unreal Engine 4 running on the new Playstation 4 platform. The Unreal Engine has been the pioneer in jaw dropping graphics and technical wizardry (along with the Crytek Engine). The Unreal Engine 3 platform was used in countless games and the fact that the new engine works so well on the PS4 is awesome. “We are thrilled to build onto our long-established success with PlayStation,” Says epic’s Tim Sweeny. “Unreal Engine 4 is expertly designed for the next generation of game development and the outstanding power of PlayStation 4. Today’s demonstration offers a preview of what developers can accomplish using our tools to create games for PlayStation 4.” This new demo starts where the original demo showed last year ends, and features a “dynamic lighting and shadowing bring intensity to contrasting volcanic and snowy vistas. Real-time reflections, subsurface scattering and GPU-powered particle effects fill the screen space with visual gems as a new ice behemoth cracks free from a frozen mountain and emerges with a radiant, frosty bellow. Check it out below:

Sony reveal the Playstation 4: What you need to know

Matthew Arnold — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:04:49 +0000

In the middle of the night (SA time) last night, Sony unveiled the new Playstation 4. It's been six years since the PS3 launched and everyone was expecting big things from Sony in light of the success of Microsoft's Xbox 360 over the last 5 years. There is coverage of the launch pretty much everywhere, we thought we would pull out the key must know facts and give our thoughts on the announcements.

The PS4 console hardware

A good place to start, Sony announced a bunch of specs for the new PS4 console without actually showing what it looks like... so all the concept art and leaked images we have seen lately are still a hot topic until the box gets unveiled at a later stage. If we dive into the specs the big thing to note is the move towards PC based architecture with a new AMD single-chip custom processor and utilizes eight x86-64 AMD Jaguar CPU cores, with a next-gen AMD Radeon based graphics engine powering the way. The PS4 will ship packing 8GB of GDDR5 memory. That's some super-fast stuff right there and should enable lightning fast performance. We don't know if it will be capable of delivering 4K ultra HD resolution content (the latest from TV manufacturers - not yet viable for home use due to the currently exorbitant cost), but I am pretty sure that Sony will provide more info on this soon.

The New Dual Shock controller

Finally, a new Playstation controller. I personally have been wanting this one, the previous controllers with the PS3 just felt dated and light. The new controller looks more ergonomic and has a bit more weight to it. It also features six-axis motion sensors and a touch screen pad on the top. Two small features that I quite like are the inclusion of a glowing light on the front that looks cool and provides extra functionality like changing to the colour of you on screen character so that you know which controller controls who etc. It has the ability to flash when your health gets low etc. The other is the inclusion of a standard audio jack on the controller, meaning you can plug in your existing awesome headphone straight into the controller. SMall improvements there but pretty cool in my opinion.

Its all about the Games

At it's heart of the console experience are the games. Sony provided quite a lot of info on the gaming aspects of the new PS4. Firstly the PS4 will not be backward compatible with your old PS3 games. There was mention of emulators or other workaround that we could expect to see at a later date. Sony also confirmed that they will not be blocking pre-played titled which is great news for gamers everywhere. Here are a few of the titles that Sony announced for the PS4 platform:

Killzone Shadow Fall
Destiny (Bungee's new shooter)
Diablo III
A new Final Fantasy
Watch Dogs
Driveclub (a new team based racer)

Here is a video showing some Destiny gameplay from the PS4 launch - pretty awesome: All in all the new PS4 sounds good (given that we didn't actually see what it looks like), Sony have improved every aspect of the console addressing a lot of previous weaknesses and adding some great new features. We still need to see how these specs stack up when actually demoing the console and of course against whatever Microsfot have up their sleeves with their new Xbox. Watch this space! Full PS4 tech specs:

Single-chip custom processor, with eight x86-64 AMD Jaguar CPU cores and 1.84 TFLOPS next-gen AMD Radeon based graphics engine
8GB GDDR5 memory
Built-in hard drive
6x Blu-Ray and 8x DVD drive
USB 3.0 and auxiliary ports
Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.1
HDMI, analog AV-out, and optical S/PDIF audio output
DualShock 4 controller, with two-point capacitive touchpad, three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer, vibration, light bar with three color LEDs, mono speaker, micro USB port, stereo headset port, extension port, 1000mAh battery
PlayStation 4 Eye camera, with two 1280 x 800 cameras, f/2.0 fixed focus lenses, 85-degree field of view, 30cm minimum focusing distance, four-channel microphone array