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GDCE 2012: Mobile GPUs heading for 'Xbox quality' performance, reckons Epic

Power limitations deliver more efficient coding

GDCE 2012: Mobile GPUs heading for 'Xbox quality' performance, reckons Epic
Epic game programmer Niklas Smedberg's talk at GDC Europe may have focused on mobile GPU efficiency issues, but he wasn't prepared to talk them down.

Indeed, according to Smedberg, there's every probability that the power difference between smartphone GPUs and those used in more powerful tech will narrow significantly with the next generation of SGX and Tegra processors.

Problem or opportunity?

In fact, some aspects of current mobile GPUs are "already way better than current gen consoles," he claimed, with the amount of RAM and the higher output resolution aiding the pursuit of 'triple-A' graphics on smartphones.

Surprisingly, sometimes even the limitations of the mobile GPU end up producing better graphics than their console brethren.

Smedberg highlighted Epic's pursuit of the God Ray lighting effect on mobiles as one area that benefitted from restrictions that mobile processors inflict on graphics coding.

Whereas the Xbox version could be processed in one pass, mobile needs a series of passes to prevent slowing down the system.

Fast moving industry

This limitation resulted in code that was not only half the size and complexity as the original 360 version, but also – thanks to the multiple passes – resulted in a more accurate image overall with fewer artefacts.

In the future, however, it may not require such workarounds to get console feature on mobiles.

Smedberg described Imagination Technologies' upcoming Rogue 6xxx series GPUs as "so much better [than the current generation]. About twenty times faster."

"We're starting to talk Xbox quality here."

Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).