Gaming on Android is getting good!

[ari-free]

hmmm
I got the pic from Anandtech. They said it was a comparison with ios
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4098/...-more-architectural-details-and-design-wins/5

 

[Shocky]

hmmm
I got the pic from Anandtech. They said it was a comparison with ios

Anandtech probably got the slides from nvidia, take any information that comes from nvidia with a bucket load of salt.

 

[ari-free]

Anandtech probably got the slides from nvidia, take any information that comes from nvidia with a bucket load of salt.

The slides don't actually mention ios. They probably just assumed...and i also assumed they knew what they were talking about. Assume makes an ass out of u and me...
So I did more research. There already is a backbreaker game on the android market that works on all kinds of android phones (Droid X, SGS, etc) and it looks like nvidia is comparing the new version with that generic android version. But it appears all they have done was made the tegra version on par with the ios.

Fishlabs is the one claiming that tegra 2 is much much better than powervr on iphone4.
http://forums.fishlabs.net/fishlabs...mes-88/1961-galaxy-fire-2-coming-android.html
one response: "There is thing bothering me... Is Nvidia Tegra really so powerful GPU? Graphics of Galaxy on Fire 2 look uncomparably better than on iphone 4 or even iPad... It is not possible to render textures this quality on Apple devices?"

 

[ari-free]

2 other things:
1) when developing for ios, game devs know exactly what to expect in terms of hardware. An Apple chip with a powerVR gpu. With android we have some using qualcomm with the adreno gpu, some use TI OMAP with the powervr gpu, SGS used hummingbird with powervr but now the SGS 2 uses exynos with the mali gpu and now the tegra 2. Game developers could look at all this and decide not to bother with android completely. Or they can make one game that runs on everything and looks good on none. Or they can make a choice to make the game be 100% but for one platform. Some will go with nvidia and optimize just for that. Some will take advantage of xperia play's controls or the new LG 3D phone's features. At least tegra 2 will be in an entire range of phones from many OEM's instead of just one phone, brand or carrier. But it is impossible for everyone to optimize for every single thing out there.
2) Android market is another big problem for game developers. There's still too much buggy crap (even if your app isn't buggy, it will be associated with everything else out there) and IIRC there's also a limit to how big an app can be (used to be 25 MB but recently changed to 50 MB). That kills the idea of blockbuster games on Android until we have a real alternative to the market. So nvidia took advantage of the vacuum and created their own market. I would like Amazon to be the alternative market but it has the problem of not being preinstalled on phones.

 

[Shocky]

The slides don't actually mention ios. They probably just assumed...and i also assumed they knew what they were talking about. Assume makes an ass out of u and me...
So I did more research. There already is a backbreaker game on the android market that works on all kinds of android phones (Droid X, SGS, etc) and it looks like nvidia is comparing the new version with that generic android version. But it appears all they have done was made the tegra version on par with the ios.

Fishlabs is the one claiming that tegra 2 is much much better than powervr on iphone4.
Galaxy on Fire 2 coming to Android - FISHLABS Forums
one response: "There is thing bothering me... Is Nvidia Tegra really so powerful GPU? Graphics of Galaxy on Fire 2 look uncomparably better than on iphone 4 or even iPad... It is not possible to render textures this quality on Apple devices?"

No the slides don't mention iOS, but it shows the lengths nvidia go to to make their products look better than the competition.

It's probably possible most if not all the effects can be done on the PowerVR GPU but the performance hit is unknown until somebody actually makes it compatible, I’m sure nvidia probably don’t want any direct comparisons.

For those who think nvidia have not paid these developers off, think about it for a second.

There are around 10 million Galaxy S based devices out there now not including the Nexus S, that’s allot of potential sales to lose out on.

2 other things:
1) when developing for ios, game devs know exactly what to expect in terms of hardware. An Apple chip with a powerVR gpu. With android we have some using qualcomm with the adreno gpu, some use TI OMAP with the powervr gpu, SGS used hummingbird with powervr but now the SGS 2 uses exynos with the mali gpu and now the tegra 2. Game developers could look at all this and decide not to bother with android completely. Or they can make one game that runs on everything and looks good on none. Or they can make a choice to make the game be 100% but for one platform.

Or they could just stick as close as possible to OpenGL ES 2.0 specs and just target the performance for the most popular high end devices, the most popular at the moment would be the Desire HD, Galaxy S, Nexus S (theres another using the new adreno gpu but I forget what it's called).

That makes sence, selecting just one of which very few devices are actually available makes none at all. At the end of the day they are in this to make money.

 

[ari-free]

No the slides don't mention iOS, but it shows the lengths nvidia go to to make their products look better than the competition.

It's probably possible most if not all the effects can be done on the PowerVR GPU but the performance hit is unknown until somebody actually makes it compatible, I

 

[Shocky]

Samsung has to want games in order for it to happen. When SGS first came out I thought they were somewhat interested in the SGS as a gaming device but it fizzled except for a few gameloft games. Same thing with the Droid. Great TV commercials but game devs didn't flock to it.

The point is, these guys have to come up with new ideas to bring games

I don't agree with that at all, developers will go where they will get the largest amount of sales, there is no point developing only for single Android device, when you look at the number of phones with the SGX540 vs Tegra 2 it just doesn

 

[ari-free]

I don't agree with that at all, developers will go where they will get the largest amount of sales, there is no point developing only for single Android device, when you look at the number of phones with the SGX540 vs Tegra 2 it just doesn

 

[Shocky]

because what you're saying doesn't make sense. Pay them to not make the game work on SGS? But these games are already on the iphone!

Of course it makes sense, nvidia have deep pockets and are basically buying exclusivity to promote their own hardware, this isn’t a difficult concept to grasp.

They are either buying this financially or providing assistance in exchange for exclusivity which is basically what they do with games for PC except it's exclusive features for PC titles.

They don't get away with it in the PC market as AMD are a big enough competitor and make allot of noise when nvidia try it on.

 

[hahaha what]

this is pretty good news too Unity Android Platform To Let Developers Convert iOS Apps To Android – With One Click | Android News, Reviews, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets, Tips, Mods, Videos, Tutorials - Android Police

 

[Shocky]

this is pretty good news too Unity Android Platform To Let Developers Convert iOS Apps To Android

 

[juzcallmeneo]

Gaming on Android has a bright future indeed. Sure, Nvidia is buying people out and doing another one of their aggressive overwhelm tactics again. What I like about it all, is that since every future android device seems to be adapting to the exact same hardware...making it easier to program for! And if you want to talk about a company just in it for the money you can't leave out the worst of them: Apple. Android has the possibility of self-updating games and more integration due to the open platform..and now with Evil Nvidia doing their evil market techniques we will see faster advancement across the board.

NVIDIA Introduces dual Cortex A9 based Tegra 2 - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

-Tegra 2 wasn't meant to be power power power..it was meant to be more efficient. The Tegra 3 (or whatever) is meant to be as efficient, but 5x the power:

Tegra Roadmap Revealed: Next Chip to be World?s First Quad-Core Mobile Processor NVIDIA

Even if you hate Nvidia, think about how this will cause their competition to step up their game? Quad core phones and Tablets..Mobile gaming is a bright future.

 

[daveloft]

That's going to be the case simply because Tegra is going to always be ahead of everybody else in performance, not because of your FUD about Nvidia paying everybody off.

There is no way that a developer would choose to release a game that only works on Tegra 2 devices if they weren't paid.

I talked to Madfinger games who made Samurai II and they said that Tegra 2 is exclusive for the next few months and then we will be seeing a non Tegra 2 versions. It's exclusive because they were paid to make an exclusive game, that's a fact. This is definitely not good for Android.

 

[yoyohere2]

Dungeon defenders second wave game was paid exclusively to come to xperia play for 2 months. Then it will come out on all Android market afterwards.

I see nothing wrong with that and it is healthy for Android market. The developers said if they didn't get the exclusive money, they wouldn't have made part 2 at all.

 

[Shocky]

Dungeon defenders second wave game was paid exclusively to come to xperia play for 2 months. Then it will come out on all Android market afterwards.

I'm sure it was launched on Android and iOS at the same time, I don't recall it being exclusive to any phone.

 

[ASCI Blue]

a few days ago I found the pc classic Star Control 2 for Android. Very worthwhile game to play although very dated graphically since it was released in the early 90's. Top down adventure game in space FTMFW!!!

 

[yoyohere2]

I'm sure it was launched on Android and iOS at the same time, I don't recall it being exclusive to any phone.

It is a 2 month exclusive for xperia play. The devs wrote about it on their own trendy ent. forum. Then all the loyal dungeon defender first wave fanboys complained and said the devs were greedy on the exclusive money.