When it comes to mobile devices, most of today’s games are stuck with relatively cartoony graphics. Many seem almost as if they’re hiding behind their art styles. Of course, these are just mobile devices; we can’t ever expect them to live up to, say, console expectations, can we? Yes we can, if you ask Nvidia, at least. According to the company, best known for its GPUs, by 2014 most mobile devices should be able to handle graphics on par with the consoles of today. Granted, the consoles of today will probably be the consoles of yesterday by 2014, but that’s still a vast improvement.
The prediction comes hand-in-hand with this illustrative slide and Nvidia’s assurance that system-on-a-chip (SoC) GPUs will advance by leaps and bounds in the next few years, effectively making mobile a semi-serious contender in an arena other than what you typically consider “mobile gaming.” Advances brought by the most recent iPad stand as testament to the potential of mobile devices, graphic-wise, and with the number of gaming controllers that are now being produced for mobile devices, developers are starting to have more options.
It’s worth noting that while Nvidia is happy to say that mobile graphics could overtake console graphics in 2014, there are probably going to be new consoles by then, or at least announced by then. And if the teasers given by companies like Konami are any indication, the next gen is going to have some pretty, pretty graphics. Either way though, we’ve definitely come a long way since Snake, and we probably have a long way to go. After all, if mobile platforms have the technical chops, developers will start treating them like a real platform, and if developers start treating them like a real platform, they’re going to become one.
(via CNET)
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