NVIDIA nTeresting Newsletter – 29 October 2013

In this issue

· NVIDIA’s ‘The Way It’s Meant to Be Played’ Montreal event included revolutionary new display technology, killer games and three of the industries brightest minds. New technology and product announcements included GameWorks, NVIDIA GamesStream, GeForce ShadowPlay and more that will change the way you game. Holiday’s Ultimate Game Bundle also was introduced in Montreal.
· Of course, there are Zombies! More Zombies running amok on TegraZone, thanks to Dead Trigger 2.

For Gamers, By Gamers

Last week in Montreal NVIDIA held a gaming coup of sorts. NVIDIA showed how our industry leading R&D combined with passion for PC Gaming has resulted in game changing technologies and experiences including stunning games, new product advancements to revolutionary display technologies. For gamers, by gamers is an overused marketing term, but at NVIDIA it rings true. Stories of zombie battles, successful raids and pwning n00bs fill the halls of NVIDIA every day. We wanted to make a bold statement about our love for PC gaming in Montreal.

Developers, Developers, Developers!

The two day event started with a showcase of holiday titles with a spot light on GameWorks technologies such as TXAA, HBAO+, PCSS, PhysX and GodRays. GameWorks is a Developer Program that makes NVIDIA’s visual effects engineers, Game Technology Library, and suite of developer tools available to developers building PC and Android game titles. GameWorks is powered by more than 300 world-class NVIDIA engineers, who collectively have 1000s of man years of experience pushing the cutting edge of art and science.

“NVIDIA GameWorks employs 300 visual effects engineers that work on the Game Works Library and Developer Tools. NVIDIA strives to make GameWorks the gaming equivalent of what Industrial Light & Magic is to movies. NVIDIA has a very close working relationship with many great developers, ensuring their games work best on NVIDIA GPUs by implementing various GeForce-enhanced features, such as PhysX, HBAO+, and more. To illustrate this, Tony went through ten games, highlighting the NVIDIA technologies used in each and featuring quotes from the developers.”

The latest edition to the GameWorks library is Flex. What makes Flex distinctive is that it enables the simultaneous interaction and management of technologies such as realistic game physics, GI Works for cool lighting, and FlameWorks for life like fire.

“This is all part of GameWorks, the system named as king for NVIDIA’s developer relations efforts throughout the world of gaming.”

NVIDIA’s Developer Relations team has been the driving force pushing technology forward in PC gaming for more than a decade, GameWorks continues that tradition.

Let’s Talk Tech

No NVIDIA event would be complete without unveiling some cool new tech, and ‘The Way It’s Meant to Be Played’ Montreal was no exception.

First up was NVIDIA GameStream, NVIDIA’s advanced streaming technology, combining the high performance of GeForce GTX graphics cards with advanced Wi-Fi technologies to deliver super-smooth, low-latency gaming. It effectively puts the performance of a GeForce gaming experience in the palm of your hands.

“NVIDIA Shield’s PC streaming tech is impressive, but NVIDIA’s Gamestream tech is even more impressive: employing the Shield’s HDMI-out port, games can not only be streamed to the Shield, but also to your living room TV. The functionality goes live on October 28th and officially takes PC streaming on Shield from beta to final. It’ll add “Console Mode” as well, which enables control of the Shield’s entire OS on your TV screen via connected Bluetooth controller.”

Also announced is the final release of GeForce ShadowPlay, a game capture tool that lets you capture and stream your greatest gaming moments, with negligible performance hit to frame rates. It also can be easily integrated to Twitch.tv so you can stream your game live over the internet.

“During an event in Montreal this morning, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced ShadowPlay–an always-on game recording function built into the GeForce Experience software. Even more interesting, the ShadowPlay footage can also be streamed to Twitch with just the press of a button.”

The star of the event was NVIDIA G-Sync, a revolutionary new display technology that synchronizes refresh rates to the GPU instead of the display. G-SYNC delivers tear-free, stutter-free, low latency gaming – a truly spectacular, super smooth visual experience for gamers.

“This is ABSOLUTELY game-changing. It makes a HUGE difference. Enormous. Earth-shattering. Not open for debate. End of discussion.”

The results speak for their self, but G-Sync did not have to. Industry luminaries, John Carmack, Tim Sweeney and Johan Andersson were on hand to show support.

“Three of the biggest names in the history of gaming and game development were called onstage to speak about G-Sync as well. If the appearance of Jen-Hsun Huang meant this was a big event, the appearance of these three creators, (with one or more of them notoriously opposed to travel for anything but the biggest events), meant NVIDIA wanted this event to resonate without a doubt.

The idea that these three fellows were important to the editors and affiliates present at NVIDIA’s event was particularly apparent when they were introduced — a mass of camera-toting fanboys rushing in to capture their heroes up close. Once onstage, John D Carmack, co-founder of id Software and CTO at Oculus VR (with the Oculus Rift), Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games, and Johan Andersson, Technical Director of Frostbite at EA DICE each spoke on how NVIDIA’s G-Sync was important in relatively general terms.”

G-Sync is a game changer, literally.

Bundles for Joy!

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origin, Call of Duty: Ghosts and Watch Dogs are some of hottest games of the upcoming holiday season, and they have all been infused with NVIDIA GameWorks technologies. To show off our hard work, if you buy a GeForce GTX Titan, 780 or 770 you receive Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origin, Splinter Cell Blacklist and $100 off an NVIDIA SHIELD. If you buy a GeForce GTX 760, 680, 670, 660 or 660 Ti you receive Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Splinter Cell Blacklist and $50 off an NVIDIA SHIELD.

Gaming is at our core. ‘The Way It’s Meant to Be Played’ Montreal showed the world that NVIDIA means business when it comes to games.

The Zombie Apocalypse is upon us: Dead Trigger 2 live on TegraZone

After much anticipation, the sequel to the ever-popular zombie shooter game Dead Trigger has arrived. This week, Dead Trigger 2 hit mobile devices with a splash – of the thirsty undead. Featured in TegraZone and optimized for Tegra 4 devices, the latest version of Dead Trigger will have you fighting for your life against a Zombie plague.

Cutting-edge graphics, including real time water reflections, dynamic vegetation and enhanced ragdoll effects are just the beginning. On SHIELD, this first-person zombie shooter game will leave you more than satisfied. Delve into an impressive stockpile of weapons and discover the best way for you to fight the undead. From story missions to global missions, this game won’t leave you hungry for more.

Don’t believe us? Hear what the press are saying:

“This game is one of a variety developed with NVIDIA Tegra 4 optimizations in the wild, mind you, so if you’re aiming for the best experience on an Android device, you may want to pick up the newest in new.”

“We actually got to play around with the game at E3 earlier this year, and must say, it plays oh so nicely on the Shield.”

“Dead Trigger 2 is arriving as a first person zombie shooter game that many have already come to love with the original release.”

“The first-person zombie shooter now looks better than ever with enhanced graphics, new weapons and more.”