1	Next Level Technological development in computer gaming Dr. Mike Froggatt Sony Computer Entertainment Cambridge Studio
2	Introduction Where have we come from? History of consoles over last decade How did we get where we are today? Technological driving factors Where are we going in the future? Developments in software and hardware Challenges to be overcome
3	We’ve come a long way …
4	Hardware Generations
5	CPU Evolution
6	CPU Evolution Megadrive Motorola 68000 (1979) 68000 transistors PlayStation MIPS R3000 (1987) Custom 3D geometry coprocessor PlayStation 2 128 bit “Emotion Engine” (MIPS III/IV) Integrated vector coprocessors 10.5 million transistors
7	Graphics Evolution
8	Graphics Evolution Super Nintendo DMA-driven sprite/background processor Hardware background scaling/rotation PlayStation Fixed function display list processor PlayStation 2 Programmable geometry display list Embedded display memory Newest PC graphics cards >100 million transistors
9	System design is key
10	Media Evolution Mask programmed ROM cartridges Limits on maximum capacity (64 Mbit) Long lead times for production Archaeologists will dig them up 1000 years from now! CD-ROM 650 MB capacity (then multiple discs…) Extensive manufacturing infrastructure DVD-ROM 9 GB capacity (per side) Still heading for multi-disc titles
11	Software Evolution Pure assembly language No libraries or operating system Very little code re-use Programming to the “bare metal” C and assembly language System libraries and minimal O/S Some code re-use C++/C and assembly language Extensive system libraries Middleware for graphics, physics and networking Engine re-use essential
12	Tool Evolution No standard tools In-house developed editors Commercial packages for art (DPaint) Adapt industry-standard tools Alias PowerAnimator for modelling Custom tools for world/game editing Standard tools adapt to games industry Extend Maya via plugins All 3D editing done with single package
13	Relative to the PC … 16 bit generation Well behind technology curve 32/64 bit generation Somewhat behind curve (graphics better) 128 bit generation On the curve, or much better (graphics) The next generation?
14	Harnessing the Power Very high computational performance PS2 delivers 6.2 GFLOPs (Cray Y-MP!) Memory performance also increasing But not as much as compute performance 30x bandwidth increase from PSone to PS2 Latency becoming ever more problematic Need efficient software techniques Work smart, not hard!
15	Subdivision Surfaces Work from a polygonal mesh Create new vertices as a weighted sum of existing vertices Repeat process recursively to generate smooth surface Many different schemes available Advantages: Similar to editing a polygonal model No problems with defining sharp edges Avoids problems with texture-mapping
16	Subdivision Example
17	Depth of Field Typically 3D games are perfectly in focus at all distances Mimicking depth of field of an actual lens can provide increased realism Accurate simulation is hard Acceptable cheat is to blur and blend image with itself at different distances from camera
18	Depth of Field Example
19	The Broadband Horizon Already available for PS2 in US/Japan SOCOM has shipped 400K units 175K regular online players European roll-out in 2003 Spring in UK Elsewhere to follow Trials going on at this very moment
20	Broadband Development Everyone is using middleware R-Time for PS2 Scalable for: PS2 to PS2 over iLink LAN play Internet gaming Massively multiplayer? Why would you want to do that?
21	Broadband Services Implementation Closed shop Open shop But it still isn’t fast enough Full product download is not practical Users will still need to buy discs Should we be looking at Korea? 20 Mb/s to the home by 2005
22	Future Challenges
23	Better Hardware Faster maths Needed for geometry, physics, A.I. Faster graphics More programmability at pixel and vertex level Faster chips CMOS-10S (SOI, Cu interconnect, low-k dielectrics) Faster memory Can we get another 30x? Rambus Yellowstone Performance target for PS3 is 1000 times PS2! Is aggressive parallelism the key?
24	Rarest console on earth? Experiment in parallel processing Sixteen enhanced PS2s connected together Peak performance: 1.2 billion polygon/s, 38.4 billion pixels/s Still not fast enough for some people!
25	Better Software Compilers to target parallel systems Coarse or fine-grained parallelism Programming languages for graphics High-level shading languages on the way OpenGL 2, DirectX 9, VectorC Tools for art and graphics Support the techniques we are using Shading languages, subdivision surfaces… Project management (code/data/staff) Everything is getting bigger!
26	What the future holds …
27	This is state of the art now …
28	Imagine the future!