Mobile Graphics to Surpass Xbox 360 Quality by 2014

Anyone can attest just how fast the mobile devices evolution has been in the past couple of years. From modest single-core CPUs to powerful quad-core CPUs, and from low-resolution screens to tablets that have higher resolution than most desktop high-definition monitors.

Nvidia decided to put that into perspective, by showings us a graph of graphic evolution in PC, consoles and mobiles... and where we can see that by 2014, mobile GPUs should surpass the graphic power of the current generation of consoles.

Sure, by then we'll most likely be already playing on the next generation of game consoles by Microsoft and Sony, with even more powerful graphic capabilities... But give the evolution rate, within a few more years, they're likely to catch up again.

[via anandtech]

Multicore 3D Animation

Now that multicore CPUs with 4 and 8 cores are getting popular (and 16 and 32 cores will soon follow) its time we start using it to its full potential.

Intel has been hard at work trying to improve gamers experience. Why should your multicore CPU spend most of its time idling when it could be put to good use improving the scenery (for example)?

That what you can see in these Intel Demos (with full source-code.)

For instance, if you try their Horses demo in a dual-core CPU, you might get 235 horses running around the plains.

But if you run it in an 8 core i7, you'll see nearly 600 horses running around.

And the same thing can be done with particle systems as shown in this "Smoke" demo: