14 DAY TRIAL // The iPhone, Apple's entrance in the world of mobiles and handhelds, is one of the world's most popular devices, having already reached its 3rd generation. Crysis is also one of the most popular products in its category, being considered a benchmark for new computer hardware, due to its strong visual requirements. On that note, the two products have recently come together as part of an AMD demonstration that has been intended to provide the audience with a perspective on how much power its next-generation GPU architecture is going to deliver. To be more exact, AMD's upcoming DirectX 11 graphics cards have been used to demonstrate how Crysis can run on Apple's iPhone.
According to a recent news article on Ars Technica, the Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker has recently held a press event, showcasing some of the performance capabilities of its next-generation GPUs, the much-anticipated Radeon HD 5800-series. The chip maker has been accompanied by a series of software partners, among which there has been OTOY, a company that has demoed Crysis running on the iPhone.
As a quick reminder, AMD's next-generation GPUs are expected to provide users with a considerable number of new features, including the capability to deliver 2.5 teraFLOPS of floating-point power. In addition, the new card will boast AMD's new 40nm manufacturing technology and provide users with support for Microsoft's upcoming DirectX 11 API. The new generation will also sport double the stream processors of current cards and is expected to provide users with a significant boost of performance, especially when dealing with high-end applications.
As far as OTOY's demonstration of Crysis running on the iPhone is concerned, you should know that the technique is implemented by initially rendering the game on a server machine, while OTOY's software solution grabs frames from the game. These frames are then compressed and sent out over the network to the client, in this case the iPhone, where a small code is used to decompress them on it.
Apparently, AMD has big hopes for this solution, as it can sell its GPUs to potential render farms, which will earn money through users' subscriptions. Unfortunately, it's too early to say when such applications will be made available to the consumers. The technology could enable gaming users to spend less on their gaming system, while enjoying a level of gaming experience close to that that can be achieved on today's high-end gaming PCs.
As far as game developers are concerned, the technology will enable them to deal with problems such as piracy, while also eliminating the support costs.