Nintendo + Intel will be the killer next generation combo.

[Squilliam]

mai said:

Squilliam said:

Why would Nintendo want this? For one it visually differentiates their console from the other two if they still use traditional raster methods of graphical rendering. Secondly it lowers production cost and simplifies the production of their games whilst producing higher quality images and thirdly Nintendo has always been more concerned about producing visually pleasing art work but they have never cared for reproducing realistic images in their games so they need not be concerned about whether their games stand up to a side by side technical teardown. Ray tracing may not give them the same visual complexity but it will make their games more visually pleasing which suits Nintendo of all companies pretty well.

Though I'm not a specialist on that matter, just commenting on the "differentiation" point. They've already differentiate themselves with the Wii, though that was a decision that paved the way to success for them, at the same time it made their relationship with 3rd parties rather complex. Most of them were unable to heavily capitalize on the Wii utilizing the new values the machine has to offer in vein of best-selling Nintendo games, struggling with traditional developement paradigma. If as you say ray-tracing won't create realistic images*, what do you think, how would this kind of technology impact 3rd parties, when they'll unable to create 'realistic' games, in which they made biggest investment? For them Nintendo only creating obstacles on their way.

*I didn't not really get why you labeled ray-tracing as unrealistic, or did you mean unrealistic at this point? Or I just misunderstood you?

Its an extension to their current visual style. From what I can tell their games tend to be very shader heavy and they don't rely on textures as much as other developers to make their visual look. Raytracing is simply an extension to that style and it fits in with making natural looking but stylistic games whilst minimising development costs relative to conventional rendering as much as possible. This is in contrast to other developers who are looking to make realistic looking games which expensive models/textures to replicate the look of the real world.

This is a raytraced image:

Its not about making realistic/unrealistic games. Its more about controlling development costs and ray-tracing supports this ideal at the cost of computational performance. The reason why I suggest this is a way to reconcile their values with the progression of computer performance in a way which satisfies both the ideal of improved presentation whilst keeping costs relatively constrained. Third parties would not be lacking performance to do the style of games they want to create, a next generation Wii will likely have more performance than both the Xbox 360 and PS3 combined at the floor of the cost/benefit ratio.