NVIDIA Achieves the Holy Grail of Computer Gaming Graphics

On Monday at the Game Developers Conference 2018, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) announced RTX, a ray-tracing technology for real-time rendering, which will enable developers to achieve cinematic-quality in their video games. The graphics processing unit (GPU) specialist also announced its partnership with Microsoft for DirectX Raytracing.

This is a huge achievement -- and yet another reason to buy NVIDIA stock -- as ray tracing in real time has long been considered the Holy Grail among the computer gaming industry.

Here's what you should know.

NVIDIA RTX and the Microsoft partnership

NVIDIA RTX consists of a scalable ray-tracing technology running on Volta, NVIDIA's newest GPU architecture. The company partnered with Microsoft to enable full RTX support for applications that use Microsoft's new DirectX Raytracing (DXR) API, an industry-standard platform. NVIDIA's GameWorks software development kit (SDK) will add a ray-tracing denoiser module, enabling developers to take advantage of the new real-time rendering capabilities.

Ray tracing is a method for producing visual images within 3D computer graphics environments with more realism than traditional rendering techniques. The technology enables the production of lifelike lighting, reflections, shadows, and such. Ray tracing has been used for many years to pre-render scenes in movies. But until now, it's been "too computationally demanding to be practical for real-time, interactive gaming," according to NVIDIA.

Volta changed that. The GPU architecture, which launched last year in select products, such as NVIDIA's Tesla GPUs for data center, is much more powerful than predecessor Pascal. It allows ray tracing to tackle the massive computational loads associated with real-time rendering. Along with its advances in GPU architectures, NVIDIA also credited its progress in computer graphics algorithms for enabling it to develop RTX, a technology it's been working on for 10 years.

RTX should rev up NVIDIA's already strong gaming-related growth

NVIDIA stands to profit from its RTX technology as game developers adopt the technology to increase the realism of their video games. Higher-quality games, in turn, should rev up the already booming gaming market. Game market researcher Newzoo forecasts that the global video-game market generated revenue of $16.1 billion in 2017, up 10.7% from 2016, and projects that it will hit $143.5 billion by 2020, which translates to a 7.3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Moreover, there's good reason to believe that growth will exceed this estimate, as Newzoo significantly revised upwards its 2017 forecast near the end of the year. 

NVIDIA has been profiting handsomely from gaming's growth. In its fiscal-year 2018, the company's gaming market platform -- which sells GeForce graphics cards to PC gamers -- generated revenue of $5.5 billion, a 36% jump from the prior year, and accounting for 57% of its total revenue of $9.7 billion. The company's professional visualization platform also benefits from the growth in gaming, as this business sells Quadro GPUs to game developers, among others. In fiscal 2018, this platform's revenue grew 12% to $934 million, comprising nearly 19% of total revenue.

Management has said that gaming's main growth drivers include the rising popularity of esports, the increasing quality of video-game content, the sharing of game experiences on social media, and faster internet connections around the globe.

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Scottish computer game firms treble in just five years

The number of video games companies in Scotland has trebled from 35 in 2011 to 105 in 2017, with the combined turnover increasing from £36.9m in 2011 to £115.7m by 2015, figures released by the SNP show.

The party said support from government body Scottish Enterprise has underpinned the growth in the sector.

In an answer to a parliamentary question submitted by SNP MSP Ash Denham, Fiona Hyslop said Scottish Enterprise had invested £11.5m in 38 video game companies over the five years since 2011.

Ms Denham said: "Scotland's video games sector has been booming, with just a handful of firms when the SNP came into office growing into more than a hundred now.

"This sector offers high quality jobs and exports around the world - with Rockstar North in particular a global brand.

"Support from Scottish Enterprise has underpinned the growth in this sector as part of our wider efforts to grow domestic businesses and increase exports - with latest figures showing Scottish exports rising faster than the rest of the UK.

"To build on that success, it's essential that Scotland remains in the world's largest single market after Brexit."

The Struggle To Cram Game Of Thrones Inside A Video Game

It's not for want of trying. We've had three notable releases based on the series: a bad RTS, an average action game and an adventure series that was...fine. Nothing has come close to making the same impact on games as George R.R. Martin's saga has on other media, though.

To date, the best Game of Thrones video game experience hasn't been a standalone release at all, but a mod (casually known as AGOT) for Paradox's excellent Crusader Kings II, a PC strategy game that's as much about sex and intrigue as it is conquering armies.

CKII is notorious for its scope and detail, as players are able to fill the boots of any one of thousands of European nobles over a 700-year period. Between that and the tone you can see why the two properties are a good match.

And yet not even CKII has been able to contain the universe of Game of Thrones, whose epic journeys, warring factions and deep lore have been challenging the AGOT team for years now.

To get an idea of the struggles involved in trying to cram Martin's universe into a video game, I spoke with Matthew Clohessy, a man who has been on both side's of the project, first as a member of AGOT's core development team, and now as an employee of Paradox, the creators of Crusader Kings II.

"My role throughout most of AGOT's development has been general scripting and the implementation of various fun stuff that you see whenever you play", Clohessy tells Kotaku.

"In essence any decision you can click, event that pops up or piece of history that makes all the start dates lore accurate are things that there is a decent chance I have touched at some point or another whether it is implementing them, bug fixes or just a minor tweaks."

Clohessy worked on AGOT from 2013 until earlier this year, when he left the team to take part in an internship with Paradox while helping out on Jade Dragon, Crusader Kings II's latest big expansion. He's since moved from the UK to Sweden to take up a fulltime position at Paradox, where his experience with Westeros and CKII is being put to use as a Content Designer for the studio.

While we could have chatted about how amazing AGOT is, I've done that enough on this site, so instead I wanted to learn more about the ways in which Westeros couldn't be contained, even by a game that allows everything from Aztec invasions of Britain to incest to Horse Lords of Rome.

What have been the hardest things the AGOT team have had to try and stuff into Crusader Kings II's framework?

I would have to say one of the harder things in general is forcing certain characters to do things, like ensuring the members of the Kingsguard are always around the King. Same with the Night's Watch, it is playable, however it has many maintenance events to keep it working as the Night's Watch does in the lore, as the aim of CK2 has always been a dynastic game, and the Night's Watch does not care about dynasties when they elect their rulers.

The unique war system in the mod is also tricky, as it lets all the vassal lords become independent so as to choose sides, in a similar way to the War of the Five Kings. Once war ends the lords need to be remade into a vassal of their original lord, and sometimes that can go wrong.

Also the general tendency of characters to die a lot, be it through the player killing them or just randomness in the game, can break certain event chains. But that is also part of the fun, seeing what funny and interesting scenarios happen when a certain character dies and who rules what!

What are some of the compromises AGOT had to make when trying to carry ASOIAF's tone, history and themes into CKII?
There are some balance compromises that had to be made so that certain regions were not extremely strong compared to all the others.

We still do not have it perfect as some regions like Dorne -- who in the book's history managed to survive Aegon the Conquer's invasion with three dragons -- really struggles to do the same in AGOT, as there is no good way to model guerrilla warfare through the game's mechanics, so instead we had to try and buff them in other ways. But they are still easily defeated.

Other regions that are weaker as well include the Iron Isles, as there is no ship-to-ship combat in the game, so they have lots of ships but not many troops to actually ferry around with them.

The Wildlings are also a struggle to model accurately because they are extremely weak within the game's framework, as they are made up of very small lordships. If you do end up conquering them they have lots of revolts to free themselves, but these revolts have to be artificially increased in power so they are not just 300 men standing no chance against the Iron Throne.

How did you approach weaving the backstory of Westeros into the mod's starting points?
When placing the Lords and the titles they hold we always try to be as accurate as possible, but sometimes we have to switch things around to fit the mechanics of the game, or just to not make it ridiculously unbalanced to play. For example the Reach should have more troops than they actually do, but they already have a huge amount, so giving them even more diminishes some of the enjoyment from fighting against them.

Of course there are some errors here and there, or guesses we made about certain things that then had to be updated as more information was released, with the official World of Ice and Fire book (released in 2014) being a prime example, as it shed light on many historical areas of the lore that we had previously made guesses on, or gave us information about the far off lands of Essos and what unique cultures and religions they have.

Suspected Swedish assault was just a man playing a computer game

A man in northern Sweden was paid a visit by police on Sunday who had been called to his apartment because worried neighbours thought a violent assault was taking place.

But when officers arrived, it turned out the man was simply engrossed in a loud computer game.

"The person who reported it had heard banging, screaming and loud swearing and thought that someone was being assaulted in the apartment," Swedish police communications officer Börje Öhman told broadcaster SVT.

According to the police, the man did not appreciate the visit and it made him angry. He was then instructed to turn down the volume before they left.

Despite the mix-up, police said it was right for the neighbour to sound the alarm:

"It sounded like a case where someone was being hurt. This time it wasn't, but it's really good that it was called in because it could have bee something serious".

Are computer games a teacher's friend or enemy?

In 1995 the Danish game "Pixeline" appeared in the book stores. The colourful product promised parents a computer game that would help small children to learn in a fun and contemporary way.

Just a couple of years earlier, two of the USA's largest computer console manufacturers, Sega and Nintendo, sat before the US Senate to fend off complaints that video games were harmful. So harmful in fact that the state ought to control their distribution.

These two events occurred at a time when every home has a computer and highlights the underlining narrative: Games have a strong psychological impact on us.

How did games become so popular so quickly?
Here in Denmark the recent rise in popularity of video games in learning coincides with the success of the Danish electronic-sports team, Astralis. The team took part in an international competition for the popular video game "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" and quickly gained widespread popularity.

Soon after, schools, local municipalities, and parents started to initiate their own "e-sports clubs" and increasingly look to include games in their teaching activities. The logic in this movement is to allow adults and educators to edge into an otherwise invisible screen-based subculture from which we have hereto been largely excluded.

But using games as part of the learning process goes back thousands of years or more: From jousting with blunt lances to flight simulators, Bishops using dice games to teach bible verses, and classroom activities based on games like Global Conflict, Portal and Minecraft.

Pedagogy vs. moral panic
Cultural history shows us how fear of popular new trends is often interwoven with society's concerns of the day. In the 1930s, cartoons went through the wringer, where as today we are concerned about putting iPads in the hands of young children. Back then people were broadly concerned about moral decline and youth loitering. By 2010 parents and schools were engaged in a moral discourse around weakening concentration and "grit".

A part of this pattern, however, is the appropriation of new media for "worthy causes". Some began to see comics as a legitimate artistic form of expression and a potential learning tool. And Doctors and psychologists came out on both sides of the discussion.

The pattern is recognisable: Children and adolescents take up a new media that becomes associated with the cultural fear of the time, such as moral decay of society or a rise in violent behaviour.

Fear travels faster than cautious scientific research, fired up by scientific sounding words, such as 'dopamine', 'algorithms' or 'dependence.' What makes this confusing is usually that public fears of comics, games and now small screens are typically exaggerated.

Yet they often rest on some kernel of truth. For example. from  less spectacular scientific studies, and/or genuinely disturbing cases such as the Columbine Massacre in the US, which was unequivocally intertwined with murder fantasies expressed though the game Doom as well as other more causally salient factors in the two perpetrators' lives. Often this is strongly exacerbated by popular pundits, and the fact that the media love nothing more than a good moral panic.

But even so, there are some things that we can be sure of: Games do have an impact on us, game developers are finding new ways to separate us from our cash by, for example, designing games for cell phones, gamers themselves are taking up teaching, and computers are now ubiquitous.

Even if school teachers do not use games themselves in their teaching, children are certainly using them. For some, it becomes a lifestyle and this is why we need to have gaming education.

Where there is doubt, there is freedom
Most children will get something our of a computer game. If they dedicate enough time to a subject or an activity, they will probably learn something in the end.

But it is the teacher's leadership of the interaction between impressions from the game and everything else in the school curriculum that predicts whether a class leaves the computer lab either having had just a jolly old time, or genuinely having gained a transformative learning experience.

All teachers are familiar with eye-rolling students demanding us to "give the correct answer" right in the middle of our best attempt at establishing a good debate—especially close to exam time. But with games it is different.

In a game, we are all ignorant and fallible—the teachers just as much so as the students. We do not know what waits around the next corner. We do not know all of the avenues of thought or strategies. No one is an expert in a new game, not even the teacher. "Ubi dubium ibi libertas"--Where there is doubt, there is freedom.

Game-based learning should be an ongoing dialogue between the class, teacher, and the game. In this context, lack of knowledge and the challenge of learning is shared and genuine, and we cannot progress without actively solving a problem.

This is what makes a game so alluring. And the educational value of such a game can be elevated by both psychology and education.

Creating a new Nordic Game Pedagogy thus equally involves becoming literate and pedagogical about the games that are already in children's lives, and leveraging the psychological and cognitive powers of those games for pedagogical purposes.