Posts tagged with CES
Putting The Pieces In Place
Posted by Matt Skynner in 8:11 PM
(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Loading ...It’s an exciting time here at AMD with lots going on and even more of which to be proud.
Today, during our annual Financial Analyst Day, we announced that not only has AMD been named as an International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Awards recipient for the ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, but the product was also awarded one of the highest scores in the Computer Hardware product category, ever! This is a testament to the efforts of everyone at AMD who worked on the product, and to the vibrant community from which we derived many of the design decisions that make the ATI Radeon HD 5870 GPU so great, as David pointed out back in September.
In my mind, these trends and others signify that all of the pieces are lining up for AMD’s continued success. Since September we’ve worked diligently to introduce our next-generation graphics products with features like DirectX 11 game support, ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, and ATI Stream technology. With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series and ATI Radeon 5700 series, we’re thrilling our customers in the enthusiast and performance segments, and we’re on the cusp of bringing out something even better for those who crave the ultimate game experience. For months, we’ve all heard about and had an opportunity to test drive the latest and greatest operating system from Windows 7. Now it’s here for everyone. Already there are two DirectX 11 games on the market receiving rave reviews, with two more slated to hit store shelves in the next month or so, and more than a dozen scheduled to arrive next year. Now add to all of that a consumer buying appetite that, according to most, is trending upwards, mixed with the holiday buying season, and you can see why I think the chess board of the graphics industry is set up well for both AMD and consumers everywhere who stand to benefit from the great experiences AMD technology delivers.
I look forward to watching the endgame and see if I’m right in thinking we are on the cusp of something really amazing.
Matt Skynner is Vice President & General Manager, GPU Division at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Real-time Gaming from the Cloud
Posted by Ian McNaughton in 5:33 PM
Will we soon game from the Cloud?
While social media has been the “new shiny toy” for some time, attracting the headlines and the VC dollars as companies and individuals try to monetize this phenomenon, another, related subject may be about to thunder and lightning. Yes, I’m talking about the “Cloud”.
For this hardcore audience, my question is: “Can you game in real-time from the cloud?”
I spent some quality time this week with Charlie Boswell, the guru behind so many cool programs at AMD. Think OTOY, LucasFilm, the digital music recording Industry, and you quickly understand that Charlie has one of the best jobs at AMD in working with these customers and technology partners. Here’s our conversation:
Ian: Charlie, thanks for taking the time today, can you give us the background on our efforts at CES around demo’ing “gaming in the cloud”?
Charlie:
Hello Ian…I’m really pumped about this so I appreciate the chance to discuss. …..here’s the deal.
At this year’s CES AMD rolled out a demo that shows how our platform technology (CPU, GPU, combined with Direct Connect Architecture) is enabling fully interactive cloud gaming. Sounds cool but what exactly is that?
Cloud computing on AMD Fusion technology allows fully interactive game play from virtually any type of client over the Internet because the heavy lifting is being done “server side” in the cloud. The user logs on, clicks open a browser and then starts blasting away. No hours of game installation, no exotic authorization dances, just instant gratification and that’s why I’m excited. My team’s role at AMD is to ensure our technology removes barriers so the user can be about his/her task rather than the technology. That is the main story of cloud computing. Enough preaching but I had to let that fly because it’s a powerful look at a better future for gaming.
The CES demo consisted of an AMD Fusion Render Node (based on AMD “Dragon” platform technology PC platforms) that hosted an off-the-shelf version of EA’s amazing “Mercenaries II” served up via the Internet. The laptop powered by AMD technology was given a URL to click and Mercenararies-II fired up. Playback was full screen at 60 frames/sec (see the video on YouTube for yourself <link>).
How is this accomplished? Is it a parlour trick? Well, this is not easy to pull-off. Jules Urbach, the CEO of OTOY, is the wizard of GPGPU. The software that made this work is from his company. He is to the GPU what Robert Rodriguez (another artist who employs AMD technology) is to digital moviemaking.
Jules is a true innovator and someone who chose AMD because we have all the pieces to make this work. We are the only one-stop-shopping platform solution for cloud computing hardware. The OTOY software harnesses the full power of the AMD platform including CPU, GPU and our Direct Connect high bandwidth interconnect.
In short, the game source code unaltered is hosted on the AMD Fusion Render Cloud hardware and served up on the web via breathtaking OTOY compression technology made possible by the AMD combined platform power. The OTOY software allows multiple instances of a game to be hosted on the AMD Fusion Render node so the solution scales for all the right economic reasons such as energy efficiency, space, quiet operation, etc.
Ian: That technology seems very cool, how is it similar or different to OnLive?
Charlie:
Yes, after the CES announcement of the AMD Fusion Render Cloud with OTOY, OnLive announced their solution at GDC in March. I was thrilled to see their announcement because it was further validation of the space. Both OTOY and OnLive have their unique business models and architectures, but they are similar in that they both require a truly scalable enterprise class backend solution. Implementing a technique I call “Invasion of the Client Snatchers” where you simply connect up a single client machine in the cloud to a user won’t work. It’s not practical or adaptable. You’re just snatching the client from the user and housing it. The Cloud server must behave like a compute cluster and scale organically with the statistical behaviour of the Internet user traffic. It must adapt to available power and bandwidth. It must scale for energy efficiency. It must allow for extensibility. This is where the AMD Fusion Render Node comes into play. You can host multiple simultaneous users on these devices and cluster them in true enterprise class style. Anyway, it’s great to see more teams jumping in. We celebrate the free market because it’s good for the user. Cloud computing is happening and OnLive is another fantastic example.
Ian: TechCrunch had an article a week ago, where they highlighted a game character jumping from a monitor to a notebook while the game was being served from 400 miles away, can you explain the technology behind that?
Charlie:
This is OTOY’s server side rendering in action. The heavy computing, drawing, and encoding are happening server-side in the cloud through the magic of the OTOY architecture host on an AMD Fusion render node. The client is entirely browser based. The bandwidth and latency required for full on interactive game play is made possible by/through the OTOY codec architecture. The performance of this codec meets the “real-time” requirements for first person shooters. Enough said. The AMD Fusion Render Architecture is the scalable foundation that could make this practical, scalable, and deployable across the global Internet.
Ian: To take it a step further, TechCrunch was given an exclusive this week that showed off the AMD/OTOY technology at work on a cell phone! Is this the future of mainstream gaming?
Charlie:
As I said a few moments ago, the uniqueness of the OTOY approach is their ability to serve to a variety of client types: smart phones, PDA, thin client, etc., etc. This is a great proofpoint that the heavy lifting is all done server side on OTOY-AMD Fusion Render Cloud. This is one future for Cloud Computing…turn it on and play. You never get exposed to the seedy side of technology (drivers, installation, updates). All that stuff is under the street just like in Disneyland. This is the future I want….Walt Disney had this figured out a long time ago.
Ian: So, gaming in the cloud is real, when might we see availability?
Charlie:
Ian, you’re seeing some of the promise now. We expect that you’ll see implementations later this year and full-on deployments in 2010.
Ian: Thanks Charlie, one last question, What’s next?
Charlie:
Let me answer that loaded question first by stating the cloud offers the planet at least the hope of a better user experience. My cause celeb on the past 10 years has been to help lobby for a better user experience by shielding the artist from both the tech and its culture. Technology can be unbelievably needy. Example, “hey man, you forgot to load the latest driver or OS update.” I don’t want that ever even said in my presence. I reject that. That is an example of technology sitting on top of humanity. The cloud is going to help eliminate the entire culture that perpetuates useless complexity. The revolution is next because the users demand it. The revolution is next because the economics demand it. If you only market to the geeks, the numbers don’t work do they…..
Simply put and a great way to close out this blog. Feel free to comment, both Charlie and I will be actively monitoring the comments and replying.
Cheers!
Ian “Cabrtosr” McNaughton
Ian McNaughton is senior manager of advanced marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Cheers!
CES 09 Flashback: What made the Cabrtosr Cool List
Posted by Ian McNaughton in 2:18 AM
For anyone who hasn’t figured it out yet, I officially have the best job in the IT world. For those of you still unconvinced, just read this post.
Walked the floor with none other than Charlie from The Inq…
After I spent 4 solid days locked in a 10×10ft white room briefing journalists and analysts and after a grueling panel discussion @Digital Hollywood, I was finally freed to walk the show floor…
It just so happened that the infamous Charlie D notoriously known as the slayer of “Corporate Pirates”, the destroyer of “Marketing Fluff” and the wearer of “the coolest t-shirts” from The Inquirer was in the AMD press area and agreed to accompany me on my technology pilgrimage.
Set forth young men and wander…
First stop The Sands Convention Centre:
Charlie wearing a stylish pair of Vuzix 3D Glasses
We stopped by the Vuzix booth and took a look at their “3D glasses for gaming” to experience the difference between their glasses and the other 3D glasses at the show, I have to admit, playing CRYSIS with these glasses rocked…You feel like you are in the game, you are able to play games and watch movies at 16:9 widescreen aspect ratios. The model we tried was only 4ozs and had an amazing 11hr battery life. I think these products have a future with the gaming community.
Before we left The Sands, I ran into an old friend, I took a quick pic of him lazing away watching a movie in 3D.
Tarindar from Hexus.net chill’in @CES09
Next stop North Hall:
Had a quick stop @ Dolby and saw some really cool technology, they really know how to max out the audio experience, more on that in a separate blog.
Moving on we came across D-Box and saw some very cool racing simulators. I jumped in one of these and took it for a spin, wow what a heart pounding racing sim experience.
d-box D-Box and it’s "true to life" racecar cockpit
Side view of the Cockpit awesomeness
After our brush with greatness on the virtual track, we headed off to hunt down Thermaltake’s booth.
Thermaltake had an amazing amount of hardware and peripherals on display, I had to narrow down the really cool tech as they had so much, here are the two top products (IMO):
Dual slot external HDD
Thermaltake SpinQ – Mix between Art and Design
This SpinQ cooler is practically silent and it does have uniqueness about it in terms of design. Notice the shiny award behind it, the SpinQ won a covenanted innovations award for Design & Engineering, Congrats TT.
The next stop was iZ3D:
3D Monitors in all their glory
Now these guys are hardcore 3D gamers…I had no choice but to sit-down and experience MSFT FlightSim (RIP) in all its 3D glory.
Yes, your immediate assumptions is correct, I tried to crash the plane, but MSFT does not allow that anymore
Check out these guys, they have some interesting technology, both with glasses and in monitor. I had a blast playing FlightSim in 3D to be honest. No worries, these 3D monitors are regular monitors as well; just exit 3D mode and take off the cool shades and you are back in “normal” everyday business.
When we were @iZ3D there was a loud brouhaha happening right outside so Charlie and I had to check it out…to our amazement.
Welcome to Race Car Sim heaven - $40,000 of pure bliss
The guys next door were Simcraft they are the proud makers of REAL <not for us gamers> full-motion simulators. Three monitors, multiple hydraulics a lifelike roll cage and 100% adrenaline fed gaming bliss.
Neither Charlie nor I had the nerve to jump in this badboy (mostly because the line stretched on for 400ft) so we didn’t actually try it out, but based on the sheer massive amount of people in line to do a few laps I am convinced this is a winner.
Oh, did I mention they are priced around $40,000 USD and professional race car drivers practice in them?
Moving along:
Over @ the Creative booth, I ran into my old (me not him) pal Fata1ty showing off his new Creative usb headset for gaming, gotta get me one of those.
Also, I noticed a few outliers in their booth check these out:
"Wetter is Better" goes the tagline - The World's first desktop personal computer cooled by patented total liquid submersion - ReactorTM
“
This beast is a fully submerged PC, yes, fully submerged in LIQUID, patented LIQUID, but still liquid, imagine.
The TEAM ATI guys did this back in 2004 @ a LAN party in Dallas, but their chassis was a fishtank and the liquid was mineral oil, who knew it would be commercialized. Wow.
Also, in the creative booth, we saw this:
NEC CRVD-42WX Curved Display
As they say – A picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case, 10,000 words
AMD Dragon Platform was everywhere
The show was a success for us @ AMD, here are some highlights in case you missed all the media during the show:
- ATI RadeonTM Mobility 4-series GPUs
- Dragon platform and Phenom II
- Watch the Phenom II X4 940 set the world record 6.5GHz overclock using liquid helium!
- You say you want even more overclocking vids?
Watch Team Finland break 3DMark06 records with the Phenom II X4 overclocked on liquid nitrogen.
- HP Pavilion dv2 (which won Best Laptop of CES – Laptop Magazine)
- AMD’s CEO Dirk Meyer and Satjiv S. Chahil of HP introduce the New HP Pavilion dv2 Ultra Thin Notebook
- Tremendously successful keynote with CEO Dirk Meyer
See you next year!
Cheers!
Ian “Cabrtosr” McNaughton
Ian McNaughton is senior manager of advanced marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
3D Glasses for Gaming – Yup, no joke!
Posted by Ian McNaughton in 2:30 PM
“I’ll be back”…Look like a Terminator while gaming.
Earlier this month at CES I had the opportunity to check out active 3D glasses for gaming, and let me tell you I was skeptical. I said to myself “blue lens, red lens, so 70’s…” but I went to see them with an open mind. Funny thing, on my way I ran into Ryan Shrout and he was cool enough to check them out with me!
Ryan and I playing Left 4 Dead on a 73″ Mitsubishi HDTV
So here is the basic concept: You go buy a $300+ 120Hz monitor, a $199 pair of funky glasses with a transceiver, once you have this, you will be able to experience active 3D gaming (provided you have the right graphics card, driver and the game is supported).
I have to say, playing Left 4 Dead on a 73″ HDTV is an awesome experience, no 3D glasses required for a great gaming gorging.
On to donning the glasses and entering the 3D ZONE:
My initial thoughts were that this technology would make most people’s stomachs very queasy. Not the case for Ryan and I and he did some testing at a local Best Buy and it didn’t seem to be the case for most people either.
First issue – Non issue.
My second concern was that it would destroy the game play. Well, I honestly can’t say this was the case either, while the experience didn’t knock me off my feet and make me want to go buy a pair, I was impressed with the gore and guts flying past my head in Left 4 Dead.
Second issue – Not sold yet, but not a show stopper.
The third concern I had was with pricing, is the experience really worth an upfront investment of $450+?
Well, read Ryan’s story for more background and you be the judge.
I do still feel that this technology (while exhibited all over CES09) is still not ready for primetime, but I want to know your opinions too.
Is this 3D Gaming technology ready for the consumers living room and does it have enough wind in its sails to be successful in a down economy? I for one don’t think so, but you be the judge. What are your thoughts?
EDIT: If you read Italian, you might enjoy this detailed review from Hardware Upgrade…or skip to the end and see the results on frame rates.
Cheers!
Ian “Cabrtosr” McNaughton
Ian McNaughton is senior manager of advanced marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
The Tale of the Terminator Twins
Posted by Ian McNaughton in 12:02 PM
The females of the species are more fraggish than the male.
It starts with “smack-talk.” Think of it as belittling and goading your opponent hip-hop-style, complete with undulating arms and pointing fingers. Originating on sports playing fields, smack-talk moved to online MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) arenas. Today, smack-talk is actively practiced by corporate types. And nothing is more amusing then corporate smack-talkers who publicly deride their competitor, then get punted in the gluteus maximus shortly afterward – by the very competitor they dissed and underestimated.
Of course, this is exactly what happened when smack-talkers from one of our competitors underestimated AMD a few months ago. Which is also why I try to avoid careless smack-talk and underestimating opponents when attending gaming events. However, I recall one instance when I did not – and the humiliation still reddens my cheeks today.
I was attending a LAN gaming event in Dallas setting up a graphics product launch promotion, when a startlingly beautiful young woman named Amy was introduced to me. She looked sweet, innocent, and nice, and had an unassuming manner that would put anybody at ease. It must have been something I said, because Amy declared she could beat me at any game, and punched my arm as hard as a man my size.
I am 6 feet tall and weigh-in at 290lbs, I played O-line, prop and lock in rugby, and actively compete in the Highland Games (hence the Cabrtosr sig). I also hold my own with fairly good PC gamers. I expressed my disbelief at Amy’s challenge, and broke up laughing. No way this girl could whip me. She must be joking. Unfortunately, she was not.
She was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Amy beat me in Quake like I have never experienced before – even worse than when I played Jonathon (Fatal1ty). I literally fled to my hotel room afterward, worried that she might actually follow-up the pummeling by beating me at arm-wrestling or something. I saw Amy again a couple of years later at CES 2007, and sheepishly greeted her because I was still smarting from our last encounter. I was shocked when she informed me that she was “Amber” and that Amy was her twin sister. THERE WERE TWO OF THEM – and both specialized in fraggishly humiliating unsuspecting male gamers.
I tried to avoid Amy and Amber like the plague, but they finally caught me at Blizzcon 2008 in Paris. Suffice to say I lost to both in Quake 3, Guitar Hero, flipping for cash, picking numbers behind your back, hopscotch – you name it, they beat me in it. So, be warned. If you encounter them at a gaming event, you had better be wary of their superior gaming skills. If you tempt fate or engage in cocky smack-talk, I guarantee that Amy and Amber will give you the world’s worst wedgie!
Check out the Frag Dolls and PMSClan for more info on Amy and Amber – two of the most talented PC gamers on the planet, and wicked-scary to watch in action. One last thing, Amy and Amber are also auditioning for a gaming-oriented reality series – so stay tuned.
Cheers!
Ian “Cabrtosr” McNaughton
Ian McNaughton is senior manager of product and platform marketing EMEA at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.