Nvidia’s showcase of their new Ampere range of graphics card sounds fantastic, and the tech demo wherein the company lost their digital marbles sure did look pretty. Having real-time lighting effects applied to glorious ceramic spheres as they tumble down a Rube Gooldberg-designed path gets me hot under the collar, yo.
But what does all this fancy new technology mean for the games that will support it? How good will they really be, considering how the bar has been raised tremendously high in recent years? It’ll be up to studios and companies to develop games that can take advantage of the tools given to them, and with software such as the latest Unreal Engine having the potential to create visuals that finally bridge the uncanny valley gap, the hardware needs to be up to task.
There’s a symbiotic partnership at play here, that not many studios will be capable of reaching. Cyberpunk 2077 on the other hand, looks like it has easily achieved the blending of the softest and hardest of wares together:
That’s some pretty impressive visuals right there! As the hardware has evolved over the years, lighting has become a key part in making games look more realistic, and Ray Tracing has emerged as the golden goose to chase after in that sphere. Cyberpunk 2077 was always going to be a graphically intense game, but its dystopian elements look that much better with Ray Tracing’s talent for rendering more realistic effects, environments, and objects.
If you can afford the technology that is. Until then, feel free to gawk at the newest kit that Nvidia trotted out last night, which includes an affordable new GPU, a Christmas bonus-priced middle child and a “do I really need these organs” flagship.
Last Updated: September 2, 2020
