Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 733 2.5D Technology Officially Commercialized

One thing that must be pointed out is that in terms of hardware, the third generation of Xiaobawang game console has another feature, that is, in addition to cassettes, the game software carrier has begun to fully support CD-ROM.

The benefits of such improvements, in addition to the advantages of reducing the cost of game software carriers and increasing capacity from the increasingly mature CD-ROM technology, can further prevent piracy.

The 1979-bit console that was released on Christmas Eve in 8 - the first generation of Xiaobawang game consoles. So far, the total sales volume has exceeded 4400 million units. It is currently the best-selling game console in the world, but it is also the game platform most affected by piracy. , although it has been continuously optimized, the 8-bit architecture is really difficult to resist the cracking attack of one foot high and one foot high.

After the collapse of the North American home video game console market in 1983, the ups and downs of the 16-bit console has begun to make a strong recovery in the past two years - the second-generation Overlord game console. The current total sales volume is about 2500 million units, slightly Ahead of the Atari 2600, which has been thrown into the trash can of history, it has become the second best-selling game console in the world.

Due to the addition of specialized chips to the 16-bit architecture, this platform is far less susceptible to piracy than the previous generation of Subaru game consoles. The huge profits contributed by game software can easily make up for the shortfall in console hardware sales.

Obviously, the 32-bit architecture has brought more powerful performance to the three generations of Xiaobawang game consoles, and the ability to resist technical cracking has also improved.

At the same time, the game discs used by the third-generation Xiaobawang game consoles adopt the CD-ROM/XA specification expanded on the basis of CD-ROM, which strengthens the support for multimedia data such as audio and video, and also provides invisibly Larger data encryption space.

最终，三代小霸王游戏机样机呈献给众人的硬件规格为：CPU采用了运行频率达到40MHz的RISC微处理器Holder；主内存2MB；图形处理器源于哲儒2D加速技术；视频缓存1MB；音频处理器支持CD音乐的16bitPCM编码和44.1kHz采样率；音频缓存512KB；可读取CD、VCD、CD-ROM/XA规格盘片的CD-ROM驱动器，缓存32KB；存储操作系统的512KB闪存或者EEPROM。

Due to Zheru's leadership in semiconductor technology, the power consumption of the third-generation Xiaobawang game console will not exceed 11 watts at most, and the weight will be around 2 kilograms.

In addition, the third-generation Xiaobawang game console also has a wealth of peripheral support. In addition to conventional equipment such as handles, it can also connect to the Internet through a modem to obtain value-added service content from the EA community.

However, these are not the key points that Tang Huan wants to elaborate—the brand-new third-generation Xiaobawang game console platform will lead to a new method of technical implementation.

"For a long time, the game industry has dreamed of realizing the three-dimensional effect of the real world in the virtual world, but it suffers from the lack of sufficient hardware computing performance to meet the needs of processing the massive data involved. Can we just wait for the hardware The day when the specifications are developed step by step to a sufficient level?" Tang Huan said while putting a game disc into the CD-ROM drive of the third-generation Xiaobawang game console.

"In fact, everyone should see that the development of computer 2D acceleration technology has made a qualitative leap in recent years. Using our infinite creativity, we may not be able to find a compromise solution on this basis."

"Now, in front of everyone, I'm going to play a game specially developed for the third-generation Xiaobawang game console platform - "German Headquarters 3D."

"Some people may have already realized that, compared to the previous two versions of "Wolfenstein" and "Beyond Wolfenstein", this version will be somewhat related to 3D technology."

Speaking of which, Tang Huan deliberately shook the handle in his hand to show off that he was so flexible that he belonged to an experienced player, which caused everyone in the audience to laugh.

"Everyone noticed, in this game, the player shoots the target from the first perspective, and when interacting with the environment, it can better reflect the much-anticipated 3D effect." Tang Huan controlled the character to stop at a A safe place, and then switched directions to conduct enemy reconnaissance, in order to show the three-dimensional sense of space similar to the real world, which also attracted a burst of surprise and admiration from the audience.

"Did you find any problems?" After Tang Huan asked with a smile, before everyone who scratched their heads could answer, he continued: "Our perspective can only switch from front to back, from left to right, and not from up to down. All walls can only have 90-degree angles between each other."

Amidst the discussion that "this is not true 3D yet", Tang Huan nodded and said: "The game engine of "Wolfenstein 3D" uses the calculation method of ray casting. That is, a ray is drawn on each row of pixels to check whether there is any contact with the wall. Intersection. Then use this to determine the depth of each graphic. Although it still cannot achieve a true 3D effect, it can greatly reduce the amount of data calculation and obtain a further 3D-like experience."

Tang Huan waved his hand vigorously, "We call this set of technology implementation 2.5D, as a transition and compromise in the difficult development process from 2D to 3D. As you have seen, the "German Headquarters 3D" The effect is quite amazing. I believe that in 2.5D, we can continue to find more ingenious ways to achieve more realistic 3D-like effects to meet the needs of players.”

To put it simply, 2.5D that provides a limited three-dimensional angle is to use a clever method to deceive people's vision. The specific implementation method involves a concept in computer graphics-Sprite, which is the pattern utilization of sprites.

Sprites refer to two-dimensional images or animations contained in the scene, which are more used for characters and movable objects in games, and can also be used to display mouse pointers and input text.If the size of the movable object on the screen is larger than one sprite, it can also be scaled and spliced ​​by several sprites.

With the rise of arcade machines in the mid-1970s, sprite technology was widely used. Intel and AMD’s semiconductor industry counterparts, Signitics, took advantage of the situation to design and manufacture the first graphics processor that supports sprite graphics, and for Ya Dali provides some components.

However, the first time the word "elf" appeared as a graphics term was on Texas Instruments' 9918(A) video display processor.

The reason why "sprite" is used as a term to describe this concept is because the sprite is not part of the bitmap data in the frame buffer, but "suspended" above the data in the frame buffer, without affecting the data in it. , like ghosts and elves.

When the Atari 2600 was launched on the market in 1977, a major selling point was that the hardware supported sprite technology, which allowed five graphic objects to move independently in the game scene at the same time.

As a result, when the marketing strategy was right, the Atari 2600 suddenly became popular and became the best-selling home video game console before Tang Huan's Xiaobawang game console appeared.

More than ten years have passed, and computer technology has undergone earth-shaking developments and changes. It is completely possible to use 2D sprites to simulate a 3D environment.

Of course, the implementation of this set of technologies is somewhat complicated and obscure. In the specific game development process, companies with average technical strength may not be able to truly master and apply them.

……

As Tang Huan, who has always been busy with affairs, rarely participated in the whole process, the attention of this Confucianism Developers Conference was unprecedentedly high, and all people in the industry stared wide-eyed, hoping to find new business opportunities from this ecosystem, and the result was natural. It is also rewarding.

Take the third generation of Xiaobawang game consoles as an example. With the sales performance of the first two generations of products, it will definitely not be bad. There will be a large number of responders, and the new platform means new opportunities, especially 2.5D technology. The official appearance of the , may even bring about a reshuffle of industry rules.

It is entirely conceivable that when the third generation of Xiaobawang game consoles are sharpening their knives and will enter the market within this year, other game console manufacturers are facing a big enemy, and they begin to nervously analyze the information collected from the Philosophy and Confucianism Developer Conference. They all wailed loudly with ugly faces-the two thresholds of hardware specifications and 2.5D technology could not be crossed at all.Perhaps, only NEC, as well as Nintendo, which has been cooperating with Mitsubishi and secretly cooperating with Sony, can find a breakthrough through a strong alliance.

On the other hand, with the introduction of more details about the graphical user interface operating system studioOS1988, especially the strong support for network applications, those with a keen sense of smell have realized that the prospect of the Internet is inestimable.

In the United States, in addition to telecommunications companies like Pacific Telecom controlled by Tang Huan, who are actively providing data services on the basis of the public telephone network, there are also operators such as Turner Broadcasting Company that have sufficient cable network resources in their hands. , trying to use its own cable TV network to provide Internet access services.

More importantly, while many commercial companies are preparing for the rainy day, the official level is also sparing no effort to promote. Starting in 1986, the National Science Foundation of the United States established the backbone network to provide interconnection between universities - NSFNET, and then Greatly increased the number of Internet users.

Others may not be able to clearly feel the rapid changes in the fundamentals of the Internet, but Tang Huan has clear data to prove it. For example, the sales of his router products have increased significantly with the demand for Internet access.

All these signs urged Tang Huan, who had just ended the dispute over personal computer standards, to start paying more attention to the Internet that was about to explode.

……

At this year's Confucianism Developers Conference, there were some interesting scenes captured by the cameras of the reporters.

Among them, the most impressive thing is Tang Huan opened the refrigerator, and what he took out was not Coke, but a Xiaobawang handheld, which made the reporter's jaw almost drop to the ground—what kind of brainstorming did you have? ah?

Tang Huan tore open the sealed bag with a smile, and clicked the button. The refrigerated Xiaobawang handheld made a familiar LOGO sound, "Not bad, not bad, it seems to have withstood the challenge of the extreme environment."

The reporter joked, "Don, are you targeting the markets in Alaska, Siberia, Antarctica, and the North Pole?"

In the midst of cheerful laughter, Tang Huan raised his thumb and praised: "How can I say that you reporters are very observant? The low temperature environment will seriously affect the work of ordinary circuit boards, batteries and other components, and I am planning to let Devices such as Xiaobawang handheld computers and even Fangyuan laptops followed the expedition team to the North Pole."

The reporter, who was a little flustered by the praise, was shocked and quickly reacted, "My God, it seems that I accidentally bumped into a big news."

In this way, Tang Huan's Arctic expedition plan, which he had invested a total of US$1.5 million in the past few years, began to surface and enter the public eye.

In Tang Huan’s introduction, the original intention of supporting the plan is environmental protection—according to observations, with global warming, the ice in the Arctic Ocean continues to melt, and some scientists even predict that the ice in the Arctic is very likely to disappear in the next century , the global sea level rises, some bustling cities will be submerged.One of the goals of this Arctic expedition plan is to try to collect first-hand data on environmental conditions.

Historically, the first verifiable and scientifically credible Arctic expedition was conducted on May 1926, 5 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and American sponsor Lincoln Ellsworth. , using an airship belonging to the Norwegian government, carrying many scientists and staff, starting from the Svalbard Islands in Norway, crossing the Arctic Ocean, and arriving in Alaska.

However, when the airship visited the North Pole for the second time in 1928, it crashed on the way back, killing half of the crew.

It is no exaggeration to say that human exploration of the Arctic, including those explorers who explored the Arctic routes, has paid a heavy price in their lives.

Therefore, even though the current science and technology are highly developed and far from comparable to those of the past, Tang Huan still invested heavily in making foolproof preparations.

The richest man has always been bold and generous.

For example, he has invited scientists from all over the world to participate in the scientific expedition team to the Arctic this time, and plans to start the trip from June to August next year, which is the Arctic summer.

There is also an interesting arrangement here, that is, the entire Arctic scientific expedition team will be divided into two parts, each starting from Canada in North America and Norway in Northern Europe, and finally meeting at the North Pole.

Tang Huan also expressed with great interest that he plans to personally participate in this scientific expedition plan next year and go to the North Pole.

Originally, Fangyuan Computer Company stock on the New York Stock Exchange and EA stock on NASDAQ were stimulated by the good news at the Zheru Developers Conference, and the prices continued to rise. It happens to be the number "8" that the legendary richest man likes.

Obviously, Wall Street doesn’t agree with this: You can eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, play whatever you want, and do whatever you want in the fancy world. What do you have to do in that desolate place in the North Pole?In case of an accident, wouldn't it delay the plan to make money for us!
(End of this chapter)