NVIDIA has released a new video, which showcases the potential of real-time ray tracing (RTX) in Unreal Engine. The video is made in collaboration with Epic Games, NVIDIA, and ILMxLAB. Real-time ray tracing is the next big thing, that has happened to film and game makers. The video is based on the scene adopted from Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie. It has been completely made using Unreal 4 engine. This footage was showcased at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Epic Games Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said:
Ray tracing is a rendering process typically only associated with high-end offline renderers and hours and hours of computer processing time. Film-quality ray tracing in real time is an Unreal Engine first.
This is an exciting new development for the media and entertainment linear content worlds—and any markets that require photorealistic visualization.
Findings from the video
The minute-and-a-half long video showcase the potential of the NVIDIA’s RTX process for a Volta based GPU. The scene begins when two stormtroopers were discussing the elevators condition and how Kylo Ren destroyed an elevator in D-sector using his helmet. Then Captain Plasma (head of stormtroopers) punishes them, by posting them at a discomforting place for speaking about a higher authority.
For an untrained eye, the video looks completely realistic with real-time shadows and reflections. In fact, it is very difficult to find an element, which can prove otherwise. The level of stunning image quality of highly reflective surfaces and soft shadows looks no different from reality.
The RTX process is based on the path of light rays and how they bounce off the surface. This method will result in incredible real-life like graphics. It was very intensive to render a scene like this up until now. However, this will change with the NVIDIA RTX.
While the entire world is gripped by the Star Wars craziness, Haier has not lagged behind. The manufacturer of consumer electronics and appliances has jumped on the bandwagon with its remote controlled refrigerator inspired by everyone’s favourite droid -R2-D2.
Haier will unveil its life-size refrigerator modelled after the Star Wars character at CES. The refrigerator mimics the droid in sound and movement. It will keep your drinks chilled and deliver them to you with its cooling and movement capabilities.
The appliance also has an in-built projector which is fully functional, making this little refrigerator useful for more than just taking care of your drinks. It is developed and produced by Haier Subsidiary Haier Asia in Japan, is made to order and comes with a serial number, and therefore is a collectible item. Take note all serious Star Wars fans.
We can barely control the giddiness that has just erupted over the third and potentially final trailer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The excitement has never been more real. The internet is literally breaking over the latest trailer, and there are plenty of reasons for it. The new footage premiered during halftime on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
If you’re still reading and haven’t already jumped to the end and hit play, the new trailer has some huge moments – both in action and scenery. The trailer sheds more light on new characters like Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley), and new antagonist, Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) – who seems to be carrying forward Darth Vader’s legacy. You can clearly see Kylo Ren talking to the salvaged helmet of Darth Vader, saying, “I will finish what you started”. The third trailer still has no signs of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), though we did hear him speak in the previous trailer. This time, we get to see Han Solo (Harrison Ford) speak a few new lines, and oh, how we love each and every word of it: “The Dark Side, the Jedi, they’re real.” And that really is all a fan needs to hear.
Official Poster
Clocking in at two and a half minutes, this trailer is perhaps the best look at what you can expect from the movie. We see Rey with her BB-8 droid on the planet Jakku. Her character is still a mystery and the trailers so far haven’t revealed much, but that hasn’t stopped fans everywhere coming up with possible theories as to who she might be. One of the more popular opinions suggest that Rey belongs to the Skywalker family. Whether she is the daughter of Han and Leia (Carrie Fisher) or if she’s Luke Skywalker’s own is still uncertain.
You also see the Millennium Falcon show off some new moves that will bring tears and nostalgia in buckets. And when the Millennium Falcon jumps to lightspeed, the goosebumps begin. We can go on and dissect every scene of the trailer, but instead we’ll stop here and let you go ahead and watch the trailer cause,”the Force is calling to you…just let it in.”
J. J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens will hit theaters December 18th.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were droids, space lasers, lightsabers and landspeeders. Of course, we’re talking about the fictional world of the cult sci-fi space opera movie, Star Wars. But how fictional is all that technology – that was seen in the series about 40 years ago – today? Let’s take a look at how close we’ve come to creating some of the technological marvels found in Star Wars.
Landspeeder
Landspeeders originally debuted in the original Star Wars series 37 years ago and since then fans around the world have been drooling over the prospect of zipping over the ground in an anti-gravity vehicle. While it might be a while before you see a population of people riding in their own hoverbikes, there is (a new) hope nevertheless. Malloy Aeronotics and Aerofex are two companies among others who have been actively working on trying to make the hoverbike a reality.
Aerofex has been testing its own hoverbikes in the Mojave desert. There has been keen interest in this area with many parties interested in this technology. So it won’t be long before one can see some insane anti-gravity drag-racing, once these hoverbkes are ready. Watch the video of Aerofex testing out the hoverbike below.
Droids
Droids are robotic machines possessing artificial intelligence. The term ‘droid’ was popularized by Gearge Lucas in the original Star Wars films, and originated as an abridgment of ‘android’. Droids are seen throughout Star Wars in various shapes and sizes, the most famous ones being R2-D2 and C-3P0. Ever since the classic twosome appeared in Star Wars: A New Hope, people have been waiting for the day droids and robots will become an everyday thing. Technology is progressing along, but it’s just not fast enough.
It takes a new Star Wars film for technology to kick it into overgear. The new Star Wars: Force Awakens movie is out in December, but a small 40 seconds trailer that was released a few months ago got the whole world in a frenzied state. Every scene from the teaser was dissected to bits, including one scene which showed a new droid, the BB-8. The little ball of a droid was seen rolling along the desert of Jakku. One never expected any droid to top R2-D2 but fans are adoring BB-8, which is why a company called Sphero has done the deed. Yes, BB-8 is real and it is available on Amazon for $149.
The BB-8 toy can be controlled via mobile app and it is all kinds of awesome. The BB-8 can roll around, listens and responds to your voice, and has a mind of it’s own. Look at the promotional video below and see for yourselves.
Lasers
It’s 2015 and we should be having lasers by now, right? Well, not exactly, but there are people working on it. Lasers are among the top technologies that comes to mind when you think of the ‘future’. That and flying cars, of course. We’re probably a few hundred years away from having fancy lasers like the ones seen in Star Wars with bright colours that zipped by the screen and were trippy as hell. But laser technology today is a fact and while it may not shoot red or blue bolts into the target, they can still burn holes when concentrated on the target long enough.
We’re talking about the Laser Weapons System (LaWS) that is employed by the U.S Navy on a warship, the USS Ponce. The weapon was first tested in 2014 and the United States Navy reported the LaWS system works perfectly. Here’s what it looks like when a ship lasers a drone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0DbgNju2wE
Space Travel
If there was a real-life Millennium Falcon, space travel would be a blast. You could make the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs and have a Wookie for a co-pilot. But alas, we’ll probably never see a real-life Millennium Falcon. But space travel is not off the cards. Indeed, consumer space travel has been around for a while now. Although, you’ll need really deep pockets if you want a ticket to the stars and back. As of now, space travelling will be available only to the filthy rich.
Boeing has partnered with NASA and will soon have seats for paying tourists in their CST-100 vehicle, allowing members of the general public to visit the International Space Station along with the astronauts. The price of admission is high and you’ll probably have to wait a couple of decades for fares to reduce once space travelling becomes part of normal human life. Fingers crossed.
Lightsabers
Perhaps the one piece of technology that is truly the star of Star Wars is the lightsaber. That awe-inspiring laser sword is a signature weapon of the Jedi order and the Sith alike. The lightsaber is used for close combat typically between the Jedi and the Sith. The lightsaber’s energy blade can cut, burn and melt through pretty much anything. It can also deflect blaster bolts and other lightsabers as well.
Lightsabers were so loved by film fans around that it was voted the most popular weapon in the film history in a 2008 survey. So naturally, a weapon so admired must be made into a reality. Over the decades, we have seen two groups of scientists who have expressed their opinions on the lightsaber. There are the killjoy scientists who believe that a real-life lightsaber is not scientifically possible. And then there are believers who will do anything to bring this technological work of art to life like the boys from Harvard and MIT back in 2013.
Based on the findings by the team from Harvard and MIT, a group of theoretical physicists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently discovered a mechanism that can bind photons together in a pseudo-molecule, bringing us a little closer to real-life lightsabers.
All right, so that’s Obama with a toy lightsaber. But if he’s excited about the prospect of a real lightsaber in the future then so are we.
The Force is getting stronger as we approach December for the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And we know just how unbearable the wait can be during the final months; there is a special kind of excitement to watch a Star Wars movie on the big screen in our time.
To keep the excitement going, Disney has released a ton of Star Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise. You can now play Star Wars: Uprising, a diablo-like mobile RPG that is set between the events of The Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. You’ll find many moments in the game where the story intersects with the main universe.
Players will return to Hoth to see what is left of the planet post-Return of the Jedi. Players will find a ravaged wasteland, that is filled with scavengers, Wampas, ruins of the Echo base an the Rebellion/Empire’s shattered vehicle (Star Wars fanatics will understand every bit of that). Playable characters include the Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Rebel Guerrilla, Diplomat, Gambler. However, you won’t get to be Jedi and wield your own lightsaber. Sigh.
Yet there is plenty of action in this game for both fans and non-fans alike. The story will keep you engaged make you reminisce scenes from the original trilogy. While we’re not sure how much of The Force Awakens is in this game, it does provide some new details of the environment that well may be featured in the upcoming movie.
While the story has fun, humorous moments, the gameplay itself is quite repetitive, which is surely to bore players after a little while. Also, those who want the really cool skills and upgrades to do some serious galactic damage will have to buy them using Chromium (the currency in Uprising), which has to be purchased using real money.
Star Wars: Uprising is a game that works like many RPGs before. You won’t find much novelty in terms of gameplay, but for fans who could do with some wise-ass smugglers and droid-blasting, and yes, Jabba the Hutt, too, before the release of the The Force Awakens can pass some time with this game and relive the memories. To download the game, click here for Android and here for iOS.
The E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) has revived the gaming mania, and it is going to soar manifold on its onset. The annual video game conference and show kicks off on June 16, Tuesday, at Los Angeles Convention Centre, and it will allow a sneak peek at haunting animations, mean machines and hulking characters. Many famed developers will mark their presence at the event, bringing a slew of AAA games. Some of the games to draw the spotlight this week are the sequels of the old favourites, in addition to some new titles.
Here’s are some of the biggest games to arrive at E3 this year:
Star Wars Battlefront
Based on Star Wars films, the game is one of the long-awaited titles to release this year. Started in 2004 by developers Pandemic Studios, the franchise was taken over by Electronic Arts DICE. The teaser video released by EA shows a first-person view of the Battle of Hoth and features four planets – Hoth, Tatooine, Endor, and Sullust. Featuring first and third-person gameplay perspectives, the game is slated to launch later this year.
Fallout 4
Developed and published under Bethesda banner, Fallout 4 was introduced ahead of E3 in a press conference organised by Bethesda Softworks. Fallout 4 has a backdrop of approximately 200 years after a war that ends up in a nuclear holocaust in 2077. The setting is a post-apocalyptic desert, known as Commonwealth. The player character takes shelter on Vault 111, just to mysteriously awaken 200 years later without aging a single day. The Fallout sequel is confirmed to release on November 10 with a version for PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
Here’s the Fallout 4 gameplay trailer released in E3 2015:
https://youtu.be/OzV1GlDDlv8
Halo 5: Guardians
Microsoft is ready to showcase its massively popular instalment Halo 5: Guardians in Halo series. Scheduled to release on October 27 exclusively for Xbox One, we are expecting even more alluring visuals from this sequel, which 343 Industries has maintained from the past four series. The follow-up will see Master Chief being hunted by UNSC and solving a mystery that threatens the entire galaxy.
Watch the Halo 5: Guardians trailer here:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
One of the biggest jewels in Activision’s games portfolio is the Call of Duty franchise. The incredibly thrilling operations of the intense spy adventure sends chills down the spine. In the third part, you play as a member of a prototype Black Ops unit that has cybernetic enhancements with mission briefings of a missing CIA team in Singapore, set 35 years later in 2060. The forthcoming title Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is a game taking leap into the future with new characters, landscapes, and weaponry, which can be customized as a player progresses. The major alteration with Black Ops 3 is the multi-player mode where players can share information about threats during the game.
Have a look at its trailer below:
https://youtu.be/58Pspqx0XGs
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
As the number symbolises, ‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’ is the fourth and final instalment in the Uncharted franchise. The third-person action-adventure shooter developed by Naughty Dog for PlayStation 4 and published by Sony is set to release early next year. For the first time, vehicles will be playable and the protagonist Nathan Drake will be riding a bike in the upcoming sequel.
The game is set several years post Nathan’s last adventure. He is forced back into the world of thieves. For his loved ones on stake, Drake embarks on a journey across the globe in quest of a historical conspiracy behind a pirate treasure. The gameplay demo is tantalizing, truly. Have a look at it below:
