One of the reasons why I have hope for Windows RT is its gaming potential. Microsoft has been hit-or-miss with its gaming projects, but when it succeeds, it really knocks it out of the park – see DirectX, the Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s digital distribution via its console. Bringing Windows to tablets could make life easier for game developers in that space and offer a wider selection of mature titles rather than mobile-focused games, which often (in my opinion) feel watered down and look underwhelming.
NVIDIA showcased this potential at IFA 2012 by demonstrating a Windows RT tablet (with Tegra 3 hardware, of course) running Unreal Engine 3. The tablet is shown playing the NVIDIA “Epic Citiadel” demo which we saw at the editor’s day conference used to debut the GTX 680 earlier this year. Quality details are probably reduced compared to the version that ran on the GTX 680 (it’s hard to tell in the video) but it still looks excellent and runs smoothly.
The demonstration highlighted the fact this isn’t some one-off or stripped-down version of the engine designed only for mobile devices. It’s a port of the existing Unreal Engine 3 engine used to make Windows PC games, which means developers shipping games that use UE3 should have minimal trouble porting their game to a Windows 8 RT tablet. Mark Rein, president of Epic Games, stated that Windows 8 RT code is now available to UE3 licenesees. It’ll be interesting to see which game developer is first to jump on board.
The tablet in the video is an ASUS Vivo Tab RT, an upcoming Windows 8 RT tablet with an 11.6” IPS display with 1366×768 resolution and a Tegra 3 SoC. A tablet like this could be a compelling mobile gaming device if the games become available. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
MS wanted to get in tablet
MS wanted to get in tablet market, And being able to get the unreal 3 engine to run on RT tablet with respectable quality would be a huge boost to its marketability.
ok, but do you really want to
ok, but do you really want to play UT3 with swipes and pinches? The problem with tablet gaming is that no matter how good they look they have to sacrifice the control we’ve come to expect in an FPS title for the sake of a tablet’s UI. I don’t see it as much more interactive than navigating a DVD content screen.
Touch controls are a big
Touch controls are a big issue in mobile gaming. Windows RT devices could use mouse and keyboards, or a blue tooth PS3 controller.
Well we can easily put a usb
Well we can easily put a usb mouse on that thing and use they touch cover or even an usb keyboard if possible.
yea this is kinda gimmicky,
yea this is kinda gimmicky, unless the build non-FPS games with the UT3 engine this is just pointless.
the problem here is multiple
the problem here is multiple npc’s or players or any physics.
the cpu can’t handle these well. it’s only for show.
but dev’s could implement blutooth controllers on a tablet if they wanted. i’d rather not have to pay for another ported game. just play it on a pc based tablet.