Help My deal and the Tegra 2-games.

[Rural]

So, I just made a huge deal here in Sweden, and bought / pre-ordered an unlocked, unbound SGSII for 4289 Swedish kronor. That equals about 430 Euro. I'm so happy, it's a great price.

But, I have a question. Is it confirmed how SGSII will handle the Tegra 2-games? I'd love to play them once I get the phone.

 

[Gearu]

The S2 will be released in different variants, you will get one with either the original Exonys 1.2 Gghz Processor or a Tegra 2 Processor, and either a Super AMOLED plus or just a super LCD screen, not sure if there are 2 different GPUs shipping.
I assume there may be a minor difference in how they handle the games, but a good chance it will be unnoticeable.

I'll be making sure I get the proper S2, that is, the original Exonys+Super AMOLED plus equipped one, the downgrade model is said to not be able to play H.264 or something, and a few other minor details.

 

[Quboid]

I read that there are going to be some high profile Tegra 2 exclusive games, possibly the Playstation Certified thing. Is that true, or could it have been a mis-reporting of games that require dual-core phones?

 

[dyezak]

The "Tegra Zone" games are not exclusive only to phones with a Tegra processor. They are in the regular market place for everyone to download, but are *also* displayed in the Tegra Market. They have been optomized for the dual core Tegra processor, but should work just as well on the SGS2's Exonys processors.

So if you want, you can even (try) and play some Tegra Zone games on your OG Droid...but the experience would not be very good.

 

[Shocky]

The "Tegra Zone" games are not exclusive only to phones with a Tegra processor. They are in the regular market place for everyone to download, but are *also* displayed in the Tegra Market. They have been optomized for the dual core Tegra processor, but should work just as well on the SGS2's Exonys processors.

So if you want, you can even (try) and play some Tegra Zone games on your OG Droid...but the experience would not be very good.

Not all the games are available for other phones, there are a few exclusives still.

 

[Quboid]

What about the games that claim to be Tegra 2 only, such as Monster Madness ( https://market.android.com/details?id=com.southpeak.monsterapp )?

 

[lekky]

Or Samurai Vengence! (Great game)

To my knowledge they are tegra2 only. So you cant even get them with exynos

 

[chocobosandwich]

Considering Tegra2 is the only dual-core chip available on any phone right now, I would think their exclusivity comes down to $$$ for exclusivity rights, as well as actual horsepower needs. Once the Exynos and qualcomm and TI chips start popping out, that exclusivity will be eliminated, and I highly doubt any of the games are programmed specifically to ONLY work on tegra2. They are just only available to download in the market on that particular phone(s). If you can get it on an SGS2, it should run fine although not as fully optimized.

 

[lekky]

Considering Tegra2 is the only dual-core chip available on any phone right now, I would think their exclusivity comes down to $$$ for exclusivity rights, as well as actual horsepower needs. Once the Exynos and qualcomm and TI chips start popping out, that exclusivity will be eliminated, and I highly doubt any of the games are programmed specifically to ONLY work on tegra2. They are just only available to download in the market on that particular phone(s). If you can get it on an SGS2, it should run fine although not as fully optimized.

I think they are actually, you can develop games natively for the chip, so wont run at all.

 

[Quboid]

Is there any reason why they would write natively for Tegra? Either a backhander from nVidia or a technical reason?

 

[lekky]

Nvidia's dollars

 

[chocobosandwich]

I don't think they are natively developed only for Tegra, unless Nvidia actually published them, therefore backing the devs with $$$. Otherwise, no developer is gonna rely on the small initial tegra base when there will be an explosion of other phones with other chips on the market. 3D games are expensive to make, and don't get nearly the return of those 99cent ones once costs are considered. I haven't looked, but are there any really spectacular games on Tegra zone to worry about anyway?

 

[lekky]

Why would there be two fruit ninjas? One for tegra and one not for tegra.

I'm pretty certain nvidia paid developers to develop specifically for the tegra platform. I would like to be proven wrong but i dont think i will be.

Samurai vengeance is an awesome tegra only game.

 

[Quboid]

The whole "The Way It's Meant To Be Played" suggests nVidia are happy to get their wallets out. The mobile System-on-a-Chip market is huge and still has huge room for growth, so I can see why they'd be trying to challenge ARM's dominance.

 

[Gearu]

Would nVidia pay the makers of an existing web-browser based game to convert it into app form, linking to the same database, the existing game I have in mind uses flash but requires CPU to power the visual, flash based aspect.
If so, how would one proceed?

 

[chocobosandwich]

If they are paid for exclusive development on Tegra, it can't last forever. Microsoft has lost a lot of its once exclusive franchises and games like Mass Effect 2 and Tales of Vesperia have been released for the PS3. I don't think Nvidia has unlimited resources and beyond the handful of Tegra games they may fund, eventually it will be cost prohibitive for the return they get.

 

[Quboid]

Gearu, I'd guess nVidia would be most interested in resource intensive and/or 3D games which I wouldn't associate Flash with. It's worth sending an email to the nVidia Developer team at NVIDIA Developer Zone - you presumably have to be a registered developer with them.

 

[spottyelephant]

I have been asking this question since Tegra Zone was launched.

Android gaming will take a serious step backwards if games are "chip locked".

 

[chocobosandwich]

I have been asking this question since Tegra Zone was launched.

Android gaming will take a serious step backwards if games are "chip locked".

You would think it was common sense, but certain companies will want exclusivity no matter what, and it can pay off with a big enough and loyal enough userbase. But Nvidia and Tegra sure don't have that. Android is suppose to be the Everyman platform. At least Sony understands, and plans to release the Playstation suite on multiple devices.

 

[bikerboi85]

Hey guys. ive been doing a bit of researching on the tegra 2 chipset and if u watch some reviews for games they all say the same thing. the tegra 2 chip is easy to design for, with great graphics. the devs claim it took them only hours to convert the unreal 3 engine to a format to be used by the tegra 2. it sounds to me like devs want to release tegra 2 games because of the ease of use with it.

It was confirmed Sony has signed on for tegra 2 and are making mobile devices using that techonology. they current have a tablet thats to be released and on top of that are releasing playstation suite to android, with tegra 2 optimised ps1/ps2 games.

I recently bought the viewsonic G tablet. priced at $350 Aud its the best bang for buck tablet on the market and is backed by 2 HUGE companies. Nvidia and Sony. it sounds like tegra will own the market game wise with all that information considered. i guess well see how it pans out. Also i have a htc desire, and am considering trading it in for an LG optimus 2x