Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for
wired and wireless communications, today announced the first public
demonstration showing realistic mobile game benchmarks based on the
emerging OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics standard, running on cell phone hardware.
In collaboration with Futuremark, a respected developer of PC and handheld
performance benchmarks, Broadcom will demonstrate the ability of the OpenGL
ES 2.0 standard to deliver a significantly enhanced gaming experience on
mobile devices when powered with the innovative VideoCore(R) III multimedia
processor.
The enhanced mobile gaming demonstrations, utilizing Futuremark
performance benchmarks and based on the Broadcom(R) BCM2727 VideoCore III
multimedia processor, will be performed at this week's 2008 Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona, Spain, from February 11th to 14th and at the Game
Developers Conference in San Francisco from February 18th to 22nd.
The collaboration between Broadcom and Futuremark has produced several
OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics benchmarks including "Nature," "Tai Chi" and "Ruin
Dance." Developed by Futuremark and ported onto the Broadcom BCM2727
reference platform, the benchmarks utilize a number of innovative graphics
technologies that highlight the programmable shader architecture
capabilities of the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard. With stunning usage of effects
such as realistic water, moving grass and advanced lighting, Broadcom and
Futuremark demonstrate impressive real-time scene rendering, lighting and
special effects that exceed the quality of today's handheld game consoles,
while operating at mobile phone power levels.
OpenGL ES is a mobile optimized subset standard of the industry's most
widely deployed 2D and 3D OpenGL graphics application programming
interface. While the Open GL ES 2.0 standard offers more visually realistic
mobile games and improved portability across mobile platforms, it is highly
data intensive and difficult to achieve optimal processing performance at
power levels appropriate for cell phones. The benchmark demonstrations at
Mobile World Congress and Game Developers Conference deliver an incredibly
realistic gaming experience on mobile devices when enabled (or powered) by
Broadcom's VideoCore III multimedia processor.
"While OpenGL ES 2.0 shows much promise, mobile hardware to date has
only been able to render realistic games at several frames per second,
which is clearly not viable for future applications," said Petri Talala,
Vice President of Mobile Business, Futuremark Corporation. "We are
extremely impressed with the performance and capabilities of Broadcom's
BCM2727 processor and VideoCore III architecture, which truly brings the
mobile gaming experience to the next level."
"The OpenGL ES 2.0 standard is critical for enabling game developers to
quickly migrate high quality games to mobile platforms," said Mark Casey,
Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Mobile Multimedia line of
business. "Together with Futuremark, we can now demonstrate that Broadcom's
VideoCore III processor is delivering an astonishing consumer gaming
experience that represents the next major opportunity for the mobile gaming
market."