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Recently, there must be many mobile game players looking forward to NetEase's "upstream cold" mobile game, which will be tested on June 30. Not long ago, CTOnews.com was qualified for the second internal test, giving you an early experience. The overall feeling is that now the immersion feeling of mobile games is really getting better and better, not only has the picture quality comparable to the PC game, but also has a lot of innovation in the play experience, such as the various interesting games based on AI intelligence in the "upstream cold" mobile games.

Behind these advances, in addition to the efforts of game manufacturers, the evolution of mobile terminals such as smartphones in terms of performance and game feature support is also crucial. The ability of terminals such as smart phones mainly depends on the blessing of the underlying chip platform, so the evolution of mobile chip technology can be said to be the "core driving force" of better and better mobile game experience.

For example, in the Android camp, the most inescapable thing is the Snapdragon mobile platform's support for the mobile game experience, from basic performance to high-level experiences such as sound and painting, to cooperation with the entire game industry chain, it is no exaggeration to say that behind every progress in the mobile game experience, we can see the shadow of the Snapdragon.

Strong performance, ensuring the basic smooth experience performance of mobile games, is the basis to support all game experiences. Without strong hardware performance, other high-level game experiences are out of the question. For Snapdragon Mobile platform, the leading CPU and GPU performance is the foundation on which it has been able to lead the progress of the game experience.

Take the latest flagship second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, for example, it has a new generation of Kryo CPU, which is based on the ARMv9 instruction set, including a Cortex-X3 super core of 3.2GHz, four performance cores running on 2.8GHz, a combination of 2 × Cortex-A715 and 2 × Cortex-A710, and an efficiency core with a frequency of 2.0GHz. Compared with the first generation Snapdragon 8, the overall performance is improved by 35% and the energy efficiency is improved by 40%.

As for GPU, the performance of the new Adreno GPU has improved by 25%, and the energy efficiency has improved by as much as 45%. At the same time, the new Adreno GPU supports the Vulkan 1.3 API graphical interface standard for the first time, improving Vulkan performance by up to 30%.

In terms of memory, the second generation of Snapdragon 8 supports LPDDR5X with a frequency as high as 4200MHz, and the storage supports the new UFS 4.0.

Since the launch of the second generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, many mobile phone manufacturers have used their flagship phones to prove the powerful performance of this chip. take the one plus 11 mobile phone, which is famous for its wild performance, CTOnews.com has a rabbit running score of as much as 1311459, GeekBench 5 single-core 1475, multi-core 5015, all at the ceiling level of performance in smartphones.

In terms of power consumption, there is no need to worry about the performance of the second generation Snapdragon 8. As mentioned earlier, the energy efficiency of Kryo CPU has improved by 40%. The energy efficiency of Kryo CPU Adreno GPU has improved by 45%. The improvement in energy efficiency has greatly reduced the fever of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 flagship mobile phone when playing games. As a result, more stable performance output can be maintained, and the game experience is more stable.

‎ is also equipped with the second-generation Snapdragon 8 platform of one plus 11, using it to run "original God" for 30 minutes, the average frame rate can reach 59.6fps, smooth, very smooth, while the highest temperature of the fuselage is 43.7 ℃, the control of heat is also excellent.

Fluency and stability are the most basic and indispensable elements of the game experience, not only the second generation Snapdragon 8, but also the industry-leading performance and energy efficiency level of Snapdragon Mobile platform. So that the majority of players do not have to worry about such basic issues as whether the game is stuttered, dropped frames, and stable operation, and can rest assured to enjoy a smooth game experience.

From picture quality and sound quality to AI, these high-end mobile games experiences are all necessary. Of course, players' pursuit of mobile game experience is not just about smooth and stable operation. On this basis, picture quality, sound, AI interaction, and so on, are the key to creating an immersive game experience.

Picture quality first, let's talk about the picture quality that everyone is most concerned about. The improvement in the picture quality of mobile games is obvious to all in recent years, such as from the "explosion" in 2015 to the latest "upstream cold" mobile games mentioned above.

First of all, the improvement in the image quality of mobile games can be attributed to the upsurge in the performance of mobile GPU in recent years, the most representative of which is the perennial exploration of Snapdragon mobile platform Adreno GPU in the field of mobile graphics computing. This series of GPU has been developed for many generations, and its performance continues to evolve, at the same time, it also integrates more and more mobile game technologies. For example, the Vulkan standard was first introduced by Qualcomm in Adreno 530 GPU in 2015, and so on.

Another key driving factor for the improvement of the image quality of mobile games is the continuous introduction of these mobile game technologies, which, like magic, bring more realistic elements to the game screen on the basis of powerful performance.

Speaking of which, we have to say that Snapdragon Mobile platform integrates all these technologies that can enhance the game experience (not just picture quality-related technologies, of course), and collectively known as Snapdragon Elite Gaming.

Qualcomm integrated Snapdragon Elite Gaming for the first time on Snapdragon 855 mobile platform in 2018, and Snapdragon Elite Gaming has been developing with the iteration of Snapdragon mobile platform over the years. For example, in the first generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming, Qualcomm introduced a technology similar to light pursuit-physical rendering (PBR). This is a collection of a series of rendering technologies, which aims to use physical algorithms to simulate the real world more realistically, the most important of which is to use lighting calculation closer to the theory of real physics to achieve more realistic lighting effects. in order to greatly improve the image quality of the game.

For example, the second generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming also introduces the end-game-level forward rendering technology. This technology can deeply optimize the picture quality of the game from the aspects of depth of field, multi-dynamic light source, motion blur, plane reflection and so on, so as to bring more real and immersive picture quality.

In addition, the introduction of variable resolution rendering (VRS) technology and stereo rendering technology has accelerated the evolution of the image quality of mobile games.

Recently, of course, it is the hardware-level mobile light chase of the second generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform. Qualcomm has added a special mobile ray tracing acceleration unit to the new Adreno GPU, which is responsible for the processing of light tracing effects.

The improvement brought by the hardware-level mobile light pursuit technology to the game screen is mainly reflected in three aspects, one is the soft shadow, that is, the high-fidelity penumbra rendering, the second is the reflection of light, which can accurately present the reflection of the object on the smooth object surface, and the third is ambient light occlusion, that is, the light and shadow effect of the surrounding environment has become delicate and real.

The hardware-level mobile light chase will undoubtedly play a great role in promoting the improvement of the picture quality of mobile games. As it is gradually applied to more games, we will see more real and immersive game pictures in mobile games.

Audio can enhance the immersion of the game experience, in addition to the picture quality, there is also audio, with a sense of presence sound experience, can quickly pull players into the world of the game.

For students who like to play chicken eating on their mobile phones, I believe they have a lot of experience. Put on headphones, the sound of footsteps, the sound of "click", the sound of changing bombs, the sound of vehicles, the sound of shooting, and so on. can quickly let the player into the tense and exciting battle, listen to the sound, smell and move, behind a series of operations, all depend on the efficient operation of the game acoustic system.

Snapdragon Mobile platform is one of the supporters of such an immersive sound experience. For example, they launched aptX and aptX Adaptive audio technology a long time ago to provide CD-level, high-fidelity wireless audio transmission quality, but also with low delay characteristics, coupled with Qualcomm TrueWireless stereo technology, can bring players a high-quality, low-power and low-delay game audio experience.

In 2021, Qualcomm introduced Snapdragon Sound Snapdragon listening technology, which integrates and optimizes Qualcomm's innovative technologies in audio, connectivity and mobility to create a seamless immersive audio experience for terminals such as smartphones, wireless headphones and headphones.

On the first-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform of that year, Qualcomm combined the low-power optimization platform with low-power audio and traditional Bluetooth technology to enable a new audio experience. They also worked with Audiokinetic and Wwise software to transfer these additional CPU tasks to Qualcomm Hexagon processors for processing. This frees up the CPU load, enabling it to provide better game audio quality through features such as ultra-high sound quality and 360-degree spatial audio.

As for the latest second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, Qualcomm has added dynamic space audio support to the Snapdragon Sound Snapdragon listening technology, imagining that if there are mobile games that support space audio in the future, it will undoubtedly bring a more immersive game experience.

AI believes that gamers who love games will look forward to the use of AI in the game, and a better AI will bring endless possibilities to the way the game is played. For example, when you form a game with your computer teammates, you must also hope that they can act like real teammates and fight the battlefield with themselves.

In recent years, the application of AI in mobile games has become more and more in-depth and extensive, which is naturally due to the sharp increase in the performance of mobile chip platform AI.

Let's take Snapdragon Mobile platform as an example. We know that the AI capability of Snapdragon Mobile platform is mainly supported by Qualcomm AI engine. In 2015, Qualcomm introduced the first generation of Qualcomm AI engine into the Snapdragon 820 chip. To the current second generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, Qualcomm AI engine has gone through many generations of development. While the performance of AI continues to upgrade, Qualcomm has been trying to use AI to drive the evolution of the game experience.

For example, in 2019, Qualcomm worked with vivo, Tencent Arena of Valor team and Tencent AI Lab to use the heterogeneous computing power of the fourth-generation Qualcomm AI engine on Snapdragon 855 mobile platform to massively migrate the AI reasoning capabilities of mobile games from the cloud to the terminal side for the first time on vivo's iQOO mobile phones, so that multiplayer real-time tactical sports (MOBA) games represented by "Arena of Valor" can be upgraded and optimized. At that time, vivo also built a mobile AI e-sports team, SUPEX, based on the computing power of the fourth-generation Qualcomm AI engine, and its intelligent performance in actual combat was eye-catching.

I believe that friends who love "Arena of Valor" must have found that the level of computer AI in the man-machine war is becoming smarter and smarter, and the fun of the challenge is also greatly increased, which is obviously thanks to Qualcomm's AI engine.

In recent years, the performance of each generation of Qualcomm AI engine is increasing rapidly. for example, in the latest second generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, Qualcomm AI engine has also made remarkable progress. Qualcomm doubled the size of the tensor accelerator and greatly improved the efficiency of neural network calculation. at the same time, it also added a special power supply system for the AI engine and supported INT4 computing unit for the first time. It brings a great improvement to the efficiency of the new AI engine, as well as Hexagon direct connection, support for microslice reasoning and other features, which greatly enhance the capabilities of the new AI engine.

With the blessing of the second generation Snapdragon 8, the experience of mobile games in AI interaction is enough to surprise us. For example, the above mentioned "upstream cold" mobile games, Xiaobian in the experience, the deepest impression is a variety of intelligent NPC.

For example, when the editor stands in front of the little sister at the door, when people see that you are a woman, they will say, "which girl is this? don't interfere with my business." After entering Sweet Water Lane, you will see big officials hugging left and right, poor scholars secretly vowing to redeem themselves for their beloved girl, drunken rich kids lying on the wine table, and girls with rich makeup laughing beside them. these characters have a very natural dialogue, there is no sense of disobedience, will make you feel that they are living characters. This intelligent NPC mechanism, which makes instant feedback on players' behavior, allows us to see a huge imagination of the application of AI in games. Of course, these are also due to the powerful AI capabilities of the second generation Snapdragon 8.

In addition to these, the second generation of Snapdragon 8's Qualcomm AI engine has an important breakthrough, that is, towards the direction of cognitive AI. Cognitive AI, as the name implies, is to make AI aim to have the ability to be close to human cognition, that is, AI can understand people's thoughts, emotions, needs, and then provide services on this basis.

Although this is not an easy task, the second generation Snapdragon 8 has taken the first step. People are looking forward to how cognitive AI will be used in games in the future.

At the end of the connection, most of the popular mobile games are online, with certain mobile e-sports attributes, so if you want to get an excellent play experience, it also tests the network connection ability of the mobile terminal. And this is precisely the strength of Snapdragon Mobile platform.

For example, the latest second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform uses Snapdragon X70 5G modem and RF system. In the Snapdragon X70, Qualcomm introduced the world's first 5G AI processor, which supports advanced features such as Qualcomm 5G AI suite, Qualcomm 5G ultra-low latency suite, third-generation Qualcomm 5G PowerSave and Sub-6GHz four-carrier aggregation to achieve the highest 10Gbps 5G transmission speed.

At the same time, it also has the flagship FastConnect 7800 connection system, which supports advanced Wi-Fi 7 features, such as high-frequency concurrent multi-connection technology, which can use two Wi-Fi radios to achieve high-frequency connection of four data streams at the same time, thus greatly alleviating network congestion and other problems. The peak rate in the 6GHz band can reach 5.8 Gbps, while the peak rate at 5GHz is 4.3Gbps, which is 60% faster than that of the previous generation, while supporting a persistently low latency lower than 2ms, and energy efficiency is improved by 30-50%.

With the blessing of such network features, people can use their mobile phones to play games online, so that they can get the experience of being as smooth and low-latency as locally, not to mention worrying about stutter, frame skipping and other problems caused by network congestion, so that you can do no harm in the battle.

Extensive and in-depth cooperation, Snapdragon Mobile platform is like a fertile ground for a good game experience, but whether it can blossom in the end, it also needs more in-depth joint adaptation and optimization between the chip platform and game manufacturers and terminals.

The reason why people can get better and better game experience by using mobile phones equipped with Snapdragon Mobile platform is precisely because Qualcomm has always maintained close cooperation with game manufacturers and terminal manufacturers. to help them make better use of the powerful technology and capabilities of Snapdragon Mobile platform, so that the game experience can reach the most ideal state.

For example, the technologies such as variable resolution rendering, end-game forward rendering and True 10-bit HDR supported by Snapdragon Elite Gaming can be quickly applied in many game works, which is inseparable from the close cooperation between Qualcomm and OEM manufacturers and game developers. For example, Qualcomm reached a strategic cooperation with Tencent Games a long time ago, and now we can see that popular games such as "Arena of Valor" and "Game for Peace" have supported high frame rate mode, which is inseparable from Qualcomm's promotion.

For example, Qualcomm also cooperated deeply with mobile phone manufacturer iQOO and game manufacturer Perfect World to bring variable resolution rendering technology to the latest mobile game masterpiece "relic of Ares", which increased the frame rate stability of the game at 90 frames by 16.7%, reduced frame drop rate by 19.2%, reduced power consumption of the whole machine by 19.8%, and reduced power consumption of graphics rendering by 31.0%.

There is also the hardware-level mobile light chase introduced by the brand new second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform. at the beginning of research and development, Qualcomm has conducted in-depth cooperation and joint development with NetEase's "upstream cold", iQOO, and "Tianye" mobile games. At the same time, Qualcomm and OPPO jointly developed the mobile light tracking solution object light engine, which will also drive more games to achieve hardware-level mobile light additional screen effects.

Conclusion game, as the ninth largest art in the world, is of great significance both in the present and in the future. As an important part of the game, mobile games broaden the scene of the game, so that everyone can enjoy the pleasure of the game anytime and anywhere during the rest time after work, the interval between waiting for the bus and the boring time on the subway. From this point of view, the overall evolution of the mobile game experience is of great significance for the game industry to break through the boundaries and change people's daily entertainment.

Behind this, the underlying chip technology, represented by Snapdragon Mobile platform, undoubtedly protects the most critical experience upgrade of mobile games, and this kind of escort is not only in the level of performance support, but also involves the game picture quality, sound, interaction, AI, connection and other omni-directional "escort", while Qualcomm cooperates fully with the whole mobile game industry chain. It has really injected "core power" into the development of mobile games.

The future of the mobile game experience will lead to infinite reverie.

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