Ray tracing – Is Lara Croft tomorrow’s version of Pong?

The steps that computer gaming has taken visually in only 10 short years are nothing short of amazing, and in the next 10 years we will see games which make today’s high-resolution titles look like the original “Super Mario Bros.,” or perhaps even “Pong.” Chris Buecheler, Character: The Next Great Gaming Frontier?

Not content with burned-in lighting, developers have moved to ray-tracing technology, coupled with advanced texturing techniques like bump and normal mapping in order to simulate depth. Not satisfied with simple animation, complex shader code has been written to simulate the movement, reflection and refraction of light on various materials.

I think Chris’ article is right on the money. Literally.  When it comes to virtual worlds, especially B2B virtual trade shows (VTS), we are really just at the Pong stage.