At GDC today, AMD announced a suite of tools for developing handheld gaming content for the company's next-generation mobile graphics parts. The suite includes Rendermonkey 1.7, a shader tool that will let game developers write graphics code for a range of devices that support the OpenVG 1.0, OpenGL 2.0, and Unified Shader Architecture technologies. ATI's Unified Shader Architecture in particular is one of the main selling points of the Xbox 360, and AMD will offer support for unified shaders on its next generation of mobile parts.

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Rendermonkey is already widely used by PC and console developers, so the fact that the latest version makes it easier to author mobile gaming content should help foster porting and the development of original titles for handheld devices containing the AMD's forthcoming Imageon processors.

The Imageon processor line, announced by AMD last month, is essentially a "GPU" for mobile devices. Imageon is more flexible than a desktop GPU, of course, since with a mobile device you want to save on cost and battery life by cramming as much of the phone onto one piece of silicon as you possibly can. So Imageon has support for 3D and 2D graphics, audio processing, digital still and video cameras, TV out, video recording with image stabilization, video transcoding, and various other multimedia features. All of this stuff is on a single chip that's separate from the phone's radio chip, so that the handset maker can upgrade to a new version of Imageon without having to go through the process of FCC qualification each time they add features.

A portable Microsoft gaming device?
For years now there have been periodic rumblings of an "Xboy"—a portable gaming device from Microsoft intended to compete with Sony's PSP. When Zune dropped last year, it clearly wasn't the Xboy, but rumors persist that a future version of Zune will have some kind of added gaming functionality.



Judging by the capabilities that AMD claims for Imageon and by the screenshots on the Imageon site, you could instantly add quite a bit of functionality to Zune with the inclusion of one of those processors. Zune could pick up a camera, and the new version of Rendermonkey, when combined with Imageon's support for unified shaders, could make it easier for Xbox 360 developers to do Zune ports.

Given the developer tool situation and the compatibility between Imageon and the Xbox 360's ATI-designed Xenos GPU (not to be confused with the IBM-designed Xenon CPU), a gaming-oriented Imageon upgrade for Zune would make a lot of sense.

Update:Earlier this morning, I pinged AMD with the question, does AMD see this technology expanding beyond phones and into handheld gaming devices? It's all fine for me to speculate, but it's best to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

"In short, yes. Our goal is to enable high-quality gaming in all handheld devices, because whether it's a mobile phone or a handheld gaming device, the opportunities and challenges are very similar," replied Andy Thompson, director of marketing for AMD's Handheld Division. "We are addressing these challenges by delivering a high volume of low-power OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics hardware based on the same Unified Shader Architecture behind Xbox 360, by providing a comprehensive suite of development tools that are common to the PC and console platforms so developers can leverage their existing production pipeline, by providing hands-on developer support and by working with other key players in the industry to ensure consumers have a positive experience purchasing and playing games on their handheld gaming device of choice."

So AMD is indeed looking beyond the mobile phone with these next-generation parts. I can also further clarify my comments above by underscoring the fact that when these new mobile parts and the R600 (AMD/ATI's forthcoming desktop GPU) hit the market, then the company will be able to offer game developers the same unified shading engine, with the same APIs, across the console, desktop, and mobile segments.

News-Source: http://arstechnica.com
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