Gamescom 2017: Nvidia Conference

by Jeremy Rogers Lining up outside of a red brick building in Cologne, Germany were gamers, journalists, and enthusiasts alike, wanting to see what tech company Nvidia had in store for their off-site event that paralleled the conferences at Gamescom this past week. First was an in-depth look at Destiny 2 and how it would play on PC. According to David Dague, developer Bungie’s community manager, the game is set to have an uncapped framerate with resolutions up to 4k when played on higher end PCs. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hge7nGXH6Rk&t=1s[/embed] Next for the conference was a showcase for Nvidia Ansel, a feature of Nvidia graphics cards ranging from the new Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti to the GeForce GTX 780M that allows players to take 360 degree screenshots inside of Ansel-supported games. New games were announced to be adding Ansel support such as Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 and Middle Earth: Shadow of War. A new feature for Ansel was demonstrated next showing off the new Style Transfer mode. To use this feature, the user must upload an image file that has a desired style and color palate. Then Ansel can combine that user selected image with an image captured with Ansel using some deep learning algorithms that combine the images together instantaneously in real time. Another feature showed off was ShadowPlay, an Nvidia program that records gameplay in the background as the game runs, so the player can share their experiences online or to take screenshots. The feature itself wasn’t the announcement but rather a new game that supports this feature: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Now players can near instantly share their coolest kills, most daring escapes, and best laid traps for the world to see with ease like never before. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGohZqJxSlY[/embed] The last announcement was that Final Fantasy XV will be getting a PC port that utilizes some of the tools included in Nvidia’s GameWorks. GameWorks are a set of software tools that help all developers, from AAA studios to lonely indie devs, create and manage their game systems. That’s all of its newest tech for PC gamers Nvidia had to show off at Gamescom 2017. This follows conferences from Microsoft, EA, and Blizzard earlier this week.