Real-time Raytracing For PC Games Almost A Reality

Vigile writes "Real-time raytracing has often been called the pinnacle of computer rendering for games but only recently has it been getting traction in the field. A German student, and now Intel employee, has been working on raytraced versions of the Quake 3 and Quake 4 game engines for years and is now using the power of Intel's development teams to push the technology further. With antialiasing implemented and anisotropic filtering close behind, they speculate that within two years the hardware will exist on the desktop to make 'game quality' raytracing graphics a reality."

Re:Handhelds first?

[Slashcrap]

So why not make a handheld that can do real-time raytracing?

Because rendering a scene of a set level of complexity using ray tracing is vastly more compute intensive than the alternatives and nobody wants to buy a handheld that weighs 30Kg and requires a portable diesel generator.

Would you like spectacularly obvious answers to any other questions while I'm here?