X

Intel: Our graphics silicon is gaining in gaming

Intel Visual Computing Software Development group marketing manager says the chipmaker expects "to see integrated graphics chipsets outsell discrete by three to one" in 2013.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
See full bio
Brooke Crothers
2 min read

Any gamer worth his or her salt is quick to decry gaming on Intel graphics silicon. But wait. The platform is taking off, according to Intel.

Empire: Total War
Empire: Total War The Creative Assembly

"So you want to know what's so compelling about making sure your game runs on Intel integrated graphics?" Aaron Davies, a senior marketing manager in the Intel Visual Computing Software Development group, asked in a video on the Intel Software Network Web page. "Here's your answer: Mercury Research showed that in 2008, for the first time, integrated graphics chipsets outsold discrete (graphics chips), and in 2013, we expect to see integrated graphics chipsets outsell discrete by three to one," Davies said.

Intel is the leading supplier of integrated graphics--which are integrated into its chipsets--while Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices' ATI unit are leaders in the discrete (standalone) graphics chip market. Discrete chips are the most powerful engines for running games but Intel is the leading supplier, based on market share, of graphics silicon for laptops.

Davies said he wants to help developers "capture" where the mobile-game market is going to be in 2013.

"There are games actually targeting integrated graphics chipsets at this time," according to Davies. "We found through engaging with these Triple A (AAA) game studios that within a relatively short amount of time, they can identify graphics bottlenecks in their code and resolve that to have their games running on integrated graphics chipsets."

Davies mentioned a few of the beta members: Terminal Reality, which is slated to come out with Ghostbusters later this year; Gas Powered Games, which is building Demigod, and Empire Total War, which is put out by The Creative Assembly.