"Game+" is becoming an "incubator" for cutting-edge technology

Disruptive scientific and technological innovation achievements are emerging, and the digital cultural industry is ushering in a new inflection point. The 21st China International Digital Interactive Entertainment Exhibition (ChinaJoy), which is being held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, has gathered a large number of eye-catching "AI+ game" latest products, becoming a big stage for game manufacturers and technology companies to "show their muscles".

At present, cutting-edge digital technology is achieving revolutionary breakthroughs, and this leapfrog development is seamlessly integrated into daily life, and it is also reshaping the overall face of the digital cultural industry. According to the recently released "Report on the Development of New Productivity in China's Game Industry", at this stage, the world's leading technology companies account for as much as 51% of the game industry chain, involving network technology, user channels, hardware equipment and other related fields. "Online games are an important track for the next generation of the Internet, and masters from different industries are competing in the same field." Zhang Wei, vice president of Tencent, said that at ChinaJoy, he felt the vigorous market vitality. "There is reason to believe that games, as an incubator of cutting-edge technology, can promote more scientific and technological achievements into new quality productivity."

Cutting-edge technology empowers and accelerates game innovation

Technology is a core element of the gaming industry. The 4th China Game Innovation Competition was announced in Shanghai yesterday, and game developers are embracing cutting-edge technology and empowering new game development with new technologies and ideas. In ChinaJoy's N5 booth, RealityGuard, which just won the "Best Innovation Award", is particularly eye-catching: players can use real objects to build terrain, scan the real terrain with their phone camera, generate a battle stage, and then invite friends to join the cooperative battle.

Why does RealityGuard break the limitation that AR can only be operated by a single machine? The reporter learned that game developers rely on MirrorScene, the spatial computing platform of Chenjing Technology, to realize the anchor generation of shared space, fast and high-quality visual 3D reconstruction, and then create a spatial interactive experience of virtual and real integration.

Another award-winning game, "The Beast's Party", was nominated for "Best Multiplayer Game" and "Best Family Game" at the 2023 TGA. At Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, the "Beast Party" exhibition area attracted a large number of overseas players, and the average queue was 1 hour to experience it once. What is still fresh in the memory of the game's producer, Luo Zixiong, is that a 10-year-old Germany player queued up 26 times in three consecutive days. According to Luo Zixiong, "Beast Party" pays special attention to the richness and innovation of gameplay, and the gameplay of each map is completely different. The production team also developed its own physics engine to create a realistic physics system to achieve better stability. "I want players to appreciate not only the content of the game, but also the ability to mobilize emotions." Luo Zixiong said that technological innovation is to make the game experience more realistic and perfect.

Every step of the high-quality development of the game industry is inseparable from the promotion of cutting-edge technology. Today, artificial intelligence has become the "standard" in R&D in the field of gaming. According to Zhang Wei, Tencent has launched a new self-developed AI engine, GiiNEX, which has a variety of AIGC capabilities such as 3D graphics, plots, and levels, which can increase the efficiency of some work in the fields of game scene production and content generation by more than 40 times. A large-scale reinforcement learning solution for Naruto's fighting mobile game has helped reduce the time and resources required for training by more than 90%. Shengqu Games, a subsidiary of Century Huatong, has developed an art asset and AIGC creation management platform, and continues to develop applications such as NPC Town, AI word creation, and intelligent code assistant. The company is also deeply involved in the "Tencent Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Advanced Computing Center and Industrial Base" project, providing strong computing power support for the large model industry. "AI is just a tool, and don't forget that the ultimate goal of a manufacturer is to make a game that users love." Xie Fei, president of Century Huatong, said.

Intelligent technology "flexes muscles" and unleashes huge potential

In the ChinaJoy exhibition hall, you will see the giant AR "changing mirror" built by the technology company Snap, and you can also enjoy the details of the 100-inch Hisense large screen TV showing the popular game, and you can also learn about BYD's "steering decoupling game car" technology how to play games with the steering wheel, and how Xingji Meizu transforms the car into an "e-sports cabin"...... A number of new products of intelligent technology were unveiled, demonstrating new breakthroughs made by new technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital-real integration in key production links such as game voice and original picture generation, video motion capture, and model generation.

At the E4 Snapdragon Theme Pavilion, the booth of "XR Fantasy Journey" was crowded. Qualcomm teamed up with miHoYo's "Honkai: Star Dome Railway" to restore the game's classic scene "Pinoconi's Golden Moment" in the XR environment. "The graphics are so realistic, and the experience is very smooth! The only regret is that the time is too short, queuing for more than 1 hour, and less than 2 minutes on the plane. "Taking off the headset and getting up from the dedicated sports seat, the player is still a little unsatisfied.

With the dense traffic and complex network environment of ChinaJoy's main stadium, how to ensure that users get the best gaming experience? In fact, this 2-minute XR experience integrates many technologies such as 5G-Advanced (5G-A), MiFi, VR all-in-one machine, and built-in computing engine. "What's amazing is that the XR system can be fine-tuned from point to point based on the player's body data and posture, so that every participant can enjoy an exclusive service." Li Yonggang, technical marketing director of Qualcomm China's marketing department, told reporters that in February this year, the company completed the first "5G-A multi-concurrency large-space XR competitive game" business pilot in Beijing Shougang Park. "In a large space of nearly 1,000 square meters, 12 XR channels are connected at the same time, no backpacks, no cables, and people can move freely and comfortably...... Relevant technologies will promote the upgrading of digital entertainment experience and empower new scenarios of offline travel. ”

Device-side AI is also one of the hot topics of this year's ChinaJoy. Qualcomm teamed up with 24 Studios and NetEase Fuxi Lab to create the AI voice fighting gameplay of Naraka: Bladepoint Mobile Game, providing players with "AI teammates" who are almost indistinguishable from real people, all-round multi-modal, and can communicate with each other in real time. "This 'teammate' can understand the command, observe the battle situation, be proficient in team combat cooperation, and communicate." Contestants who participated in the star exhibition competition said that the AI responded quickly and recognized accurately, which made the mobile game a lot more novel experience. "New technologies are driving the pace of evolution of entertainment experiences and helping to unlock a new wave of innovation." Hou Mingjuan, global vice president of Qualcomm, believes that 5G-A and AI will bring broad opportunities and drive the release of the unlimited potential of the digital cultural industry.

The value of "Game +" is highlighted, radiating diversified industries

Yesterday, at the 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Conference in New Delhi, the capital of India, the mainland's nomination of "Beijing's Central Axis - a masterpiece of China's ideal capital city order" was officially inscribed on the World Heritage List. The central axis of Beijing stretches from the Bell and Drum Tower in the north to the Yongding Gate in the south, with a total length of 7.8 kilometers and contains 15 heritage components. In order to systematically and completely explain the rich physical, historical and cultural information behind the Beijing Central Axis, Tencent took the lead and worked with a number of institutions to iterate 542 versions of the "Digital Central Axis· Small Universe" product using game technologies such as high-definition photo scanning, digital engine, and cloud gaming. Professor Lu Zhou, Director of the National Heritage Center of Tsinghua University, said: "Digital technology has become a bridge for the inscription of the World Heritage Site, transcending different cultural backgrounds and presenting this treasure of architectural ensemble that connects the past and the present. ”

During this year's ChinaJoy, at the China International Digital Entertainment Industry Conference, Zhang Wei revealed that the "Digital Axis· Small Universe" will be launched soon, which is the world's first super-large urban historical landscape immersive experience product. According to Zhang Wei, game products such as "Peace Elite" and "Yuanmeng Star" have attracted tens of millions of users to participate in the inheritance, protection and innovative development of Beijing's central axis through IP activation and content co-creation. "As an integrated platform for cutting-edge technologies, the value of game-native technology is becoming increasingly prominent, and it continues to radiate to other fields."

At ChinaJoy, a number of major manufacturers are vying to release the latest achievements of "Game+". Tencent's "Digital Scripture Cave" restores and revitalizes China's outstanding cultural heritage, and launches an international version in English and French and other languages. The full-motion flight simulator vision system developed based on Tencent's self-developed game engine has been put into use, and more than 400 hours of flight training have been completed. "AI Galaxy", a "digital drug" developed by Digital Medicine, a member of the Century Huatong ecosystem, provides personalized and intelligent social communication rehabilitation training programs for children with autism.