TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Computex -- NVIDIA today announced that Quake II RTX will be available on GeForce.com as a free download on June 6.
Quake II RTX is the world’s first game that is fully path-traced, a ray-tracing technique that unifies all lighting effects such as shadows, reflections, refractions and more into a single ray-tracing algorithm. The result is a stunning new look for id Software’s Quake II, one of the world’s most popular games, originally launched in 1997.
Quake II RTX includes the first three single-player levels of the beloved PC gaming classic. Gamers that already own Quake II can experience the whole game in its entirety, including multiplayer deathmatch and cooperative multiplayer modes, all fully path traced.
“Quake II RTX is an expression of our love and passion for PC gaming,” said Matt Wuebbling, head of GeForce marketing at NVIDIA. “By applying next-generation ray-traced graphics technologies and using the Vulkan API, we are able to share this PC classic with a new generation of gamers who can download and play it for free.”
“It’s rare that a PC game has the impact and longevity of Quake II, and seeing it reimagined with ray tracing 20 years later is something special for me,” said Tim Willits, studio director of id Software and one of the creators of the original Quake franchise. “Equally special is the relationship with NVIDIA, whom we have worked with since the early days of first-person shooters. Seeing how NVIDIA integrated modern features into this classic game is really exciting.”
View the Quake II RTX technology explainer video and a preview of Quake II RTX in all its ray-traced glory in the Quake II RTX trailer. More details are available on GeForce.com.
Same Great Game, Stunning New Look
The visually stunning new look of the classic game is achieved by a ray-tracing technique known as path tracing, which traces light rays (paths) through the scene in a way that unifies all lighting effects into a single ray-traced algorithm. This elegant form of rendering is used in computer graphics in films but has previously been too expensive for games.
The lighting effects in Quake II RTX are so advanced they require hardware support for ray tracing, such as the specialized RT Cores found in the Turing™ architecture and NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ GPUs, to run in real time. The minimum specification for running Quake II RTX in real time is a GeForce RTX 2060 GPU.
New levels of realism seen in Quake II RTX include real-time, high-dynamic range time of day lighting, with accurate sun light and indirect illumination. Physically based materials are rendered accurately. For example, water and glass refract light accurately, emissive surfaces get dramatic soft lighting effects, surfaces deliver accurate reflections and light sources illuminate surrounding objects. Weapon model details and textures have also been increased, and an improved denoiser has been added to increase image quality.
Quake II RTX uses NVIDIA VKRay™, an extension that allows any developer using the Vulkan API to add ray-traced effects to their games. Building on Q2VKPT, a version of the game created by Christoph Schied using the open-sourced Quake II game engine, Quake II RTX is a pure ray-traced game that runs on a Vulkan renderer with support for Linux.
“Quake II RTX demonstrates that the Vulkan API with real-time ray tracing can be used to create stunning gaming experiences using some of the most advanced rendering techniques available to game developers,” said Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group and vice president of developer ecosystems at NVIDIA. “And, having Quake II RTX available as a free download makes it accessible to both Windows and Linux gamers everywhere.”
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NVIDIA’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) invention of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics and revolutionized parallel computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI — the next era of computing — with the GPU acting as the brain of computers, robots and self-driving cars that can perceive and understand the world. More information at http://nvidianews.nvidia.com/.
For further information, contact:
Brian Burke
Global PR Principal, gaming technologies
NVIDIA Corporation
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bburke@nvidia.com
Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: NVIDIA remaking and gifting Quake II; the availability of Quake II RTX; Quake II RTX being the first game to be fully path-traced and its effects; the benefits, impacts and performance of NVIDIA’s technologies, including path-tracing, NVIDIA VKRay and ray tracing; Quake II being one of the world’s most popular games; Quake II RTX being an expression of NVIDIA’s love and passion for PC gaming; ray-traced graphics technologies and Vulkan API enabling us to share a PC classic with a new generation of gamers who can download and play it for free; the impact and longevity of Quake II; NVIDIA and id Software’s special relationship; NVIDIA integrating modern features into the classic game generating excitement; the availability of a preview and trailer of Quake II RTX; the lighting effects of Quake II RTX being advanced and requiring hardware support for ray tracing, including RT Cores and NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs; the performance and realism in Quake II RTX; Quake II RTX using NVIDIA VKRay and its impacts and performance; Quake II RTX demonstrating that Vulkan API and real-time ray tracing can create never-before-seen game experiences, using advanced rendering techniques available to game developers; and the benefits of having Quake II RTX available as a free download are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.
© 2019 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, GeForce, GeForce RTX and NVIDIA VKRay are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.
© 2019 D Scott Boyce. All rights reserved. Subject to Creative Commons license version 1.0, Quake2maX “A Modscape Production.” Textures from Quake2maX used in Quake2XP. Roughness and specular maps were adjusted to work with the Quake II RTX engine. @scobotech
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