Nvidia and Mojang just announced a new version of Minecraft with the company’s RTX (ray tracing) lighting technology for Windows 10, which will be available as a public beta starting April 16th.
Minecraft with RTX brings incredibly realistic lighting effects to the game, courtesy Nvidia. The tech will likely roll out to other versions of Minecraft as devices pick up ray tracing capabilities in the future.
Ray tracing: RTX allows for much more realistic lighting effects in a game world, which can help players feel more immersed. In addition to streaming sunlight, the technology also enables more realistic candles, glowing lava, reflective water and more.
Windows 10 only: This new version, Minecraft with RTX, will only be available to Windows 10 Minecraft players. You’ll need an Nvidia RTX GPU, an Intel Core i5 (or equivalent) processor, and 8 GB of RAM, according to Polygon. Those on Mac or various console and mobile versions will need to wait until RTX is available on those platforms. Windows 10 players will need to grab the beta from the Xbox Insider Hub.
Nvidia says: RTX will show that “realistic hard and soft shadows are seen everywhere; global illumination realistically lights the world, with that light filling interiors through windows and gaps in the terrain; illuminated blocks and other light sources cast pixel-perfect lighting; reflections are seen on all reflective surfaces and blocks, with a level of fidelity far surpassing that of screen space reflections; light reflects, refracts and scatters through water, ice, stained glass, and other transparencies; and atmospheric effects occur naturally, resulting in high quality volumetric fog, and pixel-perfect god rays.”
Bottom line: This is the next evolution in video game graphics, with big ticket titles like Battlefield V, Control, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Metro Exodus, and Quake II all getting the RTX treatment. With Minecraft, RTX truly becomes more mainstream.
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