Intel is well ahead of nv/ati's 40 nm, so should they release 22nm Larrabee?

[richardffw]

Every hardware device requires drivers.

No drivers means game developers code to the metal. Hardware requiring installation drivers is obvious and goes without saying. Don't miss the forest for the trees.

 

[jimbo75]

Oh god you have no idea how much I'd love intel to resurrect laterbee.

 

[Phynaz]

No drivers means game developers code to the metal. Hardware requiring installation drivers is obvious and goes without saying. Don't miss the forest for the trees.

Coding to metal hasn't been done in 25 years. There's a reason why.

 

[Cerb]

Coding to metal hasn't been done in 25 years. There's a reason why.

In this context, that just means bypassing APIs, and running binaries designed for the HW. Even so, coding to metal goes on to this day, by HPC, game, and embedded developers. The ratio of programmers who need to know how to do it well get smaller by the year, but it will not go away any time soon.

As to the OP: we won't see it. It never had a chance as a regular consumer product. We will see derivatives of it, targeted for small high-margin high-performance niches, not players of video games.

 

[lamedude]

I'd guess that most if not all PS2 games were done to the metal. PS3's LibGCM is probably not to far from the metal either.