A new tool lets video gamers play high-end games on their smartphones and tablets without guzzling gigabytes. Duke University researchers tested the tool on Doom 3, a futuristic first-person shooter game. The conventional version of the game relies on a remote server to compute all of the game’s 3-D graphics. But with help from a new tool dubbed “Kahawai,” the mobile device’s graphics processing unit (GPU) also does some of the work. Studies show that Kahawai can achieve comparable or higher-quality graphics for much less bandwidth.
