Sprinkle
Sprinkle is a puzzle game where you have to keep fires from destroying the homes of bulbous little creatures, with a limited amount of water at your disposal. While the game has a free edition, a more complete version is also available for two dollars. Sprinkle ran perfectly on all four of our test devices. The single Android version automatically detects the GPU and applies the additional Tegra-oriented optimizations if Nvidia's GPU is present.
While Nvidia emphasizes improved water effects, the only real noticeable difference that we saw was the addition of smoke. But in a game that’s all about putting out fires, smoke effects make a lot of sense, and contributes nicely to the game’s experience.
Download Sprinkle Free from Tom’s Guide
SoulCraft
Like Heroes Call, SoulCraft is a free-to-play action RPG. That is to say it's free with optional in-app purchases that greatly improve the experience. Google Play offers both the standard version of SoulCraft, as well as the THD version for Tegra-based devices. This one worked well on all four of our test smartphones.
While not obvious at first glance, a few additional, but minor, lighting effects are visible in the Tegra version. The game is visually identical on the iPhone 5, Nexus 4, and Galaxy S III.
- Nvidia's Tegra 3: King Of Android Gaming?
- Test Setup And Benchmark Suite
- Beach Buggy Blitz And Dead Trigger
- Fruit Ninja And Galaxy On Fire 2
- Grand Theft Auto III And Heroes Call
- Princess Punt And Shadowgun: DeadZone
- Sprinkle And SoulCraft
- The Dark Meadow: The Pact And Zen Pinball
- Tegra HD: Must-Have Or Marketing Gimmick?







Exactly what is wrong with tech today, for 30 years companies learned to embrace compatibility after the Sony Betamax failure (technically better, but priced beyond comsumer appreciation). Now everyone wants to follow Apple forgetting they too suffered from a "closed shop" for 20 years.
Exactly what is wrong with tech today, for 30 years companies learned to embrace compatibility after the Sony Betamax failure (technically better, but priced beyond comsumer appreciation). Now everyone wants to follow Apple forgetting they too suffered from a "closed shop" for 20 years.
What's bothersome for me though is that some tegra optimized titles actually run on a low resolution by default on the N7 (to compensate for low memory bandwidth???) yet still play on a 30-40ish frame rate, luckily the devs have put resolution option in the setting (see Riptide, beach buggy blitz), but you'll be playing at 20-30fps if you bump it up to the max/native res.
Another title, Horn, which is actually a Tegra exclusive using UE3, actually runs on a low res but does not provide any option to change that, and even with the low resolution, it is extremely choppy at times I can easily notice 15-20fps.
One dev that I like is MADFINGER Games (dead trigger, shadowgun), their titles are so heavily optimized that they run at a consistent 35-45fps on my N7 and I do not notice lag nor inconsistent frame rate. still runs at constant 60fps on my Note II though...
Meanwhile I can't think of anything that doesn't run at 60fps on my Note II, So much that wonder how much better the gpu performance is on Snapdragon S4 pro and apple A6 devices.
Yes, but tiny screens u put u fingers on ruin the experience of gaming, i get my old megadrive out and play or niintendo 64 for some funny simple old school games. Phones look the 'tiny' part like it but its just not the same. I bought a whole heap of games on my iphone only to put them down and never play again since the format in which u play is just not 'fun' and thats the whole point of games is it not. Oh well, consoles or pc's FTW
definitely, GTAIII and Vice City were both PS2 games and the new mobile versions have upgraded textures
Q - Why no benchmarks?
Sorry about that, my bad - it's fixed now.
There's plenty of hardcore games for mobile devices. Play any Shm'up, especially those from Cave co. like Bug Princess. Although that's probably more processing power rather than graphics power.
Were talking about 15 or 16 years ago here. Ohh look how small it is now with more power.
you just did!
Agreed, PhysX is the word I think of, after read couple of lines...
Comparing Tegra 3 with the other SoC on the Tegra 3 optimized titles was interesting, but it comes to the wrong conclusion and recommendation.
The vast majority of the games available on the Google Play store are NOT Tegra optimized, and the Tegra 3 GPU is the slowest of the bunch.
Why not testing the most graphically intensive games, such as Asphalt 7, ME Infiltrator, Wild Blood?
Also you could have been researching a bit better, Shadowgun for example is also available on the Samsung store with SGS III optimizations.
marketing.