For the uninitiated, Raspberry Pi will be a $25 to $35 Linux-based "mini-rig" crammed with a 700 MHz ARM11 SoC, 128 MB or 256 MB of RAM, composite and HDMI video output, USB 2.0 and even an optional integrated 2-port USB hub and 10/100 Ethernet controller – all within a credit card-sized form factor.
Now imagine this little device – which is actually smaller than most smartphones and could easily fit in your pocket – outputting Quake III Arena at 1080p resolution with 4x anti-aliasing enabled, and lighting and geometric details maxed out. As seen in the video demo below, id's classic shooter is churning at a not-too-shabby 20 to 30 FPS which is likely due to a "a floating-point library issue," but Raspberry Pi Foundation trustee Eben Upton claims that he's seen better framerates on other Raspberry Pi builds.
"Obviously, the Raspberry Pi isn’t intended as a gaming platform, but it’s very satisfying to let the Broadcom BCM2835 application processor off the leash (yes, I’m allowed to give you the part number now) and see what it can do in this sphere nonetheless," reads the Raspberry Pi blog.
It was also noted that the card-sized rig didn't show any real signs of overheating when running the demo several times using the high-graphics settings. "We feel you should be fine with the sort of thermoplastic cases that some of you are hoping to make using 3d printers: the chip doing all the work in this clip was still under body temperature after I’d filmed this demo four times, and feels surprisingly cool to the touch," the blog reads. "This is also, of course, great news for power consumption."
Eventually the team wants to demonstrate both its game-playing and networking capabilities in the coming weeks by releasing a new video showing them all playing Quake III Arena Deathmatch on several networked Raspberry Pi devices. In the meantime, the first Q3A tease is embedded below.
Someone is a rocket junkie too...
