• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Etched Introduces AI-Powered Games Without GPUs, Displays Minecraft Replica

AleksandarK

News Editor
Staff member
Joined
Aug 19, 2017
Messages
2,527 (0.96/day)
The gaming industry is about to get massively disrupted. Instead of using game engines to power games, we are now witnessing an entirely new and crazy concept. A startup specializing in designing ASICs specifically for Transformer architecture, the foundation behind generative AI models like GPT/Claude/Stable Diffusion, has showcased a demo in partnership with Decart of a Minecraft clone being entirely generated and operated by AI instead of the traditional game engine. While we use AI to create images and videos based on specific descriptions and output pretty realistic content, having an AI model spit out an entire playable game is something different. Oasis is the first playable, real-time, real-time, open-world AI model that takes users' input and generates real-time gameplay, including physics, game rules, and graphics.

An interesting thing to point out is the hardware that powers this setup. Using a single NVIDIA H100 GPU, this 500-million parameter Oasis model can run at 720p resolution at 20 generated frames per second. Due to limitations of accelerators like NVIDIA's H100/B200, gameplay at 4K is almost impossible. However, Etched has its own accelerator called Sohu, which is specialized in accelerating transformer architectures. Eight NVIDIA H100 GPUs can power five Oasis models to five users, while the eight Sohu cards are capable of serving 65 Oasis runs to 65 users. This is more than a 10x increase in inference capability compared to NVIDIA's hardware on a single-use case alone. The accelerator is designed to run much larger models like future 100 billion-parameter generative AI video game models that can output 4K 30 FPS, all thanks to 144 GB of HBM3E memory, yielding 1,152 GB in eight-accelerator server configuration.




Regarding the Oasis design (shown below), it is vastly different than something like OpenAI Sora. While most current AI video generators create pre-rendered segments, a newly developed system enables real-time interaction by processing each frame individually. At its core, the technology leverages advanced machine learning architectures, including specialized neural networks and attention mechanisms that process spatial and temporal data simultaneously. This approach allows the AI to maintain consistency while responding to user input in real-time, demonstrating an understanding of physics that enables natural object manipulation and construction within virtual spaces. The research team implemented several technical enhancements to ensure smooth performance, such as adaptive noise processing and specialized computational optimizations. Looking ahead, developers plan to expand the system's capabilities to handle longer sequences and more complex simulations, allowing for much smoother gameplay, just in time for 4K model. Oasis is available for users to try here with a queue system (as AI nerds play games, too).


View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
 
Joined
Jun 20, 2024
Messages
362 (2.68/day)
Is that reallly more efficient than Geforce Now though?
Also, I'd be interested to see how they avoid IP violations if the game starts to become another game...
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2017
Messages
3,726 (1.32/day)
Processor Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard ROG STRIX B650E-F GAMING WIFI
Memory 2x16GB G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL36 (F5-6000J3636F16GX2-FX5)
Video Card(s) INNO3D GeForce RTX™ 4070 Ti SUPER TWIN X2
Storage 2TB Samsung 980 PRO, 4TB WD Black SN850X
Display(s) 42" LG C2 OLED, 27" ASUS PG279Q
Case Thermaltake Core P5
Power Supply Fractal Design Ion+ Platinum 760W
Mouse Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro SE
Keyboard Corsair K100 RGB
VR HMD HTC Vive Cosmos
The gaming industry is about to get massively disrupted.
The accelerator is designed to run much larger models like future 100 billion-parameter generative AI video game models that can output 4K 30 FPS, all thanks to 144 GB of HBM3E memory, yielding 1,152 GB in eight-accelerator server configuration.
For some reason I am quite certain that this will not be interrupting gaming industry. Eight very powerful accelerators, over TB of VRAM and you get a crappy small version of Minecraft at 4K30? :)
Besides, this thing needs to have a whole lot of hours with an actual existing game first.
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
22,282 (6.02/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI MAG Mortar b650m wifi
Cooling Thermalright Peerless Assassin
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance 30CL6000
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Lexar NM790 4TB + Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial BX100 250GB
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Lian Li A3 mATX White
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse Steelseries Aerox 5
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W11 IoT Enterprise LTSC
Benchmark Scores Over 9000
For some reason I am quite certain that this will not be interrupting gaming industry. Eight very powerful accelerators, over TB of VRAM and you get a crappy small version of Minecraft at 4K30? :)
Besides, this thing needs to have a whole lot of hours with an actual existing game first.
I do think this is a stepping stone for much better procedural generation. But running the thing in real time to figure it all out is, much like RT, grossly inefficient.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2018
Messages
64 (0.03/day)
I can see it now...a game with a simple story, no rules until you start, every restart after death all new, but somehow keeps everything interesting and not frustrating. Somehow, I don't see it except for candy crush, tetris, and other simpler games. Even the original Rogue would be beyond frustrating if the rules, monsters, etc. were randomly plucked from an endless supply.
 
Joined
May 29, 2012
Messages
527 (0.12/day)
System Name CUBE_NXT
Processor i9 12900K @ 5.0Ghz all P-cores with E-cores enabled
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master
Cooling EK AIO Elite Cooler w/ 3 Phanteks T30 fans
Memory 64GB DDR5 @ 5600Mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA 3090Ti Ultra Hybrid Gaming w/ 3 Phanteks T30 fans
Storage 1 x SK Hynix P41 Platinum 1TB, 1 x 2TB, 1 x WD_BLACK SN850 2TB, 1 x WD_RED SN700 4TB
Display(s) Alienware AW3418DW
Case Lian-Li O11 Dynamic Evo w/ 3 Phanteks T30 fans
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME 1000W Titanium
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
Can't wait for my games to look blurry and fuzzy and shit.
 
Joined
May 19, 2011
Messages
105 (0.02/day)
For some reason I am quite certain that this will not be interrupting gaming industry. Eight very powerful accelerators, over TB of VRAM and you get a crappy small version of Minecraft at 4K30? :)
Besides, this thing needs to have a whole lot of hours with an actual existing game first.

Disruption: how to create a a demo of a potential game using 10x more resources than actually creating a real game...
Given recent AI advances like L-MUL, it would not surprise me if something like this could run locally (and at much greater fidelity) in 5-10 years’ time.
 
Joined
May 26, 2023
Messages
96 (0.18/day)
Get easy guys a bit. It looks like author dont understand what he is writing in this case. It is not a breaktrough in gaming industry yet - it is just adv of their Sohu NPU.
They are aware their Sohu cannot compete with GPNPU like H100 at most fields, so they have created a kind of biased benchmark to show their hardware have clear adantage over H100.
They are just trying to catch some attention and some money from investors - it is not a story about gaming industry yet. But in a few years who knows ?
But imho massive changes in gaming industry will come with games where fps are not important at all.
When AI would allow us for cristal crisp realistic transformations at high res like 4k - so it would generate a tsunami of new content creators. For creation of original new content fps are not important until we dont ask for massive animations. Realistic transformations of still pictures in 3d easy to order for human creators would mark following revoluyion in gaming industry.
When AI output would dominate content creator tools like Blender in metrics like realism and easy of use it would be a THING.
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2022
Messages
209 (0.27/day)
I suppose Microsoft gave them authorization to use their assets for model training ?

Unless there's a strong and firm regulation around data usage, AI will always be (rightfully) vilified in those kinds of usage (creative, artistic, video game, movies...)

Until then I will happily enjoy my games running on a dedicated hardware and made by humans for humans
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
10,679 (1.72/day)
Location
Austin Texas
System Name Planet Espresso
Processor 13700KF @ 5.5GHZ 1.285v - 235W cap
Motherboard MSI 690-I PRO
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO
Memory 48 GB DDR5 7600 MHZ CL36
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 FE
Storage 2TB WD SN850, 4TB WD SN850X
Display(s) Alienware 32" 4k 240hz OLED
Case Jonsbo Z20
Audio Device(s) Yes
Power Supply Corsair SF750
Mouse Xlite V2
Keyboard 65% HE Keyboard
Software Windows 11
Benchmark Scores They're pretty good, nothing crazy.

Count von Schwalbe

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 15, 2021
Messages
3,017 (2.79/day)
Location
Knoxville, TN, USA
System Name Work Computer | Unfinished Computer
Processor Core i7-6700 | Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard Dell Q170 | Gigabyte Aorus Elite Wi-Fi
Cooling A fan? | Truly Custom Loop
Memory 4x4GB Crucial 2133 C17 | 4x8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 3600 C26
Video Card(s) Dell Radeon R7 450 | RTX 2080 Ti FE
Storage Crucial BX500 2TB | TBD
Display(s) 3x LG QHD 32" GSM5B96 | TBD
Case Dell | Heavily Modified Phanteks P400
Power Supply Dell TFX Non-standard | EVGA BQ 650W
Mouse Monster No-Name $7 Gaming Mouse| TBD
I can see it now...a game with a simple story, no rules until you start, every restart after death all new, but somehow keeps everything interesting and not frustrating. Somehow, I don't see it except for candy crush, tetris, and other simpler games. Even the original Rogue would be beyond frustrating if the rules, monsters, etc. were randomly plucked from an endless supply.
Ever hear of AI Dungeon?

Text adventure game based on a GPT model trained on various text-based games. Really not much different than that, other than it is visual instead of text.

Perhaps it is better at keeping rules in place, as you are more limited in input than in a text game. In AI Dungeon, if I type in that I pull out my machine gun and shoot the dragon, I do exactly that. Even if there has never been a machine gun in my backpack.
 
Joined
Apr 13, 2022
Messages
1,145 (1.23/day)
Some of us don't care. Game Streaming is unacceptable in any form.
Except none of us have a choice or a vote in that. If the economics point to game streaming being the solution, and they do, then gaming streaming will be gaming. And the only choice you will have is to stream or give up gaming.

So, you have just said you are giving up gaming.
 

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
41,839 (6.61/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
Is that the new name for etch-a-sketch?

Except none of us have a choice or a vote in that. If the economics point to game streaming being the solution, and they do, then gaming streaming will be gaming. And the only choice you will have is to stream or give up gaming.

So, you have just said you are giving up gaming.
Vote by wallet
 
Joined
Oct 28, 2023
Messages
102 (0.27/day)
Processor 7600x -- 8600k
Motherboard MSI B650 -- ASRock z370
Cooling TR PA120 -- CM212
Memory 2x16GB -- 2x8GB
Video Card(s) PNY 4080 -- Zotac 2080ti
Storage 4TB SN850x / 4TB 870evo / 2TB SN770 -- 512GB 970 / 2TB WDBlue / some HDDs
Display(s) LG C3 (42) + Acer XB271HU -- Sony X950H (49)
Case Torrent Compact Steel Panel -- Define R2
Power Supply BeQuiet Darkpower13 750 -- Seasonic X750
Keyboard Epomaker TH80SE/EK21 -- Logi G710+
Software Win10 (both)
This is so ass backwards.
 
Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Messages
1,017 (0.65/day)
System Name Dirt Sheep | Silent Sheep
Processor i5-2400 | 13900K (-0.02mV offset)
Motherboard Asus P8H67-M LE | Gigabyte AERO Z690-G, bios F29e Intel baseline
Cooling Scythe Katana Type 1 | Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black
Memory G-skill 2*8GB DDR3 | Corsair Vengeance 4*32GB DDR5 5200Mhz C40 @4000MHz
Video Card(s) Gigabyte 970GTX Mini | NV 1080TI FE (cap at 50%, 800mV)
Storage 2*SN850 1TB, 230S 4TB, 840EVO 128GB, WD green 2TB HDD, IronWolf 6TB, 2*HC550 18TB in RAID1
Display(s) LG 21` FHD W2261VP | Lenovo 27` 4K Qreator 27
Case Thermaltake V3 Black|Define 7 Solid, stock 3*14 fans+ 2*12 front&buttom+ out 1*8 (on expansion slot)
Audio Device(s) Beyerdynamic DT 990 (or the screen speakers when I'm too lazy)
Power Supply Enermax Pro82+ 525W | Corsair RM650x (2021)
Mouse Logitech Master 3
Keyboard Roccat Isku FX
VR HMD Nop.
Software WIN 10 | WIN 11
Benchmark Scores CB23 SC: i5-2400=641 | i9-13900k=2325-2281 MC: i5-2400=i9 13900k SC | i9-13900k=37240-35500
This what dlss 8 or so will be.
The whole game is generated, not rendered.

In Dlss9 you won't even need to interact with the computer at all, as all gaming will be done by software using your past play style.
 

Lagoochu360

New Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2022
Messages
16 (0.02/day)
This sounds so cool but also horrible at the same time. You can hallucinate games but they aren't real time mechanics.
 
Top