Watch out DirectX 12! Valve, Khronos to reveal next-gen OpenGL successor at GDC

It's a great time to be alive if you're a fanatic about the particulars of various performance-boosting graphics APIs.

[cannon8800]

Interesting read. Not too much information though but I hope that the ps4 can also take advantage of this api.

[Bodge]

Why do people keep saying this? Consoles already have an API that can do this, THIS IS FOR PC.

[Pandamobile]

This is for everything. OpenGL is the one graphics API that is consistent across practically every platform on the planet, from iPhones to consoles and high-end PCs.

[Bigpappy]

Why don't you people wait to see what these improvements will entail instead of talking low level access. There is a lot more to DX12 than low level access, and I suspect the same for GL

[NuggetsOfGod]

Honestly consoles are low levels it is already.

Between dx12,mantel, khronos & 3d stacked vram gpus coming next year I think the more
exciting things might happen on pc.

Power is on pc & low level optimization is on consoles.

Now power + optimization = jesus will finally descend from heaven @ 60fps++

Like the sony guys tell the xbox guy about dx12.. "Don't expect any dramatic performance gains".

[Gamer1982]

The issue with so many APIs is it creates segregation. Like Mantle for only AMD cards and DirectX only for windows. Then you have the nvidia API rumour that doesn't seem to go away.. So when developers create games they are going to have a lot to think about and the sad fact is they will 90% of the time choose DX because its the most widely adopted. Any PC with windows can run DX no matter what hardwares inside. OpenGL tried to beat it by becoming available on all systems however it just never had the backing thanks to being open source. That's not to say its hardly used! It's used a LOT, especially in Linux games however DX just gave devlopers something to work with they know and would fit there primary audience.

[Clunkyd]

@Nuggetsofcrap

Gawd, you sure talk a lot of BS.
Yet, Console exclusives looking better than ever.

[pumpactionpimp]

@gamer1982

Mantle benefits nvidia cards as well. Check your facts.

[Reddzfoxx]

PS4 doesn't use OpenGL so no it will not be able to take advantage of this API specifically. Sony's ICE team did say they were looking into what it would take to do similar things to Direct X12 and Mantle but never gave a timeline on when customers might expect to hear more about it.

[Nekroo91]

What are you talking about? Ps4 supports opengl 4.3, its known from the start. If devs want to use it they can...

[Saigon]

Dude, not certain where you get your facts from but last I checked the Sony uses OpenGL on all of its systems, including the current one that is out.

[Anonagrog]

@Nekroo91,

Are you sure you're not mixing up feature-set level with the API?

@Saigon,

The PS4 has two available APIs, neither of them OpenGL. There's a low-level one called 'GNM', and a higher-level one called 'GNMX'.

[Kumomeme]

ps4 already had low level api...while xbox one current api is unstable and buggy..thats why they need the dx12...

[Anonagrog]

Evidently some people are struggling to cope with my above comment.

Answer me this then: Why do people here think anything the Khronos Group does to OpenGL will affect the PS4, when even the PS3's libGCM API wasn't running it?

Just because higher-level interfaces are provided that try to mirror what OpenGL (or D3D11) does, that doesn't mean Khronos' OpenGL itself is being used. The PS3's PSGL may have been based on OpenGL ES, but it wasn't running it. The PS4's APIs naturally depart from it further still.

[Lucreto]

People are assuming because Sony Computer Entertainment is a prominent member of the Khronos Group and have voting rights on the final spec on this new OpenGL they would make sure if benefited PlayStation in some way.

[Anonagrog]

Yes, SCE are part of the board; however, that in no way detracts from the points above.

The Playstation APIs are developed and maintained independent of OpenGL. The development paths are different. SCE being in the consortium doesn't inherently mean it will have a direct affect on Playstation development, though as the intention is to improve the general state-of-affairs in the industry, indirect benefits are a reasonable enough assumption. That's about the only reasonable assumption one can make though.

[Ashlen]

Computing would have been much better off if OpenGL had become the industry standard. It's unfortunate Microsoft gained the lead by simply packaging it with every copy of Windows. OpenGL's open nature really allows modification and growth much faster than DX ever has or will.

[Reddzfoxx]

The bias is strong with this one.

[morganfell]

No he is correct. DX set us back a generation. MS cajoled, bribed, and threatened countless companies in their war with Open GL and Glide. Some of us that are older remember what happened in those days. All in the name of money and MS attempting to dominate a market...at the expense of gamers.

[Dude420]

MS aren't angels, but this is such biased argument. The fact is, the committee that supported OpenGL f'd up and MS saw an opportunity to take over the market. As much as I want to see OpenGL take off, you can't deny that DirectX and OpenGL today is the result of decision making from everyone involved.

http://programmers.stackexc...

[kstuffs]

OpenGL did a pretty good job of killing itself. Is it strange that AMD has Mantel, MS has DirectX 12, and Apple has Metal. All major companies moved away from OpenGL.

http://programmers.stackexc...

"So, the OpenGL development environment was fractured for a time. No cross-hardware shaders, no cross-hardware GPU vertex storage, while D3D users enjoyed both. Could it get worse?"

[Lucreto]

Not all abandoned it

Promoters
AMD/ATI
Apple Inc.
ARM Holdings
Epic Games
Imagination Technologies
Intel Corporation
Nokia
Nvidia
Qualcomm
Samsung Electronics
Sony Computer Entertainment

Contributors
Adobe
Amazon.com
Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
Codeplay
Ericsson
Google
Huawei Technologies
IBM
LG Electronics
Lucasfilm Ltd.
Matrox Graphics
Microsoft Corporation
Mozilla
Oculus VR
Panasonic
Pixar
Renesas Electronics
Synopsys
Texas Instruments
Unity Technologies
Valve corporation
VIA Alliance Semiconductor
VMware

Some big companies still in there.

[Muzikguy]

I also wonder how PS4 will take advantage of this.
@ashlen I agree

[Cueil]

it wont... it's got it's own low level APIs and tools for porting from Mantle are there and DX11 so I imagine tools for DX12 games will be there or are already in some form of beta/alpha

[Muzikguy]

Yeah. Just like DX12 won't help X1 I imagine.

Either way I like this news

[lemoncake]

Valve have to do something if they want steam os to have any chance of success, microsoft made a lot of good moves with windows 10 and topped it off by giving it free to a large number of people with the free upgrade.

[Thefreeman012]

Half life 3 confirmed? Please o please o please..

[ABBAJESUS]

GDC = 3 letters = Half life 3 confirmed

[Dhampir]

Half-Life 3 was already confirmed for 3-3-33, exclusive to Steam Machine 3.0

Also yay a new pipeline to adapt to. I like OpenGL just for being open source, but it's lagged behind DirectX for a long time. Just when they catch up, DirectX pulls ahead again.

[Kingdomcome247]

This is interesting news. He mentioned Steam Machines not being out in the wild as of yet, but last night while grabbing dog food I popped into the gaming aisle at Walmart and was rather surprised to see the Alienware Alpha in the display case. From what I saw they were only carrying the base $549.00 model.

[ninjahunter]

Hopefully its good, OpenGL while nice in theory, never really got a solid foothold against directx.

[mokkeyrg2]

lol hmm there watching alright...