Nvidia announced at Gamecom 2019 that Minecraft would get support for a form of ray tracing known as path tracing for the Windows 10 version.
This is a huge win for ray tracing (and Nvidia, which is pushing the technology forward in its RTX 20 series of graphics cards), keeping Minecraft one of the most popular games in the world.
The free update will give Minecraft more realistic shadows, lights and colors.
Of course, Minecraft is not the most graphically impressive game. In fact, its simplistic retro graphics are part of its charms. Many people may wonder why Minecraft has this feature.
This could be due to the fact that the Super Duper Graphics Pack, which was supposed to drastically update Minecraft's graphics, was canceled - Microsoft claims it was "too technically demanding to implement as intended."
Ray tracing support could have been a part of it, and even with the cancellation of the Super Duper graphics package, we could imagine companies with a direct interest in ray tracing (Nvidia) would like to make sure this feature is available. .
This could also be a way to mitigate the impact of canceling the Super Duper graphics pack. Nvidia has released several interactive images showing the difference ray tracing makes for Minecraft. Despite the game's limited graphics, the effects are still impressive.
A new trailer has also been released, which you can see below.
Matt Wuebbling, GeForce Marketing Manager, said: "Minecraft will expose ray tracing to millions of gamers of all ages and backgrounds who may not be playing any more hardcore video games" and that "the world's best-selling video game, adds ray tracing on PC illustrates the dynamics created by ray tracing. "
More Incoming Spinning Games
Nvidia has also announced a range of games, outgoing or upcoming, that will include ray tracing. These include Synched: Off-Planet, which will use light and shadow with lightning patterns, and the remake of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, delivered with lightning shadows and new downloadable content for Metro Exodus called The Two Colonels.
The upcoming Watch Dogs: Legion will also have reflections in the form of spokes, and Dying Light 2 will have a real-time ray tracing feature.
The fact that many future games will only use ray tracing in some aspects of the game (such as shadows or reflections) suggests the intensity of ray tracing, another reason why Minecraft would have it could be selected to show the possibilities.
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