Programmer Challenge SOLUTION

How much Main RAM does the Nintendo DS have?
(4 MB)

What is Thumb on the Nintendo DS's ARM processors?
(16-bit wide instruction set)

Sony PS3's make use of what next generation disc media technology?
(Blu-Ray)

The Sony PS3 has more, less, or the same amount of VRAM as it has Main RAM?
(The same, 256 MB)

How much Main Memory does the XBox 360 have?
(512 MB of GDDR3 RAM)

What brand of graphics processor does the XBox 360 hardware utilize?
(ATI)

How much Main Memory does the Nintendo Wii have (include the 1T-SRAM in the integrated graphics package)?
(88 MiB main memory (24 MiB "internal" 1T-SRAM integrated into graphics package, 64 MiB "external" GDDR3 SDRAM) and 3 MiB embedded GPU texture memory and framebuffer.
(512 MiB Internal NAND Flash Memory is for save games and the like))

Name the two wireless technologies used by Wii Remotes for pointing and connectivity.
(Infrared and Bluetooth)

Which of the three current-gen consoles (XBox360, Wii, PS3) does NOT use ATI hardware for graphics processing?
(PS3 - NVIDIA RSX)

As of last year October 2006, which of the following is NOT one of the top 5 best-selling PC games in North America (IGN.com)?
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War -- Dark Crusade (THQ)
Civilization IV (2K Games)
Flight Simulator X Deluxe (Microsoft)
World Of Warcraft (Vivendi)
The Sims 2 Pets (Electronic Arts)

(Actual top 5:
The Sims 2 Pets (Electronic Arts)
World Of Warcraft (Vivendi)
Battlefield 2142 (Electronic Arts)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War -- Dark Crusade (THQ)
Flight Simulator X Deluxe (Microsoft)
)

As of October 2007, which of the following is NOT one of the top 5 best-selling PC games in North America (IGN.com)?
a) Nancy Drew: Legend Of The Crystal Skull - Her Interactive
b) The Orange Box - Electronic Arts
c) Reel Deal Slots Ghost Town - Phantom EFX
d) World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi
e) Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask Of The Betrayer Expansion Pack - Atari

(Actual top ten:
1) Half Life 2: Episode 2 The Orange Box - Electronic Arts
2) Nancy Drew: Legend Of The Crystal Skull - Her Interactive
3) The Sims 2 Bon Voyage Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts
4) Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask Of The Betrayer Expansion Pack - Atari
5) World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi
6) World Of Warcraft - Vivendi
7) World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Vivendi
8) Reel Deal Slots Ghost Town - Phantom EFX
9) The Sims 2 Deluxe - Electronic Arts
10) World In Conflict - Vivendi
)

(Actual top 5 (Gamasutra.com): 1. The Orange Box (EA Games), 2. Nancy Drew: Legend of Crystal Skull (Her Interactive), 3. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (Atari), 4. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (EA Games), 5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard).)


In a typical PC Graphics Pipeline Process, name a step usually performed after Rasterization and before final delivery to the Frame Buffer (wikipedia.com).
a) evaluate NURBS surfaces
b) vertex shader operations
c) process line primitives
d) pixel/fragment color operations

(OpenGL does: Per-fragment operations, like updating values depending on incoming and previously stored depth values, or colour combinations, among others.)
(DirectX does: 5. Rasterizer: Rasterizes primitives into pixels, clipping what is not visible. 6. Pixel shader: Pixel operations such as colour. 7. Output Merger: Merges various types of output data (pixel shader values, depth/stencil...) to build the final result.)

The new OpenGL 3 standard has been officially delayed to some unknown release date; what was the original release date?
a) end of May 2007
b) end of year 2007
c) end of August 2007
d) end of October 2007
(It was expected to be released by the end of August. (Beyond3D.com))

What is an anisotropic effect?
a) a blurring method achieved by convolving with a circular box blur kernel
b) a type of highlight mapping appropriate for materials such as
hair/fur or brushed metal c) masking with a 3D object
d) an occlusion method calculated by casting rays from each visible point and seeing if it hits objects or light sources
(b - (http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/aniso_highlights/aniso_highlights.htm) An effect created from reflections on surfaces with many small bumps/grooves that travel in one direction like CD's or brushed metal. - Used to more realistically highlight fur or hair when using highlight mapping. - anisotropic (adj.) anisotropic 1. Physics. of unequal physical properties along different axes. Cf. isotropic - The direction or mapping of the grooves.)

What is the Fresnel Effect?
a) the effect that as a viewing angle to a reflective surface gets smaller, the surface becomes more reflective
b) the deformation that occurs when projected spotlight textures hit curved and angled surfaces
c) the appearance of colored reflections from materials like hard plastic
d) the name for how refraction behaves differently in materials with refractive indices less than 1.0, such as gold and silver
(a - (http://www.cgrenaissance.com/tutorials/reflections.htm) - The Fresnel Effect is the effect that as your viewing angle to the surface gets closer to zero degrees (or incidence angle gets closer to 90 degrees), the surface becomes more reflective. - Facing Ratio - Reflectivity)