Microsoft and Duke University have developed Kahawai, a new utility that can cut bandwidth used while playing games online by approximately 83%.
Unlike traditional cloud gaming, Kahawai uses “collaborative rendering.” This method splits the data processing between remote servers and the graphics processing unit (GPU) of phones. The Duke and Microsoft team tested 50 gamers and found that response times were the same between cloud gaming and Kahawai; no lag was evident. Gamers can also play offline, but with inferior graphics.
Landon Cox, a Duke computer scientist, described the tool as “a huge win, especially if your cellphone plan has a data cap… you’ll be able to play a lot longer.”
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