Some thoughts on VMs and their relevance (or lack thereof) to a Nintendo console. I'm getting a PhD in distributed systems/operating systems, which doesn't mean I know what I'm talking about at all, but I'd like to think it makes my uninformed BS have a slightly higher chance of being accurate:
Has anyone yet talked about how Tegra-Parker's Virtualisation tech is similar to Nintendo's Suplimental computing Patent.
"The chip can power up to 8 virtualised machines with each having their own display pipeline"
http://wccftech.com/nvidia-tegra-parker-soc-hot-chips/
Not sure what it means, but in theory could it mean that up to 8 handhelds/Consoles could share an interconnected environment and share resources.
(Sort of like what Nintendo did with Pokken Tournament, where local multiplayer requires 2 WiiU's Ducttaped togeather)
I think you've got it the wrong way. This tech means one machine can fake being 8 different machines rendering graphics independently. I don't think it would help multiple physical devices share resources in any way.
A virtual machine is basically when hardware is emulated in a sandbox within another OS. Supporting up to 8 is alot and I'm not sure what that would be useful for outside of a dev environment. This might have more to do with the automotive side.
Yep, you're spot on that this tech doesn't seem too useful in a console/handheld. One video-game related use that I could see for it, though, is being used in the server farms powering cloud gaming/game streaming. Those games are probably already running on VMs, so I can see the appeal in having a chip with low power consumption/heat output that works well with rendering graphics in virtualized environments.
This is purely speculation..edit: based on zero knowledge of how VMs actually work. Monster Hunter and any arena based local multiplayer game.
If Nintendo could link say 4 handhelds wirelessly. The combined power of those 4 devices could render the assets in the arena at higher resolutions/frame rates then each individual device could, and then output individual screens to each handheld.
Shared VR environments based on proximity could also be possible.
Edit. The Virtual Machine concept also fits with the idea of the NX as an IOS like iterative console. If the NXs "console" environment is tied to software as opposed to hardware then it's much easier to release next years iterative model that will allow games to run on both. Because essentially both devices despite the difference in power are running the same NX virtual console
Again, virtualization doesn't help multiple physical devices combine their resources. Precisely the opposite--it helps one physical device fake being multiple computers simultaneously. The idea of running software in a virtual environment, and using that virtualization to make it easier to develop software across iterative releases, is interesting, though. My gut instinct is that it would be easier to just have software development use a set of common libraries that are recompiled to any new architecture, since getting good performance out of virtualization takes a lot of tweaking anyways, but I don't know enough to have a firm idea of what the advantages and disadvantages of each approach are.
Just thought of another use for VMs
What if it's used for advanced AI. Which means in playing a party based RPG you could have up to 7 intelligent companions at a time.
Although it would be a waste of resources on a game that's pushing the limits of graphics technology. Running in half flop mode (16 vs 32) on a simple game (even something like Xenoblade X) could be huge for RPGs where playing as a party is important
Virtualization would do nothing to improve performance for running something like AI, and it would probably actually hurt performance significantly (there's the raw performance penalty of virtualization, and now your 7 AI processes on your 7 different VMs have to pass messages back and forth to communicate with the main game VM).