A Gameframe is a

hybrid computer Hybrid computers are computers that exhibit features of analog computers and digital computers. The digital component normally serves as the controller and provides logical and numerical operations, while the analog component often serves as a ...

system that was first used in the

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

. It is a combination of the technologies and architectures for

supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

s and

mainframes A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...

, namely high computing power and high throughput.

History

In 2007, Hoplon and

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

jointly started the gameframe project, in which they used an

IBM System z IBM Z is a family name used by IBM for all of its z/Architecture mainframe computers. In July 2017, with another generation of products, the official family was changed to IBM Z from IBM z Systems; the IBM Z family will soon include the newest ...

mainframe computer with attached

Cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

/B.E. blades (the eight-core parallel-processing chips that power

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

) to host their online game '' Taikodom''. The project was carried further by a co-operation between

and the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

in 2009.

System z IBM Z is a family name used by IBM for all of its z/Architecture mainframe computers. In July 2017, with another generation of products, the official family was changed to IBM Z from IBM z Systems; the IBM Z family will soon include the newest ...

provides a high level of security and massive workload handling, ensuring the execution of its administrative tasks and guaranteeing an enduring connectivity to a huge number of clients. Cell/B.E. takes over the most resource demanding calculations thus enabling

to fulfill its job. The combination is both an effective and financially attractive game server system, as the most computation-intensive tasks are offloaded from the expensive CPU cycles of System z and carried out on the more economical Cell blades. Without offloading, the server system required would not be financially feasible. The gameframe can handle the required transactions (e.g., keeping track of each user's spaceships, weapons, and virtual money even between the players) and the simulation (trajectory of objects and checking for collisions) in a unified and consistent fashion. Thus, it can host a few thousand users at a time, and higher efficiency is experienced when more users are added. Games with numerous players like ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

,'' have tackled this problem by splitting the work among multiple

clusters may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...

, creating duplicate worlds that don't communicate. The Cell-augmented

mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...

runs Hoplon's virtual-world

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software program that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to imple ...

, called ''bitVerse'', which uses IBM's WebSphere XD and DB2 software.IBM to wed game chip with mainframes
Apr 25, 2007 at ''news.cnet.com'' Around the gameframe, the

IBM Virtual Universe Community The Virtual Universe Community or VUC is the internal IBM interest group for Virtual Worlds.https://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0293959.htm Every IBMer that is present within any Virtual World or Virtual Universe must comply ...

has evolved.

References

External links

"To Probe Further: The Gameframe Guild"
Aug 2008 at ''ieee.org''
"Mainframes on the Cutting Edge of Technology: Hoplon Infotainment’s Gameframe"
Sept 11, 2008 at ''mainframezone.com''

Apr 26, 2007 at ''nytimes.com''

Videos

Hoplon Infotainment, Brazil startup and maker of Taikodom online video game
27 Apr 2009 at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Brazil Trip -- Hoplon Infotainment
20 Sept 2007 at

Mainframes in Brazil
20 Sept 2007 at

{{Cell microprocessor segments Cell BE architecture IBM mainframe computers Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Server hardware Computing terminology Classes of computers