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A personal computer built to be no bigger than an index finger has been demonstrated running Id Software’s Quake 3.
Shown in the video below, a Raspberry Pi demo unit runs the 1999 game at 1080 resolution, with 4x anti-aliasing enabled, and various lighting and geometrical details set to maximum spec.
Eben Upton, who is a trustee with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, showed the game running at around 20fps. He explained his disappointment at that framerate as the Pi team have managed to run Quake 3 at much faster speeds before.
The Raspberry Pi, endorsed by UK industry veteran David Braben, is hoped will stimulate a new generation of game developers.
Braben believes the £15 microcomputer could be the answer to “boring” ICT school lessons which he believes shares responsibility in the UK’s so-called ‘brain-drain’.
The Raspberry Pi, if built to fulfil objectives, would give students access to a full PC experience and, crucially, allow them to cut their teeth on creative computer programming.
No date has been set for a final build.
