Nvidia’s AI-powered NPCs can now run on your graphics card
Nvidia also adds Xbox Game Pass to GeForce Now, new G-Sync gaming monitors, and Half-Life 2 RTX remix
🤖 Nvidia Ace runs on its first small language model, Nemotron-4 4B NIM
⚡ This SLM allows Nvidia’s Digital Humans to run on GPUs using only 2GB VRAM while being quicker to respond
🎮 GeForce Now adds Xbox Automatic Sign-On, granting cloud access to Game Pass
🖥️ Three new gaming monitors offer G-Sync powered by MediaTek scalers
👽 Half-Life 2 gets a RTX remaster along with new assets and models, and DLSS 3.5
Interacting with Nvidia ACE and its AI-powered NPCs has been one of our favorite gaming experiences of the year and now Nvidia has added its first small language model for game characters.
By adding a new small language model named Nemotron-4 4B NIM, Nvidia’s AI-powered NPC will be able to respond quicker and run on GPUs and require only 2GB of video memory. Nvidia is also already deploying its first digital humans in Mecha Break. The game contains a mechanic AI NPC, which will talk to you about missions, mechs, and load-outs.
Like previous iterations of digital humans, Mecha Break’s AI NPC are animated with dynamic facial animations that match up with the character’s speech using Audio2Face-3D NIM. Meanwhile, Whisper runs on-device speech recognition and Elevenlabs creates realistic voices streamed from the cloud.
GeForce Now ❌ Xbox Game Pass
GeForce Now game streaming service will now give users seamless cloud access to Xbox Game Pass. Users can connect their accounts using Xbox Automatic Sign-On. While gamers already had cloud access to Xbox games through Game Pass streaming, GeForce Now should be able to enhance them with ray tracing and Nvidia DLSS.
Nvidia G-Sync comes to MediaTek scaler monitors
Nvidia is expanding G-Sync to work with gaming monitors with MediaTek scalers starting with three new models; AOC AGON PRO AG276QSG2, Acer Predator XB273U F5, and Asus ROG Swift 360Hz PG27AQNR. These new monitors also adds G-Sync Pulsar technology, which first debuted at CES 2024, to increase motion clarity by four times.
These are the first new G-Sync monitors that have been announced in years. Up until now, true G-Sync monitors have practically vanished since G-Sync compatibility removed the need for screens with dedicated modules.
Nvidia tells us G-Sync monitor with MediaTek scalers will deliver a tear- and stutter-free experience just like its previous displays. A majority of the world’s monitors and even TVs are equipped with MediaTek scalers, but there are no plans to retroactively make other displays compatible beyond the first three models above at launch.
Last but not least Half-Life 2 is getting an RTX remix remaster to update Nova Prospekt level of the classic shooter with fully ray-traced lighting. Nvidia has also updated the game with new assets and models, and DLSS 3.5.
Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.