Developers on the Android platform have already been pushing the boundaries of Android gaming.  Even Quake 3 has been seen running on the Android platform.  Things can only get better with today’s announcement.

The Android Developers Blog today announced the availability of the NDK r3 that will let android developers directly access OpenGL ES 2.0 features.

Applications targeting Android 2.0 (API level 5) or higher can now directly access OpenGL ES 2.0 features. This brings the ability to control graphics rendering through vertex and fragment shader programs, using the GLSL shading language.

A new trivial sample, named “hello-gl2″, demonstrates how to render a simple triangle using both shader types.

With access to these enhanced OpenGL ES features game graphics should be greatly improved and we should start to see an awesome future for Android gaming.  Obviously, we still need developers to take advantage of the new API and have the hardware powerful enough to use it, but everything is getting real close to serious gaming on Android.

Source: Android Developers Blog

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About the Author

Simon Walker

I was an IT consultant for 20 years and ran my own web design and development company for an additional 3 years. I have been involved with technology from birth. OK, that maybe an exaggeration, but it sure is a long time. I'm also an avid Home Theater geek and self appointed installer for friends and relatives. My first serious modding of Smart-Phones started with my T-Mobile WING and now Android devices. I'm also a bit of a photographer, although Android has kind of taken over my life and photography has taken a back seat.

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