To be honest, I've never liked the ending of the movie Ready Player One.
Hailed by many media and audiences as "an electronic love letter to all gamers," in my opinion, the plot handling at the end of the story, where the protagonist team helps more players return to real life by shutting down the "Oasis" servers for two days a week, is indeed a major flaw. After all, it still fails to free video games, the most popular modern form of entertainment, from the stereotypical impressions of traditional concepts. Ultimately, nearly 80-year-old Spielberg still hopes that everyone will spend less time as internet-addicted youths and return to reality to serve as cogs in the societal machine.
On the other hand, I must admit that when I first sat in the cinema and watched the entire Ready Player One, I was indeed very excited. This was not only because director Spielberg brought in a massive number of licensed game characters and film/TV IPs, stuffing those familiar pop culture elements into every corner of the movie, allowing the audience to experience a carnival of finding Easter eggs. More importantly, in a realistic sense, the scene it envisioned, where future players fully immerse themselves in virtual games through high-tech headsets and haptic devices, is exactly the tech-savvy and immersive way of playing that we currently crave after growing tired of traditional gaming peripherals.
However, after the film's release, although we have seen many hardware manufacturers attempt to follow the concept of the "Oasis" from the movie, using VR headsets and other devices to create a "metaverse" in the virtual world, the results have mostly been unsatisfactory—some even turned their promises into scams. Apart from shortcomings in software technology, the more important issue is that the gaming peripherals we encounter in daily life are either still stuck in traditional development directions like keyboards, mice, and controllers, or, although there are more advanced and unique devices, factors such as price and adoption rates make them seem out of reach for ordinary gamers.
Even Half-Life: Alyx, currently recognized as the best VR game, is still far from the "Oasis"
The most appropriate example is Apple's Vision Pro, released the year before last. It is undoubtedly one of the most advanced head-mounted display devices you can buy today. Its appearance resembles the X1 from Ready Player One, boasting Apple's proudest operating system and software ecosystem. However, the price of nearly 30,000 RMB and the limited official game library are obviously beyond the means of ordinary people like us. Even for the wealthy, it serves at best as a movable giant screen. After the novelty wears off, even the most expensive "electronic Maotai" will gradually become electronic garbage rarely thought of.
In such an environment, it is obviously not easy for Gen Z young players to experience the trendiest and most tech-savvy gaming devices while also using them to precisely ignite their social circles. But the good news is that within the Snapdragon themed pavilion at this year's ChinaJoy, this idea has the opportunity to become a reality.
Although Teacher Lianpo usually visits the Snapdragon themed pavilion during every ChinaJoy to pick up some media perks from various manufacturers, stepping into Hall N5 of the Shanghai New International Expo Center for the first time this year, he was somewhat overwhelmed by the layout and the massive amount of experiential content, unsure where to start. As usual, the theme color was fiery red, and the areas around the stage were divided into different experience zones. However, this year, the number of devices available for trial in each zone, along with those seemingly mysterious black tech display areas, were significantly more numerous and interesting.
Taking the right side of the stage, which first caught Teacher Lianpo's attention, as an example, once you arrive here, your gaze will hardly fail to be attracted by the two uniquely shaped "Snapdragon Custom Seats" in the "Snapdragon XR Fantasy Journey" exhibition area. This equipment uses newly customized Snapdragon seats paired with the PICO 4 Ultra MR all-in-one machine built on the second-generation Snapdragon XR2 platform. It achieves collaborative rendering through high-performance 5G-A technology, realizing low-latency transmission of ultra-8K resolution images. With the support of high bandwidth and cutting-edge rendering capabilities, it presents a delicate and realistic visual feast for players. Combined with the customized Snapdragon seats, it allows players to achieve an all-around immersive VR interactive experience. You will transform into a brave explorer, embarking on an immersive adventure journey blending fantasy and excitement.
Right next to this area, in the All-Core Photography Studio, young photography enthusiasts can experience studio-level photo shoots using three smartphones specialized for photography. This is no exaggeration—Snapdragon has actually set up two different styled photography scenes on-site, allowing you to choose and experience the All-Core Photography capabilities powered by different Snapdragon chips. When it comes to mobile photography, Teacher Lianpo certainly has a say. Whether it's the Leica tonality of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the Hasselblad colors of the OPPO Find X8 Ultra, or the Zeiss filters of the VIVO X200 Ultra, Teacher Lianpo was quite satisfied with the color tuning performance of all three devices, each having its own strengths. In terms of image processing power, thanks to the newly designed AI-ISP and the high-computing-power NPU in the Snapdragon® 8 Elite, which supports over 250 layers of semantic recognition and segmentation for images, users can optimize every detail of their photos for the most pleasing visual results. Additionally, it supports real-time skin and sky algorithms, utilizing the NPU to recognize lighting conditions and retouch images. Even under complex lighting conditions, these three imaging flagships can accurately identify the main subject and perfectly reproduce the shooting effect, ensuring every moment is captured clearly. While exploring the exhibition, you can also capture your own "photo of a lifetime."
Besides this, the black tech that surprised Teacher Lianpo the most on-site was probably the Snapdragon Intelligent Robot. This G1Q robot developed by Unitree Robotics adopts the Qualcomm QCS IQ9 series processor, possessing excellent on-device AI performance, built-in security features, and design flexibility, capable of handling high-computation, energy-efficient, heavy-load tasks in extreme environments. At this year's ChinaJoy, besides demonstrating flexible walking capabilities, the robot will engage in multimodal communication interactions with Snapdragon fans on stage based on large language models. Although Teacher Lianpo has already tested it for everyone and found that this piece of iron cannot yet be trained into a cyber catgirl, interested friends are still highly recommended to come and experience it.
Needless to say, any single one of these, if posted on WeChat Moments, would definitely be a hit. It is not difficult to see that at this year's ChinaJoy, besides showcasing its black tech muscles as usual, Snapdragon focused most on the diverse experiences of on-site players and consumers. Calling this place the "native land of social buzz points" might not be an exaggeration. For Gen Z young people who love sharing and trying new things, Snapdragon has well grasped their internet attributes, creating products that young people truly like while giving everyone the opportunity to use them. This is perhaps the humanistic care that technological development should have, rather than merely piling up technology and placing itself on an unattainable pedestal.
Of course, if you feel that AI robots are still relatively distant from your life, Teacher Lianpo would recommend visiting the "Snapdragon XR Core Vision" exhibition area. At this year's ChinaJoy, a total of 15 VR, AR, and MR devices will be exhibited there, involving leading domestic manufacturers from various fields such as Rokid, BleeqUp, XREAL, and PICO. Traditional mobile phone manufacturers like Xiaomi have also joined the fray, making the competition quite intense. Meanwhile, based on the types and gameplay differences of these devices, there are seven experiential contents for players to try, including Snapdragon AR Pavilion Interaction, AR·Travel Through the Ice Age, and AR+ Sports. Just the Snapdragon AR Pavilion Interaction alone includes six innovative AI experience segments such as "AR Dragon Experience," "AR Game Experience," and "AR Shopping Experience," allowing you to get a firsthand look at the future prototype of the "Oasis" while fully enjoying the convenience technology brings to human life.
On this basis, as a gamer, Teacher Lianpo naturally had to check out the "Snapdragon Fan Gear Library," which showcases the performance of current flagship gaming hardware. At this year's ChinaJoy, this area will provide 106 Snapdragon terminal devices for players to experience, including 32 Snapdragon flagship phones, 9 newly released Snapdragon flagship tablets, 12 Snapdragon laptop terminals, 20 headphones, 6 routers, 15 XR devices, 6 handheld consoles, 4 watches, 1 robot, and the most significant automotive product—the Xiaomi YU7.
Although Teacher Lianpo cannot afford the Xiaomi YU7 for now, he can still talk about other Snapdragon devices. Take the Snapdragon AI PC, powered by the Snapdragon X series platform, which many Snapdragon fans have been paying attention to for a long time. As the performance king among Windows processors in its class to date, the Snapdragon X series platform offers up to 45 TOPS of NPU computing power, bringing breakthrough AI capability improvements to users. Paired with advanced cameras, lossless audio, 4K streaming, and other smart technologies, users can experience ultra-fast connectivity and enhanced security anytime, anywhere. In addition, you can experience many newly launched native productivity and creativity software in the PC area, such as Tencent App Store, MuMu Simulator, Jianying Professional Edition, Capture One, etc. You can also run the Deepseek large model on-device. More and more games, such as Party Animals and Valorant, are offering better support for ARM architecture, allowing you to fully experience the all-around capabilities of Snapdragon AI PCs in business office work and audio-visual entertainment.
Speaking of games, we must also mention the "Snapdragon Elite Gaming Area" specially created for gamers within the pavilion. Here, you can see how devices equipped with Snapdragon flagship chips compress touch latency through extreme performance release, allowing players to maneuver precisely and release skills smoothly in both MOBA and FPS games, turning fingertip inspiration into highlight moments. Meanwhile, Snapdragon flagship chips will bring players ultra-high-definition quality rendering and spatial audio technology, making game details lifelike and sound effects distinct. Even in open-world games with high load pressure, Snapdragon chips can still ensure stable frame rates for players, allowing you to obtain the most sufficient immersion in the virtual world. Needless to say, from professional arenas to leisure time, from AAA blockbusters to casual games, Snapdragon accompanies players on every journey with all-scenario performance. It is not just a chip, but a bridge connecting passion and experience.
In terms of the number of playable games, the Snapdragon exhibition area this year brings players exclusive experiences of 14 top-tier mobile and PC games, as well as 7 unreleased new games. In addition to experiencing the latest versions of popular games on the Snapdragon mobile platform, it also features demonstrations of on-device AI applications and Snapdragon Elite Gaming technology based on the Snapdragon mobile platform, such as Justice Online Mobile, Wuthering Waves, Infinity Nikki, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and Naraka: Bladepoint Mobile.
Taking Justice Online Mobile as an example, as a "breathing Jianghu," it has always had high requirements for the performance and optimization scheduling of mobile hardware platforms. The new generation GPU equipped in the Snapdragon 8 Elite offers a 40% increase in graphics performance and a 40% reduction in power consumption compared to the previous generation, with a 35% increase in ray tracing performance, providing strong underlying support for Justice Online Mobile. Leveraging Snapdragon Elite Gaming technology, the game can achieve hardware-accelerated real-time ray tracing, presenting realistic water reflections and rich lighting layers, bringing a more immersive visual experience. Meanwhile, the platform's integrated AFME 2.0 frame insertion technology, through real-time frame interpolation by the GPU, allows the game to maintain high frame rates and smooth animation performance even in high-load scenarios, making every lightness skill jump and every battle flow naturally, truly achieving "beautifully realistic, smoothly moving." Furthermore, Qualcomm has collaborated with NetEase Fuxi Lab to upgrade the real-time facial capture function in the Crew Mode of Justice Online Mobile. Players simply need to turn on the camera, and the system can accurately capture and synchronize their facial expressions to the game character, bringing a more immersive interactive experience.
These tangible technical upgrades that enhance the gaming experience undoubtedly benefit players in the end. From this point of view alone, this visit to the Snapdragon themed pavilion at ChinaJoy this year gave Teacher Lianpo a profound realization—perhaps the development speed of many gaming hardware technologies has far exceeded people's expectations, but what truly deserves recognition are those manufacturers who do not treat players as outsiders and are willing to lay bare their foundations for player experience and criticism.
This is not to say that technological development is unimportant, but technology is cold. With the support and recognition of players, manufacturers can move faster and last longer on their development path. Although we still have much technology to accumulate before reaching the "Oasis" world of Ready Player One, as long as we are willing to witness the joys and sorrows of this journey together with players, seeing that "Oasis" is ultimately just a matter of time.