作者：Jeffrey Grubb

苹果推出的iPhone 5S是一部超级手机。这么评价它主要是因为它具有强大的64位处理器。

是的，与Nintedo 64和Atari Jaguar一样，iPhone 5S内置的A7芯片是64位的……但还是与Nintedo 64和Atari Jaguar一样，我不知道那意味着什么。

当然，苹果确实做得不错，毕竟这是世界上第一部64位的智能手机，那么然后呢？我问了几个游戏开发者的看法。

infinity-blade-3-announced-for-iphone(from gamingunion.net)

《时空幻境》的开发者Jonathan Blow认为：“64位处理器主要意义体现在内存上——超过2G或4G，看你的操作系统。在我看来，当iOS占用的内存开始远远少于2GB时，基本上就没有什么程序跑不动了，所以从那一点来看，64位处理器的意义不大。也许以后就不一定了。”

Blow举了一个例子， 苹果可以给iOS添加虚拟内存，使操作系统临时把存储空间当成RAM。64位处理器使iPhone 5S（及其之后的设备）能够同时计算更多数据。

但Blow又补充道：“（新处理器）对开发者来说是好东西，但这是长期看来，短期内还看不出来。”

所以，这个内存红利对iPhone 5S没有多大影响。然而，在iOS及在这个系统上的软件运行速度上，64位处理器本应立即显示出积极的作用。

Chair工作室的联合创始人Geremy Mustard指出：“对于现状，这有一点儿过头了。但对于游戏和应用减少装载时间确实有帮助。在这样的芯片上运行系统，应该会惊人地顺畅。”

Chair是Epic Games旗下子公司，也是iOS专属的格斗游戏《Infinity Blade》的开发者。这家公司透露，当苹果宣布iPhone 5S的新处理器时，它正在制作《Infinity Blade 3》。作为Epic的子公司，Chair使用Unreal引擎开发它的游戏，因为那个软件已经为64位硬件做了优化，所以《Infinity Blade 3》能在64位的iPhone 5S上运行。

“苹果展示了一张表，说明新的A7芯片的纯功率是iPhone 5的A6芯片的2倍。事实上，我们将看到更大的优势，因为64位处理器运行指令更加高效了。iPhone 5S的应用加载速度提高了5倍。真是令人不可思议。几乎是一瞬间就加载完了。”

确实，正如你在技术规格表上看到的，“64位处理器”的唯一意义就是证明它是否能真正提高终端设备的性能。根据Mustard和Blow等人的说法，iPhone 5S的新“内脏”在不远的将来就会达到那个效果。

William Volk是手机游戏开发公司Playscreen的创意总监，他认为苹果正在让“手机达到主机的性能。”

他补充道：“它证明了苹果对游戏的重视。这么高性能的手机设备将成为苹果抢占AAA游戏平台的坚实基础。那是可能的，或者至少5S版本将会大放异彩。iPad和Apple TV会有什么动作呢，令人期待。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

More power: What iPhone 5S’s 64-bit processor means for gaming

by Jeffrey Grubb

Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5S is a superphone, and a big part of what makes it so powerful is its new 64-bit processor.

That’s right, like the Nintedo 64 and Atari Jaguar, the A7 chip inside the iPhone 5S is 64-bits … and like with the Nintendo 64 and Atari Jaguar, I don’t really know what that means.

Sure, Apple did a good job of driving home that this is the world’s first 64-bit smartphone, but what does that entail? I reached out to some game developers to find out.

“The main thing that 64-bit processors let you do is address a lot of memory — more than 2 gigs or more than 4 gigs depending on your operating system,” Braid developer Jonathan Blow told GamesBeat. ”Last I checked, iOS kills programs when they start eating way less [than 2GB of memory], so from that standpoint it doesn’t help. Maybe it will in the future.”

Blow gave a potential example where Apple could add full virtual memory to iOS, which is a process where the operating system temporarily treats storage space as RAM. The 64-bit processor would enable the iPhone 5S (and future devices) to compute more of that data all at once.

“[The new processor] is a good thing for developers, but probably more in the long-term rather than the short-term,” said Blow.

So, the memory bonuses — which are probably coming at some point — won’t have much of an impact on the iPhone 5S. The 64-bit processor should have an immediate positive effect, however, on the speed of iOS and software running on the system.

“It’s a little bit of an overkill for where we’re at right now,” Chair co-founder Geremy Mustard told GamesBeat. “But it really helps with load times. That’s for games and for every app. It’s really amazing how smooth the operating system feels because it is running on this chip.”

Chair is a subsidiary of Epic Games and is also the developer of the iOS-exclusive hack-n-slash franchise Infinity Blade. The company revealed that it is working on Infinity Blade III during Apple’s iPhone 5 event Tuesday. As a part of Epic, Chair uses the Unreal Engine to develop its games, and since that software is already optimized for 64-bit hardware, the studio was able to get Infinity Blade III up and running on it in no time.

“Apple showed a chart that says the new A7 chip is two times the raw horsepower of the A6 that was in the iPhone 5,” said Mustard. “We’re actually seeing even greater gains because the 64-bit processor is running instructions even more efficiently. We’re actually seeing our load times increase five times on iPhone 5S. It feels fantastic. It loads almost instantly.”

Really, as with anything you find in a spec sheet, a “64-bit processor” only means something if it actually improves the end-user performance. According to guys like Mustard and Blow, the iPhone 5S’s new guts will do exactly that in the near and long-term.

William Volk, chief creative officer at mobile developer Playscreen, said that Apple is delivering “console performance in a handheld.”

He added, “It speaks to how seriously Apple takes games.  As the highest performing mobile device, the key for Apple will be getting AAA games to show up on the device in an exclusive basis.  That could happen, or at least the 5s versions will be standouts.  It will be interesting to see what happens with the iPad and Apple TV.”(source:venturebeat)