Question
In the past, I have wanted to play some games with high-end graphics requirements.
Why is it that I'm able to play videos of these games fine, but when I try to actually play the game on my laptop (which doesn't have a high-end graphics card), the game shows its power, and barely runs, if at all?
Can I do anything to run these games (which I can play videos of fine) on my low-power laptop? Why does this happen?
Answer
Videos and games are completely different. All the data for a video is pre-computed and stored, it just needs to be decoded and shown on-screen. On the other hand games produce images through the juxtaposition of stored images, freshly rendered images, and effects like lighting. This can be an extremely processor-intensive task.
There are also other considerations, like memory; a video doesn't need to store the position, orientation, pose, speed, etc. of characters, or buffer in upcoming areas, or anything like that.
For a real life analogy, imagine the difference between flipping through a photo book of a family gathering compared to actually gathering the family, doing all the same things, and re-creating the photos. The latter is like what the game has to do; the video is like the photo book.
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