GDC 2016 marks further advancement in game graphics technology, including a somewhat uniform platform update across the big three major game engines. That'd be CryEngine (now updated to version V), Unreal Engine, and Unity, of course, all synchronously pushing improved game fidelity. We were able to speak with nVidia to get in-depth and hands-on with some of the industry's newest gains in video game graphics, particularly involving voxel-accelerated ambient occlusion, frustum tracing, and volumetric lighting. Anyone who's gained from our graphics optimization guides for Black Ops III, the Witcher, and GTA V should hopefully enjoy new game graphics knowledge from this post. The major updates come down the pipe through nVidia's GameWorks SDK version 3.1 update, which is being pushed to developers and engines in the immediate future. NVidia's GameWorks team is announcing five new technologies at GDC: Volumetric Lighting algorithm update Voxel-Accelerated Ambient Occlusion (VXAO) High-Fidelity Frustum-Traced Shadows (HFTS) Flow (combustible fluid, fire, smoke, dynamic grid simulator, and rendering in Dx11/12) GPU Rigid Body tech This article introduces the new technologies and explains how, at a low-level, VXAO (voxel-accelerated ambient occlusion), HFTS (high-fidelity frustum-traced shadows), volumetric lighting, Flow (CFD), and rigid bodies work. Readers interested in this technology may also find AMD's HDR display demo a worthy look. Before digging in, our thanks to nVidia's Rev Lebaredian for his patient, engineering-level explanation of these technologies.