The GC Game Developers Conference, being held this week in Leipzig, Germany, has brought on a flurry of pledges from European game develoeprs embracing the Agiea PhysX physics processor. The Physx processor—announced back in March and a hit at this year’s E3 Expo—enables new levels of real-time simulations of physical objects in games, including everything from realistic character motion to weather and (a delight to many player) completely destructible environments. Gamers who thought the idea of a dedicated processor in their PC devoted solely to game physics was just one step away from making their rig a glorified console system had better get used to the idea of developers—and their top titles—relying on PhysX capabilities. Dell, Alienware and Falcon Northwest now offer PhysX-equipped systems, and add-on boards are available from from ASUS and BFG Technologies.
First up, Germany’s Trinigy has announced it will integrate support for PhysX into version 6 of its Vision Game Engine. Trinigy’s Game Engine drives more than 50 games from well-known developers around the world, ranging from strategy and role-playing games to those much-loved first-person shooters. “Our new AGEIA PhysX integration module is a huge benefit to all our customers,” said Danie Conradie, Director of Development at Trinigy, in a statement. “Adding realistic physics to your game has never been easier. Artist and designers can use our powerful vForge editor to interactively place, play and tweak physics in real-time.”
Eastern Europe’s largest game development studio, Nival Interactive, has also jumped on the PhysX bandwagon, announcing they’ve signed a publisher-wide agreement to use the Ageia PhysX engine in their upcoming games and expansion packs. Nival develops more than a sozen titles, including Heroes of Might and Magic V for Ubisoft, along with Blitzkrieg,Etherlods,Silent Storm, and Rage of Mages.
Turkey’s Céidot Game Studios also announced support for the PhysX processor in their upcoming retro-futuristic role-playing game Sovereign Symphony. “Ceidot’s Sovereign Symphony will be one of the most creative, deepest and strategic RPG’s ever made,” said Kathy Schoback, Ageia’s vice president of content acquisition, in a release. “Enthusiasts of the genre will be amazed at the lifelike action, remarkable environments and textures enabled by the AGEIA PhysX processor.”
Not to be left out, game studio Steel Monkeys (based in Scotland and Belarus) announced they have licensed PhysX technology for their upcoming cinematic road-chase game 2 Days to Vegas, which will feature realistic behavior of objects and characters, dramatic real-time interaction of game objects (think collisions!) and “a unique weather phenomena [sic] that has never been seen before in computer games.”
