Feature: 'GDC: Ageia's PhysX Launch'

Another of today's main Gamasutra features discusses physics, notably on the mind of many attending programmers and developers. Among the many software tools made available in the last few years, Ageia looks to hit the ground running with the launch of their hardware-based solution - the PhysX PPU. In this extract, we discuss some of the specific demos showed by Ageia before the show: "The demos showing off the PhysX were quite impressive. Running on a Windows PC-powered by a high-end AMD processor and two nVidia GeForce 7800s in SLI configuration, the PhysX board helped power the dynamics of a couple of games. First was Immersion Software's CellFactor: a visceral first-person shooter that featured psychic powers, futuristic physics-based weapons, and lots of objects to use said weapons on. Seeing a grenade-like weapon first gather up surrounding objects, everything from concrete pipes to jeeps and individual players, before expelling them as hot shrapnel was amazing to see in real-time. Blood erupted from people in globules that beaded and flowed down the floor before disappearing. The other interactive demo was a look at the coming patch for Digital Jesters' Bet On Soldier; here, the new napalm gun shot out its fiery liquid in streams that bounced of walls and flowed down rocks." You can read the full Gamasutra coverage on the matter, including detailed information on the new hardware solution (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).