Havok Announces Version 4.5 Update

Representatives from game engine tool provider Havok have announced the release of Havok 4.5, the latest update to its artist tool and run-time technology suite. With the latest update, Havok promises dramatic acceleration of cross-platform development for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii, allowing developers to, as Havok puts it, "scale game content to thousands of dynamically-driven game objects and characters," as well as harness the "full power" of next-gen hardware architecture. Specifically, Havok notes that using its latest 4.5 physics and animation products for the PlayStation 3 will be able to more greatly harness all its available SPUs, resulting in scenes running 5-10 times faster than Havok 4.0 for a typical PS3 game scene. Havok's 4.5 suite includes Havok Physics and Havok Animation, as well as a newly enhanced Havok Behavior, accelerating development of interactive character behaviors, and Havok FX, for 'physically-based “special effects” phenomena.' Said Evolution Studios' technical director and PS3 Motorstorm lead Scott Kirkland, “With its unparalleled environmental interaction and spectacular destruction, MotorStorm’s brutal, chaotic, off-road racing makes big demands on physics processing. Un-phased by the intense time pressures of our project, Havok rose to this next-gen challenge and provided us with an outstanding suite of professional tools, technology and support to help realize our vision. We’re now looking forward to collaborating with the Havok team on future Evolution products”. Added Havok’s David O’Meara, “The launch of Havok 4.5 represents the culmination of many thousands of man hours for the Havok development team. We’ve worked really hard to ensure that Havok technology is optimized for the next generation console platforms, and we’ve been really excited by the results. Havok 4.5’s ability to allow developers to massively scale game content will make it possible to develop even more compelling, realistic and complex worlds that harness the full power of new generation architectures.”