Round Up: Havok & Blizzard, America’s Army, Bully Rated T

Author: by Jason Dobson, Frank Cifaldi

Today's round-up includes news of Havok 4.0 being licensed by Blizzard, the release of America’s Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) for the PC, and Bully being rated T for Teen, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source news, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - Physics middleware firm Havok announced that that Blizzard Entertainment has licensed the company's Havok 4.0 game-play physics and animation solution. Neither company has revealed which future products developed by Blizzard will make used of the Havok 4.0 software. Released in July this year, Havok 4.0 is a modular suite of artist tools and run-time technology that enhances Havok’s suite of products, including Havok Physics and Havok Animation. It also introduced two new products – Havok Behavior and Havok FX. “Havok 4.0 will add power and flexibility to our development process,” said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re looking forward to utilizing this technology with our upcoming games.” - The U.S. Army today launched America’s Army: Special Forces (Overmatch), marking the 22nd update to the America’s Army PC series and the third major release of America’s Army focused upon the central role Special Forces play in the war on terrorism. America’s Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) also marks the launch of the America’s Army Real Heroes program in which the U.S. Army provides America’s Army players insights into the accomplishments of eight real life soldiers who have distinguished themselves in combat and earned citations for bravery and valor. America’s Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) can be downloaded from the America's Army website. - Take-Two Interactive's Rockstar-developed PlayStation 2 exclusive Bully has been given the rating of T for Teen, rather than the M (mature) rating many expected, according to a report today from popular consumer website Gamespot, designating that the game "may be suitable for ages 13 and older." The game will come with the warnings "Crude Humor, Violence, Sexual Themes, Language and Use of Alcohol & Tobacco." Bully has proven extremely controversial, despite it never having been demonstrated in public - many outside observers have assumed from the name that the game encourages and allows users to participate in bullying. The recently revealed trailer, though, portrays a less provocative game in which the main character is largely the subject of bullying rather than the perpetrator. -Gamasutra's new education-specific sister website, Game Career Guide, has updated today with news on the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) establishing a new Technical Committee, TC14 on Entertainment Computing. -The latest posts on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a look at Google wandering into the games space and a look at Derek Yu's submission into the Independent Games Festival, a game called Aquaria. -Finally, Gamasutra has updated its job postings today, with new openings from Big Fish Games, Amaze Entertainment, nFusion Interactive and Crystal Dynamics.