AGEIA ha annunciato la disponibilità sul mercato del processore grafico PhysX: la notizia è di non poca rilevanza e può rappresentare l'inizio di una nuova era nell'ambito dei videogame. Infatti PhysX è la prima PPU (Physics Processing Unit, ndr) appositamente concepita per il PC Gaming.

Se il software saprà allinearsi in tempi brevi o cmq in maniera efficiente (Unreal Tournament 2007 supporterà questa nuova tecnologia) sarà possibile eseguire di qui a poco videogame profondamente differenti da quelli attuali in termini di gestione della fisicità degli oggetti, di cui PhysX può controllare la dinamica in real-time ed in maniera tale che essa obbedisca a leggi fisiche, e dell'interazione del giocatore con il mondo virtuale in cui è immerso.

Alienware, Dell e Falcon Northwest offrono sistemi dotati del nuovo processore: Asus e BFG, d'altro canto, immetteranno sul mercato a Maggio le prime board PhysX based.

MOUNTAIN VIEW and SAN JOSE, Calif. – March 22, 2006 – AGEIA Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced the availability of its PhysX processor, the first physics processing unit (PPU) designed to power pervasive real-time physics in PC gaming. With immediate availability from the world’s leading gaming system and personal computer manufacturers Alienware, Dell, and Falcon Northwest, the AGEIA PhysX Accelerator brings true physics interaction on a massive scale to serious gamers for the first time.

AGEIA PhysX Accelerator add-in boards from leading board manufacturers ASUS and BFG will be available in wide distribution in May of this year.

The AGEIA PhysX processor, with its massively parallel interactive PhysX engines, has been specifically designed to accelerate dynamic physical motion and interaction in games at a scale and quality far beyond what has previously been possible. Exciting new games optimized for the hardware-accelerated physics provided by the PhysX processor will feature complex characters, objects and environments that fully interact based on real-world, real-time properties.

With the PhysX accelerator installed in their PCs, gamers can now have different experiences every time they play a game. For example explosions will be in real-time and specific to the interaction of objects, not just replays of the same animation over and over again. Now game objects can smash, bounce, deform, shatter or explode and cause a different chain reaction every time, depending on physical laws such as force, speed, volume, pressure, or density.
“AGEIA is charting new territory by bringing dedicated physics hardware to market that delivers the real-time physics gameplay that gamers and developers alike have been clamoring for,” said Manju Hegde, CEO at AGEIA. “With the PhysX accelerator board in these new PCs from Dell, Alienware and Falcon Northwest, gamers now have future-proof systems for a fast-growing library of great games that exploit their power.”

More than one hundred games designed for and supporting the AGEIA PhysX processor are in development from over 60 leading software developers and publishers. Game developer and publishing partners include UbiSoft, Cryptic Studios, NCSoft, Epic Games and Sega, among many others.

"Dell continues to be committed to delivering breakthrough technologies for our gaming customers," said Joe Curley, director of Dimension and desktop XPS product marketing, Dell Product Group. "By offering AGEIA PhysX technology in Dell XPS desktops, including the limited-edition XPS 600 Renegade, our customers can play more immersive and realistic gaming content then ever before."

“Alienware systems have won numerous awards for outstanding gaming performance by incorporating components and technologies that are at the very forefront of innovation,” said Frank Azor, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Alienware Worldwide Product Group. “By now equipping our gaming systems with AGEIA’s breakthrough PhysX technology, Alienware is delivering to customers an even higher level of gameplay that immerses them in the most realistic gaming environments possible.”

“The realism that the AGEIA PhysX Accelerator adds to gaming is astounding,” said Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest. "I think the PhysX processor has the potential to be as important an add-in to PC gamers as a Creative’s Sound Blaster is today.”

Completing the Gaming Power Triangle
The AGEIA PhysX processor completes the new Gaming Power Triangle consisting of the central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU) and PPU to balance the excessive computing demands of game logic, graphics and physics. Within this triangle the CPU “thinks and orchestrates” to drive game artificial intelligence and logic, the general purpose GPU “renders and displays” to deliver beautiful 3D imagery, and the third leg of the triangle, the new AGEIA PhysX Processor, “moves and interacts” to take gaming to the next level with pervasive dynamic motion and interaction.

Examples of other PhysX-driven features that will dramatically improve the gamer experience include:

• Explosions with dust, debris and shrapnel that cause collateral damage
  
• Characters with joints, convexes and other complex geometry that enable realistic motion
  
• Spectacular new weapons with unpredictable effects
  
• Lush foliage that bends and sways when brushed against by the player or other characters or objects
  
• Dense smoke and fog that ooze naturally around moving objects
  
• Fluids that ebb and flow, drip, or spray naturally with physical characteristics dependent on their viscosity
  
• Cloth that drapes, flows, tears and billows depending on where it is placed and the environment

“The AGEIA PhysX processor completes the gaming power triangle, and will actually push the CPU and GPU to capacity as they will have to handle AI and logic and rendering and display for dramatically more objects that act and interact with entire environments in real-time,” added Hegde. “With dedicated hardware-accelerated physics, we’re at the beginning of a whole new era of interactive entertainment possibilities.”

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