Stand-alone physics card from AGEIA and BFG

AGEIA and BFG have announced that they will be bring PC add-in cards powered by the AGEIA PhysX processor to retail.

The deal means BFG will manufacture, sell, market and distribute the physics add-in cards to retail in the US, Canada and EU. The AGEIA PhysX chip, when coupled with the PhysX SDK, will provide hardware accelerated physical interactions within a game environment. This should take the load away from CPUs and GPUs allowing for faster, better looking games, as well as opening up new prospects when dealing with physics.

"There is no doubt that the next evolution of PC gaming hardware will include technologies that dramatically improve realistic motion and physics in the game environment," said Scott Herkelman, executive vice president of marketing for BFG Technologies. "We are proud that AGEIA has chosen BFG Technologies to be one of the driving forces for getting their ground-breaking new PhysX processor into consumer's hands."

The first products from the agreement should be available soon, with PCI cards containing the PhysX processor and 128MB of memory planned for release by the end of the year. The PhysX engine is already being supported, with Digital Jesters' 'Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport' having support for the PC add-in card.

The price of the add-in card is yet to be revealed.