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Sony has entered into strategic licensing agreements with AGEIA Technologies and Havok. With the agreements Sony has obtained sublicensing rights of the AGEIA PhysX SDK, and Havok’s physics and animation engines.
The AGEIE PhysX SDK has already been adopted by the Unreal Engine 3 so it comes as little surprise that Sony has licensed the SDK, given that they have already licensed the Unreal Engine 3. The multi threaded capability of the PhysX SDK makes it ideal for the PlayStation 3’s Cell processor.
“A licensing agreement with AGEIA is a strategic move for us” said Masa Chatani, corporate executive and CTO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “With AGEIA PhysX SDK provided as part of Software Development Kit for PS3, we believe that numbers of content with entirely new forms of physics expressions optimizing the power of the Cell processor will be developed.“
“This agreement between SCEI and AGEIA marks a significant landmark in the development of advanced physics-enabled games,” said Manju Hegde, founder and CEO of AGEIA Technologies, Inc. “The capabilities of the AGEIA PhysX SDK combined with the power of the Cell architecture will give developers the tools necessary to introduce dynamic physical properties within games that will leapfrog game interactivity as we know it today.“
Havok’s physics engine will allow developers to have physics laws of the real world reproduced on the PlayStation 3. The engine is part of Valve’s Source engine, and helped to deliver the ultra realistic world in Half Life 2.
“It is our pleasure to have a strategic licensing agreement with Havok,” said Masa Chatani, corporate executive and CTO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “With its cutting edge technology, Havok’s physics engine is highly supported by numbers of content creators around the world. By including Havok’s technology in the PS3 Software Development Kit, every developer will be able to utilize physics engine to create next generation content with real and natural effects.“
“We are excited and proud to partner with SCEI to provide our physics and animation technology with the PS3 development kit,” said David O’Meara, CEO of Havok. “Havok’s technology has been used by major developers all over the world in more than a hundred games. Our agreement with SCEI opens the door for all PS3 developers to use Havok to create spectacular game worlds with incredibly realistic special effects and interactive game characters.“
Optimised versions of the PhysX SDK and Havok’s Physics engine will be included in the Software Development Kit for the PlayStation 3, with frontline support offered by SCEI.
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