Sony Licenses Havok for Real Time Physics
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) has announced that it had signed a strategic licensing agreement with the leading physics engine provider Havok. The technology of the engine as well as the animations would be prominently used in Sony's famous console, the PlayStation 3 that is scheduled to be launched sometime next year.
The agreement with the Dublin-based Havok is one in a series of agreements that have been signed by Sony this summer. Tie-ups have also been announced with U.S.-based game makers Ageia Technologies Inc. and Epic Games. The later would provide its Unreal Engine 3 for PlayStation. It should be recalled that the engine had created waves at the E3 in Los Angles a couple of months ago with the amazing power that was demonstrated.
Microsoft has already signed up the technology for it's Xbox console and hence it can be safely assumed that the Unreal Engine 3 is set to become the industry standard in this sector. In a joint statement the companies said the Sony was "sublicensing rights of Unreal Engine 3, a complete games development framework developed by Epic Games." The deal "includes a programmable shaders tool, physics engine, and GUI [Graphic User Interface] based physics attribution tool, along with various other tools, such as scenario development, movie scene development, animation and particle animation tools."
The second agreement with Havok was designed to incorporate the real world dimensions like gravity, collision, friction and other dynamic forces into the animations. Announcing the agreement, Masa Chatani, corporate executive and CTO, at Sony said, "By including Havok's technology in the PS3 Software Development Kit, every developer will be able to utilise physics engine to create next generation content with real and natural effects."
The third deal has been signed with Bristol-based SN Systems, which would bring the ProDG tool to PlayStation's armory. With all these agreements Sony hopes to be able to make it easier for developers to create games for the PS 3 platform.
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