14 DAY TRIAL // The past month has been a fairly full one, with various hardware technologies being launched and high-end products making their debut. Havok is now adding its contribution to a certain niche.
The niche we are talking about is that of simulating real-life physics effects (water, wind, etc.) in virtual environments.
Havok has launched the latest edition of its Havok Physics engine, which makes the best of the past 5 years of internal research & development.
“This release of Havok Physics marks the third major iteration of our physics technology since the company was founded 15 years ago,” said Andrew Bond, vice president of technology for Havok.
“Although Havok Physics is widely recognized as the industry's leading physics solution, our R&D team is constantly striving to innovate and push the technology further.”
Physics effects in games are something that NVIDIA had a monopoly on for a while, through its PhysX technology.
Said company continues to push its expertise forward. Most recently, it ported the technology to Sony PlayStation 4 game consoles.
Advanced Micro Devices has been active in this field recently as well. Not long ago, it brought forth the TressFX technology, which accurately simulates hair.
Through its newest release, Havok is offering the third prong of virtual physics technology. Its system is good for next-generation home consoles, mobile devices and personal computers.
“The result is a new engine core built around fully continuous simulation that enables maximum physical fidelity with unprecedented performance speeds,” Bond said.
“Beta versions of the technology have been in the hands of a number of leading developers for some time and we have seen dramatic performance gains with simulations running twice as fast or more, and using up to 10 times less memory. Additionally the new core's performance is extremely predictable, eliminating performance spikes. We are genuinely excited to see how game designers will harness the additional power that we are offering with this release.”