Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. announced on Thursday that it had entered into a strategic licensing agreement with AGEIA Technologies, Inc., a physics tool and hardware developer based in California, U.S.A, effective July 20, 2005. Through this agreement, SCEI obtains sublicensing rights of the AGEIA PhysX SDK (also known as NovodeX), a physics library developed by AGEIA.

The AGEIA PhysX SDK is the leading next-generation solution for creating compelling in-game physics and has been widely adopted by various game engines, such as the Unreal Engine 3 by Epic Games. Its multi-threaded capability makes the AGEIA PhysX SDK ideally equipped to leverage the power of the Cell processor. The licensing agreement allows for SCEI and AGEIA to optimize the AGEIA PhysX SDK for utilization in PlayStation, and will be included in the Software Development Kit for PlayStation 3. Frontline support will be provided by SCEI.

"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."