MacSoft parent company Destineer Studios has announced plans to support Ageia’s PhysX technology in four of its upcoming games. Destineer is the company behind last year’s military action game Close Combat: First to Fight.
Ageia has developed its own physics engine which it licenses to video and computer game developers. A key component of the PhysX technology is its ability to be hardware accelerated using a special processor.
Much in the same way that OpenGL graphics can feature much more details lighting and shading characteristics when paired with graphics acceleration hardware, the PhysX processor holds the promise of offering scalable physics acceleration for much more sophisticated collision detection, soft body and fluid dynamics, hair and clothing simulation than is now possible.
Calling it “remarkably powerful and cost effective,” Destineer President Peter Tamte said in a statement that his company has replaced its own home-grown physics engine with Ageia’s instead.