Tagged: havok

Pandemic Causes Havok

In even more engine news, Havok sends word that Pandemic Studios has licensed Havok Behavior 5 for use in developing its upcoming titles. The behavior SDK and composition tool allows technical and non-technical game developers to create infinite numbers of sophisticated character behaviors easily and quickly on a wide range of platforms, including Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360. Pandemic has licensed Havok Behavior 5 as part of the Havok Spectrum bundled product, which provides integration between Havok Physics, Animation and Behavior.

Halo 3 Powered by Havok

Physics-developer Havok sends word that it powers the explosions, jumps and anything physics-related in the just-released action blockbuster Halo 3. The company’s technology was used to power ragdolls, the portable gravity lift and the “mancannon”, among other things in the game.

Develop Industry Awards Winners Announced

phil_harrison.jpgThe fifth annual Develop Industry Excellence Awards was held to honor the visionaries behind the greatest games in the gaming industry. Voted for by an independent panel of industry experts, this year’s winners include Motorstorm (PS3), Crush (PSP), Crackdown (Xbox 360) and many other titles. In all, there were 17 different companies and individuals claiming the 18 awards.

Evolution Studio’s PS3-exclusive racer and Zoe Mode’s Crush picked up the best new IP awards, while Traveller’s Tales picked up best indie developer and best use of a license for Lego Star Wars II. Test Drive Unlimited by Eden Games picked up the best use of online award, while Rare’s Viva Pinata grabbed the award for visual arts. Other winners include Sega, Ubisoft, NCSoft and many more. Below is the full winners list:

New Console IP
MotorStorm (Evolution/SCEE External Development)

New Handheld IP
Crush (Zoe Mode)

Best Use of a Licence
Lego Star Wars II (Traveller’s Tales)

Visual Arts
Rare (Viva Pinata)

Audio Accomplishment
FreeStyle (B-Boy)

Publishing Hero
Sega

Innovation
Real Time Worlds (Crackdown)

Tools Provider
Havok

Best Use of Online
Eden Studios (Test Drive Unlimited)

Services & Outsourcing
Babel Media

Recruitment Company
Datascope

New UK Studio
Realtime Worlds

Handheld Studio
Rockstar Leeds

Business Development
Blitz

Independent Developer
Traveller’s Tales

In-house Developer
Ubisoft France

Development Legend
Ian Hetherington

Grand Prix
Sony

Havok Completes Fable 2

Remember Fable 2? You know, the game which will offer “unconditional love”? Yea, the one by the Black & White dude – Peter Molyneaux. Well, the game’s physics will be handled by Havok, as the company announced that Lionhead Studios has licensed Havok Complete, the company’s physics and animation solution, for use in the far-off game.

“Using Havok’s technology means that we don’t have to worry about finding an efficient way to do all the complex physics calculations ourselves that are required to create a huge, vibrant, real time and persistent virtual world such as the one we’re creating for Fable 2,” said Molyneaux. “By using Havok, we bypass a lot of the heavy physics maths and concentrate our teams more on the creative and innovative elements of the game.”

No release date for Fable 2 is known yet, but the game is not expected until late 2008.

Havok 4 Announced

Physics software company Havok has officially announced the release of Havok 4, the latest in its modular suite of its physics tools for easing development of cross-platform games.

The new version enhances the suite by adding two new products – Havok Behavior and Havok FX – accelerating development of sophisticated interactive character behaviors and delivering an “unprecedented” level of physics based special effects. The company is also focusing more on next-gen cross-development, optimizing support for PlayStation 3 and Windows Vista.

Havok 4.0’s tools and SDK are designed to be modular and open – so they can be integrated easily into existing production pipelines, reducing the overall iteration time needed to create immersive game-play experiences and special effects. The Havok 4.0 suite is backed by expert support and professional services, leveraging the experience of over 160 commercially released Havok-powered game SKUs.

In the 4.0 release, Havok’s HydraCore™ technology has been optimized to distribute physics and animation even more broadly across specialized cell and multi-core processing units in today’s most advanced game and PC hardware configurations. This maximizes game-play responsiveness and overall performance, enabling literally thousands of game-critical, game-play objects and characters to interact in real-time.

Havok Behavior™ introduces an SDK and stand-alone composition tool that works seamlessly with Havok’s plug-in tools for 3ds Max, Maya, and XSI, enabling rapid creation of real-time blending and character performances that respond intelligently to other characters and the physical world around them.

Havok FX™ adds an unprecedented level of hardware-accelerated physical phenomena, by utilizing graphics processing (GPU) technology from industry giants like NVIDIA and ATI to simulate tens of thousands of objects that collide in real-time, to add eye-popping effects to games.

The announcement states that the first games making use of Havok 4.0 will be out this Fall/Winter.