The verdict? While it certainly doesn't seem to effect the gameplay, little touches like the flowing of his cape, the swirling of debris, and the way those banners flutter when you toss a batarang through them should help make the experience just a bit more immersive. Is it worth a three week delay? I've a feeling that once PC gamers have the game in their hands the delay will be completely forgotten.

At the forefront of their four press release rampage is the announcement that Sega has licensed both the PhysX technology and NVIDIA's APEX technology to serve as a development platform across all Sega studios.

"Sega has been using PhysX technology for several years, but this new agreement enables our studios to take advantage of the full portfolio of cross-platform PhysX engines," said Takashi Shoji, Department Manager, Consumer Software R&D Support Dept., Consumer R&D Division, SEGA Corporation. "APEX was an important factor in our decision because it enables us to create high quality physics content in an easier and more productive manner."

Basically taking away a great deal of the workload so Sega's programmers can concentrate on slowly killing Sonic.

Along with the Sega announcement, NVIDIA also revealed that Capcom's Dark Void uses PhysX to render weapons, smoke, and debris; GRIN used it in Terminator Salvation for weapon effects and destructible environments; and 8monkey Labs has an amazing name.

Oh, and 8monkey used PhysX in Darkest of Days to help create interactive, expressive, and natural environments.

In short, NVIDIA's PhysX technology is slowly taking over the world, and the company's public relations team has far too much time on their hands.

Nvidia, which also happens to be responsible for the PS3's RSX 'Reality Synthesizer' graphics chip, has inked a deal with Sony Computer Entertainment to provide the software development kit to PlayStation developers. That doesn't necessarily mean you're going to see above and beyond physics engine support on par with PhysX hardware acceleration, as in the Games For Windows version of Mirror's Edge, it may mean better things bouncing off other things in your PS3 library.

Or, in Tony Tamasi, senior vice president of content and technology at NVIDIA's words, "offer a more realistic and lifelike interaction between the games characters and other objects within the game."

They want to drill realistic banner waving and glass shattering directly into your retinas, with a side-by-side comparison of what PC gamers with PhysX abilities will get when Mirror's Edge ships in January for Windows.

DICE are retooling the PC version with enhanced graphics and - video card permitting - the NVIDIA PhysX engine to allow more accurate physics modelling of the virtual cityscape and the many, many things that can realistically fall off it.

As you can see in the trailer (after the jump) it does look rather lovely. Suitably equipped PC owners will be able to realistically fall off things in January.

DICE Puts Faith in NVIDIA PhysX Technology for Mirror's Edge [Game Info Wire]

Included in the first Power Pack is a complete version of Warmonger, one of the original showcases for the PhysX technology, an Unreal Tournament 3 PhysX Mod Pack with three maps, sneak peeks at Unreal Engine 3 powered social networking service Nurien, a couple of tech demos, and the drivers to make the whole thing go. Hit the jump for more info on this rather impressive update.

NVIDIA Makes Physics A Reality For Gamers

NVIDIA PhysX Technology and GeForce GPUs Usher in a New Era of Immersion for PC Games

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CLARA, CA—August 12, 2008—Gamers would agree that they would love to see the worlds in their favorite games be depicted as realistic as possible. For total immersion, the gaming environment has to “feel” as real as possible, and characters must be able to move and interact with the objects in the environment that have a compelling, dramatic impact on game play. With customized physics effects, developers can design trees that bend in the wind, water that ebbs and flows naturally, and include objects in the environment that dramatically impact the gaming experience. To deliver this level of interactivity, developers are rapidly taking advantage of NVIDIA® PhysX™ technology, interactive entertainment’s most pervasive physics engine, already used in more than 140 shipping titles for Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. With today’s release of the GeForce Power Pack, a compilation of games, demos, and mod packs for the PC platform that is available for free at www.nvidia.com/theforcewithin, NVIDIA is now bringing this new depth of gameplay to PC gamers everywhere.

On the PC, PhysX technology harnesses the power of any CUDA-enabled general-purpose parallel computing processor, including any NVIDIA GeForce® 8 Series or higher GPU, to handle 10-20 times more visual complexity than what’s possible on today’s traditional PC platforms. All of the 80 million plus GeForce 8 Series and higher GPUs in the field are CUDA-enabled, the largest installed base of general-purpose, parallel-computing processors ever created.

And, unlike competitive solutions which do not offer hardware scaling capability, only PhysX technology can leverage the best of both CPU and GPU architectures to deliver the ultimate, immersive, end user experience. Upcoming PC titles that incorporate PhysX technology include Cryostasis, Backbreaker, Aliens: Colonial Marines, with close to 20 more PC titles expected before the year-end holiday seasons.

“Game physics is essential in enabling deeper interactivity and real-world effects in any game. Epic is pleased to offer PhysX as a standard feature within Unreal Engine 3 to enable such effects,” said Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic Games. “The introduction of GPU acceleration for PhysX promises both additional potential effects and faster performance. You can get a glimpse of the possibilities of what PhysX is able to do with the special levels for Unreal Tournament 3 where damage effects greatly enhance the gameplay.”

Starting today, any owner of a GeForce 8 Series or higher GPU can immediately discover the immersive playability that NVIDIA PhysX technology brings to PC gaming. This first of many planned “GeForce Power Packs” is a fascinating showcase of how PhysX technology is fundamentally changing video games and interactive entertainment.

Available for free from www.nvidia.com/theforcewithin, the PhysX-enabled content from this first GeForce Power Pack includes:

* Warmonger—Full free game! Destroy walls, floors, and whole buildings to open up new paths or close existing ones. Destructive power is more than eye candy here—it’s a tactical weapon in this ground-breaking action game.
* Unreal Tournament 3 PhysX Mod Pack—includes three maps with amazing effects that fundamentally change the gameplay (requires full version of Unreal Tournament 3)
* A sneak peek at the upcoming Nurien social networking service, based on the Unreal Engine 3 (with built-in benchmark)
* A sneak peek at the upcoming game Metal Knight Zero (with built-in benchmark)
* All new NVIDIA “The Great Kulu” tech demo that showcases the use of PhysX soft bodies in a real game play environment
* All new NVIDIA “Fluid” tech demo—a simulation of realistic fluid effects with a variety of liquids

In conjunction with the release of the GeForce Power Pack, NVIDIA has also released new WHQL-certified drivers that enable PhysX acceleration for all GeForce 8, 9, and GTX 200 Series GPUs. This new driver also adds support for PhysX-accelerated features in the commercially available Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 game.

By installing these drivers, GeForce owners can immediately experience much higher levels of interactivity, special effects, and realism on their PC. In addition, GeForce owners will love being able to run PhysX-accelerated applications faster on their GeForce GPU than on competitive GPUs. For example, in the PhysX-enabled levels of Unreal Tournament 3, the GeForce 9800 GTX+ runs 180% faster than on the AMD Radeon HD 4850.

“The use of physics in games is highly effective in enabling new levels of interactivity and gameplay options. Gearbox is excited about these developments and we are rapidly finding new ways to use NVIDIA PhysX to improve the game’s immersive feel and overall excitement factor,” said Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software. “The addition of GPU acceleration allows us to add even more effects whilst maintaining great performance. Gearbox titles, including Borderlands and others, will feature increased use of PhysX and we look forward to developing more with the support of NVIDIA.”

“Seeing really is believing and is the reason why we compiled all of this great PhysX content into a free download for our end users,” said Ujesh Desai, general manager for GeForce GPUs at NVIDIA. “We want GeForce owners to experience for themselves these amazing effects to get an idea how PhysX will make games much more lifelike in the years to come. Physics-accelerated content is already here, and there are a ton more titles on the way. We can’t wait for our customers to jump in, get wet, and tell us what they think!”

“We’re deeply impressed by NVIDIA’s commitment to push physics to new levels of fidelity and performance, and their investment in development and support infrastructure across all platforms,” said Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion. “NVIDIA’s PhysX technology provides a robust, high-fidelity foundation for our advanced character animation algorithms and tools. Through our close collaboration, we will help game developers bring fully interactive and believable characters to a wide range of games.”

It's two great tastes that taste real together! Hit the jump for more details on the partnership between physics powerhouses.

NaturalMotion and NVIDIA Bring a New Level of Realism to Games

Companies Team Up to Integrate Animation, AI and Physics Technologies

SANTA CLARA, CA and OXFORD, U.K. - June 11, 2008 NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, and NaturalMotion Ltd., the developers behind the highly acclaimed euphoria motion synthesis technology, today announced that the companies have teamed up to offer game developers and publishers easy-to-use, highly integrated solutions for adding animation and physics in next-generation games.

Starting with the upcoming release of NaturalMotion’s morpheme animation engine, NVIDIA’s PhysX technology will provide rigid body dynamics functionality across its product portfolio, supporting both console (PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii) and PC platforms. In addition, PC titles will benefit from GeForce GPU acceleration for both PhysX and future versions of morpheme, bringing additional motion fidelity to the PC game experience.

“We’re deeply impressed by NVIDIA’s commitment to push physics to new levels of fidelity and performance, and their investment in development and support infrastructure across all platforms,” said Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion. “NVIDIA’s PhysX technology provides a robust, high-fidelity foundation for our advanced character animation algorithms and tools. Through our close collaboration, we will help game developers bring fully interactive and believable characters to a wide range of games.”

“The introduction of NaturalMotion’s AI and Adaptive Behaviors is the next big breakthrough in gaming,” said Roy Taylor, Vice President of Content Relations at NVIDIA. “This technology takes us into a new level of immersion as characters roll, jump, duck and react to the players’ actions and the environments around them. We are delighted to be working with NaturalMotion to bring this new level of character animation to the world.”
For more information, visit www.naturalmotion.com.

But how can this possibly work?

It's actually a simple idea. All GeForce 8-series cards include CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). CUDA is essentially an interface for developers to write programs to run off the GPU (as opposed to your computer's CPU). Essentially, NVIDIA is porting PhysX technology to CUDA and powering it with their/your existing 3D hardware.

Also of note: NVIDIA thinks it's a great way to sell their customers higher end cards, and sell more of them per computer.

GeForce 8 graphics processors to gain PhysX support [Techreport via digg]

NVIDIA today confirmed rumblings that they were looking to buy physics-centric AGEIA Technologies. NVIDIA said today that an agreement to acquire the industry leaders in gaming physics, though the acquisition still remains subject to some closing conditions.

More details about the deal will shake out during NVIDIA's upcoming quarterly conference call, set for Feb. 13.

While AGEIA appears to continue to struggle breaking into the mainstream PC market, they've made significant in-roads into the console market with 140 PhysX-based games shipping or in development on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and PC. The company has more than 10,000 registered and active users of their PhysX software development kit as well.

"NVIDIA is the perfect fit for us. They have the world's best parallel computing technology and are the thought leaders in GPUs and gaming. We are united by a common culture based on a passion for innovating and driving the consumer experience," said Manju Hegde, co-founder and CEO of AGEIA.

Full release on the jump. I wonder if NVIDIA would try to come up with a way to incorporate the PhysX engine into a graphics card, instead of requiring two pieces of hardware? Maybe that's not possible, actually.

SANTA CLARA, CA — FEBRUARY 4, 2008—NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), the world leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the GPU, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AGEIA Technologies, Inc., the industry leader in gaming physics technology. AGEIA's PhysX software is widely adopted with more than 140 PhysX-based games shipping or in development on Sony Playstation3, Microsoft XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii and Gaming PCs. AGEIA physics software is pervasive with over 10,000 registered and active users of the PhysX SDK.

"The AGEIA team is world class, and is passionate about the same thing we are—creating the most amazing and captivating game experiences," stated Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "By combining the teams that created the world's most pervasive GPU and physics engine brands, we can now bring GeForce®-accelerated PhysX to hundreds of millions of gamers around the world."

"NVIDIA is the perfect fit for us. They have the world's best parallel computing technology and are the thought leaders in GPUs and gaming. We are united by a common culture based on a passion for innovating and driving the consumer experience," said Manju Hegde, co-founder and CEO of AGEIA.

Like graphics, physics processing is made up of millions of parallel computations. The NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GT GPU, with its 128 processors, can process parallel applications up to two orders of magnitude faster than a dual or quad-core CPU.

"The computer industry is moving towards a heterogeneous computing model, combining a flexible CPU and a massively parallel processor like the GPU to perform computationally intensive applications like real-time computer graphics," continued Mr. Huang. "NVIDIA's CUDA™ technology, which is rapidly becoming the most pervasive parallel programming environment in history, broadens the parallel processing world to hundreds of applications desperate for a giant step in computational performance. Applications such as physics, computer vision, and video/image processing are enabled through CUDA and heterogeneous computing."

AGEIA was founded in 2002 and has offices in Santa Clara, CA; St. Louis, MO; Zurich, Switzerland; and Beijing, China.

The acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions.

More details about the acquisition will be provided during NVIDIA's quarterly conference call, to be held on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 2:00 PM, Pacific Time. The Company's prepared remarks will be followed by a question and answer period, which will be limited to questions from financial analysts and institutional investors. To listen to the conference call, please dial 212-231-2901; no password is required. The conference call will also be webcast live (listen-only mode) at the following Web sites: www.nvidia.com and www.streetevents.com.

Replay of the conference call will be available via telephone by calling 800-633-8284 (or 402-977-9140), passcode 21354792, until February 20, 2008. The webcast will be recorded and available for replay until the company's conference call to discuss its financial results for its first quarter, fiscal 2009.

About AGEIA

And when ordering a new computer, checking a $50 box rings of "impulse buy" a lot more than a card running three times that price. Seriously, $50 in computers is the grocery store checkout equivalent of a Mars bar and an issue of Cosmo. (Which, by the way, makes for a great Friday night if you are short on plans).

PhysX Cards At $50 In Japan [digitalbattle]

NetDevil's PhysX-powered, totally destructible (mostly) shooter Warmonger, Operation: Downtown Destruction is now available for free download on the official site.

It's worth noting that not only is the game free, it doesn't actually require AGEIA's PhysX card to play. You need the card to get the total experience, but don't let that stop you from checking it out if you don't have one.

Here are the official requirements:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6400 (2MB L2 Cache,2.13GHz,1066) or equivalent
RAM: 2GB RAM
GPU: Nvidia 7900 graphics card or equivalent
PPU: PhysX 100 Series Processor strongly recommended, with system software 7.11.13 or later
HD: 1.8GB of available space

Warmonger Game

We've recently undergone some additional online field testing with a select group of PhysX beta testers and have gotten great feedback. We want to take advantage of the feedback and ensure that Warmonger is 100 percent polished and truly shines as the best next-gen, hardware-accelerated physics and UE3 based game. Therefore, there will be a slight delay in shipment in order to make a few functional adjustments and server infrastructure improvements. We are committed to rolling Warmonger in time for the holidays. We apologize for any inconveniences and will send notification as soon as possible once a new date is determined.

A delay is fine, but it's not so great when there's no new date attached. It might make sense,what with the glut of games hitting in the next three months, for the game to come out in January. Either way, I'm still jazzed about it.

Oct 16, 2007

WARMONGER, OPERATION: DOWNTOWN DESTRUCTION GEARS UP FOR PC DEVASTATION ON OCTOBER 16, 2007

AGEIA and NetDevil Push Limits of PhysX Technology with Revolutionary First-Person Shooter

LOUISVILLE, CO - September 18, 2007 - NetDevil, an independent game company and leading developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today announced it is launching its revolutionary new title called Warmonger, Operation: Downtown Destruction, an apocalyptic, first-person shooter (FPS) powered by the AGEIA(TM) PhysX(TM) processor. Unlike other FPS titles, Warmonger features a unique, piece-by-piece destruction system and is designed to deliver stunning fluid and cloth-based effects unlike anything seen before. Warmonger will be available on October 16, 2007 to PC gamers via digital download and from leading edge hardware makers selling PhysX-based cards and gaming PCs. New assets, screens, and information may be found at: www.warmongergame.com.

Utilizing the AGEIA PhysX processor, Warmonger allows for dynamic game play to emerge from the results of combat. Destruction is enabled procedurally, rather than with standard pre-canned animations that are found in most games today. In Warmonger, destruction can also be used as a tactical tool or a weapon. Safe cover is no longer a forgone conclusion. For example, a sniper can blow up the stairs behind him to block access, but a rocket blast to the floor beneath him can also hasten his own untimely end. Explosives, rockets, indirect fire, and vehicle combat can literally blow away walls, obliterate ceilings and open up new pathways to totally change the flow of the game.

High performance FPS action is also delivered in rich and stunning detail through the PhysX-enhanced Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games. This powerful game engine has allowed the NetDevil team to enable Warmonger's environments and special effects with a depth and feel that reflect the cutting edge of gaming visuals and physics.

"First person shooter environments have remained largely static for years. AGEIA PhysX has changed all that, and changed it profoundly," said Scott Brown, president of NetDevil. "New rigid body technology and procedural destruction of game environments set the stage for dynamic content creation that will literally transform the way people think and play."

"We're pleased to see what a forward thinking game developer can accomplish with our card. By incorporating PhysX, NetDevil brought to life some of the most compelling game experiences ever seen in a game," said Manju Hegde, CEO of AGEIA. "Warmonger's real-world, real-time properties offer gamers a whole new dimension in gameplay they can enjoy over and over again. They will have a blast discovering new terrains, sniper positions, and other game elements they've never had a chance to try out before."

Key features:
- Players have a choice of five different weapons, including a grenade firing assault rifle, an RPG launcher, a shielded and mountable mini-gun and more.
- There are six different maps including Sink or Swim, an underground staging area, The Approach, an old western "showdown", Knee Deep, an abandoned shopping center, Black Adit, an abandoned subway station, Car Collector, a wrecked parking garage, and Needle's Eye, an old industrial sector.

"Warmonger offers a unique environment for fans of FPS games, where no place is safe, and seeking good cover is a challenge rather than a given," said Chris Sherland, lead producer on Warmonger. "Test sessions leave a player with a strong emotional reaction to this... it's downright scary to play!"

The Ubisoft Montreal folks showed off some spectacular Far Cry 2 gameplay today touching on a laundry list of new features there shooter will have including the need to treat your own injuries, weapon jams, "Real Tree" technology and their thoughts on DX10, Games for Windows Live and the PhysX physics card.

The game takes place in a 50 kilometer open world set in Africa with view distances of about 850 meters. You drop into this world as a mercenary sent to track down and kill an arms dealer. Right off the bat the developers dropped into a jungle to show off the graphics.

"Far Cry is sort of known for its jungles... Jungles are not our signature location, but they do kick ass."

And they did. They said that the game, which is built on a proprietary engine, uses something called "Real Tree" technology to give the game's varied vegetation a much more realistic look. And the tech goes beyond just how the trees look. They all move in relation to real world physics and the weather. You can burn them, you can brake off a branch, leaves drop from them.

And this tech isn't just to make the game look good, it also subtly effects how you play the game. If, for instance, you drive through grass, the grass lays down so people can track you, but if enough time passes the grass stands back up again. If people are shooting at you as you run through the trees, the branches will snap off in front of you as the bullets whiz by and hit them.

Far Cry 2 seems to go out of its way to rid itself of or at least change the way a lot of gaming cliches. It doesn't, for instance, have a hud, instead it relies on real world actions to tell you things. Your map is a map, your compass a compass and when you take damage your world turns red. To heal yourself you don't use a health pack, there are none. Instead you have to do a little field dressing.

After a particularly nasty firefight, the developer ducked his character into a shack and then used a knife to cut a bullet from the top of his foot, healing himself. The build we saw of the game only featured a few animations for self-healing, but when the game ships they expect to have about 60 different healing animations in the game.

The game also tweaks the way you can interact with the piles of ammo you always seem to find laying around in games. They're still there, but in Far Cry 2 if you shoot them they will start to spark and fire off random shots.

Far Cry 2 seems to feature a pretty robust AI, from what we saw. The game runs on a 24 hour day, night cycle and when night rolls around those AI controlled bad guys left outside will start up campfires and limit their dangerous activities. None of their movements, in fact, are scripted. That's because the game is open and the developers couldn't set static points for guards and make the game fun. Instead they gave them behaviors and rules to follow.

At one point in the game the developer used a sniper rifle to take out a man standing in a clearing at a depot. He said he didn't kill the guy, just injured him. A few seconds later a second man came out checked on the man and then lifted him to his shoulder to carry him to safety and treat him and the developer killed both men.

Another really stunning piece of technology in the game is the weather. Not only does it change as you play, it actually effects the environment. At one point the developers cranked up the wind. In the sky the clouds slowly coalesced into an ominous thunderhead. The wind picked up until dust began to billow across the tundra, some trees whipped in the wind, others moved only slightly. Branches snapped, some taking flight, others slowly tumbling across the field. The grass swayed rhythmically. The developers said they plan to use the weather effect to, among other things, help convey emotion and create cinematic moments in the game. Like making it rain after a buddy in the game dies.

Buddies actually play a pivotal role in the game. You can use these non-player characters to get information, buy weapons and help you out in a pinch. Specifically, they can rescue you when you're in trouble. This Buddy Rescue only works if you tell them ahead of time that you might need their help.

In one chunk of the play through the developer was pinned down, taking fire from all sides, his character slumped to near death. Then suddenly a character he had run into a bit earlier appeared, crouching by his side to lift him to his shoulder and carry him to nearby cover. This was all done with the in-game engine, without changing the perspective.

The character covered the player while the dev self-healed and then the buddy handed him back his weapon and stayed by his fight for the rest of the confrontation.

The last neat tech the team showed was fire. In the middle of a gun battle sparking a blaze that ended up spreading to a nearby field and burning out a giant patch of grass, trees and buildings. It was amazing. The developers said they did have to set some artificial limits because they didn't want gamers playing on 50 kilometers of blackened earth.

The game, if it delivers on all of its promise, will be an amazing title, certainly something that lives up the Far Cry name in the PC arena. The developers said they hope to get it out the door by the spring of 2008.

I asked if they were going to support DirectX10 and 9, they said they were and pointed out that the game is running on a current gen PC right now. They said they probably won't make use of the PhysX physics card because the pay-off didn't seem to warrant the investment in time.

The developers are currently in talks with Microsoft about possibly incorporating Games for Windows Live elements into the game, but no final decision has been made, they said.

Gamers without the card can play through a single player mode and two of the multiplayer levels to get a feel for the game, but the real fun will start when you get up to eight players using psionics and tech to tear the freaking world apart and throw it at each other.

Best Buy sells a PhysX card at their online store for $199, which after watching that video seems completely reasonable. Between CellFactor and Netdevil's Warmonger - Operation Downtown Destruction which is also slated to be released for free, I'm completely sold. A cyclone of swirling words becomes the CellFactor press release, after the jump. Michael Fahey

Experience Mind-Blowing Physics Action In CellFactor: Revolution For The PC; Now Available For Free Download

L.I.M.B.O. Corporation's Recruiting Stations Are Ready To Deploy The Game At FileFront, FilePlanet and Gamespot.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 8, 2007 - CellFactor: Revolution, an intense recruiting tool in the form of a first person shooter PC game is now available for download from FileFront (1UP), FilePlanet (IGN Entertainment) and Gamespot recruiting stations. CellFactor: Revolution challenges gamers' Psionic aptitude and strategic combat abilities in a grueling five level, physics-intensive, gaming environment.

L.I.M.B.O. Corporation has drafted Immersion Games, Artificial Studios and Timeline Interactive to bring CellFactor: Revolution to fruition. L.I.M.B.O. also tapped the power of AGEIA Technologies' PhysX Processor to produce an interactive, physics-based gaming experience. CellFactor: Revolution redefines physical interaction amongst players and the environment. They can manipulate thousands of objects simultaneously causing massive environmental destruction and interact with everything from rolling clouds of toxic gasses, particle beams weapons and dangerous lava; all elements are integral to the stimulating and highly intensive gameplay.

L.I.M.B.O. Corporation and the United Nations (U.N.) are currently the last two remaining power factions fighting for control of Earth. L.I.M.B.O.'s main purpose is to rebuild the world over the ashes of the imperfect and rusted human race. By injecting nanobots into its test subjects, L.I.M.B.O Corporation has fused man and machine. In doing so, it has successfully brought to life a new race of mechanically and cybernetically-enhanced, superior human forms. The GUARD, an elite military group formed by the United Nations, has been recruited to protect and defend international humanitarian rights. They are the only ones strong enough to stand up to L.I.M.B.O. Corporation, which has refused to recognize the power of the U.N.

"Our recruitment standards are high, but so is our mission," said a L.I.M.B.O. Corporation representative. "We need the best and strongest recruits to join our cause. CellFactor: Revolution will test their mental and physical aptitude and show us who is worthy to join the new race."

In CellFactor: Revolution players can master three unique character classes with a mix of Psionic, technological or weapon abilities.

Black Ops - This U.N. Soldier was L.I.M.B.O.'s first genetic alteration experiment using Psionic power; he has a mix of Psionic, unique weapons and vehicular abilities.

Guardian - L.I.M.B.O.'s ultimate mechanical soldier. Guardian wields two weapons, can strike his victims down with quick assault and can tear through anything in his path.

Bishop - Genetically altered by L.I.M.B.O., the Bishop wields hypercharged Psionic powers in lieu of mechanical weapons. All of her abilities rely on physics and manipulating the environment around her as a weapon.

"This is has been an exciting and very rewarding project that pushed boundaries both artistically and technically," said Julian Castillo, art director, lead designer and co-owner of Immersion Games. "By incorporating the PhysX processor into the game, we've introduced a whole new range of gameplay possibilities. We're eagerly anticipating stories of players favorite kills."

Jeremy Stieglitz, president of Artificial Studios added, "CellFactor: Revolution is a new kind of competitive first person shooter, which emphasizes massive physical interactivity to take down your opponents. I'm very excited that gamers can now experience this intense action whether it's at a LAN party, fighting AI bots or designing new environments with the modding tools."

CellFactor: Revolution caters to players with and without the AGEIA PhysX card. The game automatically detects systems with a PhysX card, offering players the option to progress through a single-player campaign mode that includes three "extreme PhysX" levels. PhysX users can also challenge humans and AI-enemies in four LAN-based multiplayer modes. The multiplayer skirmish game types support up to eight humans and 10 artificial intelligence controlled enemies, either in a PhysX hardware only, or software only mode. Gamers without a PhysX processor can play two levels in skirmish modes or choose to install the processor to enable the full game experience.

"The sheer entertainment value of PhysX in CellFactor: Revolution cannot be overstated," said Manju Hegde, CEO of AGEIA Technologies, Inc. "We're honored to work with cutting-edge development teams who have used PhysX technology as the backbone for this fun and original experience, now available for the masses."

Built on flexible code architecture, CellFactor: Revolution will ship with modding tools. Gamers can use these tools to build new game settings and scenarios.

To download the game for free, please visit any of the following recruiting stations: www.gamespot.com; www.filefront.com brought to you by 1UP; www.fileplanet.com hosted by IGN Entertainment. Visit the newly redesigned www.cellfactorrevolution.com website to download game assets, read developer interviews and more.

Seabury was telling me how you could use the destructible environment to completely reshape the level. For instance, there's a building where you can blow out the stairs after climbing them and prevent people from getting up to you as you snipe.

It sounds like a cool "exploratory project" as he put it. And it's getting cooler. Seabury said they've just decided to release the first version of the game, the full, complete version, entirely for free.

I suspect that's because a lot of people don't have the computer with the necessary chops to play the game and they really want to get it out there. Seabury said they also want to see what people think of the whole idea. Brian Crecente

Colorado's own NetDevil unveiled today their latest game, a first-person shooter built around the AGEIA PhysX processor called Warmonger, Operation: Downtown Destruction.

We first broke the news that NetDevil was working on a shooter a few weeks back.

The game will be set in the year 2029 at the beginning of the Global Corporate Wars. The concept is that players need to take down a city one block at a time.

"NetDevil has poured their imagination into this title, and it shows in virtually every aspect of the game," said Manju Hegde, CEO of AGEIA. "We've been very impressed with what they've been able to do with our PhysX processor, as well as visual enhancements they've made to the game by combining it with the Unreal Engine 3. "The benefits of the destruction system are noteworthy, and added PhysX elements of fluids and cloth will give a depth and feel that truly reflect the cutting edge of gaming interactivity."

The key new thing about the game is that it allows you to destroy literally every aspect of the environment.

Destruction is done procedurally, rather than pre-canned animations that are found in most games today. As a result, explosives, rockets, indirect fire, and vehicle combat can literally blow away walls, drop ceilings and open up new pathways for enhanced gameflow. Collision detection has also been carefully considered during development, and the effect of destruction within the environment can be used as a weapon. A sniper can blow the stairs behind him to block access, but a rocket to the floor beneath him will drop him down, causing possible death.

Sure it's meant to get you to buy an AGEIA PhysX card, but there's nothing wrong with that. Most new PC games get you go upgrade nowadays. Brian Crecente

The AGEIA PhysX Processor Powers Revolutionary First-Person Shooter

Las Vegas, NV & Louisville, CO: January 8th, 2007: NetDevil, an independent game company and leading developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today announced it is working on a revolutionary new title called Warmonger, Operation: Downtown Destruction, an apocalyptic, first-person shooter (FPS), built around the AGEIA PhysX processor, which enables NetDevil's unique, piece-by-piece destruction system and is designed to deliver stunning fluid and cloth-based effects unlike anything seen before. Assets from the much anticipated, urban destruction trainer, will be unveiled today at the Consumer Electronics Show in the AGEIA meeting room #73024 located at the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
"Our ability to combine the AGEIA PhysX engine with Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) will forever change the way people think and play first-person shooters," said Scott Brown, president of NetDevil. "New rigid body technology and implementation allow for scope of destruction unlike any other FPS currently available. As a player, you'll be able to feel the freedom of completely adaptive environments and the full use of conscious, destructive power."

About Warmonger, Operation: Downtown Destruction

The year is 2029 and the Global Corporate Wars have begun! Warmonger is set against an apocalyptic setting, when two of the largest military spenders, PolyChem Oil and General Energy, clashed in a dispute over a large cache of Iranian oil fields. When the conflict escalated, an all-out war took shape on US soil. The game is staged for players to take down an entire city; one block at a time. As maps are won, a larger tactical influence is then triggered in the next, or surrounding, map(s). Each map instance will play differently as the sheer destruction of map elements forces players to adapt and find new ways to win or defend their objectives. Every round leads you closer to dominating the web of maps that make up the entire city and players have the ability to raise their ranking in a class, gaining extra abilities for high performance. Operation: Downtown Destruction is part of a longer series involving distinct periods from the episodic Warmonger story.

Unique to Warmonger is a destruction system that allows dynamic gameplay to emerge from the results of combat, where every aspect of the environment can be completely leveled. Destruction is done procedurally, rather than pre-canned animations that are found in most games today. As
a result, explosives, rockets, indirect fire, and vehicle combat can literally blow away walls, drop ceilings and open up new pathways for enhanced gameflow. Collision detection has also been carefully considered during development, and the effect of destruction within the environment can be used as a weapon. A sniper can blow the stairs behind him to block access, but a rocket to the floor beneath him will drop him down, causing possible death.

"NetDevil has poured their imagination into this title, and it shows in virtually every aspect of the game," said Manju Hegde, CEO of AGEIA. "We've been very impressed with what they've been able to do with our PhysX processor, as well as visual enhancements they've made to the game by combining it with the Unreal Engine 3. "The benefits of the destruction system are noteworthy, and added PhysX elements of fluids and cloth will give a depth and feel that truly reflect the cutting edge of gaming interactivity."
Scott Brown added: "The Warmonger concept was developed to bring UE3 expertise to the NetDevil team and position the company's resources for a larger deployment of the design. Warmonger is more than a proof of concept; it is the basis for a fully-realized MMO design that NetDevil will be looking to bring to market."
In addition to AGEIA, NetDevil has leveraged the Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games for the core technology underneath Warmonger, and is also working with LIDAR Services, a Motion Picture CG VFX House using LIDAR technology to create the ultra-realistic 3D environments and assets for the Warmonger concept. Both partnerships are fundamental to the enabling of feature rich development and interactive content creation.

The developer will use AGEIA's PhysX SDK to create the games that utilize the AGEIA PhysX processor.

"AGEIA PhysX technology is the wave of the future for physics-optimized games on all platforms," said Bill Petro, vice president of production at Nival Interactive. "Our PC games in particular will get a tremendous boost in interactivity for gamers that power their PC rigs with the AGEIA PhysX processor."

This is a kinda cool announcement, though I was hoping that we'd be seeing more first-person shooters with this technology built in. Brian Crecente