New Torque 3D PhysX Video

• January 24, 2012
• Written by Mark
• Leave a Comment
• Tweet

YouTube user ThatsPie has made a pretty cool video showing off the PhysX in Torque 3D. This is a completely new video not from the Torque 3D demos we have seen before. Check it out below. If you are interested in the Torque 3D engine and its PhysX, be sure to check out our Torque 3D Pacific Physics (PhysX) Demo and Video from the Pacific Demo available on the Torque 3D website.

Read More

Latest Next-Generation Xbox Rumors Point to AMD GPU inside

• December 7, 2011
• Written by Mark
• Leave a Comment
• Tweet

An interesting rumor has surfaced this past week that Microsoft is developing two next-gen Xbox 720 consoles. According to the rumor on TECHSPOT, Microsoft “is said to be developing an entry-level system as well as a true next-generation hardcore gaming console.” What is important to us for the future of physics is the reports that this Next-Generation Xbox will be using an AMD GPU. It was reported this past summer that AMD will be the GPU choice on all three next generation consoles with another report surfacing a few weeks later that the next-generation Xbox would use an AMD Fusion Bulldozer variant APU. Now French site Xboxygen is reporting that Microsoft will announce the hardware specifications for this next-generation console at CES in January. The site is also reporting that the new Xbox will use a hex-core CPU with 2GB of DDR3 RAM and an AMD GPU for the graphics processor.

The news that the next-generation Xbox will be using an AMD GPU is important to us because this would mean an uncertain future for GPU PhysX. If these rumors turn out to be true, we could see PhysX ported to OpenCL or run strictly on the CPU, both of which would be good for gamers as more developers would take advantage of PhysX and we could see an end to the need for hybrid PhysX setups and GPU accelerated PhysX features that do not run on AMD GPU’s.

We are excited about the next-generation consoles either way in hopes that with more powerful hardware we start to see more developers make games with more physics features on a larger scale.

Sources
Rumor: Microsoft developing two next-gen Xbox 720 consoles
Report: Next-gen Xbox details at CES, hex-core CPU inside

Natural Selection 2 Physics Development Instancing Video

• November 25, 2011
• Written by Mark
• Leave a Comment
• Tweet

Now this is pretty cool and should be of some interest to developers working to implement physics into their games. Dushan who is the new engine programmer for Natural Selection 2 has been working on physics related optimizations for the game. One day while the developers “were looking at the physics in summit and discussing various ways to improve physics performance,” they started to film this video. The video shows one of the development tools that they use and an interesting view shows off the physics (PhysX) instances that were put into each level compared to the rest of the objects that make up the level. Check out the video below.

Natural Selection 2 uses CPU PhysX as confirmed in the NS2 Q&A #2 you can read here for more technical info about the game.

From what I’ve heard you’re using PhysX. Assuming that’s true: As I have a AMD Radeon card that feeds the rage guy inside of me.

We do use PhysX but we don’t initialize it to use hardware acceleration. You’ll have exactly the same experience regardless of what kind of hardware you have (we primarily have ATI hardware in our office). I’ve often seen people on the forums cite articles about how NVIDIA has cobbled the software PhysX engine, but in my experience the performance of PhysX is better than other software engines like Bullet.

Find out more about Natural Selection 2 at the main website.

Next Generation Console Rumor Update: Xbox Will Use AMD Fusion Bulldozer variant APU

• July 21, 2011
• Written by Mark
• 2 Comments
• Tweet

I was pretty excited this past week to hear the rumor from hardocp that AMD will be the GPU choice on all three next generation consoles. This is pretty big news for game physics as it puts NVIDIA and the future of PhysX in a tough spot. Now hardocp is reporting that that the CPU in the next-gen Xbox may be an AMD Fusion Bulldozer variant APU instead of the reported IBM cell processor. Not only is this a huge win for AMD if it is true but it could also mean a HUGE win for video game physics. If a Bulldozer Fusion APU with integrated Radeon graphics was used as the main CPU and paired with a discrete GPU, it could possibly leave the on-board GPU to be used exclusively for OpenCL physics processing.

From [H]ardOCP:

We reported earlier this month in our “E3 Rumors on Next Generation Console Hardware” article that Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox would likely be sporting a new IBM cell processor, although we did suggest that was not written in stone. We are hearing this week that AMD has very likely locked up the whole shebang with a Fusion Bulldozer variant APU. This of course will be a huge win for AMD.

Source