PC Authority has published a fascinating article about why consoles and the technology they have inside, mainly the GPU are preventing developers from creating more and more games with the latest and greatest in technology such as DX11, and holding back the development of PC Games. The article details the fact that game developers are trying to target the widest range of users possible, for the time being these are the consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS3, and it’s 5 year old graphics hardware and technology. This same rule applies to why developers are not wanting to take full advantage of PhysX, because since it only runs on NVIDIA hardware they simply cannot reach the widest user base possible. Read the rest of the article here.
Even selling points such as NVIDIA’s hardware PhysX acceleration aren’t as impressive as they sound. Again, because developers need to target a wide range of end users they cannot integrate technology like PhysX too heavily into their games.
Make the game too reliant on NVIDIA-flavoured hardware accelerated physics and the huge number of people who own ATI cards are excluded from the customer base. This has led to PhysX being a means to add a little bit of extra eye candy to a game in the form of flowing cloth and extra debris, rather than being an integral part of the game’s design.
GameStarDE has made a really nice video with all of the new Technology demos from NVIDIA for the New GTX 400 series video cards. In the video you can see new footage of the PhysX Raging Rapids Ride demo, and some new and really nice footage of the PhysX Supersonic Sled demo we have been excited about for a long time. Check it out below.
Zogrim over at PhysXinfo.com has done a really nice GPU PhysX comparison for Metro 2033, showing off what the PhysX effects look like with PhysX enabled and disabled. Like all of Zogrim’s PhysX comparison videos he does a split screen side by side comparison showing what the PhysX effects look like in the game with PhysX On and PhysX off along with normal full screen footage of PhysX on and PhysX off showing off the impressive PhysX effects in Metro 2033.
We have bee excited for Metro 2033 since it was announced it would feature advanced PhysX effects and be a PhysX and graphics showcase when released. In this video you can finally see all the awesome PhysX effects in action in the game. From particle effects, impact debris, grenade explosions,
smoke and fluid effects, this GPU PhysX comparison video for Metro 2033 covers it all.
be sure to check out the previous posts we have made about Metro 2033:
Additional physics effects in Metro 2033 title for PC. “Advanced PhysX OFF” vs “Advanced PhysX ON”. Graphics settings – High, DX10. Watching in HD is highly recommended.
GPU PhysX in Metro 2033:
Be sure to check out PhysXinfo.com for more PhysX information on all the latest PhysX enabled games.
YouTube user and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 player, zappload has made a really nice video showing off the physics and destruction in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. In this video zappload goes around shooting things and blowing them up to show the awesome physics and destruction that the games features. If you are not familiar with BFBC2, The game uses the Frostbite Engine and pretty much everything on the battlefield can be destroyed, trees fall down, houses collapse, concrete walls get blown away creating paths not there before, craters are left in the ground, giant holes get blown in the side of the house, at the end of a match there is not much left to hide behind the the entire battlefield looks different like a giant battle did take place.
Be sure to check out our previous postings about the physics and destruction in Battlefield Bad Company 2:
Ever since we saw the Glowball PhysX demo and the Floating Castle Physics Demo running on Tegra 3 powered tablets we have been pretty excited about physics on Tegra powered devices. Back in November NVIDIA announced the released of their new Quad-Core mobile Tegra 3 chip that uses “four CPU cores and its new GeForceRead More
I know that Batman Arkham City has been out for awhile now and this is old news but as I have been extremely busy with work and finishing up school I never got a chance to post these. These are some cool Batman Arkham City PhysX comparison on/off videos from both EVGA and YouTube userRead More
Krishna Kumar – YouTube user krishx007 who runs gfxguru.net has made a pretty cool physics/PhysX demo level with Unity 3D called Physics Wonderland. The level is basically a huge playground with PhysX objects that you can destroy and play around with to show off the different PhysX features in Unity 3D. Check it out belowRead More
The Game Developers Conference 2012 is going to have a session that really interests us. The “Physics for Games Programmers” session/tutorial is going to cover the “tools and techniques developers should know when implementing physics in their games.” According to the information on the GDC 2012 site, the session will take place on Tuesday, MarchRead More
With all of the excitement about rumored hardware being used in the next-generation consoles, some very disappointing news has come today. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony has no plans to unveil the Sony Playstation 4 at this years E3 and is going to stick with the 10-year life cycle plan. If thisRead More
Here are some cool physics videos that have been uploaded to YouTube over the past week. Cryengine 3 Tornado Physics by club4ghz UDK – Destructible objects and Physics! by Shotbix07 Ice Engine Destruction Test by LordOfTheBytes
I came across a few cool Havok physics videos on YouTube. YouTube user kosteckip has made a pretty cool Castle Siege type demo using PhysX and Havok physics with physics based water, cloth, and destruction. Meanwhile, the official Havok Physics YouTube channel has uploaded a series of Havok Simulation videos and one interesting video showsRead More
Maximum PC has a nice article up about the top game engines being used to create today’s games. Along with the engines they also pointed out the top Middleware being used and PhysX and Havok were listed as the top physics Middleware. Check out the entire article here. From Gamers, Start Your Engines! 6 TopRead More
Phymec is making some cool physics tools for Bullet Physics and Blender to enable some awsome fracture and destruction effects. Two awesome videos showing this off have been uploaded to YouTube. The first shows off the creation of the fracture objects in Blender and the newer video is an awesome collection of fracture objects beingRead More
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 thatRead More
I posted about this awesome level several months ago – Some Cool NVIDIA APEX Physics Tests Done with the UDK now mfsksa, who is the creator of this level, has given me the UDK files required to play the Apex PhysX test level he made. I made a cool video showing it off some moreRead More
Ever since we posted the Battlefield 3 Physics and Destruction Videos with the BF3 destruction video showing the Antenna in Caspian Border coming down we have been wondering how to do this or when it would be allowed through a patch. Today we have learned through an awesome YouTube Video that the main Antenna canRead More
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