Physics processor?

[alkajazz]

i remember reading in a computer mag ( dont remember which ) about some company developing a processor just for processing physics in games. and they talked about how more games could adopt something like this. have any of you heard about this?

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: Physics processor?

Offical website.

http://www.ageia.com/products/physx.html

[alkajazz]

Re: Physics processor?

will this catch on? will we will have to buy even more crap to run games! agh!

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: Physics processor?

I dunno if it will catch on or not, I not a good judge of that. I didn't think DVDs would catch on, didn't think PCI-e would catch on, and bought a Dreamcast.

[alkajazz]

Re: Physics processor?

i guess i was wrong with the laserdiscs

[imported_Psycho]

Re: Physics processor?

I doubt it will catch on unless games specifically say it will help performances, if the games don't advertise it then it won't go anywhere, but if they do hardcore gamers with more money than sense will buy it, then it will come down in price and normally gamers will buy them.

[gungho]

Re: Physics processor?

Depends how many gamers want to buy one & if the game devs can be bothered coding for it. Personally, I'd rather buy a decent graphics card.

[glasseye]

Re: Physics processor?

from what i understand it will reduce the need for companies to code physics for their games. in the same way that a gpu takes strain from the cpu, a ppu would take strain off of both of them.

gfx cards used to be an unneeded luxury only a few years ago. now they are as important as any other part of a gamers rig.

[alkajazz]

Re: Physics processor?

the unreal3 engine uses this i think

[PsychoSnowMan]

It'll probably be like getting an sound card when they first come out, you get a performance boost but alot of people still use onboard audio. As for if it's going to catch on and become as much of a requisite as a video card? Who knows, but it's not something the normal pc gamer is going to need to worry about for a while.

[Tenshi]

Re: Physics processor?

I think it will catch on because if you imagin the best game you can think of...itll have a perfect physics engine, that will require dedicated hardware.

The performance leap is mental. Even for the first generation ones. These things will make the entire worl a physics similation including fluid physics and real smoke etc etc. That needs to be hardware accelerated, cant run in software forever, soooo these things will be necessary if we want "the perfect game".

It could also be expanded to include audio simulation, so we can move away from the pap they call "realistic audio" in games now.