NVIDIA(R) SLI(TM) Platform Supports Physics to Expand and Add Value to
Developers and Gamers
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NVIDIA Corporation
(Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor
technologies, and Havok, the game industry's leading supplier of cross-
platform middleware, will be demonstrating a physics effects solution that
runs completely on a graphics processing unit (GPU) -- an industry first -- at
this year's Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Jose, California (March
21st through 24th).
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020613/NVDALOGO )
The result of an ongoing engineering collaboration between Havok and
NVIDIA, this new software product from Havok -- called Havok FX(TM) -- enables
the simulation of dramatically-detailed physical phenomena in PC games, when
powered by GPUs such as NVIDIA GeForce(R)7 or 6 Series GPUs and further
amplified with NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU technology. The Havok FX product is
currently in early release to select developers and is expected to be
available this summer.
Through Havok FX, GPUs can simulate the interactions of thousands of
colliding rigid bodies, a fundamental technique of physics computation seen in
today's latest games. It's now possible to compute the components of friction,
collisions, gravity, mass, and velocity that form the basis of rigid body
physics. Havok FX is designed for GPUs supporting Shader Model 3.0, including
the NVIDIA GeForce 6 and 7 Series GPUs.
Utilizing Havok FX and NVIDIA graphics technology, game developers can now
implement sophisticated physical phenomenon such as debris, smoke, and fluids
that add immense detail and believability to game environments. Game designers
can include advanced physics effects without burdening the CPU and slowing
game-play, since the effects are simulated and rendered on the GPU.
Tyler Thompson, Technical Director of video game developer Flagship
Studios states, "With Havok FX, we can explore new types of visual effects
that add realism into Hellgate: London. Given the widespread installed base of
GPUs and the incredible performance of the new NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX and GT
GPUs, Havok FX was a natural choice."
"We are very excited about the quality and speed we are seeing on the
NVIDIA GPUs. We've believed for some time that GPU technology had the
potential to simulate physical effects and our collaboration with NVIDIA has
proven that," says Jeff Yates, VP of Product Management at Havok. "The large
installed base of Shader Model 3 class GPUs and momentum by NVIDIA in the
market make Havok FX an attractive solution for game developers looking for
hardware-accelerated physics."
"Moving physics processing to the GPU is a natural progression enabled by
the high programmability in today's GPUs," said David Kirk, chief scientist at
NVIDIA. "By combining expertise with Havok, we have produced a fantastic
solution for game developers that will lead to more compelling game-play and
more realistic gaming experiences."
The award-winning NVIDIA GeForce 7 and GeForce 6 graphics architectures
deliver advanced technologies including full support for Microsoft(R)
DirectX(R) 9.0 Shader Model 3.0, enabling advanced shading programs for more
realistic effects. By using the advanced programmable resources available in
current GPUs, developers can harness the massive parallel computation
capability of NVIDIA GPUs. The performance available to developers is further
enhanced through NVIDIA SLI technology. This revolutionary platform
innovation allows users to intelligently scale graphics performance by
combining multiple NVIDIA graphics solutions in a single system with an NVIDIA
nForce(R) SLI MCP.
About Havok
Havok is the gaming industry's leading independent provider of physics and
character animation middleware. Top game developers and publishers worldwide
such as Sony, EA, Microsoft Game Studios, Ubisoft, and Activision have
licensed Havok products for use on over 150 titles including Halo 2, Perfect
Dark Zero, Age of Empires III, Marvel Nemesis, and Mercenaries. Havok enables
game developers to create virtual worlds where players enter a dynamic, living
and breathing universe with characters that interact in a completely natural
and unscripted way. Havok's game specific solutions help developers achieve
creative goals while reducing overall cost, time and risk associated with
building today's leading games. Havok has offices in Dublin, Ireland and San
Francisco.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA Corporation is the worldwide leader in programmable graphics
processor technologies. The Company creates innovative, industry-changing
products for computing, consumer electronics, and mobile devices. NVIDIA is
headquartered in Santa Clara, CA and has offices throughout Asia, Europe, and
the Americas. For more information, visit http://www.nvidia.com.
Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to,
the benefits, performance, capabilities and features of NVIDIA GeForce 7 and
GeForce 6 series GPUs and SLI technology, the collaboration between NVIDIA and
Havok, availability of Havok FX, PC gamers' continued demand for realism, game
developer's uses of the Havok FX and NVIDIA graphics technology, and the
combination of NVIDIA and Havok technology, are forward-looking statements
that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be
materially different than expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, changes in PC gamers' preferences for quality and
speed, lack of new PC games to use the new technology, delays in ramping new
products into production, prohibitive pricing of new products and games, loss
of performance when products are used together, development of new
technologies, manufacturing defects, software bugs, general industry trends
including cyclical trends in the semiconductor industry, the impact of
competitive products and pricing alternatives, and other risks detailed from
time to time in the reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange
Commission including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 29, 2006.
These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. NVIDIA
disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
NOTE: Havok and Havok 3 are registered trademarks of Havok and
Telekinesys Research Limited. All other products, company names and logos are
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE NVIDIA Corporation
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Photo Notes: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020613/NVDALOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org PRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.com /Web site: http://www.nvidia.com
CONTACT: Brian Burke of NVIDIA Corporation, +1-512-401-4385, or bburke@nvidia.com; or Kimberly Caulfield of Havok, +1-415-543-4620, ext. 239, or kimberly.caulfield@havok.com
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