[Engadget]Sony Licences PhysX for PS3

2181 Views 42 Replies 30 Participants Last post by gtarmanrob, Mar 19, 2009

CorporalAris

Discussion Starter · Mar 17, 2009

Quote:

After being on the tip of gamers' tongues last summer, NVIDIA's PhysX technology has cooled a bit in terms of sheer popularity. That said, we've no doubt that the buzz will be back in force after this one clears the airwaves. NVIDIA has just announced that it has nailed down a tools and middleware license agreement for Sony's PlayStation 3, effectively bringing the aforesaid physics tech to what's arguably the most potent game console on the market today. As a result of the deal, a PhysX software development kit (SDK) is now available to registered PS3 developers as a free download for use on the SCEI Developer Network. What exactly this means for future PS3 games remains to be seen, but one's things for sure: it's only up from here.

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Interesting... Sure would help out nVidia's PhysX middleware.

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Reactions: 1

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Microsis

· #2 · Mar 17, 2009

Good for Sony, great for Nvidia. Nice find.

videoman5

· #3 · Mar 17, 2009

Well, this should add an incentive for game makers to use PhysX.

DuckieHo

· #4 · Mar 17, 2009

Hmmmm.... I guess NVIDIA will be giving Sony a discount on the PS4 GPU?

TnB= Gir

· #5 · Mar 17, 2009

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Originally Posted by DuckieHo

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Hmmmm.... I guess NVIDIA will be giving Sony a discount on the PS4 GPU?

Hmm. Maybe this is part of Nvidia's new efforts into x86 CPUs? Would be nice to see the PS4 with an x86 CPU. Would definitely take care of the development issues that plague the PS3.

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-iceblade^

· #6 · Mar 17, 2009

yawn

imo PhysX is very overrated

MADMAX22

· #7 · Mar 17, 2009

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Originally Posted by TnB= Gir

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Hmm. Maybe this is part of Nvidia's new efforts into x86 CPUs? Would be nice to see the PS4 with an x86 CPU. Would definitely take care of the development issues that plague the PS3.

Honestly I hope they dont, I think they should stick with the cell proc and make the developers try a little harder and stop whining. But this is just my little opinion.

As far as the physics thing I think its a good idea that could be more then what it is today.

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Tator Tot

· #8 · Mar 17, 2009

Hmm PS3 being its own "computer" of sorts with Phsyx, X86 CPU....damn sexy sounding.
And surely a beast of a gaming machine.

wsnnwa

· #9 · Mar 17, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by TnB= Gir

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Hmm. Maybe this is part of Nvidia's new efforts into x86 CPUs? Would be nice to see the PS4 with an x86 CPU. Would definitely take care of the development issues that plague the PS3.

They will just make a refined cell processor im sure, no point in making developers waste so much time learning something that will eventually be thrown out the window.

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DuckieHo

· #10 · Mar 17, 2009

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Originally Posted by MADMAX22

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Honestly I hope they dont, I think they should stick with the cell proc and make the developers try a little harder and stop whining. But this is just my little opinion.

As far as the physics thing I think its a good idea that could be more then what it is today.

Programmers are lazy... they do everything as efficiently as possible which means not coding the same thing twice.

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ManicGenius

· #11 · Mar 17, 2009

Just continues to show how much of a waste getting a PhysX card was
if essentially all it was was the API. Hell... Someone would probably
be able to reverse engineer the current API and have it run on CPU.

I dare ya.

Double dog dare ya.

Do it.

Kuntz

· #12 · Mar 17, 2009

X86 is a terrible choice for a console. The instruction set was not designed for games, it was designed to do everything, that's why there have been a dozen plus extensions to it over the years. It is heavily bloated and millions of transistors lay to waste just to enforce backwards compatibility to code that hasn't run since the early 90's.

The best option for a console, since it is an embedded system, is to purchase a CPU that is designed specifically for the jobs a video game console needs done, and pair it with a GPU that is designed to render what a video game consoles is typically going to render. By going with X86 you are not making it any easier to port your games from PC to Console, because games are not written in machine code. X86/CISC is best for PC's because compatibility is #1 and hardware is always and forever changing. PPC/RISC is best for embedded consoles, where all the CPU really needs to do is just act as a traffic controller between HDD, optical drive, memory, controllers, internet, and the GPU. And hardware never changes on a console. Well it does occasionally, but by using firmware they completely hide it from the developers.

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TnB= Gir

· #13 · Mar 17, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManicGenius

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Just continues to show how much of a waste getting a PhysX card was
if essentially all it was was the API. Hell... Someone would probably
be able to reverse engineer the current API and have it run on CPU.

I dare ya.

Double dog dare ya.

Do it.

Uh.

You CAN run PhysX on a x86 CPU already. It's just horribly inefficient and does a terrible job compares to GPUs/PPUs.

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003

· #14 · Mar 17, 2009

PhysX on the PS3 huh. The PS3 uses an nvidia 7950 GPU, and nvidia touts that PhysX is only supported on Geforce 8 and up....

Atomagenesis

· #15 · Mar 17, 2009

This is good I guess, but doesn't really make me want to buy a PS3 any more then before.

DuckieHo

· #16 · Mar 17, 2009

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Originally Posted by 003

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PhysX on the PS3 huh. The PS3 uses an nvidia 7950 GPU, and nvidia touts that PhysX is only supported on Geforce 8 and up....

Implement it on Cell.

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stargate125645

· #17 · Mar 17, 2009

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Originally Posted by TnB= Gir

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Uh.

You CAN run PhysX on a x86 CPU already. It's just horribly inefficient and does a terrible job compares to GPUs/PPUs, and Havok.

Fixed. Until Nvidia stops being a bunch of turds and allows PhysX to work standard without fudging crap if you have an ATI main GPU, Physx can stay in the garbage heap. Havok can do similar effects on the CPU and uses far fewer resources in the process while being available to anyone and everyone.

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Hellisforheroes

· #18 · Mar 17, 2009

sweet! hopefully we'll see games like COD on the PS3 become less static and more destructible.

TnB= Gir

· #19 · Mar 17, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by stargate125645

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Fixed. Until Nvidia stops being a bunch of turds and allows PhysX to work standard without fudging crap if you have an ATI main GPU, Physx can stay in the garbage heap. Havok can do similar effects on the CPU and uses far fewer resources in the process while being available to anyone and everyone.

I haven't seen a single implementation of Havok that can do what PhysX can.

Call it what you want, but PhysX does have unparalleled effects as far as physics in video games go.

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nathris

· #20 · Mar 17, 2009

I don't think they can afford the performance hit. When the SPEs aren't being used effectively the PS3 can't even keep up with the 360 (see: Fallout 3, early multiplatform games).

This is just throwing a wrench into things. Not only will PhysX take up valuable resources it will complicate the already complicated process of optimizing the SPEs.

PhysX on games like Killzone 2 or MGS4 would be impossible, so any game with PhysX is not going to look as pretty and most of the games coming out on the 360, except for the PhysX effects.

Still its there, its not like Sony is forcing them to use it, so overall its a good thing. Now drop the god damn price already!

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