Have you ever noticed that in most games, damage to a wall or a building is only superficial, and doesn really affect game play? Thats not realistic, says Manju Hedge, cofounder and CEO of Ageia.
“You blow up a building in a game, and it breaks up into 20 chunks and then they disappear,” he says. “With a PPU, that building blows up into thousands of pieces, and then they stay.” Other effects the PPU could help create include explosions with damage-causing dust, debris, and shrapnel; weapons that cause varying degrees of damage; grass and trees that sway in the wind; fluids and gases that react to player actions; and characters that move more naturally, with articulated joints. (Check out Ageia’s PhysX demos.) The ability to include these elements does more than add eye candy to the game, Hedge says. It lets game developers create an entirely new level of interaction, and brings a new fidelity to the gaming experience. “When you interact with an object in the gaming world, it should behave the way you expect it to,” he says. “Cloth should flap in the wind, and if you pull it then it should snap or tear. Everything is breakable, and everything is usable.
Related Questions
- Have you ever noticed that in most games, damage to a wall or a building is only superficial, and doesn really affect game play? Thats not realistic, says Manju Hedge, cofounder and CEO of Ageia.
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