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Tag Archives: Engines

Insomniac Providing Free Development Tools

February 22, 2008 – 5:00 pm

Source Code

Hot off the heals of Sony’s PhyreEngine announcement, Insomniac is providing a free library of development tools, labeled Nocturnal Initiative.

“The Nocturnal initiative is designed to encourage greater communication and information sharing among the development community because it will ultimately enable us all to create better games at a lower development cost,” said Mike Acton, engine director, Insomniac Games. “And, in the end, it’s all about making great games.”

Essentially, Insomniac is giving other developers access to their source code in an effect to expedite and reduce the cost of game development, mainly on the PS3. This can only be good for gamers out there, as this new sharing of information at no cost will ultimately mean better games in your living room. Kudos to the industry players stepping up here!

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By Matt Banks | Posted in Loot Ninja | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

Sony Unveils PhyreEngine for Free Cross-Platform Development

February 21, 2008 – 1:00 pm

PhyreEngine

In what could be one of the biggest quiet announcements of GDC, Sony is making their PhyreEngine free to all developers. In case you don’t know, the PhyreEngine is a graphics optimized for multi-core systems that run on OpenGL or Direct3D.

According the presentation, the package includes full documentation, “70+ samples” and “full source code and artwork” for a few sample game templates. And all that’s required to get your game running on the PS3 is a “simple recompile.” It works with standard tools like Maya & Max exporters as well as Bullet, Havok, and Ageia Physics engines. There’s already a few games on the market using the PhyreEngine cross-platform, including DiRT, fl0w, and GripShift.

So what does this really mean? Well, Sony’s free development tools are aiding the development of games for PC and Xbox 360, as well as their own console. Since a lot of developers have been neglecting PS3, making it easier for them to develop games in a single environment for release on all platforms is a great idea.

More news is expected in the coming days, weeks, and months on PhyreEngine as Sony is dubbing it “the new hotness.”

[via Joystiq]

By Matt Banks | Posted in Loot Ninja | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Intel Puchases Havok

September 17, 2007 – 3:58 pm

Havok Engine

Intel, the chip making giant, has entered into an agreement to purchase Havok, the creators of the ever popular physics engine for a reported $21 million.

If you haven’t heard of Havok, it’s the physics engine behind some of the biggest games on the market. Recent big titles include Stranglehold, BioShock, and Oblivion. What many people don’t know is the same company produces an engine to create special effects in movies, which was used in blockbuster titles like The Matrix.

No idea yet how this in going to impact future game development with the Havok engine, but there’s some really smart people over at Intel that could really take it to the next level.

By Matt Banks | Posted in Loot Ninja | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

NaturalMotion Tackling the Football Video Game Genre with Backbreaker

August 26, 2007 – 10:10 am

Backbreaker Screen

More competition for Madden has come up from NaturalMotion. Their new game, Backbreaker, looks to revolutionize how players interact on the field.

Using the Euphoria engine, every tackle is different and players move exactly how they would in the real world.

“Backbreaker is the first football game with truly interactive tackles. By utilizing our motion synthesis engine, euphoria, players will never make the same tackle twice, giving them an intensely unique experience every time they play the game,” said NaturalMotion CEO Torsten Reil. “Backbreaker puts players in the middle of the gridiron by providing a pure, realistic football experience only possible on next-generation consoles.”

Well, the sure have tackling down right. Now if they can get the rest of the game to play well, this very well may put some pressure on Madden to actually make some more progress in the game.

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By Al Zamora | Posted in Loot Ninja | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (3)

New In Game Ad Deals what do they mean for you?

July 25, 2007 – 12:23 pm

AdsWe are seeing more deals involving different dynamic ad agencies and video game developers popping up with the biggest one involving EA and Microsoft. These in game ads are billed as great things and from an advertisers perspective that is getting in product placement opportunities across a widespread demographic they are fantastic, but what do they mean to us the consumer?

Since we are allowing all these ads into our homes involuntarily, will we get an option to turn them off? I paid for a video game not commercials, on television I can change the station but what about my video games, I am forced to sit there and see ads I don’t care for as I race through whatever stage I am on.

Will this dawn of new ad placements in our video games lead to lowering of prices or consoles? I doubt this very much, ads are already in certain games and we all are still paying top dollar. We as video game consumers are not benefiting in any way shape or form, from these new “dynamic” ads, so why should I sit and take them?

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By Al Zamora | Posted in Loot Ninja | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (3)

id Software New Game Engine

June 12, 2007 – 5:43 pm

At yesterday’s Apple WWDC (that’s Worldwide Developer Conference for the lay person), id Software’s John Carmack demoed the new game engine he’s been working on, dubbed id Tech 5.

Looks pretty damn cool. As per Carmack, more will be shown at E3 on the specific game being developed on this engine for Mac, PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Sounds like a plan to me.

By Matt Banks | Posted in Loot Ninja | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (1)