Havok 4.5 Unleashed
Enabling Scaling to Thousands of Dynamically-driven Game Objects and Characters
San Francisco, Calif., Jan. 23, 2007 – Havok announces today the official release of Havok 4.5, the latest update to its modular suite of artist tools and run-time technology.
Fully optimized for Sony PLAYSTATION®3, as well as Microsoft Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii, Havok 4.5 dramatically accelerates the development of cross-platform, cutting edge electronic games, meeting the needs of the world’s top developers and producers.
Havok 4.5 allows game developers to scale game content to thousands of dynamically-driven game objects and characters, harnessing the full power and speed of next generation architectures.
Game developers using Havok Physics and Havok Animation products to develop for PS3 will be able to harness the full power of all the SPUs, while maintaining the complete flexibility of the Havok SDK. Havok architecture now scales strongly across all SPUs and runs between 5 and 10 times faster than Havok 4.0 for a typical game scene on the PS3.
“We made sure that we met our customers’ demand for a PS3 optimized version of Havok as soon as possible” says Havok CEO, David O’Meara. Comments Scott Kirkland, Technical Director at Evolution Studios and lead on PS3 exclusive title MotorStorm, “With its unparalleled environmental interaction and spectacular destruction, MotorStorm’s brutal, chaotic, off-road racing makes big demands on physics processing. Unphazed by the intense time pressures of our project, Havok rose to this next-gen challenge and provided us with an outstanding suite of professional tools, technology and support to help realize our vision. We’re now looking forward to collaborating with the Havok team on future Evolution products”.
Optimization for next generation platforms represents one of the largest development tasks ever undertaken by Havok. Havok 4.5’s tools and SDK are designed to be modular and open, so they can be integrated easily into existing production pipelines, reducing the overall iteration time needed to create immersive game-play experiences and special effects. The Havok 4.5 suite is backed by expert support and professional services, leveraging the experience of almost 200 commercially released Havok-powered game SKUs.
Adds Havok’s David O’Meara, “The launch of Havok 4.5 represents the culmination of many thousands of man hours for the Havok development team. We’ve worked really hard to ensure that Havok technology is optimized for the next generation console platforms, and we’ve been really excited by the results.
Havok 4.5’s ability to allow developers to massively scale game content will make it possible to develop even more compelling, realistic and complex worlds that harness the full power of new generation architectures.”
Havok 4.5 enhances Havok’s industry-leading game-play physics and animation products (Havok Physics™ and Havok Animation™). It also brings to new levels Havok Behavior™, which accelerates development of sophisticated interactive character behaviors, and Havok FX™, which delivers an unprecedented level of physically-based “special effects” phenomena. The combined 4.5 solution represents a best-of-class SDK and tool set that puts power and flexibility in the hands of today’s leading game developers.
About Havok
Havok is the premier provider of interactive software and services for digital media creators in the games and movie industries. With world leading expertise in physics, animation and tools, Havok’s business is to turn our customers’ creative aspirations into technical realities. Havok’s modular suite of tools gives power to the creator, making sure that our clients can reach new standards of realism and interactivity, while mitigating the overall cost and risks associated with creating today’s leading video games and movies.
Havok works in partnership with the world’s best known game developers - including Sony, THQ, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft and Activision. Havok’s cross-platform, professionally supported technology is available for the PlayStation®2, PLAYSTATION®3, PSP™, Xbox™, Xbox360™, Wii™, GameCube™, and the PC. Havok’s combination of superior technology and dedication to delivering for our customers every time has led to our technology being used in more than 190 of the world’s best known game titles, including Halo 2, Half Life 2, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Age of Empires III, Saints Row and Cars.
Havok products have been used to drive special effects in movies such as Poseidon, The Matrix, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Havok provides the dynamics driving 3ds Max from Autodesk Media and Entertainment.
Havok was founded in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland and has offices in San Francisco, San Antonio, Stockholm, Calcutta, Munich, and Tokyo.
