Havok talks engine use on Wii U, says you'll see things y...

[robometal cowboy]

Havok talks engine use on Wii U, says you'll see things you won't see elsewhere
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"The platform has its own unique features, and has its own challenges as well. When we come across any new particular platform, we optimize specifically for some of the advantages that those platforms offer over other platforms, and Wii U has specific advantages that no other platform has, and we optimize directly for those, right down at the level of accessing the hardware. I think we'll see things done on the Wii U that we won't see on another platforms… I think people will be genuinely excited with the range of titles they're going to see come out." - Dave Gargan, Havok VP of Engineering

See more of this interview, including some 3DS comments here

[Triforce of the Gods]

That's what I like to hear.

[ayanami85]

WIIU POWER!

[CyTheLegend]

The wait is killing me!

One more week... one more week...

[axkil]

Run from the cpu instead of GPU....interesting

[Wii_Jedi]

To be honest, that sounds just like what people where saying when the Wii came out.

The good news is that the Wii U is starting very strong with the Mature titles.

[NeroSuferoth]

What is Havok making for the WiiU?

[Shaanyboi]

What is Havok making for the WiiU?

They're an engine developer, not a game developer.

[ddddd]

@NeroSuferoth
Just addapting and licensing their physics engine, you may have experienced the engine on wii titles like brawl and darkside chronicles.
And yep, Ive read that out of order cpus like the one wiiu will have are very good for physics.

[NeroSuferoth]

@Shaanyboi
@ddddd

Lol, I never bothered to look, I've seen their logo on plenty of my games but I didn't know they didn't make any of them.

[Shaanyboi]

@Shaanyboi
@ddddd

Lol, I never bothered to look, I've seen their logo on plenty of my games but I didn't know they didn't make any of them.

It's their physics engine that gets used in a lot of stuff. I think I've played like... 4 games in the last 6 months with their tech in it.

[the_nintendo_screw]

4th dimension confirmed!

[motherbra1n]

super smash bros brawl uses havok, according to wikipedia.

[snowyday]

Cool this is great news 1 more week left until E3 can't wait

[Eternal Rain]

Surprised Nero didn't know what Havok is. For one, they're the physics engine that made Half-Life 2's gravity gun so famous. Sure the engine can still be used poorly *stares at Sonic 06* but for the most part it's a pretty capable physics engine (I believe Rockstar's famous "Euphoria Engine" even incorporates it). Havok's biggest competitor is PhysX (they've been used in games like Mafia II, the recent Batman Arkham games, and will even be used in Borderlands 2).

[intro94]

To be honest, that sounds just like what people where saying when the Wii came out.

The good news is that the Wii U is starting very strong with the Mature titles.

on terms of their gpu doing things other consoles could not? doubt it deeply.

[lockNES]

And yep, Ive read that out of order cpus like the one wiiu will have are very good for physics.

This is the type of news I like to hear.

The fact that Nintendo recognizes how important physics are to the modern gameplay experiences is comforting. The 3DS showed they realized how important shaders are. Everybody talks about resolution and HD being the benchmarks for power this generation but going forward, I feel there are going to be many things that are going to take priority over resolution and one of those things will probably be physics. There are "cheats" or shortcuts that can make up for raw polygon pushing power for the visual side of things that can still create beautiful looking games. I'm not sure how much you can cheat as you add more complex physics into games.

Nintendo partnering with middleware creators like Havok could be a game changer, literally. It might not matter for multiplatform games (since it sounded like it's only licensed for the Wii U by Nintendo) but Wii U exclusives all having access to this type of middleware for all the games could really change what type of games are made for the system. The article even says more of Havok's portfolio will be made available for the platform so I could see this partnership growing even bigger. Who is to say if Havok becomes the dominant physics engine next generation but with this partnership, it could give them a big leg up and if it's included in more multiplatform games, Nintendo would already cut development costs for developers by covering the licensing cost. Could that give the Wii U an additional reason for being the lead development platform for multi-platform games? I certainly hope so.

[WarioT]

Nintendo and innovation go together

[player value]

and Vigil to answer: shure dude, N64 graphics, shure it's the Wii again!

[Roth]

Havok has a been an industry standard on console and PC games for over a decade. I wonder if this new version of Havok they're hinting at is comparable to anything Nvidia has done with PhysX engine for PC games such as Mirror's Edge or Arkham City.

// Roth

[scikoolaid]

@lockNES Good post. I think people neglect to notice Nintendo really pays attention to the hardware they put into their systems.