Sony Enters Into Triple Agreements For PS3 SDK News
Jon Wilcox
21/07/2005
The Software Development Kit for PlayStation3 is boosted by a triple-header of licensing agreements...
Sony has today announced that it has entered into three licensing agreements that will see the Software Development Kit for PlayStation3 bolstered by some of the biggest names in Middleware toolsets.
In the first of the announcements, SCEI has entered into a licensing agreement with AGEIA Technologies, Inc which includes the sublicensing rights to the AGEIA PhysX SDK (also known as NovodeX), a physics library developed by AGEIA. One the key features of the PhysX SDK is that it is multi-thread compatible, making the technology ideal to utilise the power of the Cell processor.
Making the announcement Masa Chatani, Corporate Executive and CTO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said, âA licensing agreement with AGEIA is a strategic move for usâ¦With AGEIA PhysX SDK provided as part of Software Development Kit for PS3, we believe that numbers of content with entirely new forms of physics expressions optimizing the power of the Cell processor will be developed.â
âThis agreement between SCEI and AGEIA marks a significant landmark in the development of advanced physics-enabled games,â said Manju Hegde, Founder and CEO of AGEIA Technologies, Inc. âThe capabilities of the AGEIA PhysX SDK combined with the power of the Cell architecture will give developers the tools necessary to introduce dynamic physical properties within games that will leapfrog game interactivity as we know it today.â
Sony also announced that an evaluation version of Epicâs Unreal Engine 3 will be included within the PlayStation3âs SDK - the inclusion of the middleware development suite had previously been announced by Epic back in May 2005. The Engineâs framework include a programmable shaders tool, physics engine, and GUI based physics attribution tool, along with various other tools, such as scenario development, movie scene development, animation and particle animation tools.
âWe're very happy to have a strategic licensing agreement with Epic Games,â said Mr Chatan, âThe power of Unreal Engine 3 demonstrated at E3 was so highly received. By providing the outstanding SCEI Enters Into Strategic Licensing Agreement With Epic Games content development technology of Unreal Engine 3 for PS3 developer community, we believe that many high quality content maximizing the power of PS3 will become available. â
Tim Sweeney, CEO, Epic Games said âWeâre very excited to be able to work closely with SCEI to provide our complete end-to-end solution to PS3 developersâ¦Now, every PS3 developer will be able to try out Unreal Engine 3 and be productive on their very first day of PS3 development.â
The final licensing agreement by Sony is with Havok, with SCEI obtaining physics and animation tools for PlayStation3, as well as extending to the various debugging tools that have been developed by Havok. Confirming the agreement, Mr Chatani said, âIt is our pleasure to have a strategic licensing agreement with Havokâ¦With its cutting edge technology, Havok's physics engine is highly supported by numbers of content creators around the world. By including Havok's technology in the PS3 Software Development Kit, every developer will be able to utilize physics engine to create next generation content with real and natural effects.â
âWe are excited and proud to partner with SCEI to provide our physics and
animation technology with the PS3 development kit,â said David OâMeara, CEO of Havok. âHavokâs technology has been used by major developers all over the world in more than a hundred games. Our agreement with SCEI opens the door for all PS3 developers to use Havok to create spectacular game worlds with incredibly realistic special effects and interactive game
characters.â
Weâll have more news on PlayStation3 shortlyâ¦