Sony and nVidia bring PhysX to the PS3

Following an agreement between Sony and nVidia, all Playstation 3 game developers will get access to PhysX SDK binaries. nVidia reports that the software package -consisting of an API, physics engine and matching tools- allows realtime testing and development of PS3 physics effects. 

Sony's console is equipped with a special version of nVidia's G70 chip, which is also found in the GeForce 7800 GTX cards. This GPU isn't really suited for physics calculation due to the divided pixel and vertex shader units. The PS3's Cell processor however, has a lot of similarities to Ageia's PPU. Ageia -now taken over by nVidia- made a Cell-supporting SDK three years ago already. 

nVidia earlier made PhysX agreements with companies such as Electronic Arts, but the treaty with Sony made the technology available for all PS3 developers. nVidia hopes to motivate more developers into using PhysX. Indirectly, this could also lead to more PhysX-enabled PC games. 

Tags: geforce physics

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