730°

PlayStation 3 - Physics Effects SDK

At CEDEC 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment exhibited the Physics Effects SDK. The Physics Effects SDK is a physics simulation engine optimized for the Cell Broadband Engine, which is provided as part of the PlayStation 3 SDK. Because the Physics Effects SDK is optimized for PlayStation 3, it can do physics simulations very fast, even though they are considered to impose a very high computing load. This could expand developers' scope to include even more complex physical phenomena and mechanisms in games.

Christopher_Walken5361d ago

I would love to see a developer take this physics engine to the limit.

RememberThe3575361d ago

Yeah someone need to show this off in a game so we can see how it would really impact the gameplay or immersion. I guess Sony was just using the HAVOK engine as an interim for this.

phosphor1125360d ago

It's just the library they have compiled. It is actually programmed specifically for the Cell now. Allowing heavier loads, but the actual calculations, they have already been used before. I would have like to seen the water physics and soft body physics though, which they didn't show case (nor any other consoles has, of yet). Anyway, all the stuff in the videos have been done in Force Unleashed. I can't wait to see what new stuff they can do.

Microsoft Xbox 3605360d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

If you played LBP and attempted to create a complex level or object, you'd know that the PS3 is a physics computing beast! You can literally stack thousands of blocks in mid air and every single time will it act naturally when it falls. Rewind and change a single bit of block and the entire outcome changes by that one single piece very realistically.

Speaking of LBP, I can't wait for the online coop build mode.

Sarcasm5360d ago

"It only does...
EVERYTHING! "

Except make Aaron Greenberg a decent person.

D4RkNIKON5360d ago

LBP only does EVERYTHING lol. This really reminds me of the physics in LBP. Sony is made of win right now.

Gregmonk5360d ago

Another example as to why the playstation brand has, and always will be leader, the of the pact.

siyrobbo5360d ago

source engine did this years ago

Ocelot5255360d ago

@siyrobbo

WTF you don't understand?!

1. it's a physics library rewritten for the cell, so physics calculations are less demanding for the CPU. We know such physics libraries already exists but they were not optimized for the cell. now developers have access to physics effects that are less demanding for the PS3.
and btw: I've never seen rope effects in the source games

evrfighter5360d ago

this is last-gen pc gaming...

The XBOT5360d ago

You said it does everything. I havent seen it around here anywhere, but since you declared it, it seems that it is mmy right to specualte that the ps3 has done your mom, dad, and all parts of ur family, fatso :)

rockleex5359d ago (Edited 5359d ago )

Last gen PC gaming already had physics libraries that were re-written for the Cell even before the PS3's development?

Interesting. I need to start using last gen time machines so I can rewrite physics libraries for the PS4 before it's even in development.

*RockLeeX leaves to use that last gen time machine*
*RockLeeX returns with knowledge from the future*

With my knowledge from the future, I know evrfighter will eventually reply to our comments towards him with his usual, "You guys are putting words in my mouth" or "I don't own a 360, only a PC"

But I wouldn't really trust that last gen time machine. <_<

+ Show (9) more repliesLast reply 5359d ago
Saaking5361d ago

PS3 for Best console this gen.

Game13a13y5360d ago

PS3 is simply awesome. with the price point of $299, its sure set on a destruction course like a steam engine.

5360d ago
shadow27975360d ago

fanboy? check. ;-).

They're both great consoles. Just because you can make a list of strengths doesn't mean someone else can't make any equally long list for the PS3.

Enjoy both. And if you can't do that, then enjoy your console. You don't need to do Microsoft's marketing for them. The same goes to those who slam the 360.

WengYong5360d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

largest library of games, ps2 (check)
largest number of games above 70 ps2 (check)
best live exprience, should be online. pc pwns live(check)
cheapest sku with the arcade to start gaming. ps2 still cheaper (check)
best Motion controls, natals not even released (check)
very good number of exclusives, so does the ps3 (check)
Best version of the multiplayer games pc (check)

360 is awesome, but your trolling is pathetic.

edit: @ above agreed, well said

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5360d ago
Saaking5361d ago

PS3, the greatest console this generation, delivering exclusives, many features, and great customer satisfaction.

Gabe EatsWell5361d ago

360, the worst console this generation, delivering multiplats, very few features and poor customer satisfaction.

DevastationEve5361d ago

It's programmed on the CellBE, since RSX isn't capable. Somebody needs a Xenos...must be very awkward to be caught with an underpowered graphics solution.

Pandamobile5361d ago (Edited 5361d ago )

Yeah, the PS3 could have benefited hugely had it waited a couple months. Nvidia probably would have had the G80 GPU ready by then and the PS3 would look a lot better than it does today. The difference between the Geforce 7xxx series (PS3) and the 8xxx series (PC, around the same time as the PS3) is enormous.

Darkeyes5361d ago (Edited 5361d ago )

OH Panda... Lol Panda..

BTW I didn't say anything about Crysis.... LMAO.

And Apocaly... Talk this Bullsh!t when 360 gets a game even half as decent looking as Uncharted 2...

Pandamobile5361d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

"OH Panda... Lol Panda.. "

What's that supposed to mean.

Darkeyes5360d ago

Nothing Panda... Just reminds me off all the past "Crysis is the best" posts from you......

I have a gut feeling that even this argument was made by you keeping Crysis in mind... Thats all..

BTW I agree Crysis is great looking...

Pandamobile5360d ago

Why are you bringing Crysis into this?

Darkeyes5360d ago

Well... For one, it's the only game that is not possible on the current console (these are your words)... And is probably the only game that require those specs you posted.... Cause frankly, Uncharted 2 looks better than most games (should I dare say, it only second to Crysis)....

Frankly, PS3 doesn't need those specs you posted... I am happy with the way it is... Waiting 6 months more is what I wouldn't want.... I can put up with not having a Crysis kind game on the PS3... KZ2 looks great as well and suffices my needs....

Edit:Besides, there is a Crysis post so Njoy... Oh already the first post nice....

dustgavin5360d ago

PS3 is just entering it's 3rd year with graphics and physics that no other current system can touch. If anything, it is the other system *cough cough* that was released FAAR too early.

BTW Those are just demonstrations that show how fast the cell is able to process. The PS3 has plenty of room for future growth. They are just now scratching the surface of what it is capable of.

LCF5360d ago

No one knows the specs of the RSX. Sony nor Nvidia gave specs out. It is a custom-built GPU with the Cell in mind, made in Sony's fabs.
Cell/RSX needs to be looked as a whole with the Cell doing the bulk of the work.

Pandamobile5360d ago

Actually the RSX specs are quite easy to find.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

It's based on the Geforce 7800.

LCF5360d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

Those are not official lol.

Pandamobile5360d ago

Yes they are. Those are the specs listed at E3 2005 and at a Sony press conference in 2006.

LCF5360d ago

Look at it again, then look at wiki. Sony nor Nvidia gave specs out. If you knew the history about the whole RSX clout you would know that those wiki RSX specs are speculation and nothing more.

The RSX is custom-built. No specs were given.

DevastationEve5360d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

Holy Shrek! 14 disagrees with the truth! PS3 fanboys are so fragile!

RSX: 24 pixel + 8 vertex shaders. Built off the aged nVidia 7 Series, an architecture which no longer is used, as all modern GPUs have gone unified. RSX can't handle physics since its pipelines are dedicated. It's also nowhere near as efficient as Xenos is at load balancing and keeping the pipeline full. This is why developers have to migrate most of the graphic workload off the much hindered RSX to the CellBE.

Xenos: 3 16-pipeline shader arrays in a 48-way dual parallel unified shader core, plus Xenos's daughter die which comprises of 192 pixel processors and additional logic for high bandwidth needs (antialiasing, buffer blending, tile rendering). Built to be compliant with Direct X 10.1, since it has a tesselation unit. New dev kits will ship with the X Engine, which extends the API to utilize Xenos's previously locked features (since they limited the API to be compliant with a subset of D3D 9.0c).

Pandamobile5360d ago

DirectX 10.1? What the hell are you on about? The Xenos was designed way before DX10 was even getting heavily into production. The Xenos has a tessalator and unified architecture which was common for ATI graphics cards of that time.

And to the b1tches complaining because it's Wikipedia, look at the fricking source. It's a PDF file that was released at E3 2005.

JBaby3435360d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

All those stats must be why 360 has games looking like Killzone 2, Uncharted 1 & 2, and GT5. If all those numbers are true, and I'm not saying they're not, certainly your fanboy mind can come up with something else to show how the PS3 is hurting because of the vastly underpowered RSX. The RSX does exactly what Sony wants it to. They planned for the Cell to perform all the physics, among other things, and RSX to perform specific tasks its tailored for. If Xenos was soooo powerful certainly 360 would have something to show for itself to match what's on the PS3. It must be so awkward for you to be caught with an underpowered console. Truth stings.

Kleptic5360d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

all the old GPU debates are nearly pointless...as this video shows that the PS3 does things with its CPU that the 360 cannot...all physics are done on the 360's gpu...the cpu in the 360 simply runs instructions, and the GPU does all the rendering...

so even if the 360 gpu is slightly faster, it doesn't matter...because the PS3's gpu does not have to be taxed nearly as much...the only real difference between the two machines gpu wise that you regularly see is that the PS3 usually does a cpu based AA, and the 360 does gpu MSAA because of its extra 10megs of EDRAM...some prefer one over the other...I don't care, you can only really tell a difference in screen shots...you seem them in motion; both systems could use more ram for better AA and resolution...the negative part is that most multiplat developers do not handle the PS3 that way...they use a standard system where the gpu does nearly all the work load...and when the ps3 is handled like that, it is DEFINITELY weaker than the 360...but when a developer handles it like 1st party studios do, its a totally different machine...

but the proof is in the games...thats all that matters...the 360 is the king of UE3 screenshots...but a static screen shot will show you the best parts of the games...you see a screen shot of a PS3 game like killzone 2...and it looks great, but its not even half of whats so impressive...you see it in motion, with all the physics, ridiculous lighting, and volumetric particle effects...and there isn't a 360 game anywhere near it...and GG stated that the cell can render up to 40% of a single frame when things get intense...the 360 does not have a cpu capable of that...and its exactly why Sony kept saying how the cpu and gpu compliment each other entirely...its not a 'pc' like architecture where the gpu does almost all the rendering...

The XBOT5360d ago

I fukced Sony and Sony Fanboys are the result.

+ Show (17) more repliesLast reply 5360d ago
patterson5361d ago

The tools available to PS3 devs are really opening up now and it's only going to be getting better.

Everybody scoffed at the Cell Broadband Engine early on because of it's high learning curve, but now we are starting to see the fruits from it's complexity.

Pandamobile5361d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

But these are pretty simplistic physics. There's nothing here that screams 'cell power'. They could do the same demos on a 360 or even a PC from 2004 for that matter - without breaking a sweat.

Maybe they're just trying to unify a physics platform for Sony devs to use. I dunno.

Why am I getting disagrees? Do you think that's all the cell is capable of?

champ215361d ago (Edited 5360d ago )

Theres no hope for the misguided.

Let them wander in their delusions. PS3 still having alot of headroom is their wishful thinking.

Sony only leads them further astray.

koyomi koy5361d ago

it reminds me of physical effects of LBP.

Show all comments (104)
70°

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Available for Free on Prime Gaming

Discover how to get LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars for free through Prime Gaming. Enjoy this classic adventure in the Star Wars universe today!

Read Full Story >>
swtorstrategies.com
60°

Homeworld 3 Devs Discuss What Makes a Good Homeworld Game

Game Rant sits down with developers from Blackbird Interactive to talk about how Homeworld 3 looked to the franchise's main selling points.

Read Full Story >>
gamerant.com
220°

Activision’s new Elsewhere Entertainment studio is working on a new IP

Headquartered in Poland, Elsewhere Entertainment — an all-new internal studio at Activision — is working on a new “narrative-based and genre-defining AAA franchise.” Elsewhere includes developers credited on The Last of Us, Uncharted, Destiny, Cyberpunk, and more. Activision’s new studio announcement comes just a week after its parent company, Microsoft, closed three Bethesda studios. It also follows job postings about a new Activision IP.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
Sciurus_vulgaris1d 9h ago

The game industry confuses, closing down proven studios only open a new studio?

ThinkThink1d 8h ago

It would certainly be strange if this news came from Bethesda, but Activision is its on monster.

Eonjay1d 7h ago

To be fair, many Activision employees lost their jobs too during the the last few months. So it really is quite odd to see them opening another studio. All I can say is they better not do another mass layoff anytime soon or its just gonna piss everyone off. Studio description reminds me of The Initiative. The only saving grace is that they aren't claiming to be making a AAAA game lol. I guess we will check back in in 5 years to see how everything is going.

XiNatsuDragnel1d 9h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

Man what ip are they cooking? /s.

RaidenBlack13h ago

Soldier of Fortune 🤞🏻
Hexen/Heretic?
True Crime?

1d 7h ago Replies(1)
thesoftware7301d 7h ago

Gotta break some eggs to make an omelet.

romulus231d 4h ago

Tango Gameworks was the omelet, so that statement fails on the face of it.

InUrFoxHole1d 2h ago

Really? What special games did they make 🤔

romulus231d 1h ago

@InUrFoxHole

Well, xbox was pretty adamant that Hi-Fi Rush was special, journalist and gamers seemed to agree and from my own personal experience I would say it was a great game. They also made Ghostwire: Tokyo, and the Evil Within series.

thesoftware7301d ago (Edited 1d ago )

Yeah, then the head/lead of the company left...

No hope for a good Evil within game, ghost wire was not really successful,and HI-FI alone was not enough to keep an entire studio open.

Eonjay19h ago

@thesoftware730

I think the fact that this 'wasn't enough' is a problem wouldn't you concede?

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 19h ago
romulus2323h ago

Hi-Fi Rush was a great game regardless of who left and according to Aaron Greenberg,

"Hi-Fi RUSH was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release."

So of course they rewarded the team for their accomplishment by firing them. They have studios that have contributed much less that they haven't closed. It is going to be very difficult for any game to be successful when it goes straight to gamepass day one.

Einhander19721d 7h ago (Edited 1d 7h ago )

I think this is just a publicity stunt and that this studio never actually produces a game. Someone at Microsoft was like were getting cooked in the media after they closed these studios and they came up with a plan to create some dummy studio someplace outside of the reach of the English speaking presses reach to distract people.

"Oh hey we're not closing studios we're actually creating studios"

And of course what are they working on... the type of game that gets the most popular public perception a narrative driven story based game... ya know not the thing Activision and Microsoft are known for.

1d 7h ago Replies(2)
Einhander19721d 6h ago

GamingFans6946m ago
They hired a bunch of people and opened a new studio for a publicity stunt?

Yea, they hired people... Who? "Oh, you know, people..." people who worked on TLOU Uncharted and Destiny of course...

It's the same crap they did with The Initiative where they were under fire for buying a bunch of studios and not forming anything except even more sketchy this time. Of course the The Initiative was formed with people mostly poached from PlayStation specifically Naughty Dog, then less than 12 months later almost everyone was back at Sony and The Initiative was rumored to have lost 80% of it's staff and the game they were working on was announced to actually be getting developed by Crystal Dynamics.

Noskypeno1d 4h ago

The way we need to look at these buzzwords is the same that we see when a sports team brings in the best athletes in their position in hopes to bring them to look like a superteam, only to barely win half of their games or lose in the first round of the playoffs. Sometimes superteams work, but when it doesn't it just makes you question how they can't take advantage of their abilities.

Show all comments (41)