middleware
News
PlayStation 3 Gets Free PhysX From Nvidia
11:20AM Michael McWhertor | Game developers may find PlayStation 3 development a bit more attractive today, thanks to the generosity of Nvidia. The graphics chip manufacturer is offering its PhysX tech to developers as a free download. More »
News
PlayStation 3 Glows With amBX
1:40AM Mike Fahey | The real-world sensory technology of amBX could soon be coming to a PlayStation 3 near you, as the company announces a Tools and Middleware agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment. More »
News
Square Enix LA Working On Downloadable Games
6:20AM Stuart Houghton | Square Enix’s new Los Angeles studio is still hiring, but they now have a small core staff of coders. To ease the new kids gently into the world of Squeenix development, the new studio is going to focus on downloadable games. More »
News
Dead Space Engine Hoping To Dismember Middleware Market
10:40AM Stuart Houghton | Even before Dead Space is out of the door, the development team behind it are hopeful that they can carve a chunk (this may be literally true, given Dead Space’s rep) from the game engine market. The engine is currently being prepped for duty in the Godfather 2 game and Glen Schofield of EA Redwood Shores is hopeful that it will go on to see heavy use within EA and beyond. Weirdly, the source article mentions that “Lawyers are currently on the job sorting out the legalities of officially naming the engine” – not sure what this means, but perhaps there are some licensing issues stemming from the engine’s origins in the original Godfather game and From Russia With Love (it has been heavily extended since then). For now though, it is The Engine With No Name – suggestions in the comments, by all means. Dead Space engine to become major middleware [Game Player] More »
Havok Goes Free In May
6:40AM Mike Fahey | Trying to create your own PC game of you and your friends shooting up your high school but lacking the physics and animation technology to bring the whole project together? Well if you can wait a few months, you can use the same tools you’ve seen flashed countless times on your TV and computer monitor over the past several years – Havok. Havok is releasing their industry-leading Havok Complete toolset completely free in May. Havok Complete combines the Havok physics engine with Havok Animation, and is already used in over 200 triple-A titles on the market today. “This is fantastic news for commercial PC game developers as well as the independent game development community, who will really benefit from this move,” said Mark DeLoura, creator of the Game Programming Gems series. Indeed fantastic news, as having powerful tools freely available can really help foster creativity across the industry, while also expanding the market for Havok’s add-on products, like the recently announced Cloth and Destruction apps. An extremely long press release follows.
BigWorld Beds GNi
2:00PM Logan Booker | In the industry of MMO middleware, the Australian-owned, Micro Forte-spun BigWorld has quite a reputation. While its clients have been limited in the past to the boutique, but highly profitable, Chinese market, it wasn’t long ago (mid-2006) that the software was picked up by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment for Stargate Worlds, an MMO of the sci-fi show that’s currently in development.
Now BigWorld (the company is actually named after the middleware) has entered into a “strategic partnership” with Global Netoptex Inc (GNi). GNi is, in essence, a hosting business, and the plan is that BigWorld will sell the software while GNi provides the hardware – making the two combined a one-stop shop for MMO developers.
It’d be interesting to find out the pros and cons of buying pre-baked MMO server/client software, considering most developers seem content with making their own. Sounds like an interview in the making…
You can read the full release after the jump. More » 
