Havok’s mission since their inception on 1998 has been to change the way computer and video games look and feel, and I’d say they’ve done a damn fine job, working with more than 70 developers on more that 200 titles. Along with driving the physics in games like Halo 2, Age of Empires III, and Fallout 3, Havok technology has also played a big role in movie special effects, most notably in everyone’s favourite spoon-bending epic, The Matrix.

I don’t think a month has gone by for me in the past 7-8 years where I haven’t seen that sawblade logo popping up on my television screen. I get the feeling I’ll be seeing it for a long time coming. Happy 10th, little physics guys.

Havok Celebrates 10 Years of Physics in Games and Film

San Francisco, CA (December 9, 2008) – Havok, the premier provider of interactive software for physics simulation and content development, and services for digital media creators today announced they are celebrating 10 years as a solutions provider to the gaming and film industries.

Started in 1998 when 3D graphics accelerators were rising in popularity and computing power was approximately 1/10th of what it is now, this Dublin-based company set out to change the way computer and video games looked and felt. Launching first with their physics simulation software tools SDK for games at the 2000 Game Developers Conference, Havok now offers a complete modular suite of products that help visual and interactive content developers create more realistic games and special effects for film.

“Havok was born from the idea that the emergence of realistic real-time 3D graphics created the need for realistic physical simulation,” said David O’Meara, Managing Director of Havok. Back then we were motivated by such a difficult challenge and each other’s energy. I’m happy to say the majority of the original Havok team is still with us 10 years later, still sharing the drive to provide solutions to the biggest challenging facing developers, and empowering them to create realistic and visually stunning entertainment.”

Over the last decade, Havok has partnered with more than 70 of today’s top game developers, and their industry-leading technology has been included in an excess of 200 game titles by the end of 2008 including the award-winning “Age of Empires III”, “Halo 2″, and this year’s smash hit “Fallout3″. Additionally, Havok products have been used to drive the special effects in such films as “The Matrix”, “10,000 B.C.”, and “Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix”.

“Technology has progressed a great deal since we first conceived of dynamical simulation in games,’ commented O’Meara. Computing power and the adoption of graphics cards has reached the point where many of the things we imagined back then are not only feasible, but high definition 3D visuals and real-time physics are now mainstream and expected across games, film and the Web.”

Havok’s technologies are multi-platform, enabling development across today’s leading game consoles and computers. It’s this agnostic approach that has lead to the adoption of Havok products by the majority of today’s leading publishers and developers including Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, UbiSoft, Eidos, LucasArts, Sierra, Blizzard, Bethesda, Bungie, Valve, Neversoft, Relic, Lionhead and Pandemic Studios.

Some of the highly-anticipated games currently under development or slated for release in 2009 are Microsoft’s “Fable 2″, Namco Bandi’s classic remake “Splatterhouse”, Pandemic’s “Saboteur”, “HaloWars” from Ensemble Studios, and the new “Indiana Jones” game from LucasArts.

Havok recently expanded its software lineup with the release of Havok 6.0. As the company’s most broad suite of games middleware components to date, Havok 6.0 marks the addition of Havok Cloth™ and Havok Destruction™ to the award winning Havok Physics™, Havok Behavior™ and Havok Animation™ products. Each product forms part of an integrated suite of runtime SDKs and tools, representing the most comprehensive set of cross-platform modular tools available today, enabling game studios to deliver more compelling gameplay, character interaction and physical effects in less time.

With more than 100 games utilizing Havok’s technology slated for release over the coming year, details on Havok’s current lineup follow:

Havok Animation™
Havok Animation is a fast, flexible animation SDK that provides a rich set of general purpose animation capabilities, tight integration with Havok’s award-winning Physics SDK, and incorporates easily into existing game engines.

Havok Behavior™
Havok Behaviour is a system of software tools for developing event-driven character behaviours in a game. The Havok Behaviour product is comprised of an intuitive composition tool for artists and designers, and a run-time SDK for game programmers, resulting in “what you see is what you get” results.

Havok Cloth™
Havok Cloth is a new platform-optimised runtime SDK and toolset that significantly increases the realism of game characters and environments by enabling character designers to add realistic, physically-based drape and motion to garments, environmental objects and other deformable items like hair, bellies or tails.

Havok Destruction™
Havok Destruction is the cross-platform tool for the simulation of rigid body destruction. In addition to drastically reducing the production time and cost of creating large numbers of realistic destructible game objects, Havok Destruction provides more realism to structural mechanics, graphical effects and level design for a new game play experience

Havok Physics™
Based upon the award winning Havok Physics 2 SDK, the recently released Continuous Physics™ is an innovative technology that adds an extra level of integrity to games, and frees up production time by eliminating design limitations that stem from high-velocity game objects. Havok Physics also incorporates robust memory optimizations crucial for simulating physics in complex game environments on next-generation platforms.

Or an Atmosphir – as in the case of this 3D platform game maker from Minor Studios.

It’s a closed beta at the moment (you can sign up through their site) but from the video (see below the jump) it looks like a cross between a Lego set and Mario 64-style platforming.

The full package is due out ‘by the end of the year’.

If you’d like to head over to the Internode Games Network, you can download WicEd, a map editor for Massive’s RTS World in Conflict. Seeing as WiC had multiplayer from the get go, this utility is for those who wish to follow up on that second rule.

Be warned, it’s a chunky 350MB, so start your horses now and unclog those poker chips from your Internet tubes. There’s also a 7MB hotfix for the editor, which was just released today.

The editor fits nicely with WiC’s Movie Maker and Broadcast Tool. Makes you wonder what Massive will pump out next.

World in Conflict Patched to 0003 – With New Map, and map making tool
[Internode Games Network]

While the Broadcast Tool will satisfy the professional gamers, the Movie Maker will undoubtedly find a warm and comfortable spot in the hearts of machinima fans.

In an interview provided by Sierra/Vivendi to go along with the news, Massive’s Tobias Nyman and Stefan Johansson go into a bit more detail on the utility:

TOBIAS: I think the tool is going to appeal mostly to people who’re ready to put some effort into it, but it’s of course easier for people with at least some prior knowledge of movie making and filming.

STEFAN: Essentially, anyone who’s made any machinimas before should be able to figure it out. And with the help of our manual, it should be pretty easy to figure out the basics of how the tool works

TOBIAS: And if you want to create more than just cool camera-paths for showing of – like a trailer or so – then you have to edit it, so you should have an editing program at hand. But editing programs today are easy to learn. At the end of the day editing is only about taste.

Tobias even makes mention of a shaky-cam feature. Shaky-cam people! I have to say, if Massive can keep up this pace with tool support, then WiC will have nothing but an excellent future.

The tool allows you to play the role of virtual MC, manipulating cameras to grab the best shots of the action. It’ll be a boon for the competitive scene, no doubt, but now you can try it at home – free.

It’s designed for Direct3D 10, but if you’re still running D3D 9, there’s a command switch you can run to get it working fine in Windows XP. More info and the download at Internode Games Network.

World In Conflict Broadcast Tool Has Arrived, Comrade [Internode Games Network]