Havok Tech Powering Assassin's Creed IV, Watch Dogs and The Division

[btarunr]

Havok, a leading provider of game development technology, announced today that its Havok Physics is powering a number of next-gen Ubisoft titles, including Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag. Making use of Havok Physics, the Ubisoft Montreal development team was able to bring an unprecedented level of immersion to the massive world of Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag.

Havok's technology is also being used in a variety of future Ubisoft games, including action titles such as Watch Dogs and Tom Clancy's The Division, both slated for release on next-gen hardware platforms. The publisher is leveraging Havok technology across platforms to ensure a consistent experience on PlayStation4 computer entertainment system and on Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, as well as across PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Wii U system from Nintendo and Windows PC.

"Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag had many specific challenges related to physics that Havok has been instrumental in solving - first and foremost was simulating early 18th-century ships on a roaring ocean," said Sylvain Trottier, associate producer at Ubisoft. "Making use of Havok Physics, we were able to ensure that the player's gameplay experience was just as rich and enthralling on sea as it is on land."

"Ubisoft consistently delivers compelling titles that rely on immersive experiences to draw players in, and we're honored to work with them to bring our comprehensive physics solutions to their popular franchise," said Brian Waddle, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Havok. "Havok's support stretches to every major console, PC and portable system, so it's perfectly tailored to massive titles - like Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag, Watch Dogs and Tom Clancy's The Division - that are being adapted to multiple platforms."

Havok Physics is an industry-leading tool offering robust collision detection and physical simulation technology, which has been used in more than 400 released titles from leading game developers as well as scores of in-development projects.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Roph]

Not bad, hopefully it increases the trend. PhysX can either become open or die out.

 

[Fluffmeister]

Indeed, I'm very happy for Intel here, the CPU needs some love these days.

Although PhysX isn't going anywhere, sorry.

 

[MadMan007]

Indeed, I'm very happy for Intel here, the CPU needs some love these days.

Although PhysX isn't going anywhere, sorry.

Yeah but it would be really nice if Intel did more to develop Havok and get it into more games. It would greatly benefit from MOAR CORES. (Unless maybe they do this already, just without fanfare.) If they do develop it actively, they should really get some more game devs on board a la NVidia.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Let's hope the Havok will match sometimes soon the cloth, fur and particle effects at least on the same level as Physics does...

 

[dj-electric]

BOO! BOO for havok having the CPU computing stuff that the GPU can compute much easier, try and play the AC games with a dual-core....

Also, BOO to ubisoft for the shitty port of AC:BF

 

[JTristam]

Wait, I thought it was PhysX APEX for ACIV and not Havok? I'm not sure about Watch Dogs, heard it also uses PhysX but I know I read it somewhere that ACIV uses APEX.

 

[NeoXF]

Wait, I thought it was PhysX APEX for ACIV and not Havok? I'm not sure about Watch Dogs, heard it also uses PhysX but I know I read it somewhere that ACIV uses APEX.

Nope, nope and nope.

I think you're thinking of The Witcher 3 or something...

 

[nemesis.ie]

Havok physics is the code that does the physics modelling/computation, it is not necessarily tied to the CPU.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/03/27/amd-demonstrates-gpu-physics-at-gdc/1

Also great to see another Irish company doing well.

Actually an APU is probably a really great place for this to run, using both the CPU and GPU parts and then the rest of the graphics on a separate GPU.

 

[renz496]

Wait, I thought it was PhysX APEX for ACIV and not Havok? I'm not sure about Watch Dogs, heard it also uses PhysX but I know I read it somewhere that ACIV uses APEX.

maybe they kind of inject nvidia APEX to the game engine? like what they did to crytek cryengine:

http://physxinfo.com/news/11055/gdc-2013-demo-apex-turbulence-in-cryengine/

anyway nvidia did say the game will be later patch to add APEX Particle for the game:

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/gu...ack-flag-nvidia-gpu-accelerated-physx-effects

 

[JTristam]

Nope, nope and nope.

I think you're thinking of The Witcher 3 or something...

Didn't you read my post? I said ACIV. That's an acronym for Assassin's Creed IV. I didn't think The Witcher 3 and write Assassin's Creed instead.

maybe they kind of inject nvidia APEX to the game engine? like what they did to crytek cryengine:

http://physxinfo.com/news/11055/gdc-2013-demo-apex-turbulence-in-cryengine/

anyway nvidia did say the game will be later patch to add APEX Particle for the game:

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/gu...ack-flag-nvidia-gpu-accelerated-physx-effects

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. The APEX part, that is. But the article I read before wasn't from NVIDIA/GeForce site.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Can it be both Havok and PhysX for the rest of effects?