PhysX Dedicated Physics Processor Explored

Ned_Network writes "Yahoo! News & Reuters has a story about a start-up who have created a dedicated physics processor for gamers' PCs. The processor undertakes physics calculations for the CPU and is said to make gaming more realistic - examples such as falling rocks, exploding debris and the way that opponents collapse when you shoot them are cited as advantages of the chip. Only 6 current titles take advantage of the chip but the FAQ claims that another 100 are in production."

Comments

Massively destructible & collateral damage.

[Ned_Network]

Bah! They cut some of the best bits of my submission!

The price of $300 seems a bit steep right now to a casual player like me, but this bit from the site's FAQ I find very appealing:

Buildings and landscapes are now massively destructible with extreme explosions of thousands of shards of glass and shrapnel that cause collateral damage

The PPU seems to be available as a PCI card but is also available in off-the-shelf machines from Dell & Alienware.

There's a comparison video showing the difference between Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighterwith & without the PhysX installed and a couple of hi-res videos that are available by FTP, so can't be cached by Coral, I don't think.

What I really have to wonder, if this thing is as good as they reckon, is why I haven't heard of it before?