Comparing PC Game Physics

John Callaham writes "On Wednesday we posted up comments from Havok about rival AGEIA's use of their physics processor in the PC version of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Today we have an expanded article with point-to-point comments from AGEIA that address Havok's statements." From the article: "How much interaction do you want in your PC games? It used to be that graphics were the number one factor in picking up a new game but now players are asking more and more about interactions in the environment. One company that has provided such interaction is Havok. They have developed a physics engine that has been used in a ton of games, including most famously in Valve's first person shooter Half-Life 2. Recently, Havok announced plans for a new physics engine, Havok FX, that would use Shader Model 3.0 graphics cards to further enhance game interactions and physics."

Comments

Re:Wake me up when...

[hyfe]

If these examples are supposed to highlight how you want games to be more like real-life, I think you haven't been too much outside :)

rip a moist leaf on the tree like a sheet of paper.

Leafs don't tear like sheets of paper. They tear like leaves.

Wake me up when I can knock down a building,

People don't knock down buildings too often. They're mostly made of concrete and fairly big. Being able to knock one down is *not* a sign of a good physics engine.

have grass that actually grows, and can cause wildfires (just like in real life)

I have never ever seen grass cause wildfires. Grass, atleast over here in Europe, seem to be mildly content with staying put right where it is and trying to grow.

some sand from the beach with a bucket and pour it all over the nearest NPC and see all the little grains of sand stick to his shirt.

Firstly, are you fantasizing about pouring sand over strangers? Got a shrink yet?
Secondly, you want to pour sand over someone, and have all of it stick to his shirt? Have you *ever* been at a beach?

Imagine MMORPGs where you can actually DIG A SECRET TUNNEL underground to invade your enemie's territory

Bloody hell, any idea how much time that would take? I'll stick to teleporting thank you.

Possibilities are endless. Seriously, how long do you guys think it'll take for some crude implementation of what I listed above comes to fruition?

Adhesive sand, pyromanic grass, leaves made of paper and buildings which anybody can knock down? Hopefully; really soon. Sounds fun as hell =)