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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nismok" data-source="post: 4193890" data-attributes="member: 109094">NVIDIA announced that it will provide the binary version of the PhysX software development kit (SDK) to all registered PS3 developers. All interested developers will be able to download the software package from the SCEI Developer Network. NVIDIA describes the offering as consisting of an API, a "robust" physics engine, and associated tools. Developers who choose to leverage the kit, according to NVIDIA, are able to "author and preview physics effects in real time." The GPU maker also boasts that "the continued adoption of NVIDIA PhysX technology by the world’s leading content developers is resulting in games that not only look as realistic as possible, but also provides gaming experiences where the world’s literally come to life."   NVIDIA's deal with Sony to bring PhysX the entire library of PS3 developers comes just a few months after the company announced new PhysX licensing agreements between itself, EA, and 2K. For the past nine months, NVIDIA has focused its marketing and product development teams around the idea that NVIDIA is more—much more—than just a GPU/motherboard chipset designer. Combined with Atom, NVIDIA is HD playback, low power consumption, and mobile gaming (Ion). GPUs aren't just for 3D gaming anymore, they're meant to handle video transcoding (and a few additional tasks we can't talk about just yet).   PhysX, CUDA, and the "GPUs are good for more than gaming" motto all tend to go together in NVIDIA's marketing playbook; it's surprising to see the company touting the benefits of PhysX without mention of the other two. Then again, PhysX isn't necessarily an automatic best-fit solution for the PS3. The Playstation 3's GPU is a derivative of NVIDIA's G70 processor. Unlike G80 and all parts since, the G70 split its pixel shader and vertex shader resources into discrete units. The PS3 might be able to handle certain physics operations using the G70's support for pixel shader 3.0—the Havok physics engine is apparently capable of doing so—but that's not CUDA, and it's not PhysX.    The idea of marrying PhysX and the PS3, however, is significantly older than NVIDIA's acquisition of Ageia. Based on the now-defunct company's press releases, version 2.4 of the PhysX SDK with full Cell support was released on March 22, 2006. It's not clear if that release resulted in any serious game development, but NVIDIA has significantly more resources (even in today's economy) to dedicate towards game development. The GPU inside the PS3 may not be capable of handling CUDA, but the high-level differences between Cell and the original Ageia PPU may not be all that huge.     Back on March 12, 2007, Ars' Jon Stokes wrote: "I'm certain that the PhysX PPU consists of multiple identical cores (maybe with one or two unique cores, like Cell's PPE, but probably not), and that each of those cores has its own local storage. In other words, PhysX almost certainly looks a lot like Cell, but with more cores, and probably more per-core local storage. Game developers can use this type of architecture to implement any number of physics models, but that's just one application for the chip."   More pertinent questions include whether developers will actually take advantage of the PhysX SDK, and if they do, whether they'll use its capabilities in a meaningful way. You've got to give NVIDIA a bit of credit when it comes to hammering home its "We're more than just a graphics company" message these past 7-9 months. Despite the blows the company has taken, its oft-repeated focus may be catching the attention of the developers, OEMs, and partners NVIDIA needs.</blockquote>

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