Nvidia to acquire Ageia for the PhysX chip

Updated Tuesday 4:30pm to correct statements about how PhysX works with gaming consoles.

Nvidia snapped up Ageia on Monday, with plans to add Ageia's PhysX technology to its GeForce graphics chips.

Ageia makes a chip called PhysX that makes killing and blowing stuff up with a Playstation controller all that more lifelike, essential for satisfying a generation of video gamers who are apparently well-acquainted with what really happens when you hit a fuel truck with an RPG. In all seriousness, the processing power that's required to simulate events like explosions and smoke or fog is immense, so much so that a standalone chip for just that purpose was required to really drive the experience home.

The PhysX chip can be found in all three of the modern gaming consoles--Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and the Wii--as well as in add-in cards for PC gaming. Developers have to write their games with the processor in mind to unlock the performance, and Over 140 titles are available for consoles and PCs that support the PhysX technology. UPDATED 2/5, 4:30pm - After Ageia didn't return my call I was able to track down Nvidia to confirm that the commenters are correct, the PhysX chips are only associated with PCs. A software developer's kit is available for the consoles that apparently lets developers get the performance of the PhysX technology without the chip present. I have to say, I still don't get exactly how that works.

Ageia describes the role of the PhysX processor as part of the "Gaming Power Triangle," which consists of the CPU, a GPU from either Nvidia or AMD's ATI, and the PhysX "physics processing unit." "The third leg of the triangle...'moves and interacts' to take gaming to the next level with pervasive dynamic motion and interaction," according to Ageia's Web site.

Within the next couple of years, however, that triangle will collapse. Intel, AMD, and Nvidia are all working on chips that aim to marry the benefits of graphics processing--extremely fast processing of repetitive tasks--with the flexibility of general-purpose PC processors. Intel's Larrabee project, AMD's Fusion project, and Nvidia's CUDA development are early steps toward that goal.

And now Nvidia plans to integrate the PhysX technology into one of its GeForce graphics chips "as soon as possible," according to Derek Perez of Nvidia. This is a long-standing trend in chip design, where chips that used to occupy standalone roles for reasons of cost or complexity--like PhysX--wind up squeezing their way onto the main processor. You can thank Gordon Moore for that.

[edborden]

nvidia + ageia = money in the bank

nVidia is already doing what Ageia has had years of trouble accomplishing. They have the history, contacts, money, partners, expertise, and personnel to drive their technology through the game developers themselves. That's what's important here.<br /><br />Consider what has been the problem for Ageia all this time? The main issue has been getting developer support to implement the technology, right? They've had a killer product (in my opinion), but couldn't get enough developers to actual implement it to create the market for gamers to have any reason to buy it. Man, tell me that doesn't sound exactly like the type of problem that nVidia has chewed up and spit out over the past few years.<br /><br />They don't have to add one thing to Ageia and they can make a bunch of money because they just have to sell it, which will be cake for them.<br /><br />I blogged about this : <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://edborden.blogspot.com/2008/02/nvidia-ageia-money-in-teh-bank.html" target="_newWindow">http://edborden.blogspot.com/2008/02/nvidia-ageia-money-in-teh-bank.html</a>

[ethana2]

What? I think that's false.

The 360 is 3 in-order PPC cores with an ATi gpu..<br />The PS3 is a PPC core with 6 usable SPE's and an nvidia gpu connected via FlexIO interface with 512MB of total solid state system memory, and<br />the Wii is a PPC thing with hardware equivalent to the first generation xbox with bluetooth and shininess with an ati chip.<br /><br />If the PS3 or Wii had a PhysX, us people running Ubuntu and Fedora on them would know it.

[jon watte]

In the Wii, even? Fantastic!

Quote: "The PhysX chip can be found in all three of the modern gaming consoles--Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and the Wii"<br /><br />I didn't know they could upgrade the silicon over the intertubes. Was that chip part of the latest firmware update? Because last I checked, the PhysX SDK was available for the platforms, but not the chip.

[mbenedict]

Another crappy CNET blog

Do you guys know what you're talking about, or just making things up as you go??<br /><br />Extremely doubtful that any PS3, Xbox360 or Wii console contains an Ageia PhysX *chip*.<br /><br />Ageia has *SDKs* for those platforms. The 'S' in SDK stands for Software. Get it? SDK == Software. Chip == Hardware.

[bemenaker]

You know SDK are for writing software to go with hardware?

Or did you miss that part?