Havok goes multi-processor with new software

Middleware specialist Havok has announced that it is working on a new software solution that will enable its advanced physics, dynamics and animation systems to take full advantage of the multi-processor architecture of forthcoming PCs and home consoles.

Called HydraCore, the software will evenly divide up dynamics and animation tasks over available CPU resources, and will allow developers to assign or remove threads from the tasks flexibly.

The software will run on all forthcoming game platforms which sport multi-core or multi-threaded architecture - including the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and new PCs from AMD and Intel.

"The face of gaming will change significantly in the next two years, as the computational power available to PC and video game players takes another huge step forward," according to Havok product management VP Jeff Yates.

"Next generation game systems will offer built-in scalability in the form of multi-core and multi-processor hardware that will be standard in consumer game system shipping in the next 12 months," he continued. "HydraCore ensures Havok-powered games can harvest the native scalability of the next wave of consumer PC game platforms - without requiring specialized add-on hardware."